Prayer

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth– Matthew 7:7-8

Ask. Seek. Knock. Each of these verbs is dynamic, energetic. True prayer is not a lethargic experience; it is a vigorous participation in the plan of God. It is the soul’s fervent endeavor toward the kingdom of God.

But each verb also connotes something else: neediness. One does not ask, if one does not need. One does not seek, if one has already found. One does not knock, if the door is standing open. Prayer is recognition that you need God.

The reason, therefore, that we have not prayed as we should is because we are either too spiritually lazy to labor in prayer, or we are too content to feel our need of God. Which are you?

Regardless, the good news is this: for those who awaken to their desperate condition and follow hard after God, God has promised universal acceptance and success. Everyone who asks will receive!

But perhaps you have not received. Perhaps you have not found. Perhaps you still stand at the closed door with bloody knuckles and a growing doubt in your mind. Why hasn’t God answered? Why won’t he turn the lock and swing open the door?

Do not give up, beloved. God always gives to everyone who asks — he has given us his word. He will either give us what we have been begging for, or he will give something better.

No one will go away from the throne room disappointed, although you may have to linger there for a long time.