A few insights on prayer

 Matthew 7:7-8

King James Version

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

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

How many of us have heard these verses quoted? How many times have we heard them followed with something like, "Take your requests to the Lord? Take your needs to the savior. Take your desires to the God of the universe. Ask him, Seek him, and if you're not getting a response, beat on the door!"

They may even throw in other verses:

Psalm 37:4

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

                                                         Or:                                                                                 James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.     

(This last one's quote is usually the last part that's quoted, not the first.)

 And there are many who teach "the prosperity doctrine" that key on these verses and others to prop up their "name it, claim it" prayer theology. I confess that there have been times that I myself bought somewhat into this false doctrine. 

But, the Lord's been working on me and showing me a few things. 

First, in Psalms 37 here, we gain our desires only when we "delight (ourselves) in the Lord." If we are indeed in a spiritual state of delighting in the Lord, our desires have been changed to match his desires. So, the desires of our hearts here just ain't talking about winning the lottery. I'm sorry to tell you.

Second, in the James passage, the prayers that God's answering here are a)repentance (confess your faults) and b) for other people's needs (pray one for ANOTHER). Again. It's not about that new job promotion, pay raise, home, or car. And on another note: how many of us have missed out on healing because we were self-focused, rather than praying for the needs of our fellow believers? After all, the biblical principle is that what we help make happen for others, God will make happen for us. (Matthew 7:12)

But, the passage here in Matthew 7:7-8 bears a little more scrutiny. 

We tend to swoop in, quote these 2 verses, and swoop back out. Yet, the simplest way to understand a verse's meaning is still, first and foremost, to understand it within its broader context. If, in fact, God is telling us that this applies to whatever we are praying about, then the verses around it should agree with/back up that concept. If, however, the verses around it teach otherwise, then our understanding has been wrong. 

Let's go back a bit to chapter 6:

Matthew 6:24-34

King James Version

24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Jesus starts by pointing out that either we will serve God or Mammon. Mammon, some say, was a Chaldean deity that dealt with money. I don't know if that's true, but the word does mean "treasure, or riches." 

What's funny is how applicable to our western, capitalistic worldview this verse is. 

We spend the majority of our time and effort working, struggling, striving, sweating, stepping on, and shoving people out of our way all in hot pursuit of money.  We spend far more time and effort trying to "make a dollar" than we ever do worshipping God. We may spend a few hours a week trying to worship God. But, we spend far more hours trying to maximize our income and improve our finances. 

Our excuse is that we're trying to provide housing, clothing, and food for our families. And yes, we're supposed to do that. But, when most of our thoughts and efforts are centered around that, the question needs to be asked, who are we really serving?

Continue in Chapter 6 and we discover that Jesus explicitly tells us not to worry about those things that we are trying to gain (food, clothing, shelter, etc). We are supposed to understand that, if we are truly living for God, then God is aware of our needs and will provide them for us as we need them. 

Instead, our focus is to be on seeking his kingdom FIRST and his righteousness! And if we will do that, then he will provide for our needs. That means that we are to pray and work to expand HIS kingdom at every possible opportunity (winning souls, planting seeds, watering seeds, praying for others, etc) by/through allowing him to work in and through us (making us righteous in his eyes) to reach and help others. 

Yes, we still have to work, but if our complete focus is on our work, then we're not serving God- even when we are trying to care for our family. 

But, what about me, you ask? 

7 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Chapter 7 begins to explain that rather than us focusing on the faults of others, no matter how good our intentions may be in trying to help other people, we are to begin by allowing God to show us ourselves (in prayer and Bible study). When we see ourselves for who we are, we can repent and get what we see right with God. 

In other words, we allow God to move deeper into us, shining his light on our own sins. Then, we repent and allow him to clean them out. This allows him to move further into our spirits- making us more and more righteous because he is showing up in our actions and attitudes in greater ways. 

Then, once our own beam is removed from our lives, then we can, in the love of God, try and pray and help others remove the speck from their lives. How? Because we have God's compassion working through us. We've been there. We know what it's like to be under the yoke of bondage to sin. So, we are more apt to pray and give our testimony of deliverance to help someone else escape their bondage. 

With all of this in mind, what are we supposed to ask God about? What are we supposed to seek him for? What are we supposed to "bang on the door" for? 

In a word: OTHERS!

We are to ask him to draw others in and set them free. We are to seek him to look for other ways to help them. We are to knock on their prison doors in prayer through the spirit of God- knowing that the prison gates of hell will not prevail against the Biblically
praying saints of God. 

So, don't worry about what you're going to wear or eat, or where you're going to sleep. If we will work hard to work with his spirit to see others made free, then he will take care of all our needs. 

We may not get a mansion here for it, but he's building us one over there- if we will just follow and dwell in his spirit.