Asking God
A verb in the English language is a word of action and declares the action of the subject. The subject of a sentence is either acting out something or being acted upon by the verb—thus, the verb may be active or passive.
Allow me to illustrate this. When I go grocery shopping, I may arrive with a shopping list or without one. If I have a shopping list, I go directly to the items I need and take them off the shelf. In this way I am actively seeking out only the items I need. If I go without a list, hungry, and craving something sweet I usually stroll through the isles, one by one, until I’ve purchased much more than I need. In this manner I am passive in my shopping.
In Matthew 7:7-8 Jesus is telling us how to pray. I find it interesting that the words He uses are three verbs—words of action—ask, seek, and knock. Praying, for the believer, is not a passive activity. We aren’t told to sit around wishing for God’s help. We are told to initiate an action whereby we go to God in prayer, asking Him to help us. In the book of James it says we have not because we ask not. God wants us to ask Him to supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).
To ask somebody for help is to acknowledge that he or she is able to help us. If he had not the means or the desire to help us, we wouldn’t waste our time asking him. This is a given, everybody knows this principle. It is also prayer 101. We go to God in prayer because we can’t help ourselves in this regard. We are acknowledging that God is our sole source and help, and God wants us to acknowledge our need for Him always. Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.”
Moreover, Jesus told us to seek through prayer. What does that mean? It means that we ask and then seek out the answers to our asking. Let me illustrate this. If I am deficient in understanding the subject matter of a required college course, I might pray that God help me grasp the materials, especially for testing purposes. Once I’ve asked for His help in understanding, then I must seek understanding. I ask God to enhance my understanding of the subject matter, I believe He will help me do this, and so I seek out opportunities to stay after class for tutoring sessions or I do additional studies to build a greater understanding of the subject matter at hand. Here again, we cannot remain passive about receiving the answers we need from God. We must initiate by asking God and then pursue the answer by seeking it.
Not only is prayer asking and seeking, it is knocking on the right door. If I go to a building I’m not familiar with, I usually look for signage to direct me to the right entrance. Some buildings have several entrances, but not all of them are for public use. When I make my way to the right door and find it locked, I knock loudly. If somebody doesn’t come immediately and open the door, I keep knocking because the sign directed me to do so. Usually, someone opens the door and exclaims, “I’m sorry. I was in the back of the shop and couldn’t get to you quickly. But I came to you as quickly as I could because you kept on knocking.”
Jesus wants us to ask our Father in heaven for His help. It is a privilege to do so and should be employed by us daily. Jesus told us that we should put “feet to our prayers.” He said, in essence, that we should seek out what we desire—go for it! And He told us to keep persevering in prayer, to keep on knocking. God will answer us. Prayer is not something we should do only when we feel like praying. Prayer should be without ceasing. Prayer should continue as long as we live on the face of this earth. So Ask God. Seek out God. And keep on knocking on the right door until it opens. Prayer is neither for the faint in heart nor for the passive seeker. Prayer is for the active who won’t stop praying.
Keep the faith. Stay the course. Jesus is coming soon.
Pastor T