In this heartfelt discussion, Charles Stanley sheds light on the concept of prayer as a privileged encounter with our Omnipotent God. By embracing the principles of asking, seeking, and knocking, listeners will come to appreciate the incredible access to God offered by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Delve deep into the notion that God’s ultimate goal in prayer is to establish intimacy with us—His children—not just to fulfill our requests but to foster a relationship grounded in love and mutual understanding.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, February 26th. Prayer is not a formula we follow or a work order we submit. It’s really about getting to know our Heavenly Father. Let’s learn how to take full advantage of your awesome privilege.
SPEAKER 02 :
In your vocation, you probably experience privileges that other people who are not in that vocation do not have. And for example, in your relationships, more than likely, you have privileges that other people don’t have. If you have a relationship with someone, you could play golf at a certain country club that other people cannot play at. If you know someone very special, then you may have telephone privileges to call that person anytime that other people could not do. You may have financial privileges that other people do not have. And so on and on it goes. But there is one privilege that a certain group of people has that I want to talk about in this message and discuss because I think it is an awesome kind of a privilege. And when I say awesome, something is awesome when… It is overwhelming, monumental, inspirational, and sometimes staggering. And that’s what I think about this privilege. So I want you to turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 7. This is the Sermon on the Mount. The seventh chapter beginning in verse 7. He says, Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. Verse 2. Verse 3. know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? You say, oh, what’s so awesome about praying? Well, that’s what I want to talk about. Now, there are three steps that I believe that are involved in prayer which make me understand and realize personally in my own life that when you and I come to pray, it is an awesome thing that takes place. Now, if I don’t understand what’s really taking place, I won’t see it that way. And people who talk about, well, you know, I just talk to the man upstairs. Everybody can talk to the man upstairs. First of all, let me inform you, there’s no man upstairs. God is upstairs, but there’s no man upstairs. So I want you to understand that there are three steps. And when you look at these three steps, then you begin to say, wait a minute, maybe it is an awesome thing to pray. And so I want us to look at this first step. And the first step is this. The first step is that when you and I come to pray, what makes it awesome is we are approaching holy God. Now, most of the time, we don’t give much thought to who it is we’re talking to. Most of our emphasis is on what we are requesting. My needs, my hurts, my desires, my plans, my goals, my dreams. But what I want you to remember is this. God went to extreme measures in order to make this statement to his people. I am a holy God. Look, if you will, in Leviticus chapter 11. Leviticus chapter 11, and just to start with these, in the 11th chapter in the 44th verse, and you recall that in this book, he tells them, you know, what they should eat, what they should not eat, how they should dress and how they should carry on their lifestyle. He says in the 44th verse, for I am the Lord, your God, consecrate yourselves, set yourselves apart and He says, therefore, and be holy for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. That is, think about this. All of those commands about what we’re to eat, not to eat, and how they were to conduct themselves related to who they were because of their relationship to him. And he’s a holy God. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. Thus you shall be holy for I am holy. Does that mean that God is a mean God, insensitive God, uncaring God? No. God was saying to them, man is so sinful. I am so holy. The only way you can approach me is is when sacrifice for sin has been made, and that means the death of something because the life is in the blood, then you can come into my presence. And so all through the Old Testament, as you search the scriptures, here’s what you’ll find. You’ll find sacrifice, the means of acceptance, the means of entrance. And so when you look at that tabernacle, the Bible talks about For example, Exodus 25, look at this, the 25th chapter of Exodus and the 21st verse, and you shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And in the ark, you shall put the testimony, which I shall give to you. And there I will meet with you. And from above the mercy seat, that is, God says, there is a place I’m going to meet with this nation. I’m going to meet them on the mercy seat, which will be on top of this ark, this big wooden box overlaid with gold and so forth, which the Ten Commandments and so forth would be. I’m going to meet you in the holy of holies because man cannot approach holy God. And so when those people approach God, they had to approach God with clean hands and a pure heart. Sacrifice had to be made. Blood had to be shed. And so when you and I come to approach God today and we ask ourselves the question, well, I mean, why can’t we just say, God, here I am and I want to talk to you? Well, let me ask you this and answer this question. Has God changed? Has he? Has the nature of man changed? No. No is the answer to both those questions. God hasn’t changed. The nature of man has not changed. Well, let me ask you a question. How is it that you and I can walk in the presence of God in prayer, come to him in prayer? If God hasn’t changed and he’s holding, he wouldn’t let them do it. And we haven’t changed. Our old sinful nature in this world is the same. We live in the flesh and we have a propensity towards sin. Even those of us who are saved, we can still sin against God. What makes it possible that now, thousands of years later, we can do what they couldn’t do? If I think that I have the right and the privilege to come to God in prayer, what I’m doing is I’m coming to face this holy God who is absolutely and perfect in every single attribute and characteristic. And there’s none greater, none higher, none mightier, none more perfect and pure than he is. And he cannot look upon sin. The only way I can say, yes, I can come to him is to say that there must be something in me that is good enough for God to accept. Therefore, I can talk to him in prayer. But there’s nothing in the Bible like that. In fact, he says our righteousness is like filthy, dirty, smelly rags. So the question is, what makes me think that I have the right to come to the presence of holy God today if mankind hasn’t changed and God hasn’t changed? The only difference is this. We have the privilege of approaching this holy God because a sacrifice has been made. That sacrifice is the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. And God the Father sent the Lord Jesus Christ into this world to die for your sins and mine, making it possible for us to become new creations, new persons with a new spirit, a new life, a new approach, and a whole new eternal destiny. With that came the approach and the privilege that when you and I received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, what God did is this. He opened the door and made it possible for you and me to approach holy, righteous God. Because when he saved you and me, he placed all of our sin, past, present, and future. It has to be past, present, and future on Christ, crucified him at Calvary. He atoned for our sins and he says he clothed us in righteousness. So that when you and I come to God in prayer, what does he see? He sees us veiled and that is between us and this holy God is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, when you and I come to him in prayer, the only reason he accepts our presence, the only reason he hears what we have to say is that you and I come on the basis of the atoning death of Jesus Christ. So it’s an awesome thing to come into the presence of God. It’s an awesome thing to think that I have the privilege of talking to holy God, who is so holy and transcendent above everything that is in existence. And yet, He looks down upon a sinful human being and says, What makes us welcome in the presence of God? The blood of Jesus Christ shed at Calvary. That’s why I say to you over and over and over again, when you listen to sermons over and over and over, no matter where you go to church, and the blood is never mentioned, and the cross is absent from those sermons, flee that church. Because somebody’s misleading you. It is only by the cross, it is only by the blood of Jesus Christ that we have any access whatsoever. So step number one in prayer is this, which makes it so awesome. You and I have the privilege of talking, sharing our heart with holy, holy, holy God. The second step is this. Not only do we approach holy God, but we are asking God, of an omnipotent God. That’s what we do. Now, in essence, all prayer is asking. You say, well, wait a minute. Not all prayer is asking. Yes, it is. For example, if I make a petition to him, I bring some need, I’m making a request. That’s asking. If rather than ask for myself, I come to him in your behalf and I’m praying about you, I’m still asking him about you. I’m asking. You say, but now what about praise? When you just praise the Lord and just thank him and bless his holy name, that’s not asking. Yes, it is. What you’re doing in praising is you are praising him with what? With the attitude that you want him to receive the sacrifice of your lips. You want him to receive this message in song. You want him to receive this praise and blessing and honor and adoration. You want him to receive. You’re still asking him to receive this love that’s poured out in your heart toward him. And what we are doing when we come to Him, we are approaching a holy God. And we are, listen, we are making requests, we are asking of a God of omnipotence, an omnipotent God. Now, by omnipotence, that means there is no limitation to His power, absolutely no limitation. He is the ultimate, final authority and Word in this entire universe. There is no power. There is no might. There is no authority in all the universe to be compared to his. Think about this. You and I have the privilege of approaching holy, omnipotent God. Is that not awesome? Does that not motivate us to think God? When we think about how little and insignificant we are like grains of sand on a beach. But we must be far more important to God than that, that he would give us the privilege of walking into his presence with all of his holiness and his unlimited, absolute, ultimate, final authority and power over everything that exists. Now. It’s interesting what happens in this passage, because Jesus now is speaking to his hearers, and he’s speaking in ways that he’s sure that they’ll understand. And so he said to them that, pray for your enemies. That was a tough one. Then he said, now, don’t be like the Pharisees and Sadducees praying in public so you’ll be heard. And they’ll say, oh, he’s a praying man, a woman. And he said, so you pray in secret. He says, when you pray in secret, God rewards you openly. Then he said, if you don’t know how to pray, this is the way you start. Listen to this. Our Father who art in heaven, holy is thy name. Isn’t it interesting that we are to approach him? And the first attribute is halibut. Holy is thy name. Why didn’t he say holy you are God? No, because the name of God represents all of his attributes, all of his characteristics. All that God is is wrapped up in his name. That’s why he says his name is Jehovah. Yahweh, Elohim, Adonai, names for God that represent and describe the character and the attributes of God. He says, you approach him by saying, our father who art in heaven, holy is thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Omnipotence. So he was making it as simply as he possibly can. And he said in giving these instructions, he says, now this is the way you pray. He says, ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. So, this is a tense. Jesus spoke very clearly and very specific. He says, here’s what prayer is all about. Prayer is asking and keep on asking. Prayer is seeking and you keep on seeking. Prayer is knocking and you keep on knocking. So, let’s look at these three words for just a moment because He says, ask and it shall be given you. Now, when you and I come to Him and we ask, What is implied in that word asking? Well, if I’m asking, I’m acknowledging, first of all, that I have a need. Secondly, I’m acknowledging the fact that I believe this one to whom I’m making my request has the power and the will or the desire to answer my request. So I’m expressing faith in him. I’m expressing and acknowledging my needs. So there is a spirit of humility when you and I come to make a request and all of us come to make request of him. And listen to this. Listen to how simply he said this. He said, ask, it should be given you. Seek, ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you.” I can come to holy, omnipotent God and make a request? That’s what he’s saying. He says, ask and keep on asking. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Now, look at this word. He says, seek and ye shall find. Now, to ask, I simply say, Father. To seek implies more than that. And I want you to see the progression. If I’m to seek something, it says that I am to get involved in what this is I’m talking to God about. For example, if you were to say, I need a job. And so how are you going to get one? Well, I’m just going to pray. I’m just going to talk to God. You mean you’re just going to sit at home? I’m just going to sit at home and pray. God will show me when I have a job. Now listen carefully. There may be times when God says, I want you to talk to me about this. Don’t talk to anybody else about it. Don’t say a thing. Don’t do anything. Trust me. Sometimes he’ll say that. But there are other times when God says, you ask and then he says, now seek. Go look for one. Look at the ads in the paper. Talk to your friends. Find someone who does what you want to do and what you believe you want to do. Seek my wisdom. Seek my guidance. But get busy. There are times when God involves us in the act. Seek means I must get involved in this answer. Then he says, knock. Now, By knocking, what he’s implying, I believe here, is perseverance, though that is involved in all of these. Knock, ask, and keep on asking. Seek, and keep on seeking. And knock, and keep on knocking. Now, so when he says knock, I want you to notice the progression. What he’s saying is, first of all, you ask. Then you seek. And then you knock. What happens to most people’s answers that they’re looking for? They just come to God and they’ll ask a little bit and seek a little bit, maybe, knock a little bit, maybe not at all. And because it doesn’t come when they ask for it and the way they ask for it, they say, you know, God didn’t hear me. I must not have prayed right. The truth is, God says, ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking. Now, if you forget everything else to say, listen real carefully to this. What is God’s goal in prayer? What’s his objective? Is God’s goal in saying ask, seek, and knock, is his goal that you and I would get our needs met? No. God’s primary, ultimate goal in encouraging us to pray is to bring us to himself to bring us into oneness with him to bring us into intimacy with him to bring us face to face with him seek my face hear my mind obey my will what does he want he wants us living in oneness with him intimacy with him he wants fellowship relationship the receiving is secondary Surely that’s the way God answers our prayer, but what’s His goal? Listen, He’s our Heavenly Father. He wants intimacy with His children, relationship with His children, fellowship with His children, companionship with His children. He’s not just interested in giving thanks. He can shell it all out. And miss us. God loves you and me. And if he just gave us what we asked for and missed the fellowship, missed the relationship, missed the loving relationship here, God would be missing. Listen, he says, ask. Ask me. I want to give it. Seek me. You’ll find me. Knock and I’m going to open it. But don’t ask, seek, knock. and forget what it’s all about. It’s about coming into relationship. It’s about loving. It’s about intimacy with our heavenly Father.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s what it’s all about. Thank you for listening to An Awesome Privilege. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
