Active prayer

Jesus began what He taught on prayer in Matthew 7 with a picture of action, like someone asking for directions to a place, seeking to find that place, and then knocking on the door.

"Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened." Matthew 7:1-2

The Greek verbs for "ask", "seek", and "knock" are in a present imperative tense. This tense implies continuing action. "Keep asking..." "Keep seeking..." "Keep knocking..." His words describe an active pursuit, always getting what was prayed for.

And yet this is the problem with prayer. Jesus makes it sound like you get what you pray for; but this is not the experience for most people. We pray for a time; sometimes we get what we want, and other times we just finally give up.

The problem is in our paradigm. For us, prayer is about getting what we want. But this is not the picture in what Jesus said. Prayer begins with asking: asking for wisdom. Wisdom leads us to where we will find what we need. When we find it, we ask to enter. Prayer is not getting God to provide, but bringing us to God's provision.

Prayer is an interactive process. We are changed as we are given wisdom. We begin because of a need, but the wisdom from above gives us a direction that we did not see before. As we search in that place, we find provision for our need that may not be what we were certain we needed. But as we enter into that provision, we find that His provision is far better than what we could ask or think in the beginning.

This is not a Wizard of Oz substitution of cheap trinkets for genuine requests; this is our Father giving the good that only He can give. We would not give our children trinkets; He will not either.

"Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he should ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, 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!" Matthew 7:9-11

Our Father gives the good; we may need to work through the process in order to receive it. We need to leave the point of beginning. We have a need, but in that need we are to ask for wisdom. In wisdom, we will be led in a direction, perhaps in action, perhaps in thinking. This leading will lead to the provision for our need. Then we knock, asking to enter. But we are not where we were in the beginning. We have come to the place where He will provide.

There is a similar verse in Luke, when Jesus said something similar at another time.

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."
Luke 11:13

The good that Jesus was referring to in Matthew is pictured by giving the Holy Spirit in Luke. This is the basic process in prayer. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; as we pray, giving the Spirit the opportunity to shine, the light will shine throughout our body. The Holy Spirit can fill the body if He is allowed to be expressed. It is in interactive prayer that the process of giving wisdom, leading, and provision that we will receive the good that our heavenly Father wishes to give. This is not a passive process; we are an active part of prayer. We have an active part in receive the good, the Holy Spirit in our bodies.

"...keep being filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ."
Ephesians 5:18-21

This active pursuit in prayer is not in isolation. He gives wisdom; He may give it through another. He leads; He may lead us into closer fellowship. He gives provision; He may give provision through others. As we keep asking day by day, He may be actively answering us through those who are around us. Our relationships with others are crucial to the process of active prayer. Jesus made that the concluding point.

"Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12

This is logically connected to what Jesus said about prayer, active prayer. Our prayers are to be part of life, coming from the concerns of life, and being shaped by the provisions that we find in life. Prayer is not an experiment in a bell jar, cut off from the world around us. Prayer works through a process that includes those around us. We grow, not in isolation, but in the interactions of a living body.

"...the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love." Ephesians 4:15-16

We should pray; we should ask for what we need. But if it is important, we will need to pray actively. The things that mean the most to us are worthy the effort. We are not just dropping coins in a defective vending machine, hoping to get something back. We think we know what we want, but we may find that the good that He wants to give us is far better than the fix that we had in mind. But He gives what is good to those who keep asking. It is in the active process that we will enter into His provision. We just wanted something; He wants to bring us into something greater.

Prayer is not getting God to provide, but bringing us into God's provision.