Bulletin Article Archive, January 3, 2010 

Asking, Seeking, and Knocking

by Travis L. Quertermous

 Regarding prayer, Jesus Christ taught, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7-8).

Let us note several lessons from this important passage on prayer. First, it is addressed to Jesus’ disciples, that is, those who are faithful children of God and therefore on a praying basis with our Heavenly Father. Scripture never promises an answer to prayer to those outside God’s family. King Solomon warned, “The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous” (Prov. 15:29).

Second, it guarantees that faithful Christians will have their prayers answered by God. For His faithful children there is no such thing as an unanswered prayer! The apostle John tells us, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

But remember that a “no” is as much an answer as a “yes.” Just as earthly parents will deny their young children dangerous objects like matches and knives, even so our Heavenly Father will refuse us some things that He knows are not in our best interest. Even His only begotten Son was told “no” on three occasions when, in Gethsemene, Jesus prayed that the cup of death might pass from Him, but such was not God’s will (Matt. 26:39-45). Surely, we should expect no less at times. But such a refusal is an act of His love and wisdom as He knows what is best for us.

A third important lesson on prayer in Matthew 7:7-8 is to pray daily and regularly. In the Greek text, the verbs for “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” are in the present tense. This means that they signify action that is continuous in nature. So Christ is teaching us to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking in prayer. We must not give up after only one prayer and assume God isn’t listening to us! Rather, Scripture teaches us “that men always ought to pray and not loose heart” (Luke 18:1) and to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:16).

Finally, Jesus is teaching us that not all the value in prayer is to be found in the asking. In addition to simply asking, Christ also taught us to seek and knock. We must be willing to “put legs on our prayers” and allow the Father to use us in answering them. For example, if we ask that God will heal the sick, we should then seek them out, knock on their door, and try to help them. Another example would be in praying that the lost will be saved. What hypocrites we would be if we prayed that prayer and then did nothing else about it! Let us never forget to ask God for what we need, but also to seek and knock if we expect God to answer our prayers.

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