Ask, Seek, and Knock
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May 08, 2011 |
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 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7)
As promised by Jesus in John 15:16, "…whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you," God wants to give His beloved children anything that they ask for in the name of Jesus Christ. In the beginning of His public ministry Jesus delivered a famous series of messages now referred to as 'The Sermon on the Mount'. He told the audience to 'ask', 'seek' and 'knock'. In Matthew 7:8 He promised we can receive answers from the God of Justice, saying, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." For what then do we have to ask, seek and knock?
1. Ask, and It Will Be Given to You
This Scripture in Matthew 7:7 expresses the heart of the Lord who wants God's children to lead a blessed life in Him. Of these four aspects, this issue of Manmin News elaborates upon what we have to ask for.
First of all, we have to ask to see the face of God and receive His strength. God commands us in Psalm 105:4 "Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face continually." We have to ask for the strength and grace from above to overcome the world and live by the Word of God. Receiving His strength requires us to possess spiritual faith, which is worthy to receive God's answers. Such spiritual faith is God-given faith that comes from above. Concisely speaking, asking for the strength of God means asking to receive God-given faith.
Next, we have to ask to see the face of God. It indicates we should try to understand who God is and listen to His voice. And as written in John 1:1, "the Word was God," it is seeking the face of God to learn and realize the Word of God recorded in the Bible.
Second, we have to ask for the accomplishment of the kingdom and righteousness of God (Matthew 6:33). The kingdom of God can be accomplished when we pray for all men to gain salvation and become children of God, so we have to ask for evangelization of the world to accomplish His kingdom. Next, we can accomplish His righteousness when we listen to His Word and come out of darkness and walk in the Light according to the Word. In other words, we have to ask for sanctification and ask to resemble the holiness of God to accomplish His righteousness. When we accomplish His righteousness and our souls prosper, everything will go well with us and we will be in good health (3 John 1:2).
Third, we have to ask to become a worker of God and for the fulfillment of our God-given duties. As children of God we have to become workers of the Lord. Those who have received their God-given duties have to ask to carry them out and successfully fulfill them. When we perform our God-given duties well, greater duties are given and the more rewards are also given to us. Rewards in Heaven are worthy of glory and honor beyond comparison with anything else on the earth. All believers have to become precious workers for God and we have to fulfill our duties zealously.
Fourth, we have to ask for daily bread. When we ask for our daily bread—clothes, house, food, job, business, good health, and so on, God provides us with everything we ask for as promised in Matthew 6:33. But whatever it is that we ask for must be only for the glory of God. If we ask for something to satisfy our selfish desires, God doesn't answer. It's because our prayer out of greed has nothing to do with God's work.
2. Seek, and You Will Find
The reason Jesus tells us to 'seek' is because there is something we have lost! What is it we have lost, and how can we find it? The first man Adam was created in the image of God and became a living being when God breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils. When a long period of time passed, Adam, who was made only of spirit, soul and body disobeyed the command of God and sinned. As a result his spirit was put to death. He and his descendants all lost the 'image of God' and came to be no more than the beasts that consist of soul and body.
Restoring the lost image of God requires that our spirit that has been dead, be revived and we be transformed into a man of spirit worthy to communicate with God who is spirit. After we are born again of the Spirit, we have to observe the commands of God and perform the duty of man with a reverent fear of God so that we can restore the image of God (Ecclesiastes 12:13). When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, as promised in the Bible, the Holy Spirit comes into our heart, makes our dead spirit alive again and leads us to the truth and righteousness.
If we diligently listen to the Word of God, understand it and make our spiritual bread of it according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and simultaneously pray for the strength to practice it, we can be transformed into a man of spirit and whole spirit; this is the process where we can restore the lost image of God.
3. Knock, and It Will Be Opened to You
Jesus promised us, saying, "… knock, and it will be opened to you." What kind of door do we have to knock and how can we knock on it?
It is the door to the heart of God that we have to knock. And knocking is none other than keeping and practicing the Word of God—to obey whatever the Bible tells us to do, not to do, to keep and cast away. As recorded in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me," the Lord knocked the door to our heart and came into our heart when we accepted Him. Now is the time we should knock at the door to the heart of God by keeping His commands.
As announced in 3 John 1:4, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth," God takes the greatest delight in seeing us keeping and doing His Word. Therefore, we have to diligently knock on the door to the heart of God by repenting of our sins, asking for His grace with a humble heart, and completely practicing His Word we have borne in our mind.
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