Asking – The key to answered prayer

May 14, 2009 · Filed Under accepted by God, faith/believe 

From Alan Smith’s Blog

Matthew 7:7-11

    Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

My parents divorced when I was three years old. I lived with my mom and step-dad, but spent Friday nights and Saturdays with my dad when I was a kid. The contrast was significant. My mom had a dynamic conversion experience shortly after the divorce, so on that end of my life I was exposed to church, Bible stories, and the kind of sheltering guaranteed to make any home-school mom proud. My dad was in a rock band called “The Mystics.” They played clubs and college parties, drank too much beer, smoked pot, and got into fights. I must say my dad made some effort to behave during my weekend visits, but the contrast was still pretty clear. The first rock album my dad ever bought me was “Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright. My mom made me give it back because it was demonic. My dad thought it actually had a good chance of getting by her because it was somewhat spiritual. I remember one time bringing home some KISS photos torn from a rock magazine, hidden in a notebook in my backpack. My mom couldn’t sleep that night. She prayed and asked God what was up and he told her where to find the pictures. She found them and burned them. God talks to my mom. She’s amazing and I am who and what I am in large part due to the investment she has made in my life. I’m just saying things were very different at dad’s house than at mom’s.

My dad and I took a road trip to Iowa in his yellow Road Runner one time to visit my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John. It was fast, but I’m not sure how fast. The speedometer was broken. We listened to KISS, Journey, and Van Halen the entire trip. Beth, Wheel In The Sky, and Runnin’ With The Devil are guilty pleasures for me to this day. That dates me doesn’t it?

Weekends with my dad during that season of life were fun. He took me to Forest Park to ride the rides. We ate at greasy spoon diners where my dad knew all the waitresses. He flirted with them and they flirted with me. It was cool. We would always stop in to see Grandma and Grandpa Smith. Once, on Grandpa’s birthday, I remember my dad gave him a carton of cigs. It was cool. The Kreamy Kream was a nearby burger joint. We would stop in and have a root beer. He always had quarters for the pinball machine and I always got to play.

My favorite thing was listening to music together. We listened to The Zoo and Q102. My dad knew everything about rock – the bands, the players, the singers, the writers – everything. A song would come on the radio and I would ask, “Who is this, Dad?” He would answer “The Allman Brothers” or “The Rolling Stones”. It’s cool to have a dad that knows everything. He was a big fan of the Beatles. He had all their albums and we listened to them at his apartment all the time. He would make me unlabeled recordings on cassette tapes to take home. God never told mom about them, I guess. My dad hated disco.

I remember riding around in my dad’s sky blue conversion van (he sold his Road Runner and bought a van to haul equipment for The Mystics) and listening to the radio. My favorite band was ZZ Top. I liked Tush, La Grange, Cheap Sunglasses, and Jesus Just Left Chicago. I always wanted to change radio stations to see if ZZ Top might be playing on another station. I was afraid to ask though. Sitting there next to my dad, I would stare at the radio, and try to gather my courage to ask if we could change the station. Looking back, this seems silly. My dad was very happy to comply with my request. I think my interest in music made him happy. There was absolutely no reason to hesitate or fear. Isn’t that strange? I didn’t ask because I completely misunderstood his heart.

I think I have the same tendencies when it comes to prayer. I sometimes find myself hesitant to approach God with boldness and ask for something. I think in some ways God is a lot like my dad. The stuff I’m interested in delights him. He always has a quarter for the pinball machine. I can always have root beer. Changing the radio station is no big deal. It’s not that God never says “no.” He does a lot because I ask for stupid stuff so often. It’s just his heart is to say “yes.” There’s never any reason to hesitate or be afraid. Ask. It’s ok.

Romans 8:31-32

    What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

The issue here is one of understanding God’s heart. Faith, however sincere, that is not aimed at an accessible God with a generous heart is faith misaimed. God is accessible. God is generous. He’s responsive. He’s looking for opportunities to say “yes” to us. If the god we believe in isn’t like that, then the god we believe in isn’t the true God, as he really is. God has revealed himself to us, primarily in the incarnation. When we see Jesus in the gospels, we have the clearest possible view of God, because Jesus is God in the flesh.

John 14:9-11

    Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. This is what Jesus is asking us to believe. In the gospels, how accessible is Jesus? How loving? How generous? How powerful? That is what God is like. In looking at Jesus, we find out exactly what kind of person God is. It is faith in this reality that leads to answered prayer. Receiving from God requires faith in God as he is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. Watch Jesus tie the two ideas together as the passage continues.

John 14:11-14

    Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Is it possible we have presuppositions about God that are incorrect, and these misguided ideas are a hindrance to effective faith? Do we see God as distant, punitive, and unresponsive? Then our faith is in a god that doesn’t exist. No wonder it seems ineffective. Faith is only powerful because its object is powerful. Faith in a distant, punitive, and unresponsive god is faith in the wind. There is no substance to it.I hesitated to ask my dad to change the radio station because I misunderstood his heart. Prayer is sometimes less than it could be in my life for the same reason.

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