What if…

Posted by admin on Sep 14th, 2009 | no comments home title

^{7:7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 7:8“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 7:9“Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 7:10“Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? 7:11“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!}

^{To be honest, these words really challenge me. Last night I was talking to my wife about the whole idea of “just” prayers. This is when we pray something like, “Lord, Just Please help me get through this.” We assume that somehow we are inconviencing God with our requests. And it doesn’t get any easier when it comes to praying for others. We pray these just prayers in case God doesn’t show up because we don’t want to look dumb. Now let me say that I am not advocating some kind of “name it and claim it” theology, but why are we so timid in prayer?}

^{Nearly every significant movement within church histgory began with a group of people who were willing to pray. The disciples in the upper room, the Great Awakening, revivals in South Korea, the list could go on. What startles me in this passage is the way that Jesus challenges us to bring our requests before God. He tells us that we need to Ask, Seek, and Knock and that our Father in heaven loves to give good gifts to those that ask. So why don’t we?}

^{I know that in my own life there are a million reason, I’m too busy, I wonder if prayer works, I wrestle with where I am in the journey of my walk with God. But what if God has given us every spiritual blessing (he has, 2 Peter 1:3-5) and is calling us to pray.}

^{What if God is ready to do something amazing in our lives, deepening our walk with him, but calls us to pray?}

^{What if God is ready to transform Missoula in radical ways, but is waiting for people to pray?}

^{What if God is ready, but is waiting for us to ask in prayer?}

^{What if we prayed in that kind of confidence? Both we and the world would never be the same.}