Friday April 11, 2014 Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, Seek, Knock

⁷ “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.
⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ 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! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

How encouraging!  I know I have felt many times that my prayer requests might be too trivial, or not worth asking the Lord for.  I am sure many of us have prayed for healing, answers, resolutions, etc., that we feel may have never been granted.  This passage is very encouraging, though, because it points to the AUTHORITY we have in Jesus Christ.  Authority that we can claim His power as we pray because "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." (1 John 5:14). 

Of course, the answer to our prayers might not always come in the way and manner we may want, but we are encouraged by this passage to be persistent in asking!  The New Living Translation says, "Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you."  Keep persisting in your prayers! 

And as a fallen, imperfect parent myself, how comforting and humbling it is to be compared to the perfect Father, our Lord.  For if I, in my brokenness, frustration, emptiness, and exhaustion can continue to feed my own children with "bread" and "fish", how amazing to think that our Father would so graciously want to continue to feed ME and pour out His "good gifts" on ME when I ask.  As we continue to Ask, Seek, and Knock, let us pray that God would reveal His will for each of our heart's desires, as we seek to mold our hearts after His and to stand in the authority we have been given in Christ Jesus!  "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" ((Jeremiah 29:13).
Jennifer Mosier