When you are struggling with something in life do you find it hard to ask God for the help that you need? I know sometimes I worry that my request is something small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. God cares for us though, and He wants us to make our requests known to Him through prayer. Look at what Jesus says in (Matthew 7:7–11)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 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!” (Matthew 7:7-11)
Ask, Seek and Knock. Isn’t it interesting that all of these are action words? We are to ask with faith knowing that God will supply all of our needs, seek Him as we would a precious jewel or a cure to all of our ailments, and knock on the door as a desperately lost traveler who goes to the first house with a light on hoping for help. All three of these actions are done through faith and prayer.
Ask God in Prayer
First, Jesus tells them to ask. This is the prayer part. It is taking our requests and needs to God, and presenting them before Him. It is not that He is unaware of our needs, for He knows what we need before we ask Him (Matthew 6:8).
Just as we talk over the issues of our day with our spouse or friends, so also God wants us to communicate with Him about the issues and needs which are heavy on our hearts and minds. So, we ask Him about these things. This is the first step to prayer.
Seek God in Prayer
We are not to function as if God is like a snack or soda machine, where we can select what we want. Addressed supplication only happens when what we ask is essential to God’s will(John 15:7).
Have any of us at any point become worn out in petitioning God for something or someone? According to Paul, we are to “continue in prayer,” which means we are not to stop praying. Persistence exhibits our confidence that God answers our petitions.
Confidence ought not to falter and die assuming the responses come too gradually, for the postponement might be God’s approach to working his will in our lives.
Knock God in Prayer
Seeking answers to our prayers leads to the third step in getting our prayers answer: knocking. After we ask God to help us with our needs, and as we seek for possible ways that God might answer our requests, we must then step out in faith and knock on the doors that present themselves. When we ask, we ask with faith.
When we seek, we seek possible answers with eyes of faith. And when we knock, we step out and take risks with faith by pursuing opportunities that were brought to our attention during the seeking phase.
Too often our prayers are more like shopping lists than two-way conversations with God. The teaching here is not that selfish requests will be granted.
The meaning is that there will be receiving, finding, and opening of doors for the one who asks, seeks, and knocks according to God’s will.
We can trust the Heavenly Father to give what is suited to fulfill one’s needs. Our part is to be open to God; his part is to give as he alone knows to give.
