“So I say to you: 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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Luke 11:9,10
In this passage, Jesus tells us to pray for what we want and need with expectance. He shows us how to A.S.K. God for what we want and need.
Ask. Seek. Knock.
“Ask and it will be given to you” (This is praying in a bold way. When we ask God for something we are letting him know we believe he can answer our request and this takes boldness.)“Seek and you will find.” (This is praying in an even bolder way. It’s the next level up from asking. Seeking requires effort and takes time.)
“Knock and the door will be opened to you.” (This is praying in the boldest way. Knocking at a door is interruptive, takes persistence and puts you in a position where you risk being rejected or ignored.)
In the Greek language, these three words (ask, seek and knock) are in the present, active, imperative tense. This simply means they could read, as the NLT puts them, “Keep asking…Keep seeking…Keep knocking.“
God wants us to pray with persistence and boldness. He wants us to make it our habit to ask him and keep asking him until he answers.
I wonder how many prayers are unrealized due to a lack of A.S.K.ing. I wonder how many times we give up too soon and miss out on the blessing of God saying “Yes!”
We must be like the persistent widow who kept coming to the judge until he caved in and granted her request (Luke 18:1-8.)
We must be like the bold man who kept knocking on his neighbor’s door in the middle of the night with an emergency request until his neighbor got out of bed and answered the door (Luke 11:5-8.)
What is your request?
Maybe you need a healing. Perhaps it’s physical, emotional or relational but you are in desperate need. A.S.K. God for it and don’t give up.
Maybe you need money. The bills are piling up. The creditors are knocking. You don’t know what to do or who to talk to about it. Talk to God about it. He can’t wait to hear from you.
Maybe you need hope. This pandemic has led you to isolation and desperation and you don’t know where to turn for answers. Turn upward to heaven and A.S.K. God for deliverance.
Whether you’re praying for your kids to come back to Jesus, for a new job or strength to keep fighting the good fight, God wants you to come to him in prayer…and keep coming.
Of course we need to make sure we’re not asking for selfish reasons. James 4:3 reminds us, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.“
Are there times when God says no to our request, even when we pray with boldness and persistence? Of course there are! But James 4:2 makes it clear that often, “You do not have because you do not ask God.”
When we A.S.K. God for genuine needs and even “wants” we need to ask with gusto and grit. We need to, in the words of Jesus in Luke 18:1, “always pray and not give up.“
What am I A.S.K.ing God for? A teen led spiritual awakening that sweeps the globe!
I won’t stop Asking God for the next generation to be reached.
I won’t stop Seeking the keys to mobilizing Christian teens to spread the gospel to their peers.
I won’t stop Knocking on heaven’s door until God opens it and #EveryTeenEverywhere hears the gospel from a friend.
Join me in A.S.K.ing God for a teen-led spiritual awakening that leads to every teen everywhere hearing the gospel from a friend and I’ll join you in your prayer request. Feel free to put your prayer request in the comments section below and I will pray with you.
May we Ask until we lose our voices. May we Seek until we find. May we Knock on heaven’s door until our knuckles bleed and God says YES to our request!
