Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
What if this verse read, “if you don’t ask you will get only what you can get on your own, if you don’t seek God you will never really find him and if you don’t knock the important doors will ever be opened to you.”
Because that’s what is actually being implied here.
I could ask you, “where do you live?”
That will give me some information.
But it will not bring me to your house.
I will not know how you live.
I will not know what your neighborhood looks like.
If I don’t ask you anything, I’m really saying, “I’m not interested in knowing anything about you.”
Isn’t it the same with God?
Ask
Asking is the basics.
If I ask, I learn. It leads to knowing how.
NOT JUST Is there a God?
What kind of God is he?
What’s in the Bible?
Is He still the same as He was with those I read about in the Bible?
The answers to those questions lead us to more basic questions.
Can we still act and think and believe the way we used to?
Can we hang out with our old friends?
Do we have to change our attitudes?
Our choices?
All important questions.
But…this is the 2+2 phase.
This is not the quantum physics phase.
Let’s look at what the Hebrew children were taught to ask:
Deuteronomy 4:32-40
Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other.
Ask people about the stuff that happened to before you met God.
32 Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
These were the basic questions that gave Israel their foundation.
Joshua 4:5-7
Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ASK you, 'What do these stones mean?' 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
They were taught to ask.
These days, we tell our children, “Don’t ask me!”
Then, when Jesus came along, God said we could ask for more:
Matthew 21:22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
If we don’t know that we CAN ASK, we’re going to be stuck trying to work things out ourselves.
Mark 11:24-25
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
The basics of “believing” comes from learning that we CAN ASK.
Luke 11:12-13
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
That’s basic information.
It’s a STARTING PLACE.
John 14:13-14
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
The whole system is built around ASKING.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
He’s talking about GODLY WISDOM.
Want it??? Ask.
Do you KNOW THAT???
You can’t get anywhere with God until you have that understanding.
1 John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.
The more you obey, THE MORE YOU CAN ASK.
I tell teenagers…you want the car?
Hold your tongue. Clean your room. Treat your mama right.
You DON’T want the car? Fine. Keep on truckin’!
That’s the basics!
Seek
Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
This is step 2.
In order to seek, I must first know that there is something TO SEEK.
Psalms 27:4
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
I have to have developed a desire for more.
Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
I have to develop a CRAVING.
To seek is to invest time.
I have to be willing to hunt for something more.
If I have ask for your address, and I really want to find you, I have to SEEK you out! I have to make an effort.
The truth: IS NOT just A truth.
The way: IS NOT just A way.
The life: IS NOT just A life.
I have to WORK to find THE TRUTH, THE WAY, THE LIFE!
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Sincerely, intensely, determinedly, with purpose!!
If I seek, I am rewarded.
Matthew 6:32-33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
WHAT THINGS????
An abundant life.
Spiritual. Physical. Emotional. Social. Financial.
Deuteronomy 4:29-30
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
FROM WHERE?
From the basics, when I asked, I got answers,
When I seek I get MORE THAN JUST ANSWERS!
2 Chronicles 15:12
They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul.
Psalm 14:2
The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
Amos 5:4
"Seek me and live;
Knock
Revelation 3:8
I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
By asking and then seeking, I am led to doors.
John 10:9
I am the gate (the door).
The Special Things of God that are hidden from most people are behind this door.
2 Corinthians 2:12
Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
But when I find them, and I knock on them, they open to me.
And what is behind them is revelation!
LIFE KNOWLEDGE!!
Proverbs 8:34
Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.
This is not just about knowledge that I can know with my mind.
This is spiritual revelation.
Luke 13:24
He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door'
Revelation 4:1-2
After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
