Confident praying

​Today’s devotion is based on Matthew 7:7-11, “Jesus said, “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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “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!”
Jesus invites us to pray with confidence. As he teaches us about confidence in praying to our heavenly Father, Jesus makes a comparison to the care responsible parents give to their children. They seek to provide their children with what is healthful and safe for them. They wouldn’t deliberately deceive their hungry children by substituting a stone for bread or a snake for a fish.
How much more God will provide what is good for his dear children! He may give a better gift than the one we ask for, but he will not perversely answer our prayers to harm us. God is always looking out for our best interests. For He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)
Please pray with me: Heavenly Father, gracious God, creator and sustainer of all things, seen and unseen. You surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me! In Jesus’ holy name, I pray. Amen.