Prayer - asking, seeking, knocking

Asking God

I was going through some old files today and ran across the following
saying, "Never is there a knock at Heaven's gate, that it is not heard in
Hell and the devil rushes out to silence it." That saying has a lot of
meaning if you stop and think about it for a moment. When is the last time
you "knocked at heaven's gate?" What am I talking about? When is the last
time you talked with God? When is the last time you spent time praying and
communing with the ruler of the universe? If you want to have a relationship
with God and have the power of heaven on your side, then you have to spend
some time "knocking on heaven's gate" in prayer.

Understand this, the more you pray, the more Satan is going to fight against
you. When things don't seem to go the way you want, it doesn't mean
necessarily that God has refused you, but perhaps that Satan is just working
harder to stop you from seeing the answer. I have a friend (George) who one
time told me, "If you are having problems you must be doing something right,
otherwise Satan wouldn't bother you. he doesn't care about those he already
has." Peter says it well in 1 Peter 5:8-9, "Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone
to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that
your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of
sufferings."

So keep these things in mind and continue to "knock," maybe even bang on
heaven's gate. God hears us and will listen to us if we take time to keep
our lives in tune with him. John 9:31, "We know that God does not listen to
sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will".

My prayer for you is that you will continue to "knock on heaven's gate,"
often, repeatedly, again and again trusting that our Father will hear you
and grant your requests.

Russ Lawson