Daily Devotional – Insightful [ Ask, Seek, Knock ] “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 NET We have in these words, not formal definition of prayer, but an incidental definition, and most complete. To pray is to “ask” of God; the more childlike the asking the better. When we think of the height and the depth, the length and the breadth, of the righteousness of the kingdom - when we think of the dangers which lurk on every hand and at every stage in our life-journey - we may well cry, Who is ample for these things? To that cry of the heart this is the answer: Ask, and it shall be given you. We have had prayer before; but it was prayer as a part of righteousness, prayer as a religious duty. Now it is prayer as a power, as the one sure and only means of avoiding the terrible evils on every side, and obtaining the unspeakable blessings that come through our relationship with Jesus Christ. This being so, it is of the greatest importance that we should have faith to use it. So the repeated assurance, and the plain strong language in which it is conveyed; and the simple, strong and touching arguments to dispel our doubts and encourage our trust. In certain states of life one may lose all appetite for food. Are they then to yield to this want of appetite? If they do yield to it, they are soon starve to death. Sometimes without appetite, it becomes necessary for them to take, day by day, nourishment. Just so with prayer. If I cannot pray as a privilege, I am to pray as a duty and responsibility.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 10:15:01 +0000