Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask, Seek, Knock
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; he who seeks finds;
And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. – Matthew 7:7-8

Ask
Jesus commands us to ask in prayer. Ask means to crave, beg for something lacking, desire, require, or demand something that is due because of family or redemptive rights. In prayer, we ask God with humility and confidence in His promises, nothing doubting, being assured that if we ask, we receive. The psalmist said it this way: “Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless” (Ps. 34:10b, 84:11). Jesus said, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7).

We ask as little dependent children, needing the basics of life. From the Lord’s prayer, we absorb the foundational lessons of daily dependence – whom to address, God’s due reverence, the priority of his name, submission to His will, vision into what He wants to do on earth, daily dependence, keeping a clear slate with God through forgiveness, showing His mercy to others, living free from sin and oppression of the evil one, and the final summation of all things in His great glory.

Seek
Seeking implies something is missing, and we are searching for it. Jesus promises that if we seek diligently and earnestly with our whole hearts, we have the assurance that we will find. Seeking is bold asking. Jesus taught seeking in prayer, which He pictured as a persistent petitioner who sought relief from one who had authority and power to answer (Luke 18:1-8). There are many other Scriptural promises to the seeker. The three parables of Luke 15 all hinge on seeking something that was lost – a lost coin, a lost sheep, a lost son. Jesus plainly stated in Matthew 7:7-8 that seeking will be rewarded with finding the object of our desire. This principle echoes elsewhere in the Scriptures.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. – Deuteronomy 4:29

The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. – 2 Chronicles 15:2

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. – Hebrews 11:6

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt. – James 1:5-6a

Knock
Knocking implies need of entrance, with the assurance that the door will be opened. Jesus taught fervent, insistent prayer in Luke 11:5-8, immediately before He gave the instruction to “Ask, seek, and knock” (Luke 11:9-10). He told us to ask with holy boldness as a friend of God. Jesus pictured this holy insistence as a man with a desperate need who knocked on the door of a friend’s house at a radical house of the night. An unexpected guest had come from a long distance and was very hungry at an inconvenient hour. After being turned away, the importunate knocker continued boldly and shamelessly. He was assured that his insistence would bring a response. He was stubborn and tenacious in purpose. He was desperate for the answer his friend could give (Heb. 10:19-23, 36). He continued steadily and incessantly and refused to give up. In the same way, we are told to come boldly to God’s throne of grace for help in time of need (Heb. 4:16).

If a friend would answer a persistent and desperate request for the sake of human friendship, if he would inconvenience himself for friendship’s sake, then God will also answer for friendship’s sake. Abraham is called “friend of God” in the Scriptures, and Jesus called his disciples “friends.” We all can be His intimate friend. In the verses that follow in Luke 11, Jesus raises the bar higher than friendship. He says in effect, “How much more will God yield to urgent prayer based on His promises to his covenantal children!” God is plainly more loving and generous with His children than any earthly father. A good earthly father does everything in his power to provide for his children. The Father-heart of God is even more interested in our welfare than an earthly parent and even more willing to bless (Luke 11:11-13).

It is important to remember that the Holy Spirit, the Father’s all-inclusive gift, will enable us to pray according to God’s will (Luke 11:13, Rom. 8:26-27). Pray believing that God will answer all who pray His will, not just a few special ones (Luke 11:10). He will give all things that are best for his children according to His will, His Word, and His timing. We can be confident that God answers prayer, as we submit to Him and ask, seek, and knock. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him” (John 5:14-15).


Prayer Essentials II @ 2000 – Sylvia Gunter
The Father’s Business – P.O Box 888014 – Atlanta, GA 30356
Permission granted to reproduce individual pages for prayer purposes.