How awesome is it that the God of the universe delights in us and is always there to hear our every prayer? Prayer is how we communicate our needs and desires to God. Of course, God being omniscient, knows our needs whether or not we ask or not, but prayer is the way God has chosen to bring about those answers.
I remember my first prayer time as a child. I was about 5 years old. I grew up in a neighborhood where most of the children went to church, and I can still remember, as a little child, them asking me, “Did I confess my sins?” When I replied, “No,” they told me very sincerely that “I was going to hell.” I didn’t know where hell was; it didn’t sound like a very nice place. So I would be in my bed at night, under the covers, confessing whatever sins a little 5-year-old could have and asking for forgiveness, and through that time, it opened the door to start talking to God.
And many years later, I publicly asked Jesus into my heart and received Him as my Lord and Savior. I recognized He shed His blood for the forgiveness of my sins, and I was born again, never to be the same, and my prayer life has grown every day as I grow in my intimate relationship with Jesus.
(Matthew 7:7-8) Jesus said, “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.”
Jesus starts by saying, “ASK…” That’s not to say that believers always get what they ask for. However, the more time a Christian spends in communion with God, he will know what to ask for in accordance with God’s will. Prayer shows a dependence on God for needs that can be met no other way, and God is pleased with such displays of faith.
He went on to say, “Seek, and you will find.” What is it we should be seeking? What we should be seeking is God Himself.
(Psalm 27:8) My heart says to you, “Seek His face.” Your face, Lord, I will seek.
(Psalm 105:4) Seek the Lord and His strength. Seek His presence continually.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:36).
Seeking God’s kingdom means putting God’s plan before your own, and seeking God’s righteousness means setting a priority of personal holiness and desiring to be sanctified.
A powerful prayer is “Not my will but Yours, God!” It took me a long time to pray that prayer sincerely because self-will can be very strong. The closer I walked with God, the easier it became to pray that prayer.
Seeking God’s face is praying to God to get to know Him and communicate with Him, to have an intimate relationship with Him. Seeking His hand is asking to receive blessings from Him. Both are good, but it’s important we seek His face more than His hand.
And “Knock, and the door will be opened.” If a person needs something from someone behind a door, the natural thing to do is knock and keep on knocking until the door is opened. This is referring to persistent prayer.
Jesus said, “Ask, Seek, and Knock.”
Notice the three different senses being considered. Asking is verbal. Christians are to use our mouths and petition God for our needs and desires, and next, we are to seek with our minds and our hearts. And the knock involves physical movement, one in which we take action.
The commands are followed by, “Everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds and the one who knocks the door will be opened. God delights in the prayer of faith, and He promises to give us what we need.”