Ask-Seek-Knock

Jesus, according to Matthew, said the following: ask - you will receive; seek - you will find; knock - and the door will be opened for you. This passage has intrigued me for years: there are so many lessons and applications contained therein. Let's take a closer look.

This passage deals with three actions initiated by followers and the results of those actions. It also addresses a spectrum of potentialities that believers face in their daily walk. Asking and receiving deals with our needs. I am in need of providential help so I ask and the Lord assures that I will receive. Over and over we're told about supplications that are to be included in our prayers: a request for something we need to have supplied by the Lord.

Seeking addresses the position we often find ourselves in of requiring more knowledge about the Lord's will. Thus, Jesus says look for what you need and it will be shown to you. When Peter writes that we have been given everything that pertains to life and Godliness, I'm persuaded he may have had this promise in mind. It is for this reason that when I find myself questioning some truth or trying to make a Godly decision that my first response is to seek the guidance of the Lord in expanding my knowledge and understanding as I search the scripture.

But it is the final promise in this triad that I find most interesting: knocking and having the door opened. Jesus suggests that after receiving, finding that some action follows: knocking on the door. When the door is knocked upon, it will be opened. What is the natural thing to do? Go through the door! Enter into the place of blessing to which the portal has just swung open. I have observed in my life, which I readily admit has been far from perfect in its execution and understanding, that I often ask, seek but am often reluctant to go through the door and accept the position of being blessed by what is on the other side. Going through that door is an experience that no doubt will bring untold blessings into our life but we have to lose our reticence at going through. Asking is good! Seeking is wonderful, but passing through that door must be an experience of unimaginable faith and reward!

When faced with any of life's enigmatic choices, the Lord has given us the necessary steps to take that enable us to do the right thing: Ask, Seek, Knock and then pass through the door and accept the provision of the Lord. I submit that we can never really know the richness and power in prayer and faith until we determine to pass through the door the Lord has opened for us.

Ask, seek, knock and above all, when the door opens don't just stand and peer inside . . . go through and experience what God can do through your faith!