An Awesome Privilege - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, February 27th. Today's program challenges you to examine the content of your conversation with God. Refine your prayers as you listen to part two of An Awesome Privilege. You and I have the privilege of approaching holy, omnipotent God. This God is so powerful, all He had to do is speak, and this world came into being. Speak, and there was a permanent. Speak, and there were seas and lands. Speak in this grass. Speak in this cattle. Speak in this fowl. Speak in this fish.

Speak in this man. This awesome, eternal, omnipotent God. All He had to do was speak, and all that is in existence is the result of His lips. And I have the privilege of coming to Him and talking to an omnipotent God who has all power to do anything and everything I could possibly ask Him to do.

Is that not awesome? Does that not motivate us to think, God, when we think about how little and insignificant we are like grains of sand on the beach, that we must be far more important to God than that, that He would give us the privilege of walking into His presence with all of His holiness and His unlimited, absolute, ultimate, final authority and power over everything that exists. Now, it's interesting what happens in this passage, because Jesus now is speaking to His hearers, and He's speaking in ways that He's sure that they'll understand. And so He said to them, now pray for your enemies.

That was a tough one. Then He said, now, don't be like the Pharisees and Sadducees praying in public, so you'll be heard and they'll say, oh, here's a praying man, a woman. And He said, so you pray in secret. He says, when you pray in secret, God rewards you openly. Then He said, if you don't know how to pray, this is the way you start.

Listen to this. Our Father, who art in heaven, holy is Thy name. Isn't it interesting that we are to approach Him? And the first attribute is halibut, holy is Thy name. Why didn't He say holy you are God?

No. Because the name of God represents all of His attributes, all of His characteristics, all that God is, is wrapped up in His name. That's why He says His name is Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, names for God that represent and describe the character and the attributes of God. He says you approach Him by saying, our Father, who art in heaven, holy is Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, omnipotence.

So He was making it as simply as He possibly can. And He said in giving these instructions, He says, now this is the way you pray. Ask, it shall be given you. Seek, ye shall find. Knock and it shall be opened to you. I can come to holy, omnipotent God and make a request.

That's what He's saying. He says ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking.

Now look at this word. He says seek and ye shall find. Now to ask I simply say, Father, to seek implies more than that.

And I want you to see the progression. If I'm to seek something, it says that I am to get involved in what this is I'm talking to God about. And then He says knock. Now by knocking what He's implying I believe here is perseverance.

Though that is involved in all of these. Ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. And knock and keep on knocking. Now so when He says knock, I want you to notice the progression. What He's saying is first of all you ask. Then you seek. And then you knock.

Keep on knocking, He said. You say, well, wait a minute. Haven't I heard you say that you can ask God for some things and then just walk away and you know it's done? Well, that's true if in the three levels of faith you're at level number three. And most of the time we don't start out at level number three. Level number one says is a little faith which says I know He can. Level two says I know He will. Level three says it's a done deal. That is there are times in our praying when you and I, when God brings us to the place in our faith having asked and sought and knocked and whatever.

Our sense of confidence and assurance is absolutely so completely perfect that we know that God has borne witness with our witness. It is a done deal. It's as good as done.

You don't even have to ask Me anymore. And then you start thanking Him. And when you come to the third level of faith, it's as good as done, then you don't have to ask anymore. You just start thanking Him that He has given you assurance here is what I'm going to do.

Until then, you're on level one, level two. When you and I say, well, God, here's what I need and we walk away and it isn't because we walk away in perfect faith. What happens to most people?

Watch this. What happens to most people's answers that they're looking for? They just come to God and they'll ask a little bit and seek a little bit, maybe knock a little bit, maybe not at all. And because it doesn't come when they ask for it and the way they ask for it, they say, you know, God didn't hear me. I must not have prayed right. This, that and the other. The truth is God says, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.

Now, if you forget everything else to say, listen real carefully to this. What is God's goal in prayer? Is God's goal in saying ask, seek and knock? Is His goal that you and I would get our needs met?

No. God's primary ultimate goal in encouraging us to pray is to bring us to Himself. To bring us into oneness with Him. To bring us into intimacy with Him. To bring us face to face with Him.

Seek my face, hear my mind, obey my will. What does He want? He wants us living in oneness with Him. Intimacy with Him. He wants fellowship, relationship.

The receiving is secondary. Surely that's the way God answers our prayer. But what's His goal? God doesn't have to get any information from me to find out what I need. He doesn't have to have me inform Him to my needs, my hurts, my pain. He says, ask and it should be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened. But suppose I don't ask, He says you have not because you ask not. But wait a minute God, you already know everything that I need because you're omniscient, you have all knowledge.

Why should I come asking you about something you already know about anyway? Because He wants to bring us to Himself. Listen, He's our Heavenly Father. He wants intimacy with His children, relationship with His children, fellowship with His children, companionship with His children.

He's not just interested in giving things, He can shell it all out. Listen, He says ask, ask me, I want to give it. Seek me, you'll find me, knock and I'm going to open it. But don't ask, seek, knock and forget what it's all about. It's about coming into relationship, it's about loving, it's about intimacy with our Heavenly Father.

That's what it's all about. What does that say? It says this holy, omnipotent God is willing to get personally involved in my life, my circumstances, my hurt, my pain, my suffering, my sin, whatever. He is willing to get personally involved in your life and mine.

If that isn't awesome, this holy, omnipotent, transcendent God above and beyond this universe and all that's in it, He's willing to get personally involved in my life. Listen to this, He says, ask me son and I shall give it. Seek and you will find, knock and I will see to it that it's open. God involved in your life. God interested in your request.

God desiring to do what? He says, knock and it shall be open. And sometimes we come to close doors and they look absolutely shut. He says, keep on knocking, what happens? He says, and it shall be open to you. Who's going to do the opening? God's going to do the opening. Can you name any kind of door God cannot open? Listen, what door on the face of this earth is closed to omnipotence?

Not a one. If that doesn't do something to your whole attitude about prayer, you and I are coming to a holy God, an omnipotent God. And what does He say? He says, and look at verse eight. He says, for everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be open. Why would He almost repeat the very same words? Because He wants to give us assurance.

You say, well now wait a minute, I've got some questions. My first question is, He says in verse eight, everyone who asks receives. Did He mean what He said?

Why sure He did. But to whom is He speaking? Jesus is speaking to His followers. And if you'll notice as you read through the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters, when He refers to those who not, He refers to them in the third person plural, they, those, Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, tax collectors.

He's talking to His children. If you go back over, for example, to Isaiah chapter, look in Isaiah about fifty-nine. And if you'll notice in a couple of verses here, what He says. He says, now look, look, behold, the Lord's hand is not short that it cannot save. It has not ever been a person that God could not save.

Neither is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. God hears our request. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

So when a person says, well, no, I don't believe in Jesus and I don't, I'm not one of those followers of Christ and not a church member and all those things. I talk to God. He's not listening.

So what do you mean He's not listening? Because you cannot get to holy God and detour around and bypass the only means of getting there, which is the person of Jesus Christ, because at Calvary He opened the way that is the only way to Him. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.

You cannot get to Him by bypassing the only means of access to God the Father because He's a holy God. He says, ask and it shall be given you. So when He says everyone, that is everyone who's a believer in Him, everyone who's a follower of His. Because you see, there's some other requirements like praying in the will of God and trusting Him, believing that He will hear and answer.

But you say, well, I have another question. It says, ask and it shall be given you. Do you mean to tell me that I can ask for anything I want and God's going to answer it?

He makes it so clear. You see, God doesn't leave out anything. Look, if you will, in the eleventh verse. He says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give, what is the next phrase, what is good to those who ask Him? You say, will God give me anything I ask for?

Sure, He will. Oops, aren't you contradicting yourself? No, I haven't finished. Listen, He will give you anything in this world you ask for that God in His perfect wisdom and perfect love knows is good for you. We approach a holy God, we make our request to an omnipotent God and we receive our answer from a loving Father.

Look at this. Now, He could not have used any illustration that would have been more personal, more intimate, more moving, more convincing and more persuading than the one He used. Because when He says, what man is there of you if his son shall ask him for a loaf, will he give him a stone? Now, what did He talk about? He said, now, what man is there of you if his son asks him for bread? And that bread was a little round loaf, sort of like pita bread today, sort of flattened round, the same color and the same shape of the stones there along the sea. He says, what man is there of you if his son asks him for bread? Would you pick up one of these stones and give it to him?

Certainly not. If he asks you for a fish, would you give him an eel, which is absolutely a violation of the Levitical law to even eat one of those things? Have you ever seen one? Who in the world would want to eat one anyway?

It looks like a snake running through the water. Then He says, now, you fathers, even at your best, you make mistakes with your kids or you may neglect them. You may deliberately hurt them or harm them or you may do so without meaning to. He says, if you then being evil, saying, you know, we have our five senses, we live in these human bodies and we are fleshly. He says, now, if you then being evil, even you know how to give good gifts to your children. If he asks for bread, you're going to give him a piece of bread. If he asks for fish, you're going to give him a fish. He said, if you know how to do that, I love this phrase, how much more?

Listen to this. How much more will your Father in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him? What is good to those who ask Him? You and I have the most amazing, wonderful, heavenly Father.

And you know what? He wants, desires, longs to give you and me what our heart desires that fits into His perfect wisdom and perfect love. So when He says, ask and it shall be given you. Anything that you and I ask that gets sifted through His perfect wisdom and perfect love, we're going to get it. We're going to get it in His time. It's going to come in His way. It's not going to come oftentimes in my timing or my way, but it will come because you see, He's going to answer our prayers. He loves doing it.

You know why? What's He up to? He's not to just meet my needs. He's up to bringing me into oneness, intimacy and closeness and companionship with Him.

Think about this. It is an awesome thing to come into the presence of a holy God, to make a request to ask of an omnipotent God who can do everything we ask and to receive and to accept an answer from a loving Father and know that He gave it because He loves me and because He wants to bring us into oneness with Him. Well, as I think about the most awesome answer to prayer, this is what I think. When I think about all the things that I've ever asked God for and all the things that other people ask Him for, the most awesome expression of what God is like is when He answers this prayer. God, I am a sinner. I've sinned against You, rebelled against You, wanted it my way. I ask You to forgive me of my sins through the death of Your Son Jesus and save me and make me one of Your children. What an awesome thing to think that holy, omnipotent, loving God could look down upon the most wretched, vile, disobedient, rebellious, sinful human being and say to that person, Forgiven, forever a child of God. What is more awesome than that? That's the kind of God you and I have. And you know what? He is available to hear my cries, my pleas, my pain, my hurt, my simple, boy-like request, twenty-four hours a day, sixty minutes in every hour, sixty seconds in every minute, available, ready, listening.

Why? Because He is a loving Father who wants to provide all that perfect love and perfect wisdom we are willing to receive. And Father, we just want to say bless You, praise You, we worship You and adore You.

We thank You for being who You are. Teach us to pray and teach us how to pray. And keep up the most before us to whom we are making our request. Holy Father, omnipotent Father, loving Father, thank You Father.

There is not a thing you cannot answer for any one of your children who makes requests and simply trusts you. For You said perfect wisdom and perfect love will provide it. And for that we thank You in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of An Awesome Privilege. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.