Ask, Seek, Knock... And it Will be Given to You

 “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2

I recently started a Bible study called Behold Your God; Rethinking God Biblically and it is very good! It is shaking loose some incorrect beliefs about God and reminding me about who God is Biblically. But most of all it is rekindling the fire and passion for God that seems to have waned a little bit. It is reminding me that the Christian walk isn't about ME (Wait, what!?) but ALL about HIM. It is SO easy to slip into the world of the mundane, become complacent with God, engaging more with the world, and make things all about ME. Not that I am unimportant to God, after all, He gave His life for me, but I need to remember the reason for that sacrifice!! Why did Christ die for me? It is more than just paying for my sins, isn’t it also so that I can be reunited with HIM? If so, shouldn’t HE be my focus. We are cleansed and redeemed from sin so that we can come to Him, into His throne room without blemish. We are freed from sin so that we can spend our life developing a relationship with HIM not so that we could live our own life apart from Him. So, if you really think about it, it really isn't about us, but it should be all about HIM and who He is to us. Isn't that a wonderful reminder and mind shift?!

The other thing this study pointed out is that there is an “order” to things. First and foremost; “Who Christ is.” Second is “The work that he has done” and then third, “What I must do.” The scripture reference is Colossians 1:3-23. I will summarize this scripture in the correct order for perspective;

He is; The image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. By Him all things were created… He is before all things and in Him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence (verses 15-18)

He has; Qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the son of his love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. He has reconciled all things to himself, making peace through his blood shed on the cross. (verses 12-14, 20-22)

We must; Not cease to pray and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That I may be worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God… Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. I must continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast and not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (verses 9-12, 23)

If we get any of these things out of order we will be out of balance! If we focus on what he has done first, it won’t have the same impact if we don’t really know who He is. If we focus on what we must “do” first, without knowing who He is, our work for him will not produce the desired fruit, if any fruit at all. He MUST always come first, then we have a greater understanding of what He has done and what we must do for Him will come as natural as breathing. The “must” isn’t an order from God but rather a natural result from KNOWING Him! It is a desire, or healthy compulsion, to serve Him because we truly know and LOVE Him and the result is that we want to do His will, and surrender everything we can for him. I would like to bring up some familiar scriptures and see if we can look at them in a different way today, and maybe see them from a different perspective.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his 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

Over the years of my journey to know God, he has given me some wonderful insights and one of them is that He is all about the "Eternal" perspective, more so than the temporal. Because, as he says, this life is just a blink of an eye, here today and gone tomorrow. Even though we may feel like the “here and now” is lasting FOREVER, right? LOL! But it really isn’t, the older I get, the more apparent this is! What seems to matter most to God is what is ETERNAL and not temporal. The above Matthew scripture is just one example, and this will help me get to the purpose of this blog: When we read scriptures like this, what do we think of asking, seeking, and knocking for? (Side note; I am focusing mostly on Asking and Seeking in this blog, I will get into the knocking part in another blog).

Like a little child when their daddy is offering good gifts they think of things like sweets, toys, and Disneyland. As an adult child I am thinking, Woohoo, I can ask for whatever I wish!? And in my mind, I equate "good gifts" as something temporal and think … with my hand on my chin, looking up, saying hmmm… I could use a new car, a bigger house, new clothes, more money, a better job! (Just fill in the blanks of the good gifts you can think of!) Of course, all these things affect me in this life, and of course God wants to give these "good" gifts to me, right? Not a stone or a snake?!! Thank goodness! But if you think about it, all these things are temporal gifts, not even lasting my life time! I am not saying these things aren’t important to God or that He won't give those things to me, but are these the things is He asking me to "ask, seek, and knock" for? We get a clue in Luke's version of this scripture when he says; "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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"  Luke 11:5-13 Wait! What!? I can ask for the HOLY SPIRIT?? Ahhh, yes. The Holy Spirit is ETERNAL, do you think this is what He wants us to ask for and seek?

Let's look at another scripture; in this Luke scripture He is saying that if we seek HIM first, our food and clothing, and basic necessities will be taken care of (the very things I was asking for before! DOH!). Also, I believe the "Life" He is referring to here is "eternal life"... "Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! … And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock,." Luke 12:23-34 

This is a great scripture to teach us about not worrying, but honestly now I am seeing it as an entreaty to not worry about the temporal things in life but instead SEEK HIM and HIS Kingdom first and when we DO, all the other things in life will be taken care of. He says the “pagan world” runs after these things… The Godless ones, the ones who don’t have Him. Since we DO have Him, we can trust Him to take care of these basic, temporal, needs. Remember the example of the “order” of things? You are probably thinking; DUH, Linda, are you just now getting this!? Well, yes and no. I think I have known but my understanding is going deeper into the question of, What AM I asking, seeking, and knocking for?? If not the temporal things in life, what DOES He want me to ask for? If I ask for bread, wouldn't He rather give me the Bread of LIFE, Jesus himself, and the Living Water of the Holy Spirit, and then trust him to give me the regular bread without asking for it!? “Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." John 4:10 He says, I feed the birds of the air and clothe the grass of the fields, how much more valuable are YOU!? I know you need these things, but instead, seek and ask for ME, the rest is already taken care of before time began!

"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:19-20

In this above scripture, I have believed that if two or more are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of us to expedite our prayers. Just a tool for us to get the things we are praying for, right? Again, not that this is wrong, but what if we think of it in this way; When two or more are gathered together and what they are really asking for is HIM, Jesus Himself, so that they can BE with Him, and then, there He is in the midst of them? Then they could be in the presence of God and commune with the living God together! Wouldn't the other, temporal, requests already be addressed? Thinking again about the order of things… this is another wonderful focus shift! Seeking and acknowledging Him first, desiring Him above all else, to be with us, then the other things will be added! Oswald chambers says “…are we seeking the blessings of God, or God who has the blessings?” Another mind shift!!

In Mark 11:21-24 Jesus cursed the fig tree and it died and He said “Have faith in God, Jesus answered... and do not doubt” What are we to have faith in? And what are we not to doubt?? Jesus says God himself! This takes us back to the order of things, having faith in God first and do not doubt Him! He says plainly that we can do the same things that HE does, but maybe we are missing the most crucial first step!! Who did Jesus always acknowledge first and dedicate His life to... Whose WILL did Jesus always do? Who did He always surrender to? He came to do HIS FATHER’S will and not his own! He was always in the presence of God and surrendered to God’s will in everything, even in His death. What are we asking for and seeking? Our will or God's? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42

In John 14:11 He says “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."  This is another great scripture to dissect a bit more. He says He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, this implies an intimate knowledge of God, the first crucial step. Then, the Son is bringing glory to the Father. In what way is he bringing glory to the Father? Is it temporal or eternal? And, IN HIS NAME, we can do the same things. What does that really mean anyway, to do things in His name? Do we just say his name to put the stamp or seal of approval on our requests? Maybe? But what if, in His name means that we are just like HIM, the image of Christ, in that we are in the Father and the Father is in us, that we know the Father as He did, and we seek to bring Glory to the Father in all our requests? What are we asking, seeking, and knocking for? “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:7-8

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." John 15:16

John 15 says a couple of times that the Father will give us whatever we ask, but again, there is a caveat and an order to both of these statements. He says the first step is that I remain in HIM, THEN He will remain in me, THEN I can ask whatever I wish and it will be given to me. THEN you will bear much fruit. The key part of this scripture being that I am REMAINING in an eternal God and bearing much [eternal] fruit, glorifying God and showing myself to be His disciple. Then in the next scripture he says we will bear fruit that will last. So first, remain in Him, second bear fruit that will last, thirdly the father will give you what you ask in His name. Notice the order of things.

In this scripture He brings up the pagans again, those who don’t know Him. "And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."  Matthew 6:7-8 If he already knows what we need, why are we praying for these things? Could it be that prayer is just conversation and intentional time with HIM? I think that He just wants us to want to be with HIM! To KNOW Him… so, what am I asking, seeking, and knocking for??

Hang in there with me, I only have a couple more scriptures to go, I feel like this is so important I can’t say it enough! It is like I must reformat my own hard drive and I need all the help I can get, lol!!

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” Matthew 13:44 In this scripture a man found a treasure that was of great worth. What was this treasure?? He refers to the Kingdom of Heaven and is describing what it is like... so it must be an eternal “Kingdom” treasure? Could it be God Himself? Is God that treasure to us and is He worth so much to us that we would sell everything we have to have HIM? Wow. Very good question! This reminds me of the scripture of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus asking him what good thing must he do to have eternal life and Jesus said to him "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."  Matthew 19:20-21 He told the young man that he needed to let go of the temporal riches and trade those in for eternal (heavenly) treasure, maybe Christ himself? THEN he could follow Him. But the young man had quite the conundrum. He had to make a very hard choice but apparently, he desired the temporal riches over what Jesus was offering and he went away very sad, because he had great wealth and he didn't want to let it go.

The second part of that scripture is similar except it was a pearl of great value that the man sold everything he had to buy it. Again, I think we are being asked if Christ is our pearl? Are we willing to sell everything to gain Christ? “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:3 What is the desire of my heart?? He says He will give it to me! Again, there is an order listed here, the first part of this scripture is very key. If I trust in the Lord, do good and dwell in the land enjoying safe pasture, delighting myself in the LORD, THEN He will give me the desires of my heart. If I am delighting in Him, then wouldn't HE be the desire of my heart?? 

So again, what am I asking, seeking, and knocking for? Okay, hopefully I have made some sense here and helped you to see these scriptures a little differently. I know I do!!

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:34

Father, I may not be where I need to be or truly where I want to be, desiring YOU and You alone, but that is my hearts desire, my goal and my journey is to know YOU and YOU alone. My flesh may fail, but my spirit recognizes my need for you in a much greater way! Please help me get to there! I want to sell everything I have for the treasure and pearl of great wealth and value, eternal wealth, that only YOU can provide. I know that only You can satisfy my deepest longings. May my hunger and thirst for you overshadow anything else this world can offer me and may YOU alone be my delight, my treasure and my pearl!

I listed this scripture at the beginning, does it have a different significance to you now?

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalm 42:1-2