Ask, Seek, Knock

 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 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!'

Matthew 7:7-11

    The whole point of Jesus coming down to earth to die for our sins, was so that we could then have a close and personal relationship with the Father. When we are in need, we are more likely to go to someone who we trust and know they will give us what we ask for. We are not as likely to go to someone who has either, 1) hurt us in the past, or 2) we don't have a relationship close enough to expect anything out of them. God knows all and sees all. But he doesn't want to just give something when he sees we need it. He wants us to come to him, as a child would come to his loving Father and ask for the thing our heart desires. Jesus lays this out in 3 easy ways.

1) Ask- we need to open our mouths and hearts and say the thing we are wanting God to give or do. A dad who knows his kids usually knows when they are wanting a sweet treat before dinner, and sometimes, they will slip them one when Mom is busy cooking. But there are other times, when the father simply wants to be asked if they can share this moment together. In the same way, it delights the Father to award the boldness of his child with the thing they long for. 

2) Seek- sometimes, the answer is not yes right away. In these moments, we need to seek after something else: the will of the Father. As we grow and mature in our faith, there will be moments when God answers our prayer right away, and I believe it is in these moments that the desires of our heart line up with what God wants for us. And because he designed us with a path of greatness for us to follow, when we walk that path, the things we want are the things he also wants for us. When the answer to our request in not now, or even no, we need to use the time in the hallway of life to realign ourselves and ask God to remove anything from our path that is hindering us from following after him wholeheartedly, so when the time comes, we can prepare to take the action of the 3rd step,

3) Knock- when the time is right, we will ring the doorbell of destiny and God will open the door to allow us passage. If you have ever done any door-to-door evangelism or advertising, you know that not every person will open the door, most people will not even let you give your spiel and the few that do will politely, (most of the time) send you off with nothing but a dead end. But if you are going to be effective in your pitch, you may have to experience 100 No's before ever receiving your first Yes. God's plan for us can look like this sometimes. We try different opportunities or trials and continue to keep searching for the one person who will give us the time of day. Once we have found them, then we don't stop there and be done, but we continue to learn and grow and continue searching for the next Yes.

    Draw close to God and his desires, and when the time comes, Ask, Seek and Knock, and he will guide you down the path he has designed for you. 

Adam Semple- A Young Man on a Journey Through the Sermon on the Mount.