Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 7:7
Ask, Seek, Knock. There are different degrees of intensity when we pray. When we ask, we are speaking to God, but when we seek God, it takes effort. You have to make time to seek Him. This must be your priority.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Those who love God and seek Him diligently will find Him. God loves when we seek Him. We must desire to be a seeking believer, more than an asking believer who just asks for stuff.
I could ask for healing or I can seek the Healer.
I could ask for deliverance or I can seek the Deliverer.
I could ask for protection or I can seek the Protector.
We can ask for all sorts of things, but if the LORD God is the source of life, if He is the source of provision, the source of protection, grace and peace, then we need to be seeking God. Every day we must seek His face more than we ask Him.
When we start knocking, this is a level of urgency in our prayers. When we are desperate for God. The same urgency Jacob had when he wrestled with an angel; where Hanna in her deep anguish prayed to the LORD, bitterly weeping. This is a deep level of prayer. Romans 8:26 says “the Spirit helps us in our weakness.” None of us know what we should pray for as we ought to, but the Spirit Himself makes intersession for us with groanings which could not be uttered. This is when we have absolutely, no choice but God. You have no one else to turn to but Jesus.
Have you gotten to the stage of seeking, let alone knocking for God? Have you come to the place where you are seeking God with hunger, diligence and perseverance? Are you seeking Him with humility and a sincere heart and persistence, with all of your heart, mind and soul, with everything within you?
Starting today, I encourage you to SEEK God concerning your own life. What good is it, if you constantly pray for provision, but you never really meet the Provider. In His grace, He might grant us what we ask for but we still need to seek the LORD. What good is it, if you get everyone else to pray concerning your prayer request, but you never make the effort to seek the LORD yourself. What good is it for you to ask everyone else to pray for your healing when you can seek the Healer yourself. Why ask everyone else to pray for you for your breakthrough, when you can seek the Way Maker and find Him yourself.
You must chase God, concerning your own life. What good will it do for you if He grants you your request but you still never have an encounter with Him. You never truly fellowship in His presence. You can ask, but you still need to seek the LORD.
I encourage you to pray over your own life, write down your own requests in order to put you in a position to begin to seek God. It is good to have corporate prayer and ask others to pray for you at times, but are you praying for yourself, that which you are asking others to pray for. Have you asked God, are you seeking and knocking on God’s door concerning your own prayer requests? Don’t ask others to do the seeking for you. You must seek God for yourself.
So, starting today, begin praying over your own life, over your own circumstances, pray for your own breakthrough. Seek the face of God concerning your life. Seek Jesus concerning your circumstances. Stop relying on the prayers of other people all the time. Start seeking the God that you read about in the Bible. In Him, is all the peace and wisdom that you need and only in Him is all of the healing and protection that you desire. Pray for your own life, pray for your own breakthrough. Pray for your own victory.
Yes, corporate prayer is needed and unity in prayer is needed but so is a strong personal prayer life.
Jeremiah 29:13, God says that you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. It doesn’t say to ask Him, it says to seek Him. There is a blessing in seeking God for yourself and that blessing is that you will find Him. You can ask God yourself and He will answer you. But instead, you often walk away, never having known, never having felt the presence or enjoyed the presence of the LORD. But when you seek Him for yourself, He Himself says, you will find me when you seek me with all of your heart.
Ask, and it will be given to you means asking of God in prayer for things we want materially and spiritually; for grace and wisdom to behave in a proper manner towards God and towards man. Those who ask according to the will of God, in the name of Jesus, who ask in faith and awe, with submission to the Divine will, shall have what they ask for—not what they deserve, but as a free gift.
Seek, and you will find means seeking His face and favour which you will find when you seek Him in the right way, which is through Jesus and diligently with your whole heart.
Knock, and it will be opened to you means you should knock at the door of mercy. Faith in Jesus Christ is the key that opens this door.
Would you rather seek and find the face of God, the favour of God, the presence of God, then stop simply asking for things. It is not wrong to ask, we all need to ask, but DON’T STOP AT JUST ASKING.
Don’t ask and then just walk away. Don’t ask and receive and then turn around to simply enjoy your life, forgetting that there is a God who wants you to seek Him.
Seek the Lord
Seek His presence
Seek His face and favour
Seek God with all your heart and
Seek Him diligently
Resource: Grace for Purpose
