Jesus explains The Three Keys To All Of Christianity in Matthew 7:7-11: Mat 7:7-11 (NIV) 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. Which of you, if his 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! How do you get good gifts from your Father in heaven? He gives them to those who ASK Him.

Prayer wasn’t one of the principles you were taught in the world. You were taught to push forward, believe in yourself, set goals, make plans, make up your mind, determine to win, and do what it takes to succeed. The major pressure for winning at life was on your shoulders. If you didn’t have what it takes, then you would end up being a loser. If you didn’t have what other people wanted or needed, they would go to someone else. If they didn’t like you, then they would try to find someone they did like. It was your responsibility to empress, please, influence, and meet other people’s needs and wants.

James 4:1-2 (NIV) What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. The world teaches you to fight for what you want and need. You soon realized that you represented YOU and what was best for YOU. You soon found out that everyone else was mostly interested in themselves. If they were kind to you, then they wanted something from you. If they were civilized enough, they wouldn’t try to take it away from you; they would try to get you to let them have it.

God wants us to ONLY get those things that flow through Him. But, He doesn’t want you to get anything through Him that you don’t PRAY and ask for. Gen 1:27 (NIV) So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God created you with a God-given free will; you can’t be programed to do the right thing like a robot. God won’t force you like a slave to do the right thing. You have to DESIRE it or God won’t do it for you. The way for you to let God know what you want is to PRAY for it. That is you giving God your permission to do what you DESIRE.

A permission based relationship is one where you and God have to have each other’s permission. When you pray, you are giving God your permission to do something for you, in you, with you, or through you. If He answers your prayer positively, then that is Him giving you His permission to have it. You lack God’s knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, wisdom, and love. So, you will OFTEN ask for things that you are convinced are good for you, but they aren’t. When this happens, you don’t get God’s permission to get them from Him. You may get them through some other source; but, you won’t get them through PRAYER.

Each day, as you go through these studies, Jesus takes you through Biblical truths on the first page. Then on the next page you spend time praying for all those things Jesus exposed you to. If you pray for them with true DESIRE and willingness, Jesus installs them into your HEART, SOUL, MIND, and STRENGTH of will. You have been praying a lot of prayers that you may not remember; but, Jesus remembers them. Each one of those prayers have become like spiritual food to you. You may not remember what you ate yesterday; but, that food is feeding your body right now. That is the way these PRAYERS are for your spiritual growth.