Lesson 17: The Certainty of the Answer to Prayer, part 1
Matthew 7:7-8 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
James 4:3 - You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Our Lord returns here in the Sermon on the Mount a second time to speak of prayer. The first time He had spoken of the Father who is to be found in secret, and rewards openly, and had given us the pattern prayer (Matt. 6:5-15). Here He wants to teach us what in all Scripture is considered the chief thing in prayer: the assurance that prayer will be heard and answered. Observe how He uses words which mean almost the same thing, and each time repeats the promise so distinctly: “You shall receive, you shall find, it shall be opened unto you;” and then gives as ground for such assurance the law of the kingdom: “He who asks, receives; he that seeks, finds; to him who knocks, it shall be opened.” We cannot but feel how in this repetition He wants to impress deep on our minds this one truth: that we may and must most confidently expect an answer to our prayer. Next to the revelation of the Father’s love, there is, in the whole course of the school of prayer, not a more important lesson than this: everyone who asks, receives.
In the three words the Lord uses, ask, seek, knock, a difference in meaning has been sought. If such was indeed His purpose, then the first, ASK, refers to the gifts we pray for. But I may ask and receive the gift without the Giver. SEEK is the word Scripture uses of God Himself; Christ assures me that I can find Him. But it is not enough to find God in time of need, without coming to abiding fellowship. KNOCK speaks of admission to dwell with Him and in Him. Asking and receiving the gift would lead to seeking and finding the Giver, and this again to the knocking and opening of the door of the Father’s home and love. One thing is sure; the Lord does want us to count most certainly on it; that asking, seeking, knocking, cannot be in vain. Receiving an answer, finding God, the opened heart and home of God, are the certain fruit of prayer.
That the Lord thought it needful to repeat the truth so often is a lesson of deep importance. It proves that He knows our heart, how doubt and distrust toward God are natural to us, and how easily we are inclined to rest in prayer as a religious work without an answer. He knows how, even when we believe God is the Hearer of prayer, that believing prayer which lays hold of the promise is something spiritual, too high and difficult for the half-hearted disciple. He therefore teaches those who would learn to pray to lodge this truth deep into their hearts: prayer accomplishes much; ask and you shall receive; everyone who asks, receives. This is the fixed eternal law of the kingdom. If you ask and receive not, it must be because there is something lacking in the prayer. Let the Word and the Spirit teach you to pray correctly, but do not let go of the confidence He seeks to waken: Everyone who asks, receives.
Prayer: Lord, teach me to pray. Lord Jesus, I trust You for it; teach me to pray in faith. Lord, teach me this lesson of today: Everyone who asks receives.