Ask And It Will Be Given To You
Ask and it will be given to you
Matthew 7:7-11
When I first became a follower of Jesus I didn’t see the importance of prayer – because I thought God would do what He was going to do whether I prayed or not.
And so I didn’t pray very much. And when I did pray it was often just vague, general prayers asking God to do His will.
But then God started to change me. And one of the ways He changed me was through the passage we are going to study today – Matthew 7:7-11. This passage showed me that God had chosen to have my prayers make a difference in what He did – and that whenever I prayed God would either give me exactly what I was asking for – or something even better – which He would probably not have given had I not asked.
Those truths – from this passage -- transformed my prayer life. And I’m hoping God will use this passage to strengthen all of us in prayer. So let’s turn to Matthew 7 and see what Jesus says. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Matthew 7 is on page 812 in the Bibles we are passing out.
Here’s what Jesus says --
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
So what is Jesus calling us to do? Look at v.7 –
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
We are to ask, seek, and knock. Those words all describe prayer. Prayer means asking God our Father to work. Prayer means seeking things from our Father. And prayer means knocking on our Father’s door asking him to open the door and give us what we need.
So Jesus is calling us to pray. And before we go on – let me give you four crucial characteristics of prayer which Jesus is assuming --
First, we must pray in Jesus’ name. You can see that in John 15:16 --
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Because of our sin, we can’t come to God in our own name. No. We’ve sinned too much for God to accept and welcome us. God will frown. God will turn away. But if we will own up to that – and come to the Father in the name of Jesus – whose death paid for our sins and whose righteousness clothes us – then God will smile. God will open His arms. So we must pray in Jesus’ name.
Second, we must pray with full surrender. You can see that in Psa 66:18 --
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
This doesn’t mean you have to be perfect to have God hear you. But it does mean we need to have no sin that we are knowingly holding to and refusing to let go. Not that you have to overcome every sin – but you need to be confessing every sin and fighting against every sin.
Third, we must pray according to God’s general will. This means we don’t pray things that are obviously sinful – like praying for the bank guards to be asleep so we can rob a bank. Instead, we pray things that are according to God’s general will.
Not that we need to know exactly what God’s will is before we can pray. But we pray according to God’s general will -- like Jesus pointed out in the previous chapter – in the Lord’s prayer --
- We pray for God’s name to be hallowed – praised in our lives and marriages and families and neighborhood and world.
- We pray for God’s kingdom to come with its saving power and save lost people.
- We pray for our daily bread – for God to provide the money we need.
- We pray for forgiveness of sins – that He would apply Jesus’ death to whatever sins I’ve recently committed.
- We pray for God to keep us from sin and Satan – to overcome the power of sin in our lives.
That’s not an exhaustive list – but it gives you an idea of what’s included in God’s general will.
Fourth, we might need to pray persistently. You can see that in Luke 11:8 --
I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence [which means persistence] he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
Sometimes God answers prayers instantly, like when Nehemiah prayed that God would give him favor with King Artaxerxes. A few seconds later – Artaxerxes granted his request. But sometimes God -- in His great wisdom and love – will call us to pray for something persistently – for days, months, years, even decades.
So that’s what Jesus is assuming when He calls us to ask, seek, and knock. So here’s what Jesus is calling us to do --
Let’s say you need a job, or long for a neighbor to be saved, or long for power over greed. Jesus would say – ask, seek, knock. Picture yourself standing at the door of God’s house. Jesus says – go ahead – knock. Pray -- in Jesus’ name, with full surrender, according to God’s general will, and persistently – [Knock, knock, knock.]
Father – provide me a job!
Father – save my neighbor!
Father – crush my greed!
Ask, seek, and knock. That’s what Jesus is calling us to do.
But why? Why should we ask, seek, and knock? Look again at v.7 – and notice the reasons Jesus gives --
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
So why should we ask? Because it will be given to us. Why should we seek? Because we will find. Why should we knock? Because it will be opened to us -- He won’t stay behind a closed door – He will always – open the door to us and give to us.
But at this point Jesus knows that some of us are thinking -- maybe that’s true for other people – but not for me. I’m too insignificant. I’m too unimportant. Jesus knows what you are thinking --
So He puts it even more strongly in v.8 --
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
So who is it that receives? Everyone who asks. Who finds? Everyone who seeks. And to whom does God open His door? Everyone who knocks.
So every time you pray – seek – knock – you will receive. Every single time.
But this raises a crucial question – what about those times when God does not give me what I ask for? Every believer has times when we pray about something in Jesus’ name – fully surrendered – according to God’s general will – persistently – and we do not receive what we are asking for.
So what’s going on at those times? To answer that – look at vv.9-10 --
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
The answer is – none of you. No father would do that. Nor would God do that. Keep reading --
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
So when you ask God for bread – if He doesn’t give you bread – He’s also not giving you a stone. If you ask for a fish – and He doesn’t give you a fish – He’s not giving you a serpent.
In other words – whenever you pray for anything -- God will never give you something inferior to what you are asking for. Never. God will always give you good things.
Which means that when you ask for bread – He will never give you a stone. He will either give you bread – or something even better – like turkey sandwich. If you ask for a fish – He will never give you a serpent. He will either give you a fish – or something even better – maybe Alaska King Crab.
So every time you pray – God will always give you exactly what you are asking for – or something even better – which you probably would not have received had you not asked.
Let me illustrate this by comparing two stories. Remember Blind Bartimaeus who cried out to Jesus to heal Him? What did Jesus do? He healed him. He gave Bartimaeus exactly what he was asking for. Many times that’s what will happen when we pray – God will give us exactly what we ask for.
But many times God gives us something even better than we ask for. To see that turn to John 11. Mary and Martha had a brother named Lazarus. And Lazarus became very sick, so they sent a messenger to Jesus saying – Jesus, Lazarus is sick. Please come and heal him.
So what does Jesus do? It’s shocking when you first read it. Look at v.6 –
6 So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
They tell Jesus that Lazarus is sick – and they ask Jesus to come and heal him. And instead – Jesus stays there two days longer. Two days. Sounds unloving, doesn’t it? Especially when you understand that during those two days – Lazarus died. Sounds very unloving.
But John goes out of his way to help us see that this is not unloving at all – read v.5 and v.6 --
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So [because He loved them], when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Why did he stay two days longer? Because He loved them. They had asked him to come and heal Him. But Jesus did not come. So was He giving them a stone instead of bread? Not at all. He was going to give them something even better than they had asked for.
Because -- after two days, Jesus came to them. And He raised Lazarus from the dead – which restored Lazarus to them – and He gave them a greater display of His glory than if He had just healed Lazarus. So they got both Lazarus AND an even more heart-filling experience of Jesus’ glory.
They had asked for bread. Jesus did not give them bread -- He gave them a tri-tip sandwich.
Or take the case of Paul. In Acts 28 Paul prayed and asked God to heal the father of Publius – and God gave Paul exactly what he asked for – Publius’ father was healed.
But in 2Cor 12 we read that Paul prayed for his own thorn in the flesh – and God did not give Paul exactly what He asked for – God gave Paul something even better – having the suffering of the thorn in the flesh enable Paul to experience even more of Jesus’ presence.
Now with that in mind – let’s turn back to Matthew 7. Jesus is calling us to ask, seek, and knock. He’s calling us to pray. And he promises that when we pray -- God will always either give us exactly what we are asking for – or something even better.
But now you might wonder – if God will give us either what we are asking for – or something even better – then why pray? To answer that – read v.7 again --
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Jesus wants us to see that asking, seeking, and knocking are crucial. If we want it to be given to us we must ask. If we want to find we must seek. If we want the door to be opened we must knock.
So let me summarize the passage like this -- whenever we pray in Jesus’ name, fully surrendered, according to God’s general will, and persistently – we will always receive either exactly what we are praying for – or something even better – which we would not have received had we not prayed.
Questions?
So what does this mean for us? Think about a concern that’s troubling you right now. A problem that’s bothering you. Maybe it’s a work problem. A problem with your child. A health issue. A decision that must be made. A friend you long to be saved. A relationship that needs help.
Think about concerns you have right now – and then think about what would be the perfect solution.
Got that in mind?
Now here’s what Jesus promises.
If you will bring that concern and problem to the Father – and knock on His door in Jesus’ name, with full surrender, according to God’s general will, and persistently – then God promises – promises that He will either do exactly what you are asking – or something even better which He probably would not have done had you not asked.
If you don’t pray – you might receive nothing. But if you will pray – you will either receive exactly what you are asking – or something better. So – pray.