Prayer - Principles of Prayer

Why does the scripture in the Amplified Bible say, “Keep on asking and you shall receive. Keep on seeking and you shall find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened?” Why does the Amplified put it that way? Well, the reason why the Amplified positions it that way is because God is saying we need to be persistent. We need to never give up. The reason why He says to keep on asking is because in the context, He was talking about the persistent widow that went up to the judge and kept asking for legal protection, kept asking for legal protection. And He’s saying that if that widow is that persistent with an unrighteous judge, how much more will our righteous God respond to our persistence? And there is something about our being shameless, being persistent in what we ask God for, being unafraid and unashamed.

A lot of people ask God for something and then they back away because they think "Well, maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Maybe that was selfish. Maybe that wasn’t right. Maybe I have the wrong motive". God is saying, “Don’t be like that. Don’t have a mealy-mouthed, begging, ‘Lord, if you could be so kind as to do this, please do this, but I understand if you won’t.’” No, He’s saying, “You've got to keep asking. You've got to have an attitude of, ‘I’m going to get the answer that I’ve come to get. I’m going to get this door to open. I’m going to keep on knocking. I’m going to keep on knocking. I’m going to keep on seeking. I’m going to keep on asking.’” It’s a spirit and an attitude of persistence that God is saying that we need to walk in and that we need to experience in our lives. An attitude of persistence.

It’s not that God won’t hear you the first time. But the fact is that when you really are persistent and you really know that you know that you know that you know that this is something that God wants you to have, you’re going to get it right away. You’re going to believe you’ve received it when you pray and if you believed you’ve received it, then you step into a mode of thanksgiving. You’re no longer in a requesting mode. Philippians chapter 4 says, “With everything that you desire with prayer with supplication with thanksgiving, make your request made known to God and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind.” So you have to compliment your request with the giving of thanks, believing that you’ve truly received it. When you really believe that you’ve received it, the door is going to be opened. You are going to receive. Whether you see it our not, when you know that you have it, then you don’t need to ask any more. That’s when you step in to thanking God, not just asking God.