December 18, 2024 • 36 mins
Are you satisfied with your prayer life? If you’re like many Christians, the answer is no. But why is that? Why is it that we struggle to spend concentrated time in prayer with the all-glorious King of the Universe, the only One who can meet our most pressing needs and truly satisfy us? In this passage from Matthew 7:7–11, Jesus urges his disciples to be persistent in prayer in light of the goodness and generosity of their Father in heaven. Though we don’t always know what’s best for us, we can go to God in prayer, trusting his perfect wisdom and love. This message from David Platt highlights the privilege and promises of prayer.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
I was talking recently with abrother who's been a follower of
Jesus for decades and aChristian leader.
In his work.
God has used him as a powerfulwitness to many people.
(00:20):
Some of you would recognize hisname, many people, some of you
would recognize his name, but hetold me, david, I don't think
I've ever sat down and prayedfor 10 straight minutes.
And I don't think he's aloneLike.
I read a survey this week fromCrossway that polled 14,000
followers of Jesus.
Do you know what percentage ofthem said they were satisfied
(00:42):
with their prayer lives?
Two percent.
If you translate into thisgathering today, that would mean
98 percent of you.
Almost all of you aredissatisfied with your prayer
life and it's evident in the waywe often approach prayer.
It's kind of this rote,emotionless exercise tack on
(01:06):
before a meal or transition tobegin or end a meeting.
So why is it so hard for us tospend concentrated time in
prayer and to experiencesatisfaction in prayer?
It really doesn't make sensewhen you think about it.
Prayer it really doesn't makesense when you think about it.
(01:27):
And we're talking about what isarguably the most astounding,
exhilarating privilege in allthe world to communicate with
the ruler of the world who lovesus infinitely more than anyone
else in the world.
Isn't that odd, I mean?
I know we're busy people, butif God really is the greatest
possible being, the infinitelybeautiful creator and savior and
(01:52):
redeemer of all, then what inyour schedule this week would be
more satisfying than spending afew moments with him?
And I don't ask these questionsto shame us, but to help us see
we're missing somethingsignificant and I have prayed
(02:13):
that today would be a turningpoint in the prayer lives of
many people.
I pray that in the next fewminutes God, through his word,
by his spirit, would open youreyes, our eyes together, to see
what we're missing about theprivilege of extended,
(02:34):
satisfying time with him.
I can't promise you that in thenext few minutes all your
questions about prayer are goingto be answered, but I do want
to show you how Jesus' wordshere in Matthew 7 can completely
change your life today, notjust your prayer life, but your
entire life.
(02:54):
So listen to these words fromJesus, matthew, chapter 7, verse
7.
He says Ask and it will begiven to you, seek and you will
find Knock and it will be givento you.
Seek and you will find Knockand it will be opened to you,
for everyone who asks receives,and the one who seeks finds.
And to the one who knocks itwill be opened, or which one of
(03:16):
you, if his son asks him forbread, will give him a stone, or
if he asks for a fish, willgive him a serpent.
If you, then, who are evil,know how to give good gifts to
your children, did you hear thatJesus just said, not just to a
(03:38):
crowd of people 2,000 years ago,but to you and me today,
talking about God, theinfinitely powerful, creator of
all, the one who spoke and theentire universe came into being,
the one who brings out everystar at night and calls them
each by name, the one true Godwho's unlike any other being and
(03:59):
utterly perfect in all of hisattributes, the one who is
infinitely and perfectly goodand loving and wise and powerful
, and kind and just and merciful?
Jesus just said you have anopen invitation to ask God for
(04:20):
good things and it's guaranteedhe will give them to you.
That's amazing, and why wouldwe not pray?
So the answer must be thateither we don't understand what
Jesus is saying here, or wedon't believe it, because if we
understood and believed this,we'd be praying a lot more and
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we would be super satisfied.
But here's how I wouldsummarize the problem what we're
missing, as I've meditated onthis passage this week we have a
defective understanding ofprayer because we have too high
a view of ourselves and too lowa view of God.
(05:04):
So let me flesh this out.
Some of you might not say it inthe ways I'm about to put it on
the screen, but if you get inour minds and look at our lives,
I think you'd see thatoftentimes we think of God as a
divine genie who exists to giveus what we wish or want.
People read this passage andsay that's not true.
(05:27):
I've asked God for things in mylife or others' lives, and I
didn't receive them.
They didn't receive them.
I've asked God to heal me ofthis and he hasn't done it.
I've asked God to change thatand he hasn't done it.
I don't even know if I believein God at this point, and if
(05:47):
he's there, then prayer to himclearly doesn't matter.
But stop for a moment and justthink about your view of God.
This won't take you longer than15 seconds to realize.
Do you really think Jesus issaying to all of us God will
give you whatever you wish.
The prayer is a wand you canwave and poof all your dreams
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come true.
God is not Aladdin, and justthink about how dangerous it
would be if he was.
If this was how prayer worked.
Be if he was.
If this was how prayer worked.
Every one of us with our sinfulhearts and competing desires,
with our lack of knowledge andwisdom, asking and getting
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whatever we want, never actuallyknowing how what we want will
affect this person or thatcircumstance, or the course of
history for that matter.
One writer said if it were thecase that whatever we ask, god
would pledge to give, then I forone would never pray again
because I would not havesufficient confidence in my own
wisdom to ask God for anything.
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And I think if you willconsider it, you will agree.
So we realize okay, maybe Godis not a personal genie for each
of us, maybe this doesn't meanI get everything I want.
But then we start to think ofGod as a celestial slot machine.
So I'm not sure if asking Godfor something is actually going
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to work, but it won't hurt.
Just put the coin in the slot,take the chance and maybe every
once in a while I'll hit thejackpot.
And this affects prayer forsmall things and big things.
People pray for their team towin a game, not realizing the
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other team's praying the samething.
Or people pray in a moreserious way for someone they
love to live and to be healed ofa sickness or disease, for a
marriage or a child or arelationship to be restored, and
you want to have faith, but itfeels like you're just not sure
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if this is going to lead toreward or leave you empty.
And at the root of much of thisis the reality that we think we
know better than God.
We think we know what is bestin a given situation for us, for
others, we don't understand whythings don't happen the way we
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want.
Reading Habakkuk in our churchBible reading plan this year,
the last few days this is howHabakkuk starts this whole book.
Why is this happening, god?
Habakkuk 1.2.
How long shall I cry for help?
And you will not hear.
Habakkuk, like us, doesn'tunderstand God's ways, which
leads us to question God.
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If you are good God, why areyou doing this?
If you're loving God, why areyou doing that?
So if you're not going toanswer when I pray, then why
pray?
And we end up actually gettingmad at God when he doesn't do
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what we want.
And when you really take thisall the way to the end, you
realize.
Do we ever so subtly think weshould be God?
After all, if God dideverything we wanted that we
thought was best, that wouldmake us God.
We struggle with prayer becausewe want to be in control of our
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lives, of others' lives, of theworld, or at least particular
parts of it.
So prayer becomes an outletwhere we try to control things,
when prayer is actually anacknowledgement that God alone
is in control.
And that's a good thing,because God alone knows what is
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best, not us.
But that strikes at the core ofour pride.
And as you keep digging deeper,you realize we have a defective
understanding of prayer becausewe think we can live without
God.
The whole starting point ofprayer is acknowledging you are
God, I'm not and I need you.
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Jesus' first word in verse 7 isto ask God for things and
fundamentally, if we're notasking for things, we're
assuming we don't need God forthings.
I don't need to pray.
God, give us this day our dailybread.
I have plenty of food in myhouse, I don't need to pray.
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I get up every morning and workhard to put food on my table.
There's a million other waysthis lack of prayer plays out in
our supposed self-sufficiency.
At the core, prayerlessness ispride.
It's saying with our lives I'vegot this.
I don't need to ask God forthings.
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But prayerfulness is a humilitythat says I don't got this.
I need to ask you, god, for anygood thing and to gladly trust
you that, whatever I ask you for, you are God and I am not.
(11:20):
But we have too low a view ofGod, too high a view of
ourselves.
We don't realize we can't getup in the morning unless God
gives us a beating heart andbreathing lungs and the ability
to get up and go to work, to putfood on our tables that he
creates and he provides for us.
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Despite our pride, we have adefective understanding of
prayer, because we think we canlive without God in this world
and, finally, we think thisworld is what matters most.
So when we read verses likethis ask and you'll receive, we
immediately think of all thecircumstances we want to change
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in our lives and others' livesin the world around us, and this
is where we need to see thecontext of these words from
Jesus.
So don't just this doesn't justappear out of nowhere.
This is nearing the end of thisSermon on the Mount where, over
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and over again, jesus hascalled us to a better way to
live in this world, to theblessed life, the good life in
this world that's actuallyfocused on another world.
Remember how the whole sermonstarted Matthew 5, 3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
The good life begins withpoverty, humility of spirit
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before God, in other words, theheart of prayer that is focused
on attaining a kingdom inanother world.
We saw it in Matthew 5, 11 and12.
Blaster you when others revileyou and persecute you and utter
all kinds of evil against you,falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for yourreward is great in heaven.
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Ha again, the good lifeinvolves people reviling you and
persecuting you, lying aboutyou in this world.
Rejoice and be glad Becauseyou're not living for this world
and your reward is great inanother world.
Matthew 5, 22.
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Turn from anger why?
Because everyone who's angrywith his brother will be liable
to judgment.
Whoever insults his brotherwill be liable to the council.
Whoever says you fool will beliable to the hell of fire in
the next world.
Turn from lust.
Matthew 5, 29.
Why, if your right eye causesyou to sin, tear it out, throw
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it away.
It's better for you to lose oneof your members than your whole
body to be thrown into hell inanother world.
And you jump ahead to chapter 6.
Don't give, pray, fast, to beseen by others.
Why not?
For then you will have noreward from your Father who is
in heaven.
So give in secret and pray insecret and fast in secret
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Matthew 6, 18.
And your Father in heaven, whosees in secret, will reward you.
Then, right after that, verse19.
Don't lay up for yourselvestreasures in this world where
moth and rust destroy, wherethieves break in and steal.
Lay up for yourselves treasuresin another world where moth and
rust do not destroy, wherethieves do not break in and
steal.
After that he says don't worryabout things in this world.
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God is going to take care ofyou forever.
Then you get to chapter 7.
We looked at this last week,right before what we're reading
today.
Jesus said judge not that yoube not judged, for with the
judgment you pronounce, you willbe judged With the measure you
use.
It will be measured to you.
Judge mercifully in this world,knowing you will be judged in
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another world.
So, after all this, when youget to Matthew, chapter seven,
verse seven, ask and it will begiven to you.
What do you think Jesus istalking about?
Asking for Stuff in this world,circumstances to change in this
world?
No, he's talking about the goodlife, the better life that he's
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just described.
Ask God for poverty of spiritand purity of heart and hunger
and thirst for righteousness.
Ask God for freedom from angerand freedom from lust and
freedom from desires for revengeand bitterness against your
enemies.
Ask God for freedom from worry.
Ask God, seek God, knock on hisdoor and God will give you all
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these things and more.
God will give you a kingdom, akingdom that far surpasses
anything and everything else inthis world.
This is an absolutely amazingpassage when we realize what
Jesus is telling us to ask for.
So let's change the way weunderstand prayer today.
Prayer is not primarily forcircumstances to become what we
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want in this world.
Instead, prayer is primarilyfor more of Jesus' life in us
and others, no matter what thatmeans in this world.
Prayer is primarily for more ofthe blessing, the good life
that Jesus alone can give Forthe purity of Jesus, the comfort
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of Jesus, the strength of Jesus, the joy of Jesus, the strength
of Jesus, the joy of Jesus, thepeace of Jesus, the perspective
of Jesus, the love of Jesus inus and in others.
And this is not to say that it'swrong to pray for circumstances
to change, for healing tohappen, for the job to come
about and for all kinds of otherthings like that.
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The Bible actually gives usthose pictures of prayer.
But the Bible also keeps thosethings in this world in proper
perspective in light of anotherworld.
And just think, for example,about praying for healing for
someone who's sick, which theBible tells us to do.
At the same time, at some pointevery one of us is going to die
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from any number of causes,including this body wearing out.
So at some point the prayer forhealing or protection or
preservation won't be answered.
But the beauty is, this worldis not all there is.
Even when this body is brokenand no longer able to go on, the
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life of Jesus in us will liveon in another world.
Now some might think, yeah, okay, but I really want this
circumstance to change or thisthing to happen, and I get it.
Believe me, I get it.
And the reason I use this wordprimarily is because I want to
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help us evaluate what we wantmore in prayer, because, if
we're honest, many times we wantthis or that circumstance in
this world more than we wantJesus' life in us and others, no
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matter what that means in thisworld, life in us and others, no
matter what that means in thisworld.
And this is where we need tostep back and reevaluate the
foundation of our faith,especially in a world where so
many people have been sold agospel that says come to Jesus
and get stuff.
Come to Jesus and get health orwealth or prosperity or any
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number of other things in thisworld.
And it's not that those thingsare bad in and of themselves,
but they're not the gospel.
The gospel, the good news, isnot come to Jesus to get stuff.
The gospel, the good news, iscome to Jesus to get Jesus,
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who's infinitely better thaneverything in this world put
together.
Come to the one in whom life isfound, now and forever.
That will change yourperspective on what you pray for
.
Paul says if I live, christ, ifI die, gain, Heal me or not
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deliver me or not, I win BecauseI have Jesus.
I just want more of him.
So pray primarily to get moreof Jesus and all the good things
that flow from his life in youthe peace of Jesus that passes
all understanding.
The strength of Jesus thatendures all trials.
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The joy of Jesus thatsupersedes all suffering.
The wisdom of Jesus to navigateall challenges.
The hope of Jesus thattranscends all circumstances.
The love of Jesus that willnever, ever, ever fail.
You Ask and it will be given.
You Seek and you will findKnock and the door will be
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opened wide to you for the lifeof Jesus in you.
Seek and you will find Knockand the door will be opened wide
to you for the life of Jesus inyou.
So here's two practicaltakeaways from this passage.
One, in light of the privilegeof prayer, pray continually.
I ask for this all the time,this invitation to ask, seek,
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knock on the door of God, fromwhom all things flow, for all of
His children.
Did you notice that word inverse 8?
Everyone who asks this isn'tjust like the super spiritual,
the elite Christian.
No such thing.
Like everybody, same plane atthe foot of the cross, and he
says to everyone of his childrenwho asks receive Everyone who
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knows God as Father, withoutexception.
And if you don't know God asFather, then he invites you to
be in his family.
This is John 1.12.
To all who did receive him, whobelieved in his name, he gave
the right to become children ofGod.
For anybody listening right nowwho's never placed your faith
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in Jesus, this invitation is foryou to be a part of the family
of God.
You have sin in your life thatseparates you from God.
If you die in this state ofsinful separation from God, you
will spend eternity in judgmentdue your sin.
But God loves you so much thathe came to us.
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It's where we celebratedChristmas in the person of Jesus
.
And Jesus lived a life of nosin that, even though he had no
sin for which to die, he choseto die on a cross to pay the
price for our sins.
Three days later, he rose fromthe grave in victory over sin
and death, so that anyone,anywhere, no matter who you are,
no matter what you have done,if you will turn from your sin
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yourself and trust in Jesus asSavior and Lord of your life,
god will forgive you of all yoursin, restore you to
relationship with him forever aspart of his family.
That is the invitation for youtoday Receive Jesus, believe in
his name as the Savior and Lordof your life and become a child
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of God, and when you do, and forall who have.
Now we come back to Matthew 7,where Jesus says to every child
of his uses this imagery okay,you like to give good gifts to
your children and you have sinin your heart.
You're not a perfect father,You're not a perfect mother.
We're talking about the perfectfather's.
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Heaven has good things that hewants to give to those who ask
him.
He wants you to come to him,which is pretty bold when you
really think about it.
Again, in light of Luke'steaching of the same words, let
me show it to you Luke, chapter11, verse 5.
These same words, let me showit to you Luke, chapter 11,
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verse 5.
Luke tells a story that Jesustells as he's talking about
asking and receiving.
Watch this Jesus said to themtalking about his disciples.
Which of you who has a friendwill go to him at midnight and
say to him Friend, lend me threeloaves, for a friend of mine
has arrived on a journey.
I have nothing to set beforehim and he will answer from
within.
Do not bother me.
The door is now shut.
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My children are with me in bed.
I cannot get up and give youanything.
I tell you, though, he will notget up and give him anything
because he is his friend.
Yet because of his impudence,he will arise and give him
whatever he needs, and I tellyou, here it is ask and it will
be given.
You Seek and you will findKnock, and it will be opened to
you For everyone who.
What a great story.
So get the picture.
First century Palestine here itis, there, it is right here.
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First century Palestine foodnot quite as readily available
as it is today.
No late night taco bells.
You bake enough bread each dayto meet that day's needs.
You start again the next day.
So a guy shows up at his buddy'shouse at midnight and he's
(24:30):
hungry and hospitality was huge.
So the buddy has a dilemma.
Option number one he can be apoor host and not get the guy
any food.
Option number two he can be apoor neighbor and wake somebody
else up at midnight.
So he chooses what's behind.
Door number two His neighboralready fast asleep with his
family.
House is, in that day one roomaffairs, which means you get kid
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one, two, three down for bed.
You and your spouse close thedoor, bolt it, lay down next to
each other.
Nobody's getting up to go tothe bathroom without causing
major commotion.
So all of a sudden a knock comesat the door.
The guy on the outside saysfriend, which is a good way to
start when you're wakingsomebody up at midnight for a
piece of bread, because thisfriendship thing is now walking
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a tight line, I think about thisdad looking around, seeing
little eyes next to him startpopping open.
It's one thing to wake up dad,it's a whole nother thing to
wake up the toddler in themiddle of the night.
So the guy inside is not toohappy right now.
He says in the most polite waypossible don't bother me, I'm
not getting up to give youanything.
(25:35):
Then Jesus says, even thoughthe guy will not get up and give
him anything because he's hisfriend, because that's in
question he will get up becauseof his impudence the word means
bold or shameless he just keepsasking until the dad gets out of
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bed and gives him what he needs.
So here's the interesting thingabout stories like this.
We hear them and think, okay,somebody in this story is me and
somebody's God.
So I think we're the guyknocking on the door.
So who's God?
Like the grumpy guy on theinside saying, don't bother me,
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it's weird.
What is Jesus teaching aboutprayer?
Well, if you want somethingfrom God, just keep banging on
the door and eventually he'llgive you what you want, not
because he loves you, butbecause you're annoying.
That's free, I know that's notthe point of the story.
The whole point of the storycomes back to this boldness,
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this shamelessness, and we'llonly understand the story
rightly when we look at itthrough the lens of this guy
who's in need knocking.
Jesus tells the whole storyfrom his perspective.
So resist the temptation to tryto compare the friend inside
with God.
Just put yourself in this guy'sshoes.
Imagine if you were so bold, soshameless enough to go to your
friend at midnight just to askhim for a piece of bread, like I
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think the picture Jesus ispainting of is of a guy who's
just in a sense rude, like oneof those guys who just doesn't
know which social lines to crossand which ones not to.
You know that kind of person.
Are you that kind of person?
You may not realize it.
So the guy doesn't seem to getthe point.
Like you don't wake up yourbuddy and his entire family at
midnight unless you've got areally good reason.
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This guy doesn't know that he'sshameless.
He's so socially out of it heactually thinks it's no big deal
to bother his friend in themiddle of the night to get what
he needs.
And Jesus says that is how weshould approach God.
Follow this.
This story is a perfectillustration of you and me think
about it going to God andsaying so.
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It feels kind of inappropriateto interrupt you because you're
like running a universe rightnow and you got a lot going on.
But I need you to look at meand listen to me and not get
distracted, because I got somethings I need to share with you.
Is that not over the top?
But it's not.
It seems shameless, almostludicrous, to be going into the
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presence of the God of theuniverse and Jesus is saying to
you be as shameless as you want.
Essentially, jesus is sayingyou might write this down God
delights in blessing those whoare bold enough to bother him.
And I hesitate to use the wordbother, but it's the point.
We usually think of bother witha negative connotation, like
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nobody wants to be a bother.
But think about this with me.
Imagine I'm traveling overseas,have a full schedule every day
and I call home and I ask mywife, heather, how she's doing
and she says I've got somethings that are really heavy on
my heart, but I don't want tobother you with it.
Let me tell you what I'm notgoing to say Well good, because
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I don't really want to hear Imissed everything I've got going
on.
Is there anything else you'dlike to talk about?
No, no, I'm going to say,heather, I delight in being the
one you want to bother with thethings that are heavy on your
heart.
It would bother me, it would bea sign of unhealth in our
relationship if you didn't cometo me with those things.
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And that's the point God issaying to you I want to be
bothered with what's on yourheart.
God is saying that to you.
I want to be bothered withwhat's on your heart.
God is saying that to you.
And that includes small thingsand big things.
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We sometimes think things we'repraying for aren't important
enough to warrant mention beforeGod.
But look at this story.
It's not an emergency.
The guy's not saying my wife'shaving a baby, my kid broke his
leg.
We have a robber in the house.
It's in the middle of the nightand he's saying I want some
biscuits.
Talk about presumptuous, I mean.
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Would the traveling dude die ifhe just waited until breakfast?
Tell him to go to bed.
He'll forget he's hungry whenhe falls asleep.
That's what we tell our kids.
See the beauty of this story.
Every one of God's children hasthe freedom to ask, seek and
knock in everything.
(30:19):
So, in light of this privilege,pray continually.
These verbs for ask and seekand knock all have the sense of
ongoing, persistent Ask and keepon asking, seek and keep on
seeking, knock and keep onknocking.
And just think about it.
What it would be like if wewere praying like this.
What if we were all asking,seeking, knocking, individually
and together, all the time forthe purity, individually and
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together, all the time for thepurity, holiness, peace,
strength, love, justice of Jesus.
It would totally change ourlives and our families, our
church family and our effect inthis world.
So let's do it.
In light of the privilege ofprayer, pray continually and
then, in light of the promise ofprayer, pray confidently.
(31:04):
This passage you count them up,depending on how you count them
, six or seven promises Jesusgives that God will answer our
prayers.
Now again, we don't have timeto talk about everything in
prayer today, but here's thepractical summary I would give,
based on this passage and otherpassages like it when you have a
(31:24):
clear word from God, pray withtotal confidence in His Word.
Meaning when you have a precise, direct word from God in the
Bible, then pray with confidencein that Word that God will do
what His Word says he will do.
The five-minute podcast I doevery day Pray the Word is
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designed to help you do this,like read a verse, follow us
along with our Bible readingplan and just pray it over your
life and others' lives.
So when God's word says inPhilippians 4, you can do all
things through Christ, whostrengthens you, and you pray
that continually for thestrength of Jesus and trust
confidently he will give that toyou.
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James 1, ask for wisdom.
Trust that God hears you andwill give you what you ask.
He's a good father.
He's not.
When you ask for a fish, hedoesn't say here's a snake.
When you ask for wisdom, hewants to get it.
He wants to pour it out on you.
So pray with total confidencein his word and you have a clear
(32:28):
word from God and then, whenyou don't have a clear word from
God, pray with total confidencein his wisdom, his power and
his love.
So, for example, when, like wesaid earlier, you're praying for
healing or restoration ofpeople in any number of
(32:48):
circumstances, but obviously youdon't have a specific verse
that this specific person orrelationship will be healed or
restored at this specific time,then by all means ask for that.
Ask and keep on asking, pourout your heart, asking for that.
Remember God is our Father, sotrust that he hears us and will
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answer our prayers.
Wish we had time to dive intothis or other words.
Prayer has an effect in thisworld.
God designed it that way as ourprayers are filtered through
His wisdom Knowing.
He sees a million things wedon't see.
He knows a million things wedon't know.
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So we can ask him, trusting hiswisdom, his power.
Do not doubt the power of Godto answer your prayers.
He is able, he is omnipotent.
So don't believe theadversary's lies.
Maybe God's weak, maybe Godcan't do it.
(33:52):
Trust in the power of God, asyou trust in the love of God.
He loves you infinitely morethan anyone else in this world,
infinitely more than anyone elsein this world, and he's
promised to work all thingstogether for the good of those
who love him and are calledaccording to his purpose, for
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his children, and that good isfor the life of Jesus to be
yours more and more, now andforever.
Which leads to how I want toclose.
So I want to invite you to takethe next couple minutes and
identify one or two start here,you can or two or three, you
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start here and do more two orthree characteristics of Jesus
that you lack but would like tohave, of Jesus that you lack but
would like to have.
And then, once you've done that, I want you to pray for these
characteristics in your life,for the good life of Jesus to be
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yours more and more.
I want to challenge you to praycontinually for those things,
all week long, and to prayconfidently, with trust that God
, your Father, will give them toyou, and in the process, you'll
be taking a significant stepforward into the satisfaction
that God, your Father, hasdesigned for you to experience
(35:20):
in prayer.
And can I just add to this, inlight of the brother I shared
about earlier, If you would say,yeah, I've never or I've rarely
spent 10 concentrated minutesin prayer with God 15 minutes.
Can I just encourage you trythis week, set aside in your
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schedule 10-15 minutes.
Try to do it each day and justspend time in prayer.
If it helps to focus your mindand write out your prayer, think
about the acrostic we use forprayer a lot P-R-A-Y Praising
God, prayer, a lot P-R-A-YPraising God, repenting of sin,
asking God for things, includingcharacteristics of Jesus you
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lack, would like to have.
And then, wise, yield, pray,repent, ask, yield.
Just spend 10, 15 nights, justyou and God, and I guarantee you
he promises there's rewardwaiting for you in relationship
with God.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
(36:31):
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
Radicalnet.
You are listening to Radical with David Platt, a
weekly podcast with sermons andmessages from pastor, author and
teacher David Platt.
I was talking recently with abrother who's been a follower of
Jesus for decades and aChristian leader.
In his work.
God has used him as a powerfulwitness to many people.
(00:20):
Some of you would recognize hisname, many people, some of you
would recognize his name, but hetold me, david, I don't think
I've ever sat down and prayedfor 10 straight minutes.
And I don't think he's aloneLike.
I read a survey this week fromCrossway that polled 14,000
followers of Jesus.
Do you know what percentage ofthem said they were satisfied
(00:42):
with their prayer lives?
Two percent.
If you translate into thisgathering today, that would mean
98 percent of you.
Almost all of you aredissatisfied with your prayer
life and it's evident in the waywe often approach prayer.
It's kind of this rote,emotionless exercise tack on
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before a meal or transition tobegin or end a meeting.
So why is it so hard for us tospend concentrated time in
prayer and to experiencesatisfaction in prayer?
It really doesn't make sensewhen you think about it.
Prayer it really doesn't makesense when you think about it.
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And we're talking about what isarguably the most astounding,
exhilarating privilege in allthe world to communicate with
the ruler of the world who lovesus infinitely more than anyone
else in the world.
Isn't that odd, I mean?
I know we're busy people, butif God really is the greatest
possible being, the infinitelybeautiful creator and savior and
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redeemer of all, then what inyour schedule this week would be
more satisfying than spending afew moments with him?
And I don't ask these questionsto shame us, but to help us see
we're missing somethingsignificant and I have prayed
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that today would be a turningpoint in the prayer lives of
many people.
I pray that in the next fewminutes God, through his word,
by his spirit, would open youreyes, our eyes together, to see
what we're missing about theprivilege of extended,
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satisfying time with him.
I can't promise you that in thenext few minutes all your
questions about prayer are goingto be answered, but I do want
to show you how Jesus' wordshere in Matthew 7 can completely
change your life today, notjust your prayer life, but your
entire life.
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So listen to these words fromJesus, matthew, chapter 7, verse
7.
He says Ask and it will begiven to you, seek and you will
find Knock and it will be givento you.
Seek and you will find Knockand it will be opened to you,
for everyone who asks receives,and the one who seeks finds.
And to the one who knocks itwill be opened, or which one of
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you, if his son asks him forbread, will give him a stone, or
if he asks for a fish, willgive him a serpent.
If you, then, who are evil,know how to give good gifts to
your children, did you hear thatJesus just said, not just to a
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crowd of people 2,000 years ago,but to you and me today,
talking about God, theinfinitely powerful, creator of
all, the one who spoke and theentire universe came into being,
the one who brings out everystar at night and calls them
each by name, the one true Godwho's unlike any other being and
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utterly perfect in all of hisattributes, the one who is
infinitely and perfectly goodand loving and wise and powerful
, and kind and just and merciful?
Jesus just said you have anopen invitation to ask God for
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good things and it's guaranteedhe will give them to you.
That's amazing, and why wouldwe not pray?
So the answer must be thateither we don't understand what
Jesus is saying here, or wedon't believe it, because if we
understood and believed this,we'd be praying a lot more and
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we would be super satisfied.
But here's how I wouldsummarize the problem what we're
missing, as I've meditated onthis passage this week we have a
defective understanding ofprayer because we have too high
a view of ourselves and too lowa view of God.
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So let me flesh this out.
Some of you might not say it inthe ways I'm about to put it on
the screen, but if you get inour minds and look at our lives,
I think you'd see thatoftentimes we think of God as a
divine genie who exists to giveus what we wish or want.
People read this passage andsay that's not true.
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I've asked God for things in mylife or others' lives, and I
didn't receive them.
They didn't receive them.
I've asked God to heal me ofthis and he hasn't done it.
I've asked God to change thatand he hasn't done it.
I don't even know if I believein God at this point, and if
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he's there, then prayer to himclearly doesn't matter.
But stop for a moment and justthink about your view of God.
This won't take you longer than15 seconds to realize.
Do you really think Jesus issaying to all of us God will
give you whatever you wish.
The prayer is a wand you canwave and poof all your dreams
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come true.
God is not Aladdin, and justthink about how dangerous it
would be if he was.
If this was how prayer worked.
Be if he was.
If this was how prayer worked.
Every one of us with our sinfulhearts and competing desires,
with our lack of knowledge andwisdom, asking and getting
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whatever we want, never actuallyknowing how what we want will
affect this person or thatcircumstance, or the course of
history for that matter.
One writer said if it were thecase that whatever we ask, god
would pledge to give, then I forone would never pray again
because I would not havesufficient confidence in my own
wisdom to ask God for anything.
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And I think if you willconsider it, you will agree.
So we realize okay, maybe Godis not a personal genie for each
of us, maybe this doesn't meanI get everything I want.
But then we start to think ofGod as a celestial slot machine.
So I'm not sure if asking Godfor something is actually going
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to work, but it won't hurt.
Just put the coin in the slot,take the chance and maybe every
once in a while I'll hit thejackpot.
And this affects prayer forsmall things and big things.
People pray for their team towin a game, not realizing the
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other team's praying the samething.
Or people pray in a moreserious way for someone they
love to live and to be healed ofa sickness or disease, for a
marriage or a child or arelationship to be restored, and
you want to have faith, but itfeels like you're just not sure
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if this is going to lead toreward or leave you empty.
And at the root of much of thisis the reality that we think we
know better than God.
We think we know what is bestin a given situation for us, for
others, we don't understand whythings don't happen the way we
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want.
Reading Habakkuk in our churchBible reading plan this year,
the last few days this is howHabakkuk starts this whole book.
Why is this happening, god?
Habakkuk 1.2.
How long shall I cry for help?
And you will not hear.
Habakkuk, like us, doesn'tunderstand God's ways, which
leads us to question God.
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If you are good God, why areyou doing this?
If you're loving God, why areyou doing that?
So if you're not going toanswer when I pray, then why
pray?
And we end up actually gettingmad at God when he doesn't do
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what we want.
And when you really take thisall the way to the end, you
realize.
Do we ever so subtly think weshould be God?
After all, if God dideverything we wanted that we
thought was best, that wouldmake us God.
We struggle with prayer becausewe want to be in control of our
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lives, of others' lives, of theworld, or at least particular
parts of it.
So prayer becomes an outletwhere we try to control things,
when prayer is actually anacknowledgement that God alone
is in control.
And that's a good thing,because God alone knows what is
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best, not us.
But that strikes at the core ofour pride.
And as you keep digging deeper,you realize we have a defective
understanding of prayer becausewe think we can live without
God.
The whole starting point ofprayer is acknowledging you are
God, I'm not and I need you.
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Jesus' first word in verse 7 isto ask God for things and
fundamentally, if we're notasking for things, we're
assuming we don't need God forthings.
I don't need to pray.
God, give us this day our dailybread.
I have plenty of food in myhouse, I don't need to pray.
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I get up every morning and workhard to put food on my table.
There's a million other waysthis lack of prayer plays out in
our supposed self-sufficiency.
At the core, prayerlessness ispride.
It's saying with our lives I'vegot this.
I don't need to ask God forthings.
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But prayerfulness is a humilitythat says I don't got this.
I need to ask you, god, for anygood thing and to gladly trust
you that, whatever I ask you for, you are God and I am not.
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But we have too low a view ofGod, too high a view of
ourselves.
We don't realize we can't getup in the morning unless God
gives us a beating heart andbreathing lungs and the ability
to get up and go to work, to putfood on our tables that he
creates and he provides for us.
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Despite our pride, we have adefective understanding of
prayer, because we think we canlive without God in this world
and, finally, we think thisworld is what matters most.
So when we read verses likethis ask and you'll receive, we
immediately think of all thecircumstances we want to change
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in our lives and others' livesin the world around us, and this
is where we need to see thecontext of these words from
Jesus.
So don't just this doesn't justappear out of nowhere.
This is nearing the end of thisSermon on the Mount where, over
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and over again, jesus hascalled us to a better way to
live in this world, to theblessed life, the good life in
this world that's actuallyfocused on another world.
Remember how the whole sermonstarted Matthew 5, 3.
Blessed are the poor in spirit,for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.
The good life begins withpoverty, humility of spirit
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before God, in other words, theheart of prayer that is focused
on attaining a kingdom inanother world.
We saw it in Matthew 5, 11 and12.
Blaster you when others revileyou and persecute you and utter
all kinds of evil against you,falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad, for yourreward is great in heaven.
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Ha again, the good lifeinvolves people reviling you and
persecuting you, lying aboutyou in this world.
Rejoice and be glad Becauseyou're not living for this world
and your reward is great inanother world.
Matthew 5, 22.
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Turn from anger why?
Because everyone who's angrywith his brother will be liable
to judgment.
Whoever insults his brotherwill be liable to the council.
Whoever says you fool will beliable to the hell of fire in
the next world.
Turn from lust.
Matthew 5, 29.
Why, if your right eye causesyou to sin, tear it out, throw
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it away.
It's better for you to lose oneof your members than your whole
body to be thrown into hell inanother world.
And you jump ahead to chapter 6.
Don't give, pray, fast, to beseen by others.
Why not?
For then you will have noreward from your Father who is
in heaven.
So give in secret and pray insecret and fast in secret
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Matthew 6, 18.
And your Father in heaven, whosees in secret, will reward you.
Then, right after that, verse19.
Don't lay up for yourselvestreasures in this world where
moth and rust destroy, wherethieves break in and steal.
Lay up for yourselves treasuresin another world where moth and
rust do not destroy, wherethieves do not break in and
steal.
After that he says don't worryabout things in this world.
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God is going to take care ofyou forever.
Then you get to chapter 7.
We looked at this last week,right before what we're reading
today.
Jesus said judge not that yoube not judged, for with the
judgment you pronounce, you willbe judged With the measure you
use.
It will be measured to you.
Judge mercifully in this world,knowing you will be judged in
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another world.
So, after all this, when youget to Matthew, chapter seven,
verse seven, ask and it will begiven to you.
What do you think Jesus istalking about?
Asking for Stuff in this world,circumstances to change in this
world?
No, he's talking about the goodlife, the better life that he's
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just described.
Ask God for poverty of spiritand purity of heart and hunger
and thirst for righteousness.
Ask God for freedom from angerand freedom from lust and
freedom from desires for revengeand bitterness against your
enemies.
Ask God for freedom from worry.
Ask God, seek God, knock on hisdoor and God will give you all
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these things and more.
God will give you a kingdom, akingdom that far surpasses
anything and everything else inthis world.
This is an absolutely amazingpassage when we realize what
Jesus is telling us to ask for.
So let's change the way weunderstand prayer today.
Prayer is not primarily forcircumstances to become what we
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want in this world.
Instead, prayer is primarilyfor more of Jesus' life in us
and others, no matter what thatmeans in this world.
Prayer is primarily for more ofthe blessing, the good life
that Jesus alone can give Forthe purity of Jesus, the comfort
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of Jesus, the strength of Jesus, the joy of Jesus, the strength
of Jesus, the joy of Jesus, thepeace of Jesus, the perspective
of Jesus, the love of Jesus inus and in others.
And this is not to say that it'swrong to pray for circumstances
to change, for healing tohappen, for the job to come
about and for all kinds of otherthings like that.
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The Bible actually gives usthose pictures of prayer.
But the Bible also keeps thosethings in this world in proper
perspective in light of anotherworld.
And just think, for example,about praying for healing for
someone who's sick, which theBible tells us to do.
At the same time, at some pointevery one of us is going to die
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from any number of causes,including this body wearing out.
So at some point the prayer forhealing or protection or
preservation won't be answered.
But the beauty is, this worldis not all there is.
Even when this body is brokenand no longer able to go on, the
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life of Jesus in us will liveon in another world.
Now some might think, yeah, okay, but I really want this
circumstance to change or thisthing to happen, and I get it.
Believe me, I get it.
And the reason I use this wordprimarily is because I want to
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help us evaluate what we wantmore in prayer, because, if
we're honest, many times we wantthis or that circumstance in
this world more than we wantJesus' life in us and others, no
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matter what that means in thisworld, life in us and others, no
matter what that means in thisworld.
And this is where we need tostep back and reevaluate the
foundation of our faith,especially in a world where so
many people have been sold agospel that says come to Jesus
and get stuff.
Come to Jesus and get health orwealth or prosperity or any
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number of other things in thisworld.
And it's not that those thingsare bad in and of themselves,
but they're not the gospel.
The gospel, the good news, isnot come to Jesus to get stuff.
The gospel, the good news, iscome to Jesus to get Jesus,
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who's infinitely better thaneverything in this world put
together.
Come to the one in whom life isfound, now and forever.
That will change yourperspective on what you pray for
.
Paul says if I live, christ, ifI die, gain, Heal me or not
(19:43):
deliver me or not, I win BecauseI have Jesus.
I just want more of him.
So pray primarily to get moreof Jesus and all the good things
that flow from his life in youthe peace of Jesus that passes
all understanding.
The strength of Jesus thatendures all trials.
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The joy of Jesus thatsupersedes all suffering.
The wisdom of Jesus to navigateall challenges.
The hope of Jesus thattranscends all circumstances.
The love of Jesus that willnever, ever, ever fail.
You Ask and it will be given.
You Seek and you will findKnock and the door will be
(20:26):
opened wide to you for the lifeof Jesus in you.
Seek and you will find Knockand the door will be opened wide
to you for the life of Jesus inyou.
So here's two practicaltakeaways from this passage.
One, in light of the privilegeof prayer, pray continually.
I ask for this all the time,this invitation to ask, seek,
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knock on the door of God, fromwhom all things flow, for all of
His children.
Did you notice that word inverse 8?
Everyone who asks this isn'tjust like the super spiritual,
the elite Christian.
No such thing.
Like everybody, same plane atthe foot of the cross, and he
says to everyone of his childrenwho asks receive Everyone who
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knows God as Father, withoutexception.
And if you don't know God asFather, then he invites you to
be in his family.
This is John 1.12.
To all who did receive him, whobelieved in his name, he gave
the right to become children ofGod.
For anybody listening right nowwho's never placed your faith
(21:35):
in Jesus, this invitation is foryou to be a part of the family
of God.
You have sin in your life thatseparates you from God.
If you die in this state ofsinful separation from God, you
will spend eternity in judgmentdue your sin.
But God loves you so much thathe came to us.
(21:57):
It's where we celebratedChristmas in the person of Jesus
.
And Jesus lived a life of nosin that, even though he had no
sin for which to die, he choseto die on a cross to pay the
price for our sins.
Three days later, he rose fromthe grave in victory over sin
and death, so that anyone,anywhere, no matter who you are,
no matter what you have done,if you will turn from your sin
(22:20):
yourself and trust in Jesus asSavior and Lord of your life,
god will forgive you of all yoursin, restore you to
relationship with him forever aspart of his family.
That is the invitation for youtoday Receive Jesus, believe in
his name as the Savior and Lordof your life and become a child
(22:41):
of God, and when you do, and forall who have.
Now we come back to Matthew 7,where Jesus says to every child
of his uses this imagery okay,you like to give good gifts to
your children and you have sinin your heart.
You're not a perfect father,You're not a perfect mother.
We're talking about the perfectfather's.
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Heaven has good things that hewants to give to those who ask
him.
He wants you to come to him,which is pretty bold when you
really think about it.
Again, in light of Luke'steaching of the same words, let
me show it to you Luke, chapter11, verse 5.
These same words, let me showit to you Luke, chapter 11,
(23:27):
verse 5.
Luke tells a story that Jesustells as he's talking about
asking and receiving.
Watch this Jesus said to themtalking about his disciples.
Which of you who has a friendwill go to him at midnight and
say to him Friend, lend me threeloaves, for a friend of mine
has arrived on a journey.
I have nothing to set beforehim and he will answer from
within.
Do not bother me.
The door is now shut.
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My children are with me in bed.
I cannot get up and give youanything.
I tell you, though, he will notget up and give him anything
because he is his friend.
Yet because of his impudence,he will arise and give him
whatever he needs, and I tellyou, here it is ask and it will
be given.
You Seek and you will findKnock, and it will be opened to
you For everyone who.
What a great story.
So get the picture.
First century Palestine here itis, there, it is right here.
(24:09):
First century Palestine foodnot quite as readily available
as it is today.
No late night taco bells.
You bake enough bread each dayto meet that day's needs.
You start again the next day.
So a guy shows up at his buddy'shouse at midnight and he's
(24:30):
hungry and hospitality was huge.
So the buddy has a dilemma.
Option number one he can be apoor host and not get the guy
any food.
Option number two he can be apoor neighbor and wake somebody
else up at midnight.
So he chooses what's behind.
Door number two His neighboralready fast asleep with his
family.
House is, in that day one roomaffairs, which means you get kid
(24:51):
one, two, three down for bed.
You and your spouse close thedoor, bolt it, lay down next to
each other.
Nobody's getting up to go tothe bathroom without causing
major commotion.
So all of a sudden a knock comesat the door.
The guy on the outside saysfriend, which is a good way to
start when you're wakingsomebody up at midnight for a
piece of bread, because thisfriendship thing is now walking
(25:13):
a tight line, I think about thisdad looking around, seeing
little eyes next to him startpopping open.
It's one thing to wake up dad,it's a whole nother thing to
wake up the toddler in themiddle of the night.
So the guy inside is not toohappy right now.
He says in the most polite waypossible don't bother me, I'm
not getting up to give youanything.
(25:35):
Then Jesus says, even thoughthe guy will not get up and give
him anything because he's hisfriend, because that's in
question he will get up becauseof his impudence the word means
bold or shameless he just keepsasking until the dad gets out of
(25:56):
bed and gives him what he needs.
So here's the interesting thingabout stories like this.
We hear them and think, okay,somebody in this story is me and
somebody's God.
So I think we're the guyknocking on the door.
So who's God?
Like the grumpy guy on theinside saying, don't bother me,
(26:16):
it's weird.
What is Jesus teaching aboutprayer?
Well, if you want somethingfrom God, just keep banging on
the door and eventually he'llgive you what you want, not
because he loves you, butbecause you're annoying.
That's free, I know that's notthe point of the story.
The whole point of the storycomes back to this boldness,
(26:39):
this shamelessness, and we'llonly understand the story
rightly when we look at itthrough the lens of this guy
who's in need knocking.
Jesus tells the whole storyfrom his perspective.
So resist the temptation to tryto compare the friend inside
with God.
Just put yourself in this guy'sshoes.
Imagine if you were so bold, soshameless enough to go to your
friend at midnight just to askhim for a piece of bread, like I
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think the picture Jesus ispainting of is of a guy who's
just in a sense rude, like oneof those guys who just doesn't
know which social lines to crossand which ones not to.
You know that kind of person.
Are you that kind of person?
You may not realize it.
So the guy doesn't seem to getthe point.
Like you don't wake up yourbuddy and his entire family at
midnight unless you've got areally good reason.
(27:23):
This guy doesn't know that he'sshameless.
He's so socially out of it heactually thinks it's no big deal
to bother his friend in themiddle of the night to get what
he needs.
And Jesus says that is how weshould approach God.
Follow this.
This story is a perfectillustration of you and me think
about it going to God andsaying so.
(27:44):
It feels kind of inappropriateto interrupt you because you're
like running a universe rightnow and you got a lot going on.
But I need you to look at meand listen to me and not get
distracted, because I got somethings I need to share with you.
Is that not over the top?
But it's not.
It seems shameless, almostludicrous, to be going into the
(28:06):
presence of the God of theuniverse and Jesus is saying to
you be as shameless as you want.
Essentially, jesus is sayingyou might write this down God
delights in blessing those whoare bold enough to bother him.
And I hesitate to use the wordbother, but it's the point.
We usually think of bother witha negative connotation, like
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nobody wants to be a bother.
But think about this with me.
Imagine I'm traveling overseas,have a full schedule every day
and I call home and I ask mywife, heather, how she's doing
and she says I've got somethings that are really heavy on
my heart, but I don't want tobother you with it.
Let me tell you what I'm notgoing to say Well good, because
(28:51):
I don't really want to hear Imissed everything I've got going
on.
Is there anything else you'dlike to talk about?
No, no, I'm going to say,heather, I delight in being the
one you want to bother with thethings that are heavy on your
heart.
It would bother me, it would bea sign of unhealth in our
relationship if you didn't cometo me with those things.
(29:13):
And that's the point God issaying to you I want to be
bothered with what's on yourheart.
God is saying that to you.
I want to be bothered withwhat's on your heart.
God is saying that to you.
And that includes small thingsand big things.
(29:35):
We sometimes think things we'repraying for aren't important
enough to warrant mention beforeGod.
But look at this story.
It's not an emergency.
The guy's not saying my wife'shaving a baby, my kid broke his
leg.
We have a robber in the house.
It's in the middle of the nightand he's saying I want some
biscuits.
Talk about presumptuous, I mean.
(29:56):
Would the traveling dude die ifhe just waited until breakfast?
Tell him to go to bed.
He'll forget he's hungry whenhe falls asleep.
That's what we tell our kids.
See the beauty of this story.
Every one of God's children hasthe freedom to ask, seek and
knock in everything.
(30:19):
So, in light of this privilege,pray continually.
These verbs for ask and seekand knock all have the sense of
ongoing, persistent Ask and keepon asking, seek and keep on
seeking, knock and keep onknocking.
And just think about it.
What it would be like if wewere praying like this.
What if we were all asking,seeking, knocking, individually
and together, all the time forthe purity, individually and
(30:40):
together, all the time for thepurity, holiness, peace,
strength, love, justice of Jesus.
It would totally change ourlives and our families, our
church family and our effect inthis world.
So let's do it.
In light of the privilege ofprayer, pray continually and
then, in light of the promise ofprayer, pray confidently.
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This passage you count them up,depending on how you count them
, six or seven promises Jesusgives that God will answer our
prayers.
Now again, we don't have timeto talk about everything in
prayer today, but here's thepractical summary I would give,
based on this passage and otherpassages like it when you have a
(31:24):
clear word from God, pray withtotal confidence in His Word.
Meaning when you have a precise, direct word from God in the
Bible, then pray with confidencein that Word that God will do
what His Word says he will do.
The five-minute podcast I doevery day Pray the Word is
(31:45):
designed to help you do this,like read a verse, follow us
along with our Bible readingplan and just pray it over your
life and others' lives.
So when God's word says inPhilippians 4, you can do all
things through Christ, whostrengthens you, and you pray
that continually for thestrength of Jesus and trust
confidently he will give that toyou.
(32:07):
James 1, ask for wisdom.
Trust that God hears you andwill give you what you ask.
He's a good father.
He's not.
When you ask for a fish, hedoesn't say here's a snake.
When you ask for wisdom, hewants to get it.
He wants to pour it out on you.
So pray with total confidencein his word and you have a clear
(32:28):
word from God and then, whenyou don't have a clear word from
God, pray with total confidencein his wisdom, his power and
his love.
So, for example, when, like wesaid earlier, you're praying for
healing or restoration ofpeople in any number of
(32:48):
circumstances, but obviously youdon't have a specific verse
that this specific person orrelationship will be healed or
restored at this specific time,then by all means ask for that.
Ask and keep on asking, pourout your heart, asking for that.
Remember God is our Father, sotrust that he hears us and will
(33:11):
answer our prayers.
Wish we had time to dive intothis or other words.
Prayer has an effect in thisworld.
God designed it that way as ourprayers are filtered through
His wisdom Knowing.
He sees a million things wedon't see.
He knows a million things wedon't know.
(33:31):
So we can ask him, trusting hiswisdom, his power.
Do not doubt the power of Godto answer your prayers.
He is able, he is omnipotent.
So don't believe theadversary's lies.
Maybe God's weak, maybe Godcan't do it.
(33:52):
Trust in the power of God, asyou trust in the love of God.
He loves you infinitely morethan anyone else in this world,
infinitely more than anyone elsein this world, and he's
promised to work all thingstogether for the good of those
who love him and are calledaccording to his purpose, for
(34:14):
his children, and that good isfor the life of Jesus to be
yours more and more, now andforever.
Which leads to how I want toclose.
So I want to invite you to takethe next couple minutes and
identify one or two start here,you can or two or three, you
(34:37):
start here and do more two orthree characteristics of Jesus
that you lack but would like tohave, of Jesus that you lack but
would like to have.
And then, once you've done that, I want you to pray for these
characteristics in your life,for the good life of Jesus to be
(35:00):
yours more and more.
I want to challenge you to praycontinually for those things,
all week long, and to prayconfidently, with trust that God
, your Father, will give them toyou, and in the process, you'll
be taking a significant stepforward into the satisfaction
that God, your Father, hasdesigned for you to experience
(35:20):
in prayer.
And can I just add to this, inlight of the brother I shared
about earlier, If you would say,yeah, I've never or I've rarely
spent 10 concentrated minutesin prayer with God 15 minutes.
Can I just encourage you trythis week, set aside in your
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schedule 10-15 minutes.
Try to do it each day and justspend time in prayer.
If it helps to focus your mindand write out your prayer, think
about the acrostic we use forprayer a lot P-R-A-Y Praising
God, prayer, a lot P-R-A-YPraising God, repenting of sin,
asking God for things, includingcharacteristics of Jesus you
(36:09):
lack, would like to have.
And then, wise, yield, pray,repent, ask, yield.
Just spend 10, 15 nights, justyou and God, and I guarantee you
he promises there's rewardwaiting for you in relationship
with God.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's episode of Radical with
(36:31):
David Platt.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
Radicalnet.
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