Day Five in the School of Prayer

[In which we follow the Andrew Murray classic With Christ in the School of Prayer]

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8)

On the mountainside, the Lord urges us to pray with confidence, assured that the Father hears our prayers and answers them. There are three answers that we are taught to expect as we embark upon our prayer life: Yes, No, or Not Yet. Jesus teaches that  we are to be persistent in our prayer, petitioning the Father until we receive an answer. Ask, seek, and knock and the Lord promises it will be answered.

Our petitions must be properly formed. James 4:3 says “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” This is why we sit at the feet of Jesus in the school of prayer, to learn to pray properly for the things of the kingdom first and foremost and trusting in God for all else. It is up to us to take the lessons to heart.

Murray concludes

Let us no make the feeble experiences of our unbelief the measure of what our faith may expect. let us seek, not only just in our seasons of prayer, but at all times, to hold fast the joyful assurances: man’s prayer on earth and God’s answer in heaven are meant for each other. Let us trust Jesus to teach us so to pray that the answer can come. he will do it, if hold fast the word he gives today: “Ask, and ye shall receive.”