Our God IS and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When we are persistently asking, seeking, and knocking, He will answer, because He loves us!
Now, I want you to look at the verses following Luke 11:9:
"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" (10-13)
I think so often we view God has someone up their in the sky, who delights in punishing us. But that simply is not true! He is our Father, and what kind of Father would deny good gifts to those who ask?
John 3:16 highlights about all else God's love for us. What kind of mean God would send His own flesh and blood to die for us on the cross!
So, you may be asking, Why aren't all our prayers answered? What about my Grandmother, or my best friend's salvation, or the new car I asked for? Those are good questions, and I will try to answer them with the following verses.
First, let's look a couple verses from chapter 11 for some solutions:
"And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs." (5-8)
So from this verse we learn that we must be persistently asking the Lord, not just once of twice. As we pray for the salvation of a friend, it may take months, or even years. Don't give up! Keep praying for them. Someone I know prayed for her grandson's salvation for 15 years! Talk about persistence! Keep asking, seeking, and knocking until the answer comes.
Another answer lies in this verse:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)
Sometimes the Lord has other plans in mind (like for your grandmother). But cling to this: "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." -Romans 8:28 (Emphasis mine)
God promises that all things will work out for good! Plus, He is a all-knowing God who wants the best for us. He can turn evil into good. Let us trust these matters into His almighty hand.
Now for that car: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3) You see, one of the fundamentals of prayer is that you ask for things that align with God's will. When you want a brand new car so that you can show off to all your friends, that doesn't fit in with God's will. Now, oftentimes He will answer these wants, according to His wisdom. But I have found that when He does this, they are most often come when I have been obedient to Him and abiding under the shadow of His wing. He really His a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. But we must be diligently seeking Him, everyday.
And finally, the most important concept in prayer, faith. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5-8)
We must believe that He can and will answer our prayer. Matthew 17:20 says "So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.' " So many of the times when Jesus heals people, it is because they had faith. So must we.
Finally, let me stress to your the complete importance of prayer. It changes lives! Prayer isn't to be our back tire but our steering wheel (Elizabeth Elliot). It isn't the preparation for the war, it is the war.
I encourage each of you to spend 5-20+ minutes in prayer today, and see how great the Lord is!!!
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