Luke 11:9-10 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.
I have always found these two verses interesting. Nine out of ten times that I hear someone reference these verses they are referred to on their own out of the context of the other verses around them. That is not to say they they are “out of context”, just not in their context. However, for the purpose of this examination, we want to consider them in the context that they were originally spoken and that is: “Lord Teach us to Pray”.
My first thoughts when reading this is: Why? Why three separate statements? I see it as three levels of intensity to get what we need and want. Keep in mind that this statement is made on the heels of the parable of the neighbor at midnight. The conclusion to that lesson is that we are to ask without ceasing. This takes the asking to a whole level of intensity. Yes ask, but also seek and knock as well. As often as not, when we need help from God, there is something that we need to do to contribute to the process. Let’s take needing a job as an example. If we need to find a job, do we simply ask? Do we ONLY ask? Do we even just ask without ceasing? Not if we want to find the job. The manner in which God will aid us in finding a job is not just through asking...but rather through our seeking and knocking. If we sat on the couch all day praying but never sent out a resume, never networked with industry contacts, never looked for opening on line, our asking may be in vain. There are times that the seeking and knocking will go hand in hand with the aking
More often than not, we do not get what we ask for soon after we pray for it. So what do we do at this point? Give up? Quit asking? Certainly not. We step up the asking to seeking. We step up the seeking to knocking. When his faithful servants asks, seeks and knocks, our gracious and loving father will relent and give us what we need.
Reflecting His SON,
Dennis Hogan
Minister, North Hardin Church of Christ
North Hardin Church of Christ
1804 Sam Stewart Dr.
Radcliff, KY 40160
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