Here is a good promise from Christ Himself:
Matthew 7:7-12
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Ask, Seek, Knock.
We’ve often heard people use these three words to get across the message of prayer. But what does it really mean, in context of the scripture. I did some studying this morning, because…well, ask, seek, knock is what I’ve been doing for a while, and sometimes it seems like God is sort of hard of hearing, because I wasn’t getting the responses to my prayers. I mean no disrespect to my Abba, but we have that kind of relationship; besides I say what a lot of religious people don’t want to say, but they feel.
As I was praying this morning I found out a little about the “ask, seek, knock” principle. But as I am writing this, I realize I should probably break down the principle so that you’re not overloaded. So I’ll start with “asking” today, and do the rest during the week.
“Ask” in the Greek is alteo, which means to crave or desire something and acquire it by demanding it. In this bit of scripture, Ask does not mean beg. It means “to demand something that is due to you because of family and redemptive rights”. My pastor said something in church yesterday, He said, Jesus did not come so we could live a defeated life. He came so that we could live life fully; we shouldn’t have to beg, for what Christ freely gave to us. The redemptive rights…the family rights of Christ is exactly that. We go to God, with an understanding (because we abide in Him and His word in us) that Jesus paid it all for us. He paid for our desires, he paid for our finances, he paid for our health, he paid for our salvation, he paid it all!. If your biological father said to you “Son/Daughter, I bought a new car, so that you don’t have to walk anywhere”, would you beg for the keys? Or would you simply ask “Dad can I have the keys to the car that you bought so that I don’t have to walk?” As believers it is God’s will that we ask and get what we want.
I am trying to build faith in you and in me. Because when we pray, we must pray with this understanding-When we ask, God answers because we are ‘family’.
Are you in the family of God? Really, Do you believe that? Because if you don’t, you will continue to beg like a dog (Matthew 7:6) for things that are rightfully yours. If you don’t know God as Father, you need to get that. He cannot answer your prayer unless you believe in Him as Father.
