Powerful Principles of Prayer — E.A. Johnston

Christ’s Example and the Disciples’ Request for Prayer

In the gospel of Luke in chapter 11 and in verse 1 we read,. And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, O Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Just picture this vivid scene in your mind, friends, Christ Jesus on his knees, away from social interaction, withdrawn to a place of solitude, perhaps kneeling beside a big tree or a boulder, where the Son of God can freely address his Father in heaven, without interruption from man.

How often did Christ's disciples stare at him and wonder, from a distance, as they observed their Master pray to the Father. Now, one of them, our text does not name him, but it could have been more than likely Peter or John, approaches Jesus to ask him if he would teach his men how to pray.

How important it is for those who claim to be followers of Christ, to know how to pray, to ask God to teach us how to be a man of prayer like Elijah, or a woman of prayer like Hannah. In Luke chapter 11, Christ gives powerful lessons on how to touch God in prayer, oh, that we would study them, friends, and go and do likewise.

A Pastor’s Example of Prayer and Discipleship

The title of my message today is Powerful Principles in Prayer. I can see a dear man right now in my memory. I was just a teenager being raised in an ungodly home and a neighbor who was a pastor took notice of this awkward teenage boy and he offered me a job in his Bible bookstore.

He offered me to be my friend and invited me to begin coming each morning to his home across the alley to have breakfast with him and his family. And there I would watch this man do the strangest thing before we ate.

He would ask us to bow our heads and then he'd pour out his heart to God in prayer. It shocked me. I'd never seen anything like that in my life. I certainly never saw my parents pray. This man had a burden for a lost teenager.

And he gave me my first job, he gave me my first Bible, and he taught me what it was like to pray. Are you doing that, friends? Are you pouring your life and Christ to others around you? Are you discipling your spouse, your children, and teaching them how to pray?

Are you an example in your home as a person of prayer? Is there a teenager you know who needs Christ that you could reach out to and impact their life for him? Christ is going to return any day now, friends, and what are we doing with the time God has given us?

The Three Principles: Ask, Seek, and Knock

I want to break open this passage on prayer as found in our text today, for there are some powerful lessons on prayer that we can apply to our own lives and then pour into the lives of others. We are only in two verses of this rich passage on prayer, verses 9 and 10.

Let me read them to you now. Great God in heaven, help us today to understand your word and bless the reading of your word with the presence of thy spirit for the good of your people and for your glory.

And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened to you. For every one that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth. And to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.

I will stop there. Here in our passage we have three powerful principles on prayer that we are instructed to perform. There are also three responding principles to each of these three aspects of prayer.

The three things we're told to do are ask, seek, and knock. I want us to look at these three aspects one by one, friends. Number one, ask. We're told by Christ to ask. In James 4 .2 we are informed, ye have not because ye ask not.

Asking in Faith and Overcoming Prayerlessness

And I believe this is a picture of prayerlessness. God is not answering our needs or desires because of our prayerlessness. Do we have a regular daily quiet time with God in prayer? Do we withdraw ourselves to be alone with God in prayer?

Do we spend time with God in prayer on a consistent basis? I remember years ago I and another man were being interviewed by a staff minister of the church where we were members. And his job was to hire two men to lead a men's young adult retreat down in Alabama at a lake resort.

And this staff minister of this big Baptist church was interviewing lay leaders who were known disciple makers in that church to take on this task. When me and this other man went into the interview, he asked us if we would begin the meeting by prayer.

My friend began praying, and when he was through, then I prayed. When I was done, the staff minister said, The interview is over. You both have the job. We looked at each other in startlement, and then back at him.

He smiled and replied, When I saw your tears hit the floor as each of you prayed, I knew you were the man to lead this retreat on discipleship. Let me ask you, friend, are your eyes dry when you pray?

Do you pray in anguish with a burden for the souls of men? In our text, we are challenged here to pray, to become persons of prayer. Ask, is Christ's directive here? Ask, pray, go to prayer. The powerful lesson here is to ask in faith, standing upon the promises of God, and to believe you will receive what you ask for.

Seeking God Earnestly Through Prayer

Number two, seek. I remember one time about 25 years ago, I was out canvassing a neighborhood, going door to door, and ringing doorbells, and handing out tracts, and witnessing to folks in their homes, and I spent all day Saturday going up and down the streets of that neighborhood, and when I got home I was tired, and I sat down to rest on my couch, and in a few minutes I realized my wallet was missing.

Boy, did I jump in my car and hurry back to that neighborhood, and I retraced my steps over every street I had canvassed, and I looked in bushes, I hunted in gutters, I sought out driveways and sidewalks for my missing wallet.

I searched that entire neighborhood, but to no avail. No wallet. And I was dog-tired when I got back to the house, and I sunk on the couch in despair. My little girl, who was four years old at the time, saw the sad look on her daddy's face and asked, What wrong, daddy?

I told her I lost my wallet. She said, I helped look. And she began to pull up the seat cushions on the couch where I sat, and I brushed her hand away, and I said, No, honey, I lost it in the neighborhood.

But she kept on looking, and she tugged on my shirt sleeve, and she placed my wallet into my hand. She had found it. It had slipped out of my pocket when I first came home and sat on that couch, and it was between the seat cushions all that while.

I went looking, seeking that wallet, and it took an effort on my part, but I was looking in the wrong place. Seek is the injunction from Christ in this second lesson on prayer. Seek, and ye shall find.

We are instructed here to seek God earnestly in prayer with desperation and earnestness attending our petitions. I believe a good example of seeking God in prayer can be found in the book of Daniel in chapter 9, and I highly recommend, friends, that you study that entire chapter, as it is a framework for seeking God in prayer.

Let me read you part of Daniel's great petition to God as seen in verses 3 and 4. Listen, friends. God wants us to approach Him in prayer with a holy boldness, a determination, a humbling of ourselves, and a lifting up of Him in an earnest seeking of Him.

We approach God too casually today in our churches by prayer and talk to Him like He's just our pal. We place Him on the same level of man and talk to Him like we talk to man. The prophet Daniel knew better than us, and he addresses God as Lord, and as the great and dreadful God, he humbles himself before the throne of majesty, and he becomes a beggar, a beggar who would come to a generous sovereign who was infested with authority, and the ability to meet the demands of prayer.

Persistent Knocking at Heaven’s Door

Number three, knock. We are told to knock. Well, why would you knock on a door to awaken or get the attention of the inhabitants inside? Years ago, I was violently awoken by someone pounding on my front door at 2 o 'clock in the morning.

I had a brass doorknocker with a brass plate on my front door, and that person was going to town pounding on that doorknocker. I jumped out of bed and ran down the hall and peeked through the peephole, and I recognized my next-door neighbor.

She was shivering in her pajamas and had a frightened look on her face. I opened the door and let her in as my family gathered in the living room, wondering what all the commotion was about. This neighbor lady told us there'd been an intruder in her house, and her husband was out of town, and she ran out the door and came running over here in her bare feet in the dead of winter.

Well, I called the police, and my wife made her a cup of coffee and gave her a warm blanket to put around her. But all it began was with that noisy knocking on my front door. Jesus is saying here to us, friends, in this third principle on prayer, that we are to knock, to knock on Heaven's door with boldness and persistence to stir the inhabitants of Heaven and to gain entry by persistent prayer.

And through our persistent knocking, we will not only gain Heaven's ear, we will gain entry into the throne room of a sovereign and have an audience with Him who is invested with the power and authority to answer our prayer.

And the promise to us is, everyone that asks receives, he that seeks will find, and to him that knocks and keeps on knocking, that door will be opened. Oh, friends, do you have a family member who is yet unsaved?

Are you asking? Are you seeking? Are you pounding on the doors of glory for that loved one's salvation? How can God take us seriously if we won't get serious with Him? Jesus is stating in very clear and simple terms here that when we get serious with God in prayer, He will get serious with us and answer to that prayer.

A Serious Commitment to a Life of Prayer

Are we serious enough to go to God in prayer? Are we burdened enough to earnestly seek God in prayer? Are we hungry enough and desperate enough to boldly storm the doors of Heaven with our pounding petitions that are so persistent that we ring the ears of angels and awaken the interest of the throne room?

God is on the lookout for men and women of prayer. Make a commitment to God, friend, that this year will be the year that you get serious with Him in prayer. Ask God to strengthen your prayer life, to make you a holy weapon in His hand.

Let us pray.