Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: Jesus' words to us are, "Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened" (Matt. 7:7-8).
Jesus followed up this challenge with one of His "how much more" promises (v. 11).
At times your seeking becomes so urgent, your soul so desperate, that you actually begin to knock at heaven's door. When the need is crying for God's answer but the answer is still not forthcoming, and when your soul is also crying out to God in holy desperation, it is not irreverent to knock at the entrance to heaven's door.
Jesus Himself went beyond asking and seeking in Gethsemane. He cried out with loud crying and tears, as He no doubt often had done (Heb. 5:7). He was knocking until He was heard.
He taught us to knock in His parable of the friend at midnight (Luke 11:5-8). When the unexpected traveler arrive, the householder had urgent need and went at midnight to the home of another friend and begged at first unsuccessfully for bread for his unexpected guest. It was not for himself—it was for a man in need.
Jesus showed that when your relationship as a friend is insufficient to get your need supplied by ordinary asking, your continuous knocking will finally get the answer...
So you see Moses on Mount Sinai? God is so angry with idolatrous Israel that He is ready to blot them out. Moses asks, seeks, pleads, and knocks; he throws himself into the breach as a mediator:
'Please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of
the book you have written" (Exod. 32:32).
Do you see Moses instantly cast himself face down before God again and again in the succeeding years as he prevails till Israel is spared God's wrath, as Israel repeatedly insults God to His face?
Do you see Elisha at Jordan? Elijah has just gone to heaven in a triumphal chariot of fire. Elisha has Elijah's mantle. He comes to the Jordan and calls out as he strikes the Jordan with it,
"Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" (2 Kings 2:14). Both the Kerkeley and the Knox translations indicate that "as he struck the waters again, it parted."
Elisha was knocking. He struck the Jordan once, but nothing happened. He called out, asking where God was, and nothing happened. So he struck the Jordan a second time, and waters parted before him. I believe if necessary he would have struck it even more times. He prevailed because he knocked.
Look at the church prevailing for the release of Peter. The Greek word used in Acts 12:5 to describe their praying is ektenos
(stretched, stretched out).They must have been storming the gates of heaven, knocking.
[Dr. Duewel goes on to relate Thomas Payne's story of a mother of 9 children, who were unsaved, as well as her husband. She began to focus individually on each child in pleading prayer, until they were all saved. Her husband, however, did not respond until she spent an entire night in an all-out effort in prayer for him. He gave his heart to God that next morning too!]
Such was Martin Luther's prayer for his great friend and fellow reformer, Philip Melanchthon. Luther heard that Melanchthon was dying, and he went at once to see him... Luther was deeply moved, turned away from the bed, fell upon his knees with his face toward the window, and agonized in prayer for an hour, praying with earnestness and holy boldness, knocking on heaven's door...
Then Luther arose from his knees and went quietly to the bed. He took Melanchthon by the hand. The sick man roused, recognized Luther, and said "O dear Luther, why don't you let me depart in peace?" " No, no, Philip, we cannot possibly spare you from the field of labor yet!"
[Melanchthon continued to resist, but finally took some food and revived,] "and for many years continued to labor, battling with the powers of darkness for the Reformation that God sent across Europe. Reformation came to Europe because of men who knew how to prevail in prayer, even when it require knocking on heaven's door."
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana (With Jean's impressions added)
Mighty Prevailing Prayer
#101 Level 3 of Prevailing Prayer: Knocking
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 176 -179) Zondervan
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| Praying with eyes closed |
Let's pray-
Father, as there are times that our prayers are offered in urgency, we ask for Your Spirit's help to express our concerns in such a way, that Your Heart will be touched.
We remember that Jesus Himself, sometimes prayed with tears and with groans in His desperation over situations He was facing, and He was heard.
Help us pray like Moses and Elisha, and to be determined to knock on heaven's door for situations that concern us deeply.
We ask this in Jesus' name, and for His glory in so doing. Amen.
We remember that Jesus Himself, sometimes prayed with tears and with groans in His desperation over situations He was facing, and He was heard.
Help us pray like Moses and Elisha, and to be determined to knock on heaven's door for situations that concern us deeply.
We ask this in Jesus' name, and for His glory in so doing. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
(2 Kings 20:5 b KJV) "I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee."
Today's quote-
Wesley Duewel
Give me tears in my eyes, loving Lord, I pray!
Give me tears when I intercede.
Give me tears when I kneel at Your throne each day;
Give me tears when I learn to plead.
Pierced Lord, break this cold, stony heart of mine;
Melt my heart with Your holy fire!
Flood my soul with the passion of love divine;
May I hunger with Your desire.
Take the callousness all from my heart again
Till I hunger and thirst and yearn,
Till the longings for souls of sin-ruined men
All-consuming within me burn.
Fill my heart with your tears; there unveil Your cross
Till all else of this world has died,
Till all else in my life I shall count but loss.
Save the cross of the Crucified.
May my heart be a crucified heart alway
That it bleed for the souls of men.
May the burden for souls melt my soul each day
Till I share Your travail again.
Give me tears when I preach of Your dying love;
Give me tears when I plead with men.
Give me tears as I point to Your throne above'
Love of God, melt my heart again.
Upcoming posts-
#102 Jesus Said We Would Fast
30th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
White Robes
4/1- Saturday's post by Lee Forbes
#103 Fasting As Self Denial
4th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#104 In the Path of Prayer
6th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
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Sample verses from p. 20-
It Is with Love
I'm Writing Now
"It is with love I'm writing now
To help you in your walk.
As you read this may you allow
The Lord to guide our talk.
Throughout the years it has been true
God's helped me through each day.
I'm confident He'll guide you too
So you can learn His way."
To help you in your walk.
As you read this may you allow
The Lord to guide our talk.
Throughout the years it has been true
God's helped me through each day.
I'm confident He'll guide you too
So you can learn His way."
of the Carolinas. Used by permission).
A great gift for someone who may need help
to prepare for marriage, and for those in a
to prepare for marriage, and for those in a
marriage, wanting some helpful advice.
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