Pray With Hope Matthew 7:7-11

Jesus gives us good reasons to pray with hope:

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I. Jesus Instructs Us to Pray v. 7

In our passage this morning, Jesus gives us three really good reasons why we can pray with hope

The first reason is quite simple: It’s the instruction that He has given us

When Jesus begins this teaching on prayer, it carries a command to pray

He variously describes it as asking, seeking, and knocking

I think it’s important that we tie some things together here:

All of the words Jesus uses describe a pursuit of God

In prayer we are going to Him; apart from a personal search for the presence of God, we will not ever connect with Him

This may strike you as a little bit odd, but hang with me here:

Effort is an integral part of the Christian life. We must not be afraid of it!

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.” -Dallas Willard in The Great Omission

There is a very serious effort to be made in prayer, but it is worth the effort

When we pray, we pray with the understanding that we are doing exactly what Jesus said that we should do

Even if it seems foolish, futile, and frustrating, we keep on praying because it fulfills the command of our Lord

It is His prescribed pathway to the presence and the provision of God; there is no other way!

You can trust that when you pray about the circumstances and needs of life, you are always doing the right thing.

In nature, red skin signals that a tomato is ripe. But this is not necessarily true of tomatoes that have been forced to turn red. It is entirely possible, and likely, that we are purchasing and consuming unripe fruit. And there would be little way of knowing it until we take the first bite.

To be fair, part of the reason that growers gas tomatoes with ethylene is because this is what the market demands. As consumers, we want to walk into our local grocery store any time of the day, any day of the week, and pick up a red tomato.

In much the same way, we want the certainty of knowing that the answers to life’s questions are always within reach. But humility teaches us to wait for God for answers. Humility teaches us to let knowledge ripen on the vine.

II. Jesus Promises an Answer v. 8

The second reason that we pray with hope is because of a promise that Jesus makes:

Everyone who asks receives, everyone who seeks finds, and everyone who knocks will find the door opened

We can be certain that God is in the business of answering prayers; in fact, He never ignores them!

It is at this point that many of us become skeptical, because we have all faced the harsh reality of prayers that seem to go unanswered

How can I reconcile the reality of unanswered prayer with this passage?

First, we recognize that there are more ways God can answer a prayer than with a yes.

No and not now are also answers to our prayers

There are many times in the wisdom and kindness of God that He answers prayers (even really good ones) with a no, or a “not yet”

Sometimes His hard answer is an act of kindness because we have asked wrongly, for the sake of a destructive passion

Sometimes His hard answer is an act of wisdom, because the timing is not right; He is working something greater and better than we can see

Sometimes His hard answer is an act of care, because He is maturing us through the hardship

Sometimes His hard answer is an act of mercy, because He is driving us into His presence

2 Corinthians 12:8–9

[8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (ESV)

Second, we recognize that there is one beautiful benefit from prayer that we must not overlook:

Whatever answer we receive in prayer, as we pursue God in prayer, we gain a personal knowledge of and experience with God

What do we receive when we ask? We receive the attention of God.

What do we find when we seek? We enter the presence of God.

Who is it that opens the door for us? It is God who allows us in

If all we gain from our prayer is the presence of God, we have gained the thing that matters the most.

Many years ago now, I was a very young youth minister who was failing at his job. I was in charge of picking up doughnuts early one morning for a fundraiser and some kind of mistake had been made. There were no doughnuts! Families would soon be gathering (before dawn) to sell doughnuts at the four-way stop and I had nothing to bring. I waited patiently while the folks at Krispy Kreme made 200 fresh dozen doughnuts for us, but I knew in my heart that it would be too late. We had wasted quite a bit of money purchasing doughnuts no one would buy, the morning would be lost, and I would have to face the anger of quite a few disappointed parents.I finally got my doughnuts and started driving back towards Baldwin County and emerged out of the tunnel onto the Bayway, praying and crying out to God in my frustration and fear. I don’t exactly know the best way to describe what took place in my truck that morning, but God met with me there. In an instant, the anxiety and anger fell away and my heart was filled with confidence in my Lord. Keep asking, seeking, and knocking, because God’s presence changes everything. He is the ultimate answer to your prayers!

III. Jesus Points Us to the Father vv. 9-11

Finally, Jesus points us back to the character of God, calling Him our Father

Now, I know that this language of Father can be loaded, because not all fathers are created equally

Chances are, if you had a great dad, he was one of your dearest treasures; if you had a terrible dad, it can be a heavy burden

However, one of the general characteristics of fathers is that they like to provide for their children

Jesus invites us to consider our own heart towards our children:

What would you give them if they asked?

Surely, if your child needed bread or meat, you would give them everything that you could to meet their need!

This is simple and basic. Anything less than that would be an evil

Then, Jesus invites us to consider the love we have for our children against the love that God has for His

Nothing about our power, wisdom, or character can begin to compare with God’s on any level

Why then should we presume that His love for His children would not also be greater than ours?

300 Illustrations for Preachers Father Makes His Daughter a Real Princess

Jeremiah Heaton, the owner of a mine safety company in Virginia, knows how to give good gifts to his children. While having a tea party with his daughter, Emily, she asked him if she could be a princess. He told her yes, and then set out to make that dream come true. He discovered a piece of land in the African desert that was claimed by no country. He traveled there and planted the Heaton homemade family flag firmly in the ground of the newly declared Kingdom of North Sudan in 2014. Emily is now a princess.

If an earthly father with finite resources can go to that extent for his children, think how much our heavenly father can provide with his infinite resources.

We pray with hope, believing that God’s answer is always going to be motivated by a sincere love for us

How do we ultimately know that this is true? We remember that we have been adopted into the family of God:

Romans 8:15–17

[15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” [16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

It’s time for us to pray like we are children of God through Jesus!