Jesus of Nazareth once gave this bold invitation: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). The message seems to be that God has more to give us—faith to impart, comfort to bestow, blessings to pour out. He wants to give more, but He waits for us to ask, seek, and knock.
The invitation sounds simple, but it can be life changing. When we come before Almighty God and open our hearts to Him in prayer, something happens inside us. Hypocrisy and vanity vanish before the God of truth. Our perspective expands and our trust deepens when centered on Him. And very often, it is in asking and seeking that we discover what we really want.
Abraham Lincoln, who led his country through a dark time of civil war, humbly explained: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all [around] me, seemed insufficient for the day.”1
At some point, life drives each of us to our knees. We face situations we cannot handle alone, problems we cannot solve alone, weaknesses we cannot overcome alone. Whether spoken aloud or carried silently in the heart, every sincere prayer reaches heaven. Sometimes just knowing that brings us peace and gives us hope.
When we pray, we aren’t simply placing an order. Nor are we trying to bend God’s will to ours in order to get what we want. We are seeking a connection with the divine. It’s true that God knows our needs before we ask, but there’s power in asking, in seeking, in knocking. It involves searching our own hearts, even as we search to understand His. Prayer is a way we come to see ourselves and our lives from a larger, more eternal perspective. The clouds roll back, and we discover that we are not alone or helpless. In God’s time and in His way, we find the promise to be true: “Every one that asketh receiveth; and [everyone] that seeketh findeth; and to [everyone] that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:8).
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April 03, 2022
Broadcast Number 4,829
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Brian Mathias
Host
Lloyd Newell
Awake And Arise, All Ye Children Of Light
Welsh Melody; arr. Mack Wilberg
Child’s Prayer, A
Janice Kapp Perry
King Of Love My Shepherd Is, The
Irish Melody; arr. Brian Mathias
I Sing The Mighty Power Of God
English Melody; arr. Mack Wilberg
For I Am Called By Thy Name
Crawford Gates
Lead, Kindly Light
John B. Dykes; arr. Mack Wilberg
Arise, O God, And Shine
John Darwall; arr. Mack Wilberg