15 Ask, Seek, Knock!

Today we will be continuing our study on the Mount of Blessing. The longest sermon of Christ ever recorded. Let’s jump right into the study shall we?

Matthew 7:7-8
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Ask, Seek, Knock.

  • It is given in this order.
  • What does it mean to ask and to seek and to knock?

ASK

What comes first? Asking. How should we ask so that we can receive?

  • Matthew 21:22
    And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
  • To ask is to pray. This is how we come to God first. Praying to God and daring to ask Him for what we desire.
  • But mostly that is what prayer is, isn’t it? We ask God for our wants and our needs, and we don’t seek His will in what He wants for each of us.
  • There is another aspect to what it says in Matthew 21:22. It says that when we ask in prayer, we have to believe.
  • I think some of us pray and don’t believe. Why?
    • We’re not sure if God will bless or not. We’re not sure if God will answer some of our prayer requests. Why is that?
    • We pray for things that the Bible does not specifically tell us that God will actually give us.
  • Examples:
    • God does not guarantee that just because we pray that He will always help us pass our exams.
    • God does not guarantee that when we pray for safety that it will always be granted.
    • There have been martyrs in this world whom I’m sure have prayed very hard for protection, but God in His infinite wisdom has not granted it.
  • When we pray, what is the condition on which God says that He will answer our prayers?
    • John 14:13
      And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
    • It is about the Father and the Son being glorified.
    • And sometimes it is God’s glory that we fail our exam so that the situation it creates may push us into another course of study or something to that extent.

What are the conditions for asking? Does God hear every pray that we pray simply because we end our prayers in Jesus’ name? Or simply because we think we believe?

  • John 15:7
    If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

    • We must abide in Christ. We must have closeness of a relationship with Him.
    • To abide in Him is to also have His words abide in us. Spending time in reading the Bible and assimilating those words into our lives.
    • Asking first for God to help us to apply those words that we’re reading from scripture to a practical application in our daily living. That should be our first prayer above anything else.
  • Psalms 66:18
    If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

    • There is a need for a victorious life. Asking God to help us to obtain victory over our sins. If not, the Bible tells us that God will not hear us.
    • God will always hear the sinners prayer for forgiveness and repentance. If we cry to him for help in that regard, God will always hear. Just as Peter cried out for help when he was sinking in the water. He just said, “Lord, save me!” And Jesus was there in an instant to save him.

SEEK

After we ask, what did Jesus say we should do next? We should seek. What should we be seeking for?

  • Matthew 6:33
    But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
  • To seek His kingdom first. And to seek for His righteousness to be clothing our lives.
  • It’s prioritizing God above everything else.

What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God?

  • In the Lord’s prayer we are given a clue.
  • Matthew 6:10
    Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
  • When we are seeking His kingdom, we are praying that His kingdom would come. It is praying for the second coming of Christ.
  • I believe that simply by praying for the hastening of the second coming for that day, it changes the outlook on our life. It changes how we live – which is the second part of Matthew 6:10.
  • To pray and to seek for His kingdom, is asking for His will to be done on earth, just like it is done in heaven. Praying that we would do the will of God for that day. Learning to pause in prayer and ask God, “God, what do you want me to do today? And please help me to do your will and not my will.”

What does it mean to seek for His righteousness?

  • Righteousness means right doing. So, to seek for His righteousness is asking God to help us to do right for that day.
  • What else is righteous?
    • Psalms 119:172
      My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.
    • God’s word and His commandments are righteousness.
  • We should be praying that God would help us to keep all that we know in His word and all the commandments of God for that day.
  • To seek implies the desire in our heart because we would not seek for that which we do not want. So it is asking for a change in heart.

How should we be seeking?

  • Jeremiah 29:13
    And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

    • We must put in all our effort, all our heart. It is a heart issue.
    • We put a lot of effort into our studies or into our work. And to that same degree, and then some more, we should be putting in that same effort to seek for God, His kingdom, and His righteousness.
    • By doing that, do you know what happens? To begins to change us. It begins to change our priorities. It begins to change our focus.
  • Matthew 22:37
    Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
  • It is very much connected with our relationship with Jesus. To seek Him, is to desire Him. And to desire Him, is to have a love for Him.
  • We would not desire things that we do not put our hearts, our eyes and our focus on.
  • So in seeking, God is changing us more and more. More of God and less of this world and less of this life.

KNOCK

What does it mean to knock?

  • To knock, it implies having to knock at someone’s door.
  • This is not Jesus knocking at the door of our hearts and we have to open. This is painting the picture of us having to knock. It’s the other way around.
  • To shows continued persistence. In what way?
  • Have you ever gone to someone’s place because the appointment was set, you turn up and you know they are home. The car is in the drive way, lights are on in the house.
  • So you knock on the door of the house but no one opens up. What do you do next? Of course you try and knock a little louder. You know someone is in there.
  • What if they don’t hear? You knock even louder. Maybe you go around and knock on the back door, or knock on one of the windows.
  • You see, it shows continued persistence.
  • Jesus is telling us to knock until the door opens. God has promised in His word. Let us ask, seek and knock until our prayers are answered.

What is the focus of the study though? Let’s go back to the Matthew. We read already Matthew 7:7-8. It tells us to ask and to seek and to knock. But now let’s keep reading.

  • Matthew 7:9-11
    9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? 10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
  • After talking about asking, seeking and knocking, Jesus comes back and focuses on only 1 word – asking. It is repeated there 3 times! No more seeking or knocking is mentioned.
  • The most important aspect of the three is to ask. Seeking and knocking shows our persistence as well. However, Jesus zooms in on just one aspect. Ask and keeping asking and ask again until it is answered.
  • In the verses though, we are given the assurance that God is more than willing to give us the things we ask for than an earthly father. He is ready. He is willing. He is wanting to give us what we ask for.
  • However, where we really fall short is in the asking. We stop too soon. To give up too easily. We grow tired of asking,

Let’s go to a parallel passage:

  • Luke 11:9-13
    9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
  • What should we really be asking for?
  • Many of us ask wrongly.
  • Many of us pray wrongly.
  • We should be asking for the Holy Spirit!
  • James 4:3
    Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

    • According to James, many of us pray selfish prayers!
    • We miss the mark. We don’t pray according to God’s will. We pray for things just related to ourselves. It has nothing to do with God’s kingdom. It has nothing to do with His righteousness. And so many times we are left wondering if God really wants to answer our prayers or not. We maybe finish our prayers and we are in doubt as to whether God will give it to us.
  • For example: we might pray, God help me to get 1 million dollars. Or we pray that God would help us to get a girlfriend or boyfriend.
    • But what is the purpose behind it? Is it for the glory of God?
  • The guarantee that God gives to answered prayer is when we pray for the Holy Spirit.
    • Not to be smarter in school.
    • Not to be smarter in our work so we can get a promotion.
    • Not to earn more money.
    • Not to be able to play stock market and earn 1 million dollars in a day.
    • But to pray for the Holy Spirit. God is more than willing and is READY to give us the Holy Spirit if we ask!

Why should we be praying for the Holy Spirit? What is the benefit?

  • John 14:26
    But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

    • For God to teach us all things.
  • John 16:13
    Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

    • For God to guide us into all truth. To actually help us to understand His word when we read and study it. Why? So that we can have the strength to apply those words to our lives!
  • 1 Peter 1:2
    Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

    • For sanctification, to live a sanctified life and an obedient life.
    • This is change in our thoughts, but also change in our actions and habits of life.
  • And then coming back to Luke, and the context that Jesus gave as to ask for the Holy Spirit.
  • Luke 11:5-8
    5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
  • The parable is about a person going to his friend at midnight asking for bread to give to someone else.
  • He’s asking so that he can be a blessing to someone else. He’s not asking for bread for himself. He’s not seeking for a blessing for himself.
  • Someone has come to him in need. And so he goes to his friend to ask because he obviously does not have enough.
  • His prayer is not a selfish prayer. It’s not about himself. It’s not for his benefit. It’s not for his advantage to get ahead in life.
  • Too often our prayers are all about self. It’s self-centered.
    • My life.
    • My studies.
    • My work.
    • My health.
    • My family.
    • My desires.
    • My wants.
    • My needs.
    • Me, myself and I.
  • So often it is all about us.
  • But do you know what? God does not guarantee that He will answer all of that.
  • But He does guarantee that if you seek for His kingdom, His righteousness, and especially for the Holy Spirit, He will answer. In fact, He is ready to answer that prayer right now!

We see this in Matthew, earlier in the sermon on the mount.

  • Matthew 5:16
    Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
  • God desires for us to be His witness. To be a blessing to others. Those good works in benefit of people out there and not just yourself. Works that cause others to see it and give glory to God.
  • This is not possible unless we have the Holy Spirit in our lives though. He’s the One that will enable us to shine.

However, there are conditions for receiving the Holy Spirit. Just like there is conditions for when we pray.

  • Acts 5:32
    And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
  • We must obey if God is to give us His Spirit.
  • So yes, at the beginning we are praying for ourselves. However, it’s not for our success in life, not for our money and not for a spouse.
  • We should be praying that God would help us to live an obedient life, a sanctified life. We should be praying for God to help us apply all that we know in His word to our lives on a daily basis. We should be praying for God to help us to have victory over our sins.

And then when God gives us His Spirit, we should be praying for God to help us to be a witness and a blessing to other people out there.

Could it be that the reason many are not asking for Holy Spirit so we can be a witness is because we are praying selfish prayers?

  • Selfish prayers only take us so far.
  • They are inward focused.
  • They are about my house, my family, my life, my job, my studies.
  • When is the last time you prayed that God would make you to be a blessing to others? It will change how you spend your money and your time. It will change the focus of your studies because now it is not seeking for the highest paid job, but rather it is seeking in your studies how you can be the greatest blessing in life.

May God help us to change our focus and our priorities today. May God grant each of us His Spirit today so that we can do His will today on earth just like how it is in heaven. May we pray that God’s kingdom could come today right now, right here in each of our hearts.

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