Scripture I'm Reflecting on: Luke 11:9-10
"And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
Jesus spoke these words following a story He was telling his disciples in response to them asking to be taught how to pray. Jesus asked his disciples to imagine going to a friend's house at midnight to borrow some bread, only to have the friend let them know it was too late and he was leaving the door locked. Jesus said that if they kept knocking through "shameless persistence", the friend would get up and give you whatever you need.
Reflection:
The message of this verse is pretty clear this time, no deep reflection needed. Jesus is simply telling his disciples, and all of us, to never give up on prayer. Be persistent in prayer. Be dedicated to prayer. And be faithful that it will work out, that you will get an answer. In fact, he goes on to say EVERYONE who prays, receives. EVERYONE who does finds God.
This an easy devotion to type to readers. But I would find it hard to believe that there is someone out there who has never struggled with this concept in their spiritual life. I know I sure do. Jesus tells us to keep praying. Keep seeking, keep "knocking on the door." And while he guarantees the results will come, he doesn't guarantee two key components that us men and women always want to know: When and How? When are my prayers going to get answered? And how? What will happen?
Jesus doesn't give us these answers, and for good reason. For one, there is no "answer." The how and when will be different for every person, for every prayer, for every given situation. And again, this is for good reason. Our faith isn't supposed to be easy. If it was, everyone would claim their love (real or fake) for God. If every prayer was answered right away, then there would be a lot more Christians in the world. But would these be true Christians, in the way God wants us to be? Or would most of these new "Christians" just be selfishly praying for their own personal fortunes?
Put simply, prayer is the answer to our problems. We are told to pray constantly, seek God constantly, and remember and glorify God in all of our daily tasks. But even when we do all that, we shouldn't expect a "fast-food" style prayer transaction. We won't always get answers right away. And we won't always get the exact answers we WANT. But God always gives us the answers we NEED when we are diligent in our faith.
Personal Reflection:
Instead of going to my list of passages that I mark in my reading to come back and reflect on in this blog, I went online and specifically sought out encouragement for this specific topic. This verse in particular was the one I found most encouraging for my current prayer issues, and I thought it may help to share in case it could help someone else just as much.
While I have been blessed with great patience with others around me (with certain exceptions), I have absolutely no patience when it comes to myself personally. If I set out to try something new, I tend to give up very quickly if it looks it's something I don't pick up right away. This attitude put a quick end to my attempts to learn several musical instruments, learn a foreign language, and any attempt to complete a project that requires the slightest touch of artistic ability (which I absolutely do not have). I say all that to demonstrate how difficult this concept is for me, which is why finding this verse was especially encouraging for me.
When I first started truly praying again, most of my prayers seemed to be answered quickly and simply. As I'm sure is the case with everyone, it made it really easy to continue to pray and seek God when my prayers were being answered exactly as I had hoped. But lately, I have spent a notable amount of time praying for some things that simply are not coming to fruition, and I am finding myself having a hard time understanding why. While giving up isn't something I have come close to doing, the natural question of "why is God not responding to my prayers", a thought that we all probably have in similar situations, has started to pop in my head. I spent time reflecting on this before I began writing this, and I'm now realizing that God has been responding to me this whole time, for the last few weeks of my prayer time....and I just didn't realize it.
I have had several dreams over the past couple of weeks where a situation has occurred and then someone in my life tells me "don't give up." Yesterday at Bible Study, someone spent a few minutes discussing a verse in Acts that helped them not give up on a prayer in their life, and ultimately their prayers were answered. I turned on a sermon this morning and the first words I heard out of the pastor's mouth were "never give up on your faith." Despite all of this, I ate my dinner this evening still wondering when God was going to give me some sort of response to my prayer. Finally, in prayer tonight, God put the words "don't give up" so strongly on my heart that I couldn't avoid the answer despite my "blindness" to the ga-billion other times he has shown this to me over the last few weeks. This powerful message was what led me to seek out verses on this topic, and ultimately write this blog.
You may be asking, how is "don't give up" an answer to your prayer? How could "don't give up" help me with whatever you may be imagining I am praying about. Well, is don't give up the ultimate answer to my prayers I was/am waiting for? No. BUT, I know now that God is telling me that he hears me, he loves me, and as long as I keep seeking him, keep showing faith, my prayers will be answered. Will this answer be the "Dream" answer I have in my head? Who knows. I understand it might not, and admittedly struggle and worry regularly about what ultimate answers I may get. Unfortunately prayer isn't a multiple choice test with one clear right answer and four wrong ones. But knowing God is telling me to not give up gives me comfort. Knowing God is telling me not to give up means he WILL answer my prayer, and WILL "open a door" for me, regardless of whether it is the one I wanted to be opened or a totally different one.
Final Thought:
If you have a prayer that you think hasn't been answered, or wasn't answered the way you think it should have been, take a little time today, tomorrow, or soon to reflect and pray about it. Similar to my situation, God may have been, or may still be responding to you in a way that you just have not been able to pick up on yet.
Hebrews 11:6
“And without faith it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards those who seek Him.”
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