A.S.K.

Intro

Today we start a three part series: A.S.K.

Effective prayer consists of asking, seeking, and knocking . . . A.S.K.

Our scripture contains the very words of Jesus, and he says this about prayer:

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

A.S.K = ask, seek, knock

at most churches, if you have attended enough Bible Studies, then you remember the Bible teacher revealing that the tense of the Greek verbs used in this verse for ask, seek, and knock indicated that we are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking

and it is natural to wonder, “how long should I keep asking, seeking, and knocking for something?

and it’s also natural to wonder, “Have I missed out on some things because I gave up too soon?”

and often, when we see this scripture verse, we resolve to stay faithful in prayer, and not give up on God so easily . . . and there is definitely a blessing in that understanding, but there is another aspect in this verse, that we will look at today

So, let’s go back to the text . . .

Jesus did not say that prayer is like asking, seeking, and knocking . . . No, it is a command, these are imperative verbs

Just like last week, Psalm 150 commanded us to praise the Lord, this week Jesus commands us to ask, seek, and knock

your prayers must have three components: asking, seeking, and knocking

and since these verbs mean to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on asking . . . we are talking about a lifestyle

not a one time thing, not a special event, not for a period of time, but a lifestyle of asking, seeking, and knocking

so for your whole life . . . for your whole Christian journey . . . . for your daily walk, your prayers are supposed to include asking, seeking, and knocking

today we will just deal with the a in ASK

asking: ask and it shall be given you

Jesus commands us to ask, that seems easy enough . . . so why don’t we ask . . . or why don’t we make a lifestyle of asking?

the bottom line is that it takes humility to ask . . . for when you ask, you humble yourself . . .

for when you ask, you are admitting that you fall short . . . you don’t have the knowledge, intelligence, resources, control

and the opposite of humility is pride, and sometimes we don’t ask God, because we have . . .

The pride of vanity

they won’t admit that they need help. . . so they don’t ask for help . . .

admitting that you need help is a big thing for a lot of people, and a lot of people have not overcome that first hurdle to asking

Ex. many people are ashamed to ask a question in class . . .(give example of teacher asking for any questions, and everyone having the same question, but no one is willing to be humble and ask!

vanity gets in the way

i am probably the only one thinking this, wondering this, going through this, and I don’t want to look stupid . . . so I won’t ask

this really manifest in group settings

Go to a prayer meeting of 20 folks, ask for prayer requests, and you will get about 5, two of them from the same person

groups love pray for someone who is not there, “could you all pray for my cousin”

we will, and what do YOU need?

we are here to pray and agree, and you are to vain to ask

no one wants to say . . .

I am about to fall apart, ask the Lord to fix my mind

I’ve been foolish, ask the Lord to have mercy on my

everyone with the same type of prayers, but no one will ask

but some will say, you can’t tell people all your business! (I get it)

Ok, let’s Check our prayer hot line . . . . where you can be anonymous

we get about 2/3 per week . . . out of 30-40 people, plus all the people we know, and only two things wrong

somebody is not asking, or we need to have a special celebration

have you ever said about somebody, “I they would have asked me, I would have been glad to help”

that’s how God feels about a lot of us

don’t be vain, the first step in getting help, is admitting that you need help . . . ask

if my people which are called by my name would HUMBLE themselves and pray . . . first step

The pride of independence

you want to try to handle things on your own first

These are the people who will pray, but only at the back end

in other words, they use prayer as a last resort

we might not say it, but we walk around with an attitude of “I got this”

there’s something going on with my child, but I can figure it out

my money is funny, but I can make it work

something up with my health, but I can stick it out

there’s a problem at my job, but I can hold it together

there is an unforeseen circumstance, but I don’t need assistance

I got this! I have enough talent, knowledge, experience

so we won’t ask God about it until there is no where else to turn . . . because up until then they thought, “I got this!”

won’t pray over a write up at work, they wait until security is escorting them out the door

won’t pray over a a pain in their body, they wait until the doctor says, “there’s nothing else we can do”

won’t pray over a note from the teacher, wait until the principal calls about expelling my child

they pray on the back end

has someone ever turned to you for help after exhausting every other avenue, and you said, “I will help you, but I wish you would have come to me at the very beginning, you wouldn’t have gone through any of this”

that’s how God feels about a lot of us when we have the pride of independence and only ask him on the back end

I think of Samson - two recorded prayers,

one, when both when he as on the edge of dying after a battle

two, when imprisoned, with both eyes gauged out, and being made fun of

He prayed on the back end, and God answered, but he went through a lot he didn’t have to go through

The truth is, we are all very dependent on God, “in him we live, move, and have our being” . . . . that means everything depends on God (living, moving, existing)

thus asking, includes asking God on the front end too

The pride of success

these people will pray on the front end, and then stop

they will ask, and God will bless them, God will keep them, and they will do so well, that they start to think they they are the source of their success

so they will pray until they make it

will ask the first time, second time, but not the third time because success has made them fall into the “I got this” trap

pray over that child every day, until it seems that child is healthy and doing well in school

will pray about their marriage all the time, but after year 10, we got this marriage thing down

i know her, she knows me, we’re solid!

will pray for financial security, but after they get their 20 year pin at they job, they think they have finances on lock down

salary, retirement, savings, seniority at the workplace, vacation time

and success has caused them to let their prayer guard down, and they stop asking

stop asking for blessings

stop asking for help

stop asking for protection

I don’t need it like I used to

have you ever been taken for granted? One sign that people take you for granted is that they stop asking you for what they used to ask for.

that teenager that takes the car without asking

“but you were sleep, and I didn’t want to wake you, and last time I asked to go to the store you said yes . .

but the point is that’s my car, and you didn’t ask

you forget your place, it’s not our car, but mine

This is how God feels about us when we stop asking

taking him for granted, taking his stuff for granted, taking his blessings for granted, taking his protection for granted, his provision

God would say, “those are my things, and you need to ask”

you forget your place, it’s not our, but mine

you need to ask every time . . . a lifestyle of asking

some of us have stopped asking for safety when we run to Walmart or Target . . . we’ve been successful so many times

now a new trip, to California . . . we will pray

you need just as much protection to Walmart

don’t be so independent from God

and the kicker is, the scripture says, ask and it shall be given you

so if you don’t ask, don’t be shocked if it is not given

you have not because you ask not

some blessings you are missing out on because

you never asked

or you waited to ask on the back end

or you stop asking when things started going well

keep on asking

we are commanded to have a lifestyle of asking our heavenly Father!