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. (Matthew 7:7-8 NIV)
Prayer, connection with God and the things He has for me, involves these three things. Asking. You’ve probably heard that there are no “dumb” questions. At our house we say the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
In a lecture on prayer, one of my mentors said, “People so often complain about “unanswered prayer” but fail to recognize the “unprayed answers.” The latter seems to be the exception. God always answers our prayers: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and sometimes not yet. The answers we get may not always come as we have asked or expected, but when we ask, he answers.
Seeking. There are times when finding the answer requires us to become involved in the process. Sometimes we have to put feet to our prayers to meet up with the answer. If we will move, we might find we are closer to the answer.
Knocking. When we are knocking on the door, typically we looking to connect with whoever is on the other side. God created us for relationship. We really do need each other. There is a reason the writer of Hebrews tells us not to give up meeting together and reminds us we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. God’s answers to our needs often come through the hands of others.
So when we find ourselves struggling to find God’s answer to our questions or his provision for our need, let’s employ the A.S.K. method and watch for how he will respond.
PRAYER: God, in our quiet moments today hear the cries of our hearts, as we bring before you our own needs and intercede for others. Open our eyes to many ways you answer and our need to keep asking, seeking, and knocking. Amen.