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“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

An Almighty God of grace and goodness has promised to answer according to His providential will and perfect timing the prayerful petitions of those who trust and rely upon Him. But we must pray in faith with confident expectation, persistence, and patience. In His heralded Sermon on the Mount Jesus commanded His followers to pray continuously, asking, seeking, and knocking while awaiting God’s response expecting to receive, find, and enter.

First, we must humbly “ask” God, expecting to receive the desired outcome of our prayer. Jesus’ brother James, a leader of the early church at Jerusalem, said, “you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2-3) Christians must ask God for what we want, repeatedly if necessary. In making our requests, we must ask that His will be done, not to our own selfish desires.

Not only does Jesus direct believers to make their requests known by asking but He instructs them to “seek” through the power of prayer to find favor with the LORD. He has declared that “you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) But God only promises to hear and answer the prayers of those who have a personal relationship with Him, having found the heavenly Father through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him…” (Revelation 3:20). Jesus desires to enter into every human heart, but His entry is never forced. Our faith allows Him access and opens the door to God’s grace and our salvation. And on the way to our eternal destiny, Christ opens doors of opportunity for blessings when we “knock” on heaven’s door and come to His throne of grace from our prayer closets.

“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)


 

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