This parable follows the Lord's instructions to His disciples with regard to prayer. In the first part of the chapter they had requested to be taught to pray, and the Lord had responded by giving them that matchless form of prayer so suited to their special needs at that time. It is evident that the disciples felt the importance and need of prayer. They had seen His ways and desired to follow Him in them. Our subject tonight is the question of how we can get answers to prayer. I am sure nothing can be more important for us to consider. If we fail in the matter of prayer, our lives as witnesses for God will also be failures. We must get on our knees. It is there that we get our strength, for we come to the end of ourselves. God can only help us as we are in the position of dependence upon Him. Realize, if you can for a moment, the wondrous privilege which we with all our shortcomings and infirmities have, the constant privilege of coming to the Lord in prayer. It is His desire to have us constantly dependent upon Himself.
We want to look at a few particulars. There are certain conditions upon which God answers prayer. We often ask for things which are not expedient for us. If a wrong thing is urgently asked from God, and it is at last given, it always ends in sorrow. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul” (Psa. 106:1515And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul. (Psalm 106:15)). Our petitions must be in accordance with His will. His will is perfect, and when our prayers are in harmony with that will, in a line with it as it were, we know that we have our petitions. “Very well,” you say, “how am I to ascertain what is the will of God?” There are various ways of finding out. Take the promises that God has given— “exceeding great and precious promises.” I have never yet counted them, but it might be a profitable occupation for any who wish to do so. Anyhow, every promise that God has given us is a declaration of His will. He means that we should claim and have it. Therefore if you bring your request on the ground of a promise of God you have a sure foothold.
Even where we have no special promise God has given us broad promises, as in this passage, “Ask, and it shall be given unto you.” You are all familiar with Paul's words to the Philippians, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” There is always some indication to be found, and where we know we are asking on the ground of a promise we may be certain our prayer will be answered, for all God's promises are sure and they are all confirmed in Christ Jesus. Even where He gives commands, does not the very fact of His giving them imply that He intends to give the help and strength needed to fulfill them? I do not, of course, refer here to the law, which we know to have been given for another purpose— “that the offense might abound.” You can always turn a command into an indication of God's will. Then, too, we have the help of the Holy Spirit, as is seen in Rom. 8:26, 2726Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26‑27). When He prompts a petition it will come up acceptably before God. We know not what to pray for as we ought, but we have the Spirit to help our infirmities.
Enough has, perhaps, been said about the various ways of knowing the will of God. But there is another thing—do we deserve that God should respond to our appeals? Have we virtue in ourselves to call out His blessing? You all know well enough that we have nothing of the sort. Our need is met by Another. In the Lord's last words to His disciples before His death He says, “Whatever ye shall ask in my name that will I do.” Who but one—Himself God—could say that? And later on He brings in the Father, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.” Do we know how to make use of that Name? I remember hearing once in London a story of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. She intimated to a certain bishop her wish to give whatever sum he might name for the building of a church. She signed a blank check and handed it to him to fill in. He wrote ₤30,000. It was a great sum, but he had the name and that was sufficient. So with us. At the bank of heaven we must present all our checks in His name; it is solely in His name that we can expect them to be honored. The value of that Name on high is immeasurable. Beloved brethren, we want to count on that Name. Nothing is too great to ask in His name; the greater it is, the more glory it is to God to give it.
There is a third condition. God connects the bestowal of blessing with faith. We know that none can be saved apart from believing; so with all the blessings which are connected with salvation, there must be faith, always faith. “These things have I written unto you, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, who believe on the name of the Son of God.”
If you come to look at the promises you will find that there is not one to unbelief. Doubt is no harmless kind of diffidence; it is actually sinful. Indeed I am afraid it often goes further than mere timidity—it is downright unbelief; and this will always hinder prayer. Have we not the words of James? “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.” He must have no uncertain feeling about it. How solemn! How calculated to make us ask, “Have I really believed His promises and acted upon them?” If God, in His condescending grace, deigns to give us promises, surely it is not unreasonable to expect us to believe them. Should we not take it as an insult if our word were doubted? If God, the God of truth, pledges us His word, we should believe it to be unmixed truth. A single doubt intruding will mar the prayer. On the other hand the promises to faith are larger than you can conceive. “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Have you ever got to this?—that when you have prayed, you believe that your prayer is heard, and you can accordingly give thanks, awaiting the answer in God's good time.
In Edinburgh, certain gospel meetings were being held, and two unconverted girls were sent to the city by their parents to attend the addresses, while the parents remained at home to pray. As they prayed they became certain that the answer was coming, and they offered thanks. Very soon afterward they heard news of the conversion of both daughters. There is something practical and very commendable in that, and what is greatly needed with us at times. Every one that asketh receiveth; two are better; twenty, if of one mind, better still; but whether one, two, or twenty, never doubt that God hears the prayer of faith. Whatever may come, He is true.
Very well, we are making progress. We have seen three things that are necessary for obtaining answers to prayer—(a) that it should be in accordance with the will of God, (b) asked in the name of the Lord Jesus, and (c) asked in faith. This oriental scene teaches us something more. This man's request seemed unreasonable. It was a strange hour for a guest to come, and the friend thought it was too much trouble to provide food for him. In friendship's name he would do nothing, he gave because of his importunity. He thought, “If I don't give him what he wants he will knock all night.” But it is not so with our Father, who ever delights to give. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks, receives; and he that seeks, finds; and to him that knocks, it shall be opened.” What an encouragement to us! and may we be as earnest as the man who would not take no for an answer. He kept knocking, knocking, knocking, pressing his friend until he was forced to give what he required. And so the Lord says, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” The form of words increases in intensity in these three clauses—
“Ask” —every child knows how to do that. It is just a simple laying of the need before the Father. But suppose the answer does not come; there is a delay. What then? “Seek” —there is something more there. “Knock” —it grows in persistence and importunity. We have need to listen to these things from His lips.
There is a difference between prayer and supplication. “Prayer” is simply asking. Supplication is increasing intensity in prayer. “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” I have often thought of the words of Job. He had not the scriptures as we have, but he tells us what he would do if the way were open for him to come before God. “I would order my cause before him; I would fill my mouth with arguments” —just like a lawyer before the judge. Well, my brethren, we have not to do with a judge, but with our gracious Father. Still, there are times when we must knock and not simply ask. The Lord may keep us waiting ever so long and yet intend all the time to grant the request at last. Delay may be intended to make the blessing greater when it comes. We are inclined to think that delay means denial; it is not always so. Sometimes a need is urgent and receives an immediate answer, but when it is not so there are often times when He may seem to take no notice. I remember a good man and his wife who prayed twelve years for their unconverted son. At the end of that time he turned up, clothed and in his right mind, and that in answer to many prayers. Another woman told me she had prayed twenty-five years for her husband, and it turned out afterward that while she was speaking to me he was actually present in the same house a truly converted man.
“Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Our condition is never so utterly helpless but that God can come in and set things right. “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning.” We need to seek Him. Let us therefore take courage and have confidence in God in this great matter. The importunate man needed to use pressure.
Now there is a fifth condition, and that is the state of soul. You remember the words of the Psalmist, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me; but verily God hath heard me, he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” So we get from the lips of the Lord Jesus, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” Here it is connected with fruit-bearing. The apostle John says, “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” He knows the evil far better than you or I do. “But if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.” And then he adds, so beautifully, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another.” How simple and how full!
If you have got worldly, or into a state of spiritual sleepiness—Christians are apt to get like that—it may be that some trouble comes; but you have got out of touch, out of communion with the Lord. What are you to do then? Ah! the only thing to do is to make confession on your knees before God. There must be that before anything else, and after that you can get the help you need. If there is nothing of that kind in the way you can come like a child to its father. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” If we think of the best of earthly parents, how much more should we think of “Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!”
God hears prayer, whether from individuals or companies. Nothing is more certain. Let us see to it that we are not negligent in this matter. See that it is not true of us, “Thou restrainest prayer before God.” These are things for us all to think of and to question ourselves individually about. I could keep you here all night with tales to illustrate the value of prayer, but I will just say this—there is nothing more certain in my own experience than that God hears and answers prayer. That being so, surely we shall not be held guiltless if we restrain prayer before God. If we are down on our knees before God, assuredly He will grant our requests if they fulfill His conditions. Whatever the matter may be, men ought always to pray.
If it come to this, that we have prayed, and yet receive no direct answer, we should question ourselves, and ask the Father why. God looks at the heart, and He may delay the answer to bring out something. There is always some reason for it. Never allow a doubt as to the faithfulness of God; unbelief is evil, and only evil, continually. If we doubt, we are robbing God of His glory. Can anything be more heart-breaking than that?
I leave this scripture with you, and I would have all bear in mind these five conditions:(1) Accordance with the will of God; (2) the name of Jesus; (3) faith; (4) importunity; (5) a right state of soul. God grant we may all enter into these things with more real zest and fervor, to His praise and glory!
R. K.