Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!'

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I live on a large estate which was designed by one of the architects who built the model village at Bournville in Birmingham. The roads are largely built in circles and semicircles around grassed areas, and in one case the parish church. Where roads join, houses face at angles to the road, so no house looks directly at one another and the streets are lined with tall mature hardwood trees. However, one can easily get lost, and deliveries can end up at No.1 Abbots Close instead of No. 1 Priory Close. Even google maps struggles! Delivery people, and those trying to get wrongly delivered parcels to the right address (I've tried this!) have to do lot of physical asking, seeking and knocking to achieve the end result.

When it comes to prayer it's not so different! We also have to do a lot of asking, seeking, and knocking, but if we persis we will find that the different aspects of prayer offer different rewards. The asking is simple - Jesus says we simply have to make a prayer-request to God, whether it's for ourselves, for others, or for the world. Our reward is that we will receive an answer. But that's not the end. At this point we have to some seeking, that is, to spend some time thinking about God's wishes rather than our own desires. God values our request, but we have to question if we're asking what He wants. At this point we need the help of the Holy Spirit to decide if we should modify our request. The reward for seeking is to find the right answer. Lastly the knocking is important, for it implies persistence. We are not knocking at a wall, but at a door which can be opened. The reward for faithful and persistent prayer is that the door will open and the right request will be made to our Heavenly Father..

Our prayer request will be answered, not perhaps in the way we expect, but if we have listened to God we may understand the answer and find that our faithful and continuous prayer has opened a door to new opportunities.

Heavenly Father,
teach us to pray as You would wish;
to ask for those things which
are good for us and for others;
to be persistent in our prayer;
and to understand the answer
when it may be different
to what we expect.
We make this prayer in the name of
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Amen.