I remember the day when Mark, my youth pastor friend, got in my car and excitedly handed me his freshly-burned CD of his youth ministry worship band. They were called the “New Life Rookies,” and he really wanted me to hear them. It was the early ’90’s, and everyone had just started recording their own music onto CDs. “Okay, Mark… I will give it a listen when I have time.”
I never cracked it open, and the two of us lost contact.
About a year later, Mark and his whole band had moved to Atlanta, and renamed themselves “Casting Crowns.”
What could have happened had I just listened?
Would you say your life is more defined by missed opportunities, or seized opportunities? Can you give an example?
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
-Jesus, Matthew 7:7-8 NLT
Try restating this passage negatively. What does this tell you about your role in relationship to God opening and closing doors in your life? In our church?
Is it possible to pray regularly, yet still have a prayer life lacking in asking, seeking, and knocking? Explain.
Are you good at “keeping on,” as Jesus describes in Matthew? What helps us in this? What keeps us from this?
What opportunities could you and I be missing out on by not keeping on asking, seeking, and knocking?
What should we keep on asking for?
You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
James 4:2-3 NLT
What prayer problems did James tell us about here?
James felt that the hearts and minds of his readers were out of alignment with God’s heart and mind… Here is what he says next:
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,
“God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:4-10 NLT
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
So how does being in love with the things of the world harm our relationship with God in prayer?
How does James 4:2 (above) help us better understand what Jesus meant in Matthew 7:7-8 (above?)
What steps can we take to make sure we are praying with the right motives?
How can praying with the right motivation lead to a greater awareness for those around you who need the gospel and a greater urgency in sharing the gospel with those people?