Listen

And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

Luke 11:9-10

Think

When Jesus’s disciples ask him to teach them how to pray, he gives them a few basic pointers. Jesus gives them a model prayer that focuses on God’s holiness, power, provision, and protection, and on how our relationship with God should impact our relationship with other people (Luke 11:1–4). Then he tells them a story that illustrates the kind of persistence with which we should pray — pray as if our lives and reputations depended upon it (Luke 11:5–8).

Jesus hasn’t given his disciples specific rules or lists. He hasn’t taught them magic words that will get them whatever they want whenever they want it. The verses for today really emphasize the fact that God just wants us to ask, seek, and knock. Our prayers don’t need to be fancy. It doesn’t matter when we pray them. God just wants us to ask our questions and voice our needs, to seek truth and wisdom and strength, and to look for God and the people God wants us to serve in the world around us.

Rebecca Poe Hays

Pray

Holy God, I ask that you speak to me clearly and that you give me ears to hear.

I seek your truth and the people you call me to love.

Help me to knock on the right doors so that I can be your hands and feet in the world.

In the name of Jesus who teaches me to pray, amen.

Go

Just keep praying — just keep PRAYING!