Tag Archives: Prayer

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes: Matthew 7:7-11

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Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

Matthew 7:7-11 (NLT)

7 “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? 10Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! 11So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

Mt. 7:7-11 Diligently ask and it will be given to you; seek with a longing to discover and you will find; knock on the door, and that door will be opened to you. 8 For with certainty, everyone who keeps asking, receives; the one who keep seeking, finds; and to the one who keeps knocking, it will be opened. 9 Consider this comparison: which of you, if your child asked for bread, would give him a brick or stone? 10 Or even, if he asked for a fish to eat, would give him a snake? 11 Since therefore you, being sinful and uncaring, know what a good gift looks like, and you give these to your own children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him. (PRT – Pastor Rick’s Translation)

Mt. 7:7 Diligently ask and it will be given to you; seek with a longing to discover and you will find; knock on the door, and that door will be opened to you.

Or, in reverse of action and results:

You will get what you need for those of you who diligently keep asking; you will discover and find what God has in store for you for those of you who keep on seeking; and that door for relationship and provision will be opened for you who keep on knocking.

Ask for, crave, desire, call for and it will be given, supplied, entrusted to you. Seek, seek after, strive for, crave, seek with the expectation of finding, seek with longing to know and worship and you will find, return to the place, understand.  Knock, rap on the door or gate and that gate will be opened, opened fully to you.

Could this be the first verse of Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ unspoken question following the previous teaching? How do we keep from becoming judgmental? And how do we remove the huge sin in our lives so we can help others? How do we discern between giving precious spiritual truth to those who will honor it, instead of those who will toss it into the pig pen?

Easy, prayer changes us. Keep on pressing in to your relationship to Jesus. If the Father opens your eyes to sin in your life, bring it to him. If you find yourself stuck trying to share God’s goodness with one who dishonors it, pray and seek God’ freedom.

7:8 For with certainty, everyone who keeps asking, receives; the one who keep seeking, finds; and to the one who keeps knocking, it will be opened.

For, because, for indeed. Everyone asking receives, takes as one’s own, ; seeking finds; knocking it’s open fully. Pray and, in faith expect God’s gracious provision.

Read this in reverse for emphasis as this is cause/effect. The one who receives God’s answers is the one who keeps on asking; the one who find God’s treasure is the one who keeps on seeking; the one who experiences God’s Presence, who enters into the relationship eternally is the one who keeps on knocking.

The “keep on” tense is both continuous and leads to a greater expression of the action. If I am praying a little now and keep praying a little more, God will honor this and take me deeper into him. Conversely, if I pray just a little now and back off, I will fall into judgmentalism or lack of discernment.

Knocking at the Father’s door for provision, relationship is juxtaposed with Rev 3:20 where the Father is knocking at the door of those in Laodicea who were unrepentant and lukewarm. The Father initiates the knocking and we repent and open the door for salvation; and for the rest of our lives we grow by asking, seeking and knocking.

7:9 Consider this comparison: which of you, if your child asked for bread, would give him a brick or stone?

Which, then, is of you out of or from.  Jesus gives a comparison or juxtaposition. He is saying consider this from your own perspective. Will a Father give his son a brick or rock when he wants bread? The first word in the verse is translated “or” and makes this a comparative statement.

7:10 Or even, if he asked for a fish to eat, would give him a snake?

The comparative conjunction begins this, too.  The snake and fish comparison hints at follower of Jesus or enticed by the evil one. The point of these two verses: the hunger of your kid demands a proper response just like the spiritual hunger inside each of us receives the proper response from the Father.

The “me” in both juxtapositions assumes a negative answer. In no way would a father give his hungry kid a brick or a scorpion.

7:11 Since therefore you, being sinful and uncaring, know what a good gift looks like, and you give these to your own children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

You, who by nature, from the inside, act badly, do evil, are corrupt and guilty. The comparison is of God the Father who perfectly chooses goodness and compassion toward his children and me (or you) you imperfect, not good, guilty of choosing badly, evil. Both come out of the heart, out of the inner nature.

If we are evil, even in our best days, compared to God who lacks no good characteristic, we are reminded that we need him.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes – Mark 1:14-15, 35-39

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Pastor Rick’s Translation (PRT):

v. 14 And after John’s surrendering over to custody, Jesus came into Galilee announcing the Good News of God. v. 15 And he proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is near; repent and believe the Good News.”

v. 35 And very early in the morning, a great while before the sun had risen, Jesus went out and turned aside to a solitary place and there was praying. v. 36 And Simon and those with him searched hard for him. v. 37 Then, after they found him, also said to him, “Everyone seeks you.” v. 38 Then, Jesus said to them, “Let’s take another way towards the towns nearby so that I might proclaim the Good News openly there; after all, it’s for this I have gone public. v. 39 And going from place-to-place all around Galilee he was preaching in their assemblies and sending demons where they belong.

Did John have to leave the scene in order for Jesus to step into the Good News of the Kingdom? John was placed in the dungeons of Herod. Jesus preaches the Good News on the heels of John’s repentance message. They go hand-in-hand. Good News is just that for those who turn from a “me-centered life” toward a Jesus-centered life.

The Kairos has filled up and, in that moment, the Kingdom has come near. Our response is to repent and throw ourselves into the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Galatians 4:4 But when the fulness of time came, God sent His Son Jesus.

In relation to time. Jesus in Mark 1 declared about the Kingdom present, “it’s here,” in John 12 declared about the Kingdom victory through the Cross, “it’s time,” and on the Cross in Luke about the Kingdom redemption and restoration, “it’s finished.”

v. 35 And very early in the morning, a great while before the sun had risen, Jesus went out and turned aside to a solitary place and there was praying.

This early morning prayer time is after a full day of ministry, teaching and demonstrating the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus has definitely entered the fray and stepped into what He came to do. Defeat the enemy, bring life and salvation to people.

For this area, deserted places were hard to find as most of the land around Capernaum was farmland. But Jesus turned aside from the path and found a deserted or isolated place.

That battle includes a time of refreshing as well as a time for intercession. Refreshing in the Father’s presence; intercession for the mission He will accomplish.

Jesus was able to leave the house in Capernaum – Simon Peter’s family home, since he also healed his wife’s mom, walk a distance toward the Sea of Galilee and find a deserted place in order to pray.

“And there, praying.” Instead of the more used “there he prayed” this captures that he spent an extended time praying. The verse indicates the “watch of 3 to 6 am.”

For Power and for Refreshing.

Jesus demonstrates the weapons of battle – prayer, fasting, and rest.

v. 36 And Simon and those with him searched hard for him.

The word for searched is “followed” but also with diligence, with intense pursuit. Hence “searched hard” for Him.  A possible translation might be “went after him with intense desire and effort” – but that’s too intense. Simon is likely telling the story to Mark as he writes. The success and popularity of the previous day needed to be exploited in his mind; Jesus however had a different plan and calling.

It’s the same word the Psalmist uses in Psalm 23 – surely goodness and mercy shall search hard after me.

In Peter’s defense, he knew there were many who would want to hear Jesus and needed to be healed.

v. 37 Then, after they found him, also said to him, “Everyone seeks you.”

v. 38 Then, Jesus said to them, “Let’s take another way towards the towns nearby so that I might proclaim the Good News openly there; after all, it’s for this I have gone public.

Jesus was there for Capernaum, but also for all the villages and towns around Galilee. This area of the Holy Lands had become quite the supplier for crops, animals, and manufacturing – so there were a lot of small villages who needed to hear the Good News and see Jesus demonstrate it through miracles and signs.

The words declare/proclaim/preach indicate publicly and openly; the phrase “for this is why I came forth” in light of this makes sense – it’s why I’ve gone public, stepped out of obscurity into the limelight.

v. 39 And going from place-to-place all around Galilee he was preaching in their assemblies and sending demons where they belong.

The word here is “cast out” (ekballo) as in, throw out from one place forcefully. It can also mean send away with a purpose or force. Jesus “sent demons packing” as Peterson translated. In other places he sent them from and to.

Jesus faced the worst in man and brought His best, the darkest and brought the light, the most infectious and repulsive and brought wholeness, life and freedom. In the final verses, Jesus faced what was arguably the worst someone could contract and suffer in the leprous man.

Leprosy was so bad that it became synonymous with the corruption of sin and hell. Lepers were forbidden to relate to others who were “clean” and had to exist outside of society and warn others lest they stumble into their midst.

Jesus broke all kinds of rules: he approached the leper, he communicated with the leper, he touched the leper, he was moved with compassion (some translations say “indignant”) that such a disease would cause such pain and the culture would allow such ostracism, and he healed him.

Then, he said, go and make the offerings and do what the culture we live in requires for the eight days to show you are healed as a “testimony to them” meaning the priests. It was the way he would enter back into worship and society. And since no one had ever been healed of leprosy, no priest had ever had to exact this offering from one healed.

The culture had labeled and identified people with leprosy by their malady. They were no longer people – they were lepers. What we experience, what we might suffer through, what we have battled, is not who we are – it might make us into what we become, but we are not wrapped up in the identity of “the leper.”

Two important beliefs surround this miracle:

  1. No one from Israel who had a long bout with leprosy had ever been healed (Elisha healed a Gentile military leader and God had used leprosy as a brief sign to the disobedient.) Leprosy had been named “punishment from the finger of God.” And the belief was that in order to be healed from leprosy, the Messiah would have to come and perform the miracle.
  2. That no one could touch a leper or anything unclean because the unclean would transfer to make the clean unclean.

Jesus changed all of this! He felt compassion for this man kneeling before Him. This was an incredible faith. The man was declaring that, if you can heal me, you indeed are Messiah.

Points to consider:

Who are you getting up early for? Who are you doing battle for? Who are you willing to entrust to the power of the spirit and move on for?  What are you facing that you need others to do battle for?