Prayer
Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! – Matthew 7:9-11
“To call on God is to pray, which encompasses all communion between us and God. It means to implore, to cry out for help, to ask for assistance, to require, to need and to express that need. The Bible says that God ‘richly blesses all who call on him’ (Romans 10:12); and Jesus gave us the promise, ‘Ask and it will be given to you’ (Matthew 7:7). There is power in prayer. In fact, whatever God can do prayer can do, because prayer links us up with God. Here is the secret to tapping into the power of prayer: Go to God as a child and say, ‘Heavenly Father, this is what I need today.’ God desires to give good gifts to his children, and he will hear you when you call on him in childlike faith and sincerity. In his New Testament letter, James wrote the following: ‘You do not have because you do not ask God’ (James 4:2). Let’s not have that said about us as believers in Christ.” – Pastor Cymbala
- What does it mean to call on God?
- What inspires your confidence in the power of prayer, and how do you tap into that power?
- Discuss the father heart of God when his children ask him for what they need.
- Comment on what the New Testament writer James said about why believers sometimes don’t receive what they need from God.
- How does the passage in Matthew 7:9-11 encourage you to pray about a specific need you may have today?