We should always ask! No matter what, we will receive a blessing from God even if it isn’t the answer we were envisioning!
Something my family members have heard me often say is, “It can’t hurt to ask!” I’ve always been of that opinion. If you don’t ask, you may have assumed something that causes you to miss out on the blessing of receiving exactly what you were hoping for. Can you imagine if a man had been dating a woman for a long time, he loved her, she loved him, he wanted to marry her, and he knew she wanted the same, but he never asked her? That wouldn’t even make sense! I think sometimes we treat God the same way. We know He loves us, we love Him, and we want to rely on Him, but then we don’t bother asking our Heavenly Father for what it is that is on our hearts.
I’ve heard people say that they don’t want to “bother God with the little requests because He has enough on His plate.” Well, I’m here to tell those people that God’s Word calls us to “cast our burdens upon Him because He cares for us” and that means all of our burdens (1 Peter 5:7).
I believe there are three ways we can cultivate an intentional prayer life by applying the following verse:
“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." Matthew 7:7-8
1. Not Being Reluctant to Ask
I’m sure most of us would say that we don’t have any issues with asking God for things in prayer. However, if you’re like me, there are some areas you find yourself less likely to go to the Lord in prayer about.
If you are in a crisis or dealing with a difficult health diagnosis or a heartbreaking family situation, I am your girl to ask to pray for you. I will storm the gates of Heaven on your behalf and pray with boldness and assuredness that what I am asking the Lord for on your behalf will be answered. And many times it has been! Not because I’m so special, but I believe it's because I asked with intention and expectation that what I was requesting God would answer. I did not waver in my trust in God to accomplish that which I asked.
"In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation." Psalm 5:3
Yet, when it comes to asking for things for myself, I don’t tend to do that… I think it’s because I am wondering whether or not my request is God’s will for me—especially when it comes to my health. I know that God can heal me, but there is something inside of me that says, “Will he?” I don’t know whether it is His will for me to be healed. I’m not sure if that is resonating with anyone.
The following passage has always reminded me that when I have these “doubts” I should still ask:
"In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, 'This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.' Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 'Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 'Go and tell Hezekiah, This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.'" Isaiah 38:1-5
Here we see that God’s will for Hezekiah was imminent death with no chance of recovery, yet after Hezekiah prayed intentionally and with his whole heart, God added 15 years to his life. It’s not that the Lord was wishy-washy with His will, but he used Hezekiah’s request for His purposes to showcase His glory. How do we know this? Verse 6 says, "And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city."
We should always ask! No matter what, we will receive a blessing from God even if it isn’t the answer we were envisioning!
We do not have the mind of God, but we do have His Word where we find insight into His love, His character, and His will, which leads us to our next way to cultivate an intentional prayer life.
2. Seeking the Lord
Once we have come to the Lord asking Him to hear our prayer and answer it, we oftentimes will not receive an answer right away. It is during that time of waiting that we should seek out the Lord for insights into His will regarding that request. I’m thinking specifically when we are at a crossroads and require His wisdom about a big decision. I’m not saying that every situation we face is spelled out in the Bible, but we can see God’s role in our lives and His desires for us and our conduct, which touches upon any circumstance we find ourselves in. It’s also important in these instances to seek God so that we know whether or not an “answer” we might receive is from God or something else.
Years ago, I read the autobiography of George Mueller who was a Christian evangelist and the director of the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol, England. In one instance, he was praying for money to open another orphanage. After much prayer, he received a very large sum of money which would more than pay for the new orphanage, but he did not use the money for what he had prayed for because he did not feel it was God’s will in that instance.
George Mueller used the following flow chart, for lack of a better term, to discern the will of God:
“1. I SEEK AT THE BEGINNING to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
2. HAVING DONE THIS, I do not leave the result to feeling of simple impression. If I do so, I make myself liable to great delusions.
3. I SEEK THE WILL of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Ghost guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.
4. NEXT I TAKE into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.
5. I ASK GOD in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.
6. THUS, THROUGH PRAYER to God, the study of the Word, and reflection, I come to deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly.
In trivial matters, and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.”1
I think this is a beautiful process for creating an intentional prayer life through seeking God in every aspect of prayer. For when we seek Him, we will find Him.
3. Continually Knocking
Years ago, I was convicted when listening to a Charles Stanley sermon where he was talking about prayer. He was saying he never understood why when people prayed they only asked God for that request once. He felt that if there was something we felt strongly about and truly wanted God to accomplish, we would keep on praying until we got an answer.
Pastor Stanley was even so bold as to say that if we don’t do that, he wondered why God would even pay attention to that prayer because it would appear we really didn’t think it was that important if we just mentioned it in passing one time. This gave me pause… We know that even one prayer can accomplish much in God’s economy, but it also made me realize that in those instances where a prayer may take years to be answered—and because I don’t have the foreknowledge to know whether that will be the case—if I only prayed one time, then did it really matter that much to me?
Jesus Himself tells us: “Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs" (Luke 11:5-8).
Even though it may not feel like it, waiting for answered prayer is the Lord’s way of drawing us close to Him, for in our persistence we are in constant communication with the Lord, continually relying on Him.
Oh, what joy we will feel if, after years of praying, we receive our answer above and beyond what we hoped or imagined. It will be that much more awe-inspiring and will certainly spur us on with future requests to continually knock until the door is opened.
May we continually cultivate an intentional prayer life through asking, seeking, and knocking, for we will reap a harvest of blessings.
1 “George Müller - Man of Faith and Miracles,” by Basil Miller, pp. 50-51
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