Ask, Seek and Knock

Jesus said in Mt. 7:7…”Ask and it shall be given, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened…”

Jesus certainly is showing us how we can gain the attention of the Father and how things will begin to move and take place in our lives individually and as a corporate body of believers. If there were ever a time we need to ask, seek and knock we are living in that time. I am not sure how you feel but from my vantage point and the feeling of my heart is we need to pray with a greater fervency than we ever have in our lives.

To ask is an important thing to God. Asking is an exercise of humility!! It is in my estimation the highest form of humbleness. Pride is a dreadful disease. One man said, “pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick except for the fellow that has it!” You may ask why is asking in prayer an exercise of humility? The answer is simple and clear. When we ask it is a direct admission on our part that we cannot do or bring to ourselves that which we are pleading with God. The very act of asking is a declaration to God that we need him.

Seeking of course is valuable to God as well. Seeking is an expectation of pursuit. The very word itself leaves with it the idea of pursuing. God longs for us to pursue Him in prayer and worship. We often say we have a desire for God but the great question is…Do we? I remember hearing Rod Parsley say so often, ”the proof of desire is in pursuit.” If we desire something it will show up in more places than just our mouth. It will be more than lip service. Speaking desire is one thing but desire will play out in what we do with our praying on a daily basis. Are we chasing after God and the things he desires for us? Are we relentless in our prayers by seeking God day and night? We show our desire by our pursuit.

Then we see the words of Christ speak of knocking. Knocking is an exhaustion of importunity! Prayer should be an importunate behavior. In other words, knock and keep knocking until the door is open. Like the neighbor, Jesus spoke of who in the middle of the night kept knocking on His neighbor's door asking for food to give a friend. The man told him to go away but he kept on knocking. And Jesus goes on the explain that we should knock on the door of heaven with that same fierce abandonment. We should exhaust ourselves with importunate knocking. And He told us that God would answer our prayers just like the man got up and gave food to his neighbor.

This week and every week let's Ask, seek ad knock and I know that God will answer our prayers.