“Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. For every persistent one will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he longs for. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.” Matthew 7:7-8 (TPT)
God desires His children to persistently and boldly ask, seek and knock! We are told to boldly and confidently come to the Throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). We need to stop praying “please God!” Our begging God to do something does not please Him. The “please God” prayer shows little faith, and is not representing who you are as a child of God! Praying please God prayers shows your lack of understanding of your identity in Christ! We are told to ask without doubting, because the prayer laced with doubt will not be answered and that such prayers comes from double-minded people (James 1:6-8). Ouch!
We are not beggars! Begging God shows the doubt in your heart. Your begging God reveals who you believe He is! God is not Santa Claus, just waiting to receive our list of requests. He is not waiting to be convinced of how desperate you are. He is waiting for you to pray with faith in Him, believing you will receive what you have asked for (Matthew 21:22). We come to Him as our Abba Father (Matthew 6:9), the Most High God! We are co-heirs in Christ (Romans 8:17). We are kings and priests (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6)! We are ambassadors of God (2 Corinthians 5:20)!
We are to pray with authority and faith, that’s what pleases Him. Stop begging and start declaring in faith! When you pray, believe and expect God to faithfully answer you with awesome deeds (Psalm 65:5 – NLT). Shake off the shackles of poverty, of doubt, of a beggar! We’re told to find out the will of God and do, and pray it! Without faith it is impossible to please God! To pray without faith doesn’t move God, because it doesn’t please Him! Begging prayers come from a place of fear, and you should not expect God responding to your fear.
If you have been begging God, repent of it, and begin declaring He is faithful. Ask Him to fill you with faith, not just to believe in your prayer request, but in the One whom you are asking of it! Ask Him to reveal Himself to you in deeper ways. Ask Him for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that you may know Him better (Ephesians 1:17). Ask Him to break off of you everything that is not true about Him, nor about what He says about you! Pray that He would give you the grace to ask, seek and knock with faith, diligence and persistence. Ask Him to grant your pastor a new level of faith-filled praying, and to rise up others in your church who will shake off their beggars clothes and take on their identity as children of the King!
