Passionate and Persistent Prayer

We must not go to God in prayer for something once or twice and give up. God does not want us to take His silence for a final answer; instead our hearts must be passionate and persistent to ask, seek and knock.

“Ask” implies our request for assistance. We need to realize our need for help. We must be humble in submitting our request.

“Seek” denotes asking but adds the aspect of action. We should not just express our need, but should get up and look around for help. This involves effort, which is the prayerful effort of searching for God’s answers, especially in His written Word.

“Knock” includes asking, which is taking action, and the aspect of preserving – like a neighbor pounding on a friend’s door at midnight.

The stacking of these words is extremely powerful in the Greek verb tense used. The literal mining is: “Keep on asking and it will be given to you, keep on seeking and you will find it, keep on knocking and the door will be opened.”

The three basic commands in Matthew 7:7 are:

Ask
Seek
Knock

Take a look at the first letters in each word in the list. It is as simple as that: Just ask! Jesus’ language in this verse is compelling as these three verbs indicate an ascending order of intensity.

When we pray we need to make it our mission to find out the will of God our Heavenly Father and pray accordingly. Prayer isn’t getting our way in heaven; it is having a relationship with our Lord and getting His way on earth.

“The prayer that prevails with God is the one that we place our whole soul into, stretching out toward Him in intense and agonizing desire”.

God promised a long time ago that His people would find Him when they search for Him with all of their heart, (Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart).

God tells us a great deal in the Word about how we should bring our requests to Him. This is something He wants us to do in relationship with Him often for His own pleasure as well as for our own well being.

1. Ask in Jesus’ name – by asking in Jesus’ name we are making a request not only in His authority, but also for His interests and His benefits.

2. Ask while abiding in Jesus – a fruitful prayer life begins with a total abiding in Christ, an alive and flourishing union with Him.

3. Ask according to God’s will – (1 John 5:14-16) when we approach God we should ask within His will, and know that He hears. It is our privilege as God’s children.

4. Ask in faith – we can see the requirement to have faith in the instruction that James gives us for requesting wisdom (James 1:5-7)

5. Ask with thanksgiving – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (Philippians 4:6) Thanksgiving is the inevitable and sometimes overwhelming – result of our faith in God’s answers to our prayers, and our faith in God’s loving control over every aspect of our lives.

6. Ask with the right motives – “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures”. If our prayers aren’t’ answered the way we want, it does not necessarily mean that our motives are wrong – but we can be sure that asking God to stretch, bend, or manipulate His laws to fit our selfish desires or circumstances will lead to an unfavorable response.

When the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us, we gain a built in tendency to take our concerns and needs to the Lord in prayer. When we open our hearts and prayers to God’s leading we join in His work to fulfill His plan.

My Prayer: Heavenly Father, God, Almighty, I come to you today in prayer and thanksgiving interceding for these who are so dear to my heart. Lord, God I ask that You, Father, God teach us the way that You want us to pray so that whatever we request of You is in line with Your will for our life. Please Father, God forgive us for any transgression that we may have in our hearts and wash our souls clean with the purified water that can only come from You dear Lord. Please Father God, give us wisdom in our daily walk with You and guide us so that whatever we do will be done while remembering to praise You, Lord, Almighty as well as for Your glory and honor this day. I also ask that You be with our nation and all of the men and women who have either served our county or that are preparing to serve our county against enemies on foreign ground. Please be with our teachers, firemen and policemen, pastors, leaders, and loved ones on a daily basis. In Your name, dear Jesus, I give You all honor and praise with thanksgiving in my heart as I pray, Amen.