Sunday Devotional - Ask, Seek, and Knock #tworship

“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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8 NKJV)

Jesus obviously tells us to be persistent. But if we keep asking, wouldn’t that show a lack of faith?  Shouldn’t we trust Him that He hears us and not nag Him about our problems?

Jesus doesn’t want beggars, does he? Does He want us to grovel to get what we need? No. Of course not. Nor is He a vending machine that we need to put the “right” amount of prayer into and out comes the change we need.

At the same time, for our purposes, God wants to know how much we really want it. If it’s something that’s not important to us, will we put much prayer time into it? If it’s something we desperately need, won’t we pray that much more earnestly?

So if He doesn’t want begging and groveling, what does He expect when He says keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking? What should we ask for? What should we seek? How do we knock?
It’s about balance and a relationship. It’s about keeping ourselves in the right place to do great things and be what we were meant to be. It’s about being in harmony and yes, friendship with our Savior.

What should we ask? Often, we end up asking for the “thing” that we want, whether it be healing, freedom, or whatever. What if instead, we ask what God wants us to do for Him, for the ones He loves?  Or maybe we should ask who we need to forgive, or from whom we need to ask forgiveness.  Remember that the Bible tells us that if we go to pray in front of God and we are reminded that we have a debt to pay that we should pay it and then come back.

So what should we seek?  Shouldn’t we look through the scriptures for God to speak to us?  Searching the scriptures for promises and other helps makes sense if we want to hear from God.
Knock.  How do we knock?  When we go and knock on doors of someone’s house we are looking to enter in, to be in fellowship with that person.  Here we should be knocking on Jesus door – seeking fellowship and friendship with Him. It all goes in a circle.

Dear God,
Today, help me to see where I can help and who needs my help. Don’t let me turn a blind eye. Help me to seek Your scriptures so that I can hear what You say to me today, and learn what I need to learn. In this manner, I knock on your door and seek fellowship with you. You have called me friend, and that is what I want to be to you today. In Jesus name, Amen.