Ask, Seek, Bang on the Bathroom Door
A Lesson in Prayer from My Kids
"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."
My kids are totally audacious when they ask me for things.
I find it incredibly irritating.
Screen time. Something to eat. Candy. More screen time… Sometimes I cannot believe they are asking AGAIN for something I already told them they could not have.
They are shameless. Really. It’s like they believe that they have some special privilege to have what they desire from me simply because they are my children. They must really believe that I am generous, and will give them tasty things out of the storehouses of my refrigerator and pantry if they just ask.
And they are so persistent! They ask me. Then they ask me again. If I am off in a corner with my laptop, they seek me out and ask me for something. If I’m am behind a closed door trying to get dressed, or take a shower, they come knocking to boldly make their requests. They have even figured out how to call me on my cell phone from the smart speaker in our kitchen! I literally cannot get away from their requests!
You’d think they would learn. I say “no” more than any other word in my vocabulary. I huff and puff and show them my irritation. But they keep on asking me. They keep on seeking me out. They keep on knocking on my bathroom door.
MY KIDS ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK
As I studied Jesus’ teaching on prayer in Luke 11:1-13 this week, it dawned on me that this is exactly the way Jesus tells us to approach our heavenly Father in prayer.
We call him Father, and make our requests from a privileged position, not as strangers, but as beloved children. (Luke 11:2)
We don’t worry about inconveniencing Him, but ask with shameless boldness, and we expect him to give us as much as we need just because we were bold in the asking. (Luke 11:8)
We ask, we seek, and we knock, believing that if we ask we will receive, if we seek we will find, and if we knock the doors of heaven will be opened to us. (Luke 11:9-10)
Thankfully, God is a better parent than I am. I give good things when I can, but often my selfishness or busyness gets in the way of taking seriously my children’s requests. But unlike me, God is always giving us His best. He doesn’t get irritated when we come asking with boldness. He loves it! In fact, He wants to give us the most precious thing in the entire universe: His very Spirit to live and dwell inside us!
"If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
GO AHEAD. BANG ON THAT DOOR.
Do you have an audacious prayer life? Do you ask once and then give up, or are you as bold as my kids? Are you willing to pound on the door of heaven like they bang on my bathroom door?
If you belong to God through Jesus, it is your right to ask just like a child. Shamelessly. Boldly. Persistently.
God can say no. It’s His right. My kids know that I can say no, but they ask me anyway, because they know I love them… and that I hold the keys to the cupboard, so to speak.
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