“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. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7,8
“And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4:3
This is the second time Jesus addresses prayer. The first time, He revealed that God is not the God of our Fathers, as much as He can be God our Father and that when we pray in secret, He will reward us openly. Now Jesus comes saying that we can be assured that our prayers are heard and they will be answered.
There is no words that say “we might get it answered.” Or most likely “it won’t happen.” This is tough for me because I have prayed many times and have many unanswered prayers. I remember praying day and night for my Grandpa who was dying of Parkinson’s disease and as I would help take care of him, begging God to heal his body here on earth. That never came. Harvey McDonald did receive his healing several years ago when he went to his Heavenly home.
Jesus tells us to do three things:
ASK,
SEEK,
KNOCK.
According to James (seen above) we must ask with the right motives. Ill motives keep prayers unanswered. But, still it amazes me that in this passage, Jesus says this with an “unconditional” context. No small print or asterisks or footnotes to be seen.
Asking implies that we need something. So we are to ask God for what we need.
Seek… What or whom are we seeking. Could this be seeking for answers? Or even God Himself? Or by finding God do we find the answers we are seeking?
Knock. I see a room with a door and God is in this room. When we knock, He lets us in to be with Him. Simple stuff. But yet complex. Or do we make it complex… I’m going to try to keep this simple. It seems that’s the way God wants it to be.
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for.”
Simple.
Are you making your prayers too complicated?