Do You Hear Jesus Knocking in Your Life?
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8). These are powerful words to pray and believe. There are many other supporting Scripture such as “At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” (John 16:26-27).
Matthew 7:7-8 gives us three circumstances and the outcome of these circumstances of Jesus knocking in your life. The first is the “Ask” this is just asking for something without either expecting or looking for any kind of an answer. It is in these instances the asking alone implies that there is no answer expected and if an answer came it would not be recognized. The “Ask” is not enough. Matthew 21:22 is a wonderful reminder that: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” If you lack wisdom then ask the LORD God, He gives to all men liberally, and does not give reproach, the LORD gives unto them. We are to ask in faith, nothing wavering meaning to separate, make a distinction, discriminate.
Those that waver are like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. That man should not think he shall receive anything from the LORD. (James 1:5-7). When a person asks for help they are admitting that they are week in some area of their life and they need something for the LORD. We are saying somewhere in our live we are not capable of dealing with or managing without the intercession from the LORD. We are incomplete. It is not enough to just ask and sit around doing nothing. We are to seek next.
Part two is the “Seek” this is in order to find or obtain something in order to find out. It is finding the answer to what you have asked for. King David prayed to the LORD God stating that He is his God and that he seeks the LORD, his soul thirst for the LORD, and his flesh long for the LORD. The condition that King David was in when he sought after the LORD was when he was in a place where there was no grace or the LORD was not present. (Psalm 63:1). This happens to us when we have put ourselves in a place where we have allowed something else to replace the LORD. Matthew 6:33 addresses this situation when it tells us to see you first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. When we do this all these things shall be added unto us. If we are raised with Christ we are expected to seek those things which are above, this is where our Lord Jesus Christ sits on the right hand of God. (Colossians 3:1-21).
The third part is the “knocking”. This is the action that we take after we know the Will of the LORD and after we have asked then sought after the answer now we need to know and start knocking. It like we are knocking on the opportunity to act. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking and never give up. We also need to know that our LORD is responsive to our needs.
The LORD God tells us that we will find Him when we seek to find Him with all our heart. That is when we shall find the LORD and He will turn away our captors, and He will gather all the nations, and from all the places where he has driven us and will bring us again into the place where we were removed. (Jeremiah 29:13-14). What is it we are really looking for? We are really looking for Jesus Christ our Savior, the only way to the LORD God and the One who has the answer to our life questions.
I would like to address one more thing regarding the ask, seek knock and that is are we available when the Lord Jesus Christ asks us to do anything, or seeks us out for any reason, or when we hear Jesus knocking on our life how do we respond? When Jesus is knocking at the door of every human heart He is asking that we open our heart and allow Him to come in. Jesus also is asking us to do something that is open our heart. He is seeking us to answer that asking and is looking for that way to persuade or motivate us to respond to His seeking us.
Revelation 3:20-21 tells us that Jesus does stand at the door and knocks. He says that “if any man hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” What a wonderful invitation that if we answer the calling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that hold fast to their faith even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions Jesus will grant to sit with Him in His throne just like when He overcame, is sitting down with His Father in His throne.
Jesus is the one who does the choosing. We did not choose Jesus because Jesus is the one who chose us and ordained us. We are to go and bring forth fruit, and that fruit should remain. Equally whatsoever we shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus, the Father may give it to us. (John 15:16).
It is always important that when we ask for something we may not receive the answer in the same form we have envisioned. We must believe our prayers will be answered because that is what Jesus tells us. When we are seeking we are looking for that answer to what we ask and when we knock we have explored the Will of the Father for our lives and for what we have asked in prayer. This process helps us to move closer to the LORD it gives us hope and encouragement that we are not alone in our despair. It is by asking, seeking and knocking that our lives can be up lifted and transformed. It is through prayer of asking, seeking and knocking that we have a way of discovering the way of the LORD a way of succeeding in His Will for our lives and a way of being responsive to His expectations for us.
Cite Article Source
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “Do You Hear Jesus Knocking in Your Life?.” Becker Bible Studies Library Feb 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2183,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, February) “Do You Hear Jesus Knocking in Your Life?.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2183,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “Do You Hear Jesus Knocking in Your Life?.” Becker Bible Studies Library (February), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2183, (accessed).
