Episode 267: Ask, Knock, and Trust the One Who Answers

You've asked. You've knocked. You've kept asking. And the door is still closed. Dot and Cara get real about the places where prayer feels hard, where persistent asking starts to feel pointless, and what Matthew 7 is actually saying about a God who doesn't hand you a stone when you ask for bread. This one is honest, a little vulnerable, and full of hope for anyone who has wrestled with why God keeps saying not yet. Pull up a chair, grab your Bible, and lean in with us.Got a question about today’s episode or something else you’d like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! Episode RecapIntro (00:00)Write this down: Matthew 7:7-11, a call to keep asking the God who gives good gifts to his children (00:13)Ask and it will be given to you, sure, but what about all the times it hasn't been? Dot and Cara get honest about the frustration of persistent prayer (01:21)What Luke's gospel adds to this passage, and why the Holy Spirit matters in how we read it (02:36)Unanswered prayer isn't always a no, and sometimes the no is the answer you'll be most grateful for (04:00)Cara opens up about where she is right now with asking, when you trust God's nos but you're just tired of bringing your heart to the door (08:00)Dot's aha moment: what if what I'm asking for is the stone? What we think is bread, God sometimes sees as a serpent (13:00)Dot shares a story about praying specifically for Cara and hearing her pray the exact same thing later that same day, a quiet wink from God that he's listening (18:49)The Israelites crossed the Red Sea and then complained about being thirsty. Dot on spiritual amnesia and why we keep forgetting what God has already done (21:38)Moses in Exodus 33: you can't see what God is doing right now, but when you look back, you'll see him (23:00)The closing truth: keep asking, because God is good, and he will not withhold what is best for his children (25:36)Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at [email protected] Write this Down! on YouTubeFind Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook This Episode’s Scripture VerseMatthew 7:7-11 (ESV) — "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 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!"