By Ryan White
Matthew 7:7-8 NLT - “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."
Many times we find it easy to give up if we don’t see immediate results. This is sadly often true in our prayer life. We like to ask for God’s blessing or His will without spending the necessary time actually “seeking” what God wants. Jesus is making a point here on prayer that if we would ask we would receive, but we need to spend time diligently searching for God’s will. It is not that God’s will is a mystery that we are on a treasure hunt for, but its not something revealed to us in an instant flash either. God wants us to spend time persistently searching for his will. It is in prayer that we not only “talk” to God, but we listen to Him as well. In seeking we are asking God to show us what it is that He wants. What does He want for our lives? What way does He want to bless us? How does He want to use us? We have an idea a lot of times that prayer is a shopping list event where we ask God for all of the things we want or need. “Bless me, bless my family, make us healthy, give us what we want. Amen.” We list all the things we want and never take time to really ask God what He wants.
The kind of prayer Jesus is talking about requires some “stick with it” persistence. We ask “God what is your will?” Then we spend time listening. Just like someone searching for something, we need to look until we find it. If we were knocking on the door, we wouldn’t knock once and then leave. The same with prayer. We ask God for His will. We search for it, listening to Him. We keep on knocking until we know God has opened up what it is that He wants to do in our lives and wants us to do.
Be encouraged! If you are trying to find God’s will in prayer, don’t give up. Keep on praying until you find it. Be persistent. Don’t give up if you don’t see immediate results.
God help us to have the patience and the persistence to pray until we find your will. Help us to listen, not just ask for what we want. Thank you for the privilege to pray to you. Amen!