Your Responsibility to Ask, Seek, and Knock

Matthew 7:7-9 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened."

Often times, in hardships I hear, "I just can't see God" and "I don't believe God hears my prayers."  As I've pondered on these statements and surveyed Scripture, I've come to the realization that our ability to see God at work is based on how hard we are actually searching for Him.  I've gone through some difficult times in my life, and 100% of the time, how much I saw God in the picture was dependant upon how hard I was seeking Him. 

In Matthew 7:7, Jesus gives a conditional command.  In essence, he is saying, "if you ask, it will be given, if you seek, you will find." These are not simply a one time event of asking, seeking, and knocking, but Greek grammar dictates that the command is continual. In essence, the person is to continue to ask, seek, and knock.  There is no object to what is given.  Many people think this verse implies that we may ask anything of God and He will give it, which makes God out to be our own personal genie.  However, Jesus is speaking these words in Matthew 7 during the Sermon on the Mount, where the emphasis is the kingdom of God.  Therefore, what is asked for, sought, and knocked upon should be seen in light of the kingdom of God.

One of the most striking examples of this is that of George Mueller. He began praying for five of his friends to come to faith.  After many months, one of them became a Christian. Ten years later, two others were came to faith. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller continued in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, totalling 52 years of fervent prayer. Mueller's faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last friend was saved.
in Matthew 7:7, it is interesting to see who makes the response happen with each of the corresponding actions a person does.  God is the giver to the asker and the opener to the knocker.  Yet, nestled between the two, the seeker is the one who will actively find.  Therefore, the biblical principle is made: if someone continually and actively seeks, he will find."

Sometimes life doesn't make sense.  It seems unfair and unjust.  And if we get down to it, it isn't just, because sin has entered the world.  However, sometimes, we place the blame of life's conditions on God. We think that God doesn't hear us and that He doesn't care. That belief is not biblical truth. The truth is that if we seek Him, we will find Him. The challenge for us is this: when we walk through trials, we continue to seek because the seeker is the one who finds.  No one else can do it for us.

Even in the grimmest situations, God can be found.  It might not be in the answer for which you were looking, but that does not negate His presence nor His purpose for you.  Our emphasis should not be placed on the impending result, but rather on our continual plight to ask, seek, and knock.  When we do, our hearts will be more in line with the heart of God and we will better understand the plan He has for us in light of whatever circumstance you are going through. 

A Personal Word on Prayer

For those of you who do not know...last week my daughter and I were involved in a fairly bad car accident. I had just taken my son to school. As we were turning out of our driveway, I noticed I was on empty. I made note of this to my son who pleaded with me to stop at the nearest station by our house. I told him that I would stop after I took him to school. On the way to the gas station, I was t-boned by another car going about 65 mph because I turned without seeing him coming. I then hit another truck which landed my vehicle on the ground. After it was all over and I had my daughter in my arms, I realized how bad it could have been. My SUV was in shambles, as was the other one. Yet all parties walked away with minor injuries.

In the next day or so, people began to tell me how on that morning, they had felt compelled to pray for me by name. They stopped what they were doing and prayed. One person was praying at the exact moment my son was trying to tell me to choose another gas station. I can pinpoint several people who had specifically prayed for my safety that morning. I am grateful and humbled to say the least.

Oftentimes, I dwell on the Sovereignty of God and I think that my prayers make no difference. However, that is an unbiblical view of prayer. In Luke 11, Jesus tells us to ask of God. Our God is not simply some unfeeling powerhouse. He is our loving Heavenly Father who hears us when we cry to Him. He wants us to ask of Him because when we ask and He gives, it is a testimony of who He is.

I know without a doubt that I walked away from that accident because my Heavenly Father listened to the prayers of His people. He compelled them to pray, they followed in obedience, and He heard their prayers. This example shows both God's Sovereignty as well as our responsibility.

I know I do not typically log about my own experiences, but this truly was a defining moment that will shape my priority and content of prayer.

Daily Challenge - July 03 - Do Not Be Anxious

Philippians 4:6-7 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

What is it that makes us so unduly concerned about everything? I try to think of myself as a laid back person, but still I fall into the trap of playing the "what if" game. It is amazing what people become anxious over: make up and hair looking perfect, the way pair of jeans fit, whether they will be accepted by the right crowd, whether their child will make it home by curfew, whether their husband will come home on time, whether their friend will make it through the illness, whether their son will come home from war. The reason for our anxiety can go from being completely trivial in nature to seemingly overwhelming. Yet, Paul had a specific teaching on how to deal with all kinds of worrisome situations.

In Philippians 4:6, Paul simply gives the command to not be anxious. This means to not have an unduly amount of concern over a certain matter. Paul is not stating that you cannot care about what is going on around you, but rather to maintain a proper outlook and not obsess over it. Fortunately, Paul does not simply tell us not to be anxious, but he also tells us how to deal with our tendency to get caught up with our concern. He tells us that in everything, by prayer and petitions, we are to present our requests to God. This means that there is no detail too minute and no problem too formidable for God.

Paul also states how we are to present our requests to God. We are to bring our requests to God in prayer with thanksgiving. This seems to be contrary to the present situation. However, when we begin to praise God, that in essence, solicits the end of our anxiety because we begin to recognize God in the present situation (Barth, Philippians, 120). We begin to give God the glory in what we are going through. We begin to place God in the center of our circumstance. The result that comes from the presentation of petition with praise is God's peace. It is not a peace that we can understand by our own understanding. It far surpasses and exceeds what we can expect, plan, or anticipate. This peace will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The verb to guard was used as a military term, which referenced a soldier standing guard over a city in order to keep it from being attacked (Hawthorne, Philippians, 247). Therefore, the word picture is of God's peace standing guard over our thoughts and our emotions, protecting them from anxiety.

We can therefore surmise that God does not want us to be anxious and gives us the tools not to be. However, it is up to us to utilize those resources by looking to God in all times, not just in situations that might cause unduly concern. We must make it a practice to praise God in every situation and pray continually to Him regarding everything. When we have this upward perspective, the result is God's peace that guards our thoughts and emotions.

The challenge today is to look at what area of your life is causing you anxiety. Is it a particular relationship? Is it how others perceive you? Is it your job performance? The list is endless. Spend some time in prayer with your focus being on THANKSGIVING regarding the situation. Make God the center of the petition and the concern. Trust in His character and His nature regarding the situation.

Daily Challenge - June 7, 2011 - Trusting Daily

Matthew 6:11 - Give us today our daily bread.

So many times in our prayer life, we concern ourselves with matters of the future: a future job, relationship, aspiration, wealth, goal, etc. Yet, in Jesus' exemplar prayer, he prays about the concern for the day, on that day. This shows a constant dependency and trust upon God for our provision.

While in the wilderness, God miraculously provided the Israelites with manna, or bread from heaven, for each day. However, if they tried to store it, they would awake to a jar full of maggots (Exodus 16). God did this to show Israel that He could provide for their daily need in a world where all hope seemed lost. However, they had to trust in Him daily. Their lack of trust was shown by their hoarding up His provision for the future.

How often we are like the Israelites! We hoard up God's provision for the future instead of trusting in Him to supply us with what we need for the day and therefore forfeit living generously for His kingdom. While we should be wise with what God has given us, when we begin to trust in our own means of storing rather than openly laying out all we have before God as a daily offering in order to ask Him to provide for us again the following day, we act in disobedience.

The challenge for to day is to look at your own life and evaluate whether you are truly trusting God to provide for today. Are you going to him daily, asking Him to meet you needs? Are you praying more about future concerns or matters of the present? If we focus our prayer life on how God is going to provide for us in the future, we miss out on how He is presently at work. Today, if you no longer are trusting in Him, how can you get back to the point of reliance?