2-15-2023

Good Morning All,

     Matthew 7: 7-8; “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

    We all like guarantees.  We like money back guarantees; we like long term warranties; we like to be sure that what we are promised will be delivered.  We like them so much that sometimes we will pay extra for more warranty.  We love an ironclad guarantee insuring that we get what we paid for.

    In our verses for today, we get a guarantee.  We get this guarantee, not something we bought but for something that we are given.  Notice how we are told six different ways that God answers prayer.  This is God’s promise to us.

    Prayer comes with the threefold elements of one of God’s gifts.  It comes with God’s command.  God tells us to pray to him.  We pray because God tells us to, and he tells us to because we need it.  It is a vital part of our spiritual life.  It keeps us in constant contact with our Savior as we do battle with the devil on a daily basis.  God knows that we need this vital act to sustain us and hold us closer to Him.

    Prayer also comes with a promise.  God has promised to hear and to answer our prayers.  That is what our verses are about today.  We are to pray with fervor, with confidence, with an audacity of boldness like no other.  In other places in Scripture, we are told that we do not receive because we do not ask.  What a bold promise this is.  Yet all too often we fail to trust it!  Too often we look at prayer as something to do when all else has been done.  Too often our attitude is, “I have done all I can all that is left is to pray.”  Prayer should be our first choice not our last.

    God tells us that we need to be in constant prayerful contact with Him at all times.  Prayer is talking to God and we hear what God has to say to us through the Scripture.  We have the Holy Spirit to help us remember or recall those passages and to guide us in faith through our life.  We see this when the trials of life come to us.  Those who have a strong prayer life tend to face these challenges with more strength.  This is because we know where our strength comes from; it comes from God.  We know that a God much more powerful than we are. A God which sent his son to die for us is at work for us because He loves us. 

     This is the blessing of prayer.  God acts and answers our prayer.  He answers because He loves us.  He answers because He knows our needs and has promised to meet all of our daily needs.  God gives us this gift and all too often, we fail to grasp it and use.  We fail to trust in God’s promise.  Turn to God every day.  Pray often, try, and set aside some time when you can do it.  God blesses us and we can experience these blessings more and more.

Dear Father, too often we fail to come to you with our cares and concerns.  Give us strength to trust in your Word and to ask of you that we may receive.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret