#2 - The Petition of Prayer - Pr. Opanda Wamalika | Morning Devotion

The key text that is guiding us in our presentation is Ephesians chapter 6:18. And it's important for you to know that uh it is coached within the context of a war. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplications for all the saints. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we invite you to speak to us through this word in Jesus name. Amen. Yesterday we talked about the power of prayer. Don't forget that prayers can move mountain. Prayers can move mountain. But those that can move mountain in your heart are the ones that can move mountains outside of you. Today we are looking at number two supplication. I've uh highlighted it. The petition of prayer. Jesus has spoken in Matthew 7:8 and 8. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Note that Jesus has repeated in verse 8 what he has said in verse 7. That is very important. What is the chief end of prayer? Here Jesus presents a key feature of prayer as petition and teaches us what in all scripture is considered the chief end of prayer. That is the assurance that prayer will be heard and answered and the answer is yes. Jesus cannot ask us to pray if he knows that he can say no to that prayer. He tells us when we pray we make things to happen and that's what Jesus wants. Very important. The promises of God are always yes. Look at the petition. We are trying to dissect that text. Three petitions. One is ask and the answer is it will be given to you. Two seek and what's the answer? You will find. And three knock. and it will be opened. This is imperative. It is not subjunctive. That is it may be opened. No, we have been taught from primary school that uh a prayer has got three answers. Yes or wait or no. That's what human beings have come up with. But as far as Jesus is concerned, you have to pray a prayer whose answer is yes. Because that's what Jesus wants. It has to be yes. Notice the repetition. You notice the repetition ask. And he repeats in verse 8, for everyone who asks receives. Seek and he who seeks finds. Knock and to him who knocks it will be opened. There's no may there. Why a six for a six-fold repetition? We cannot but feel how in this six-fold repetition Jesus wants to impress deep on our minds this one truth that we may and must most confidently expect a yes answer to our prayer. Look at the word confidently. Have you ever prayed a prayer coming from your heart that is not confident? You are even suspecting that God will not even answer. Yes. You are praying but you are not so sure if the answer and when the answer has not come you'll say even when I was praying I knew we are talking about confidently expect a yes answer to our prayer ask why these three specific words that the Lord Jesus uses Ask, seek, knock. To ask refers to a petition focusing on the need. I'm asking for bread. I want money. You are focusing on the need. Seek refers to a proactive petition. focusing on the source of the answer. You know when you ask you are just asking you are passive but when you seek you are part of the solution that you are seeking for you are seeking. You are moving around. What are you looking for? I'm seeking for my lost key. You don't sit and say I'm seeking for my lost key. No, you can say I'm asking for my lost key. But when you are seeking, you are part of the process that will lead to that answer being given. And knock, we are narrowing down now. Knock refers to a petition anticipating immediate answer and admission into the place of the answer. When you knock, you know the door you have to knock. You have narrowed down. You know inside this room is the bread that I want. You are knocking. You are very certain. Certaintity is very important here in knocking. This is the door. I'm knocking on the door. You anticipate somebody to open and you enter in. You are admitted so that you get what you want. That's why Jesus used those three words. Prayer is a means of course that question most of you if you are normal human beings you must identify the question why not immediate answer. Now listen, prayer is a means of not only receiving what we want but also of securing fellowship with the giver. That point is very important even as we shall continue making more presentations. You must have a relationship with the giver. So when you are praying God for something, don't just focus on the your need but you have no relationship with God. So when you are praying, God feels good. When you come before God, God feels happy. He's delighted. He would like to uh fellowship with you. Number two, the greatest answer is fellowship with the giver more than the gift. So you can be sure that all the prayers that we give there is always one answer that you are given your fellowship with God. And there is nothing that is more important than that. In Luke 5 verse 1-1 11 I'll paraphrase Simon Peter and very many other disciples are fishing. They have fished the whole night and gotten nothing. In the morning Jesus tells them put your net in the deep seas. Peter says we have tried but at your word let's try. So they put it in the deep place and they get a lot of fish so much that they have to beg on their friends to come and help them. And as soon as they bring the fish to the shore, Peter leaves the fish and rushes and falls at the feet of Jesus holding his feet and says, "Go away from me for I am a sinful man, oh Lord." A very important aspect of that text is that then they left the fish and followed him. Now this is very important. They wanted fish. They have been given fish but they have left the fish. They have followed him. They knew that if they remain with the fish and they leave Jesus to go away, this fish will get finished. And when they need more fish, Jesus will not be there. So you rather walk with the person who is able to give you fish any time. Leave the fish, go with him. That is fellowship with the giver is more important than the gift because anytime you need not only that specific gift but any other gift he will give you. But what we always do is we are focused on the gift and the moment we notice that the gift is not forthcoming we are disappointed. We start complaining. Yet the greatest gift has been with you. Fellowship with God is the greatest gift. Number three, the three petition words now translated in simple tense in English gives the meaning of actually this is the real meaning when you check it in Greek. Keep asking. Not ask but keep asking. Keep seeking and keep knocking. Don't just ask I want bread and then when the bread is not there. No. Keep asking. Keep seeking and keep knocking until the door is opened, until you find, until you are given what you're asking for. But let's face it, we all know of cases where we received or we thought we have received a no for an answer from God. The answer lies in any two or all of the following. All of us will always find ourselves at 1, two, or three. A faulty motive. Look at James chapter 4. James 4:3. You ask and do not receive because you ask a miss that you may spend it on your own pleasures. If what you are asking for comes from a faulty motive, God, as we are going to see shortly, answers the need of your heart. And he knows that the need of your heart in such cases is no. So he has given the right answer. Now I I I want to say something on Matthew chapter 6:8 which is also very important in securing answers for our prayers. This one is introduction to the Lord's prayer. Right? It says chapter 6 verse 8. Therefore, do not be like them, for your father knows the things you have need of before you ask him. The question there is, does God know that you need it? Does God know that you need this thing? If God knows that you need another thing, you are asking for what God knows you do not need. He will not give you what you have asked for. He will give you your need. He will answer the need of your heart. And because we are blinded by what we think is a no, we don't even see that God has said yes to the real need of our heart. So ask yourself, does God need uh does God know that I need it? I've prayed for students so many times who are sitting for exams. So why do you want which grade? We always we are specific. Write the grade that you need. You write on a piece of paper. You put in an envelope and we pray for them. I I I want an A. I want a B. I want a what. But have you ever asked whether God knows that you need an A? Does God know that you need an A? Because he will give you what you need. So number three, did you keep asking or seeking or knocking, keep seeking, keep asking, keep knocking. So you pray today, tomorrow, the next day, after tomorrow and the answer is not coming, you throw in your towel. I say look, God always answers us a yes to the need of the heart. God answers us the need of the heart. Let's look at an error. If you pray for a selfish out of a selfish motive, what is your true need? You need love. You need selflessness. So God will give an answer that seeks to cultivate selflessness. He will give an answer that seeks to cultivate love because you are selfish. Therefore, whatever answer he will give addresses the need of the heart. And the answer is you have to t in God's presence. You know what? When you remain with God for a long time, you are infected by the character of God, which is love. You start learning to be a loving person. So God will cultivate things in your environment that will attract you to him. And you pray so many times again and again and again and again and again until when God sees that love is being magnified in your heart, you'll see what will happen. Now there's an error. Somebody asks for something which he does not need, which he does not know whether God knows that he needs it. So if you don't know the knowledge of God, if you don't know the knowledge of God, in other words, if you don't know the word of God, you will ask for wrong things. You will ask for wrong things. meaning that you are supposed to know the will of God. You are to introspect to look at your heart. Does God know that I need this? A just a short illustration in my ministry. I run a prayer ministry. So one day h somebody called me and said that her mother who has some problem is lost. Her mother is lost in Kakamega town. So I prayed for her on phone and after praying shortly thereafter one of our students called me and said we have found an old lady here at around 1000 p.m. He doesn't seem even to know where she's coming from and what have she's lost. I said can you ask for her name? He gave the name and I called the other lady who called me. Is your mother so and so? He said yes. I said she's found. So I direct her come at my place at the gate until they found her. So her sister now was so impressed by that answer that she believed that I am a person who prays and things happen. Remember I've not given a comment about myself but I'm talking about her. She believed that I'm a person who prays and things happen. Now she has been in marriage for a long time and she doesn't have a child. So she made an appointment to meet me. So when she came she sat and I started interrogating her. She said she has stayed with the husband for 5 years. She doesn't have a child. As we continued talking, I noticed that she's a second wife. There's nothing wrong. Second wives, they're human beings. Yeah. But I realized that even the parents of her husband do not know that. They do not know her. In other words, she's not a true wife. She's a wife in Kenya. We call a So I had to ask her when Yes. >> [laughter] >> So I told her, "Listen, go and leave that man. Leave that man. He's not your husband." He went away very unhappy. Are you seeing God has blocked her from having a child? She's asking for a wrong thing. You have to know the will of God so that you may ask for the right thing. And then many of us are at number two, no persistence. We don't persist. I'll talk more about persistence hopefully tomorrow. Do you know to persist? Uh I I told you I run a prayer ministry. So I pray for people one year. So I pray for your need for one year. In other words, I revise whether the answer has been given or not after one year. So God may answer after one month, two months, 3 months. So wherever I go, I carry many people's prayer petitions in my bag. So I pray for them. Pray and pray and pray and pray. So when God knows that this person is not patient, when you are praying, he gives you signs that indicate the answer is coming. So you are more encouraged to pray. But the answer doesn't arrive immediately. But he continues giving you signs so that you may continue praying and praying and praying until you cultivate the virtue of patience and we shall speak more about this patience. God knows that this student does not need grade A. What he needs is patience. I want to give a rule about prayer. Persist in prayer as you review the petition against motive and the will of God. You know when you pray and the answer doesn't come ask yourself why am I praying for the right thing is this the will of God as you think about it God will open your eyes and you start seeing if there is something wrong with your prayer and you start praying a right let's withdraw the request if it be not accord according to the will of God. Or if you are sure it's according to the will of God, persevere in the prayer until the answer comes. One more thing, this is our sunship against the fatherhood of God. I talked about God Listen to what Jesus says. What manner what man is there among you who if his son asks for bread will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? Jesus here teaches us that as much greater God is than sinful man, so much greater our assurance ought to be that he will more surely than any earthly father grant our childlike petitions. If you can be sure that your earthly sinful father will give you what you need, you need to be more sure that your heavenly father will give you what you need more than your earthly father. Listen, I'm repeating this statement. As much greater God is than man, so much sherer is it that prayer will be heard with the father in heaven than with a father on earth. Do you know what I'm just like you? I pray like you. What we lack is assurance that our prayer will be heard. For example, I believed having stayed with my mother for a long time, I believed that she was the holiest human being. And I think I'm a pastor because of her prayers. So when she died, uh the funeral was going on and when the pastor was about to stand, it started raining. I could understand how God would interrupt the someone in my mother's funeral. She among all ladies in the village stood for God. I could not. So I left the the the the venue, took a certain elder. We ran somewhere, knelt and prayed. We told God, "Stop the rain." Then I left that place. people was were were were were feeling disturbed. I went to the stage. I picked the microphone and I said, "Everyone don't go away. It's not going to rain. It's not going to rain." Of course, it didn't rain. But when I met the elder, he told me that when we had hidden praying, I knew that God would say yes or no. But when you stood and announced that it will not rain, I died because I knew suppose it rains and this is a preacher, he will have destroyed his ministry. I told him I was sure it will not rain. I was sure it will not rain. What we lack is assurance. The power of the promise. Ask and it shall be given to you lies in the loving relationship between us as children and the father in heaven. When we live and walk in that relationship, the prayer of faith and its answer will be the natural result. I want to pray for somebody. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you have assured us that that because we are holier than our human fathers, you will surely grant us our petition. But we lack that assurance, certaintity that you are going to grant us our petition so that we walk and talk and do things that show that we believe and we are assured that you'll grant us our petition. If this has also been your problem, being assured that the answer is coming and you'd like God to help you so that next time you pray, you'll be sure and certain that the answer is coming. Raise up your hand as we pray. Father in heaven, look at your brother, look at your sons and your daughters. They would like to be sure that you are going to grant them their petition. Grant them the assurance. Thank you for granting us this assurance in Jesus name.