Prayer Service in Malang, February 22, 2011 (Tuesday Evening)

Speaker: Rev. Mikha S. Toding

Matthew 7:7-11
7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
7:8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
7:9 "Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
7:10 "Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

"Ask, and it will be given to you"
God offers us to ask for three things of Him as follows:
  1. Bread(verse 9).
    Meaning The Word of God as food which is able to sanctify and perfect us as well as to satisfy us, so we need not seek satisfaction of the world.
  2. Fish(verse 10).
    Meaning Holy Spirit.
  3. Egg.
    Luke 11:11-12
    11:11 "If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
    11:12 "Or if he asks for an     egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

    Meaning the love of God, because an egg is round, without any boundary.
Zechariah 10:1
10:1 Ask the LORD for rain In the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.

Asking for bread, fish, and egg equals to asking for the rain of God's Word, the rain of Holy Spirit, and the rain of God's love.
The requirements are as follows:
  1. We ask in faith, with no doubting.
    James 1:5-6
    1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
    1:6 But     let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
  1. We ask according to God's will, not forcing Him do our will.
    John 15:7
    15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

  2. We ask according to our need, especially for our spirituality, namely we ask for the Word, Holy Spirit, and God's love.
Matthew 7:7
7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

"seek, and you will find"
Asking something of God but we have not got it yet, we have to seek the reasonsas follows:
  1. There is envy or hatredcausing fight and war.
    James 4:1-3
    4:1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
    4:2 You lust and do not have. You     murderand covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
    4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

  2. Hardness of heartthat makes us pray without any sincerity but with pretence or imitating the tongues or prayer of other people.
    Exodus 20:25
    20:25 'And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you have profaned it.

  3. Arrogance or prideof something in the world.
    Exodus 20:26
    20:26 'Nor shall you go up by stepsto My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.'
Matthew 7:7
7:7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

"knock, and it will be opened to you."
Exodus 20:24
20:24 'An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name I will come to you, and I will bless you.
Knowing the reason of our prayer's has not been answered yet by God, we have to knock the door of God's heart, meaning as follows:
  1. Humbling ourselves until we can confess our sinswith broken heart, as King David has done.
    Psalm 51:16-17
    51:16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart--These, O God, You will not despise.

  2. Worshiping God with contrite heart, as King Hezekiah has done.
    2 Kings 20:1-3
    20:1 In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: 'Set your house in order, for you shall die, and not live.'"
    20:2 Then he turned his face toward the wall, and     prayed to the LORD,saying,
    20:3 "Remember now, O LORD, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight." And Hezekiah     wept bitterly.
As a result, God opens His heart to give us His blessings as follows:
Isaiah 44:3
44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spiriton your descendants, And My blessingon your offspring;
Do not ask for stone, serpent or scorpion, but His person, namely the Word of God, Holy Spirit, and God's love!


God blesses you.