Ask, Seek, Knock

I want to share with you a tremendous insight my husband had when listening to the Word. Luke 11:9-10 (AMP) says, "So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened." God revealed that He was intentional in the order He put things in. Ask, seek, knock. And keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.

The key is to realize that God put these in a certain order for a purpose. We are to ask first, then seek, then knock. I often get them out of order. The tendency is to seek all over everywhere and when we can't find, then we ask God. And how often we ask God and get discouraged when we still can't find the answer or the answer doesn't come soon enough. Sometimes going to God seems to be a lesson in frustration. Even when we have done the perseverance part, I wonder if frustration continues because we do not realize there is an order to things.

God designed for us to ask him first. And we need to come asking with expectation of His goodness. We are to come as a child to a perfect Father who wants to hear what we have to say. According to Luke 11:13, Father God knows how to give good gifts to His children. We must also surrender our motives so that they are pure (James 4:3). God is a good Father and will not give us what is not good for us.

Then we need to begin seeking for where and how He will answer. God can speak in any number of ways. He can speak to us directly, through dreams, through circumstances, or through others. Sometimes I am led to a book, a teaching video/podcast, or to call a friend. Holy Spirit leads us in our search. The Holy Spirit is a good gift (Luke 11:13) so that we are not all alone, abandoned to our own resources. We want to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He will direct our steps to the answer.

Finally, we knock on that door. What I personally like to do is say, "Yes, Lord!" even before I know what I am saying yes to. We do this as an act of faith to honor Father God. We give our full surrender not based on the what but on the who. We surrender completely to the One True God, and therefore we surrender to His answer. We surrender to His solution. We surrender to His way of doing things. Then we step out in faith to go forward through whatever door He opens. We keep our eyes on Him, for He is the one to direct our steps. 

I invite you to join me in prayer: God, I repent for getting things out of order. I repent for looking in all the wrong places instead of coming to you first. I repent for asking with wrong motives. I repent for giving up too soon. God, I come before you now asking to know you better. I ask for your grace to know and understand your ways. I come to you asking for what I need. I ask you to purify my motives so that what I ask for is in alignment with your will. God, I agree to seek you and only you with everything that is in me. I agree to knock on your door of grace and mercy. And I agree to walk through the door that you open. I thank you, God, that your door is always wide open to receive me! Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you give me more of your Holy Spirit. Thank you, God, that you are able to do immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20).