Asking in Faith (Matthew 7:11)

If you then, who are 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!
– Matthew 7:11

I love this verse. It comes on the heels of Jesus talking about his promises to give us what we need in prayer. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”. He says in verse eight, “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened”.

Matthew 7:11 teaches us to trust God’s fatherly care.

But then we immediately think when we read these verses about times when God has not given us what we asked for. Or we’ve prayed for something and God’s not answered in the way we’ve asked him to move or work or provide. But this is where these next three verses culminating in verse 11, which I read are so important because Jesus says, “Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?”

I think about– if my kids are hungry and they ask for food, there’s no chance I would give them a rock. No way. And I am not a perfect father like God is. I am a sinner. “If you then, who are evil”, he says in Matthew 7:9–11, “if his son asks him for […] a fish, will give him a serpent?” Like what parent who loves their child would give their child a snake that would harm them instead of fish that would feed them? No way.

And Jesus is saying, that’s you as a sinful parent. God is a perfect Father, and he delights in giving good things to those who ask him. And as a perfect Father, he knows what we need. He knows what is best for us. And so when we pray, we can pray with confidence. And we can ask with confidence for all kinds of things, knowing that we can trust God with what we’ve asked for. There’s nothing we could ask for that’s beyond his power to do. Nothing is impossible with him.

Matthew 7:11 explains God’s wisdom in answering prayer.

So we trust in his power. And we also trust in his wisdom that he knows what is best. And we trust in his love that he will give what is good. Which is what Matthew 7:11 is reminding us of.

I just want to encourage you today in your prayer life to ask before God. Ask for all kinds of good gifts. And trust in the power, and the wisdom, and the love of God for you. And for the people around you, that you may be interceding for. Praise God as the perfect Father who gives good gifts, who loves his children perfectly.

Oh God, even as I say all that, I need all that in my life as I’m asking for certain things. God, I trust you. We say together right now, we trust you. Lord, we trust your power.

We praise you as the One who has all power, who has sovereign authority over all things. We praise you, oh God, as the One who holds all things in your hands. Nothing is impossible with you. So we pray before you in light of your power and in light of your wisdom. God, we praise you that you see things we don’t see. You know things we don’t know. Your wisdom is so much higher than our wisdom.

This verse explains how God delights in giving.

God, help us to remember this as we are asking for things, as we’re wondering why this or that is happening, to trust that you are all wise and to trust that you are all good, that you’re infinitely loving, that you’re our Father who delights in giving good things to us. Lord, we praise you as our Father for all the good things you have given to us. God, help us to give thanks in all circumstances.

Help us to see your goodness and your grace in so many ways in our lives, so many ways we so often take for granted. God, we praise you for giving us so many good things that we don’t even stop to thank you for. All glory be to your Name, for your goodness that we don’t deserve. Jesus, we praise you for making it possible for us to know God as Father. We don’t deserve to be your sons and daughters.

Thank you, God, for your salvation in our lives, and all your good gifts that flow from your hand. And so teach us to pray with confidence in your power, and your wisdom, and your love. And God, in light of that, we intercede for people who don’t know you around us. God, we pray for the salvation of friends and family members who don’t know you.

Prayer for the Arain People

And God, we intercede right now for people who’ve never heard the gospel. God, for the Arain people of Northern India, this Hindu people group of 300,000 plus people, no known fathers of Jesus.

God, we pray, we ask you, please pour out your grace, your mercy on the Arain people of India that they might be saved. Please raise up laborers, workers for the harvest field, cause the gospel to spread to them that they might know you as Father, as the one true God. That they might turn from all idols to trust in you, Jesus, as their Savior, as their Lord. That they might know you, God, as their Father, in the way that Matthew 7 talks about. We pray this for them as we pray for kinds of good things in our lives and in the lives of others around us, according to your Word in Matthew 7:11. In Jesus’ name, amen.