Mission Venture Ministries

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7) 

When Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given to you,” continual prayer is in view. Prayer is how we communicate our needs and desires to God. Of course, God, being omniscient, knows what Christians need whether they ask or not, but prayer is the means God has chosen to bring about those answers – “You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:2b). 

Jesus is not saying that believers always get what they ask for; wrong motives, for example, will hinder answers to prayer (James 4:3). However, the more time a Christian spends in communion with God, the more they will know what to ask for in accordance with God’s will. Prayer is like asking, in that we simply make our requests known to God, everyone who asks receives. Receiving is the reward of asking. 

Prayer show a dependence on God for needs that can be met no other way. God is always pleased with such displays of faith. 

Jesus went on to say, “Seek, and you will find.” The word “seek” is to look for and conveys the concept of searching for something hidden. This teaches us that it is acceptable to go before God to admit you need His guidance and seek out an answer to a dilemma or for a particular need to be fulfilled that is often outside of our grasp. In a sense, it is hidden from us, but not from God. To Him, everything is clear and obvious. 

Therefore, it is acceptable to go before God to admit you need His guidance and seek out an answer. It should also be noted that seeking includes doing your part to know the will of God since the Bible is available to us and provides a way for us to seek an answer to our request. If the solution to a dilemma, trial or conflict is obscure, ask God to provide a clear path. Seek the answer in prayer as long as it takes, until God makes the right course of action clear. 

Jesus then said, “Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7c). Here, the Lord uses a metaphor for the action a desire produces. If a person needs something from someone behind a door, the most natural thing to do is knock and keep knocking until the door is opened and the desire is met. In the same way, a believer should pray in faith for God’s provision and be persistent in prayer (read Luke 11:5-10). 

By knocking, we communicate that we want God to open a door we cannot open ourselves. We have no promise that God will open immediately, yet we have the promise: “To him who knocks, it will be opened” (Luke 11:10). Our part is to knock and continue knocking until God opens the door. 

When the door opens, we must move through it and act upon the opportunities God provides. This involves action and work on our part. God provides the opportunities, but we must take advantage of those opportunities. We must be people of action. It takes faith to both recognize the open doors and have the boldness to walk through them. 

God wants us to be persistent in prayer. It demonstrates our desire to boldly come before Him to ask for His intervention. Since we often don’t know what to do, we must seek God until He reveals the answer and provides clarity. God will answer at the perfect time. Its then up to us to act on the answers and doors He opens to us. 

The commands ask, seek and knock are followed by promises: “Everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8). God delights in the prayer with faith, and He promises to give us what we need. 

God wants us to talk with Him about everything. In fact, Jesus says to ask, seek, and knock, assuring us God is ready and willing to respond. But at times, some of us get out of the habit of communicating with our Father except in emergencies. 

Forsaking prayer is costly to our well-being since our heavenly Father invites us to come to Him with all our concerns. Even so, there are believers who do not bother communicating with the Lord, except in emergencies. Unfortunately, neglecting prayer is costly because it often results in weariness and discouragement. 

If you trust in God, there’s no point in both the Father and us carrying that weight, especially when He wants to handle it on our behalf. In God’s plan, His strength supports us in our weakness, and He is in fact glorified by this arrangement (see 2 Corinthians 12:9). 

As you pray, picture Jesus bearing your problems. Even if the burden doesn’t disappear, it will feel noticeably lighter when you hand it over to the Lord. Then, like David, you can say, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden” (Psalm 68:19). 

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