You have not because you ask not ~
James 4: 2
I want us all to understand prayer is not a formula, but simply conversation with our Father.
Whether we realize it or not, our lives as sincere believers are in an ongoing state of prayer without ceasing. We are in constant communication over all details transpiring throughout our day. The why, the how, which way, what’s the right way, are all questions brought before Him as we navigate our day. Whether we come to Him isolated in a prayer closet, join corporate prayer meetings, or engage while we are busy with doings, all methods are prayer, a conversation with our Father.
Jesus said, pray to the Father in His name. Jesus is the one who has made the way for us to come into His family and address Him as Father. As our Father, we hold him in a place of reverence and honour. A privilege to call Him Father, a responsibility to honor Him as Almighty God.
Jesus set before His disciples the invitation to ask. We looked at Mark 11:24 last week, let us consider these today ~
Mt.7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; …
John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
John 16:16 And I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will remain--so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
John 15:7,16 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
John 16:23.26 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you…
We learn from Jesus that asking is absolutely necessary. While He knows what we have need of before we ask, Matthew 6:8, He still sets before us the direction to ask. This shows we have an absolute dependence on Him as provider for all things. We are looking to none other for our help. Give us this day our daily bread is the ask that says, I need you!
Jesus is found before the blind man in Mark 10. He has stopped and asked “What will you that I should do for you?”
Andrew Murray points out in his book ‘With Christ in the School of Prayer’ that there must be a will for a thing not simply a wish to have it. He writes, “the will rules the whole heart and life. If I really will to have something that is within my reach, I do not rest until I have it. When Jesus asks us, what will you? He asks whether it is our intention to get what we ask for at any price, however great the sacrifice. Do we really will to have it…. Such a will is not at variance with our dependence on God and on submission to Him. Rather, it is the true submission that honours Christ. It is only when the child has yielded his own will in entire surrender to the Father that he receives from the Father the liberty and power to will what he desires.”
Andrew Murray went on to point out that it is simply slothful to not take the trouble to search out His will, or when found, the struggle to claim it in faith. He notes true humility is always accompanied by strong faith and leads us to the place of assurance that we are not asking amiss in order to consume it upon our own lusts, but confident we have asked according to his will and it shall be done unto us. James 4:2-3; John 15:7.
Lord, teach us to pray!