So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 sermons cite this verse
… that stands for ask, seek, and knock. Listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 7, verses 7 to 8, very familiar words. 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 him who knocks, it will be opened. Now those words, ask, seek, and knock, are important because they are in the present imperative. You say, why do I need to know that? I could have gone my whole life without knowing that. Why do I need to know that? Because what it really says is, keep on asking. I-N-G. Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. What he's talking about is, first of all, pray with persistence. If there is a need you have in your life, don't just make it a one and done prayer. Keep at it. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. …
… yet because of your shameless audacity, he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. So I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks the door is open. Which of your fathers who goes on the brotherhood hike, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then are evil and you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? I'm going to give you four things to write down today. Write down number one, prayer works. I'm just convinced of it that I believe in the power of prayer. In fact, there's an old saying that goes like this, prayer changes things, mainly me. …
… in James chapter four, you have not because you ask not. And so he came and he asked. In Matthew seven, Jesus said, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks, the door will be opened. To his disciples, Jesus said in John 16, until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be full. Of course, that's not saying you can ask anything willy-nilly, whatever your little heart desires, but you ask it in my name. that is according to my purposes and for my glory. Ask anything with that, and it's going to happen. But I say this because some people picture God with his arms folded, frowning at them. And when they come to him, they think God is looking at them saying, really, you again? Are you bothering me again? He is not at all like that. He didn't say, you got to go through my secretary first. You come directly. In fact, George Mueller said, prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It's laying hold of God's willingness. That's why the writer of Hebrews said, come boldly before the throne of grace, that you might receive mercy and grace to help in time of need. Not come timidly, not come fearfully, not come shyly, not come nervously, come boldly. You're a child of God. Come, ask, seek, knock. Charles Spurgeon used to liken prayer …
… that when we ask, we are being intentional. Well, we are thinking intentionally about what we need. Jesus said in Matthew 7, 7, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. And you may think, but, but, but, but, but, I've done that. It doesn't work like that. Well, these are present tense verbs that have a, they mean there's a continual action to this, that we keep on asking, we keep on seeking, we keep on knocking. Again and again and again, there's intentionality that keeps on going because prayer isn't a single moment. It's a lifestyle that has to do with trust in God, a God who hears and he responds to our needs, and he's doing a work in us as well as through us, through our prayers. so I want to ask you those that are listening today in what areas of your life are you prayerless and why are you prayerless let's think about that who is in charge when you're prayerless how are you getting things done what is going on on that to-do list Are you getting it done through yourself or through prayer, through dependence on God? …
… I don't need to wrap all this in big context. Of course God wants us to ask, seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened to you. Ask, and it will be given to you. Of course God wants to meet our needs. And of course he wants to hear our cry. But ultimately what God wants is a relationship with you. And so our life with him can become like a drive-through at a quick service restaurant. Where we're so annoyed because when we pulled in there were two cars in front of us. Oh, but thank goodness there's two lanes. So I'm going to cut the guy off over here to get in this lane. So I don't have to wait for the two cars in front of me. When I pulled up to the thing, it was so long. It took 20 seconds before anybody said anything. May I help you? Well, yeah, where have you been? I ordered, pulled up, had to wait. …
Verse 9, So I say to you, here's the difference between that kind of friend and me. I say to you, 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. Did you know that's a promise from the Lord? In James it says, you have not because you what? You ask not. Prayer is constant God consciousness, but it's also constantly a struggle. It's a struggle. You're laying hold of God, and your heart is pressed. to have Him meet your need. It's not flippant. It's not superficial. I know it can be intense when it relates to you. Somebody you love has cancer, somebody you love is dying. I talked to a father a couple of days ago whose son committed suicide, dove off a cliff. You cry out to God in a situation like that and ask for some kind of strength to survive when it's personal. …
… but it says this in Matthew 7, verse 7, Ask and it will be given to you. This is Jesus speaking. 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 the one who seeks finds, and the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? The reason why this passage stuck out to me so much today was our focus on prayer coming up this next month. But in particular, it was those last couple of verses. Versus which of your which of you fathers, if your son asked for some bread, you're going to give him a stone. …
Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you. For this sums up the law and the prophets. Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. This is God's word. We're going to do a brief series by Jesus, sayings by Jesus on finding. …
… WHY SHOULD YOU BELIEVE THE OTHER? LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT CLEARLY AND PLAINLY. OUR LORD SAYS, ASK AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN YOU. SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND. KNOCK, KNOCK, AND IT SHALL BE OPEN UNTO YOU. FOR EVERYONE THAT ASKETH, RECEIVETH. AND HE THAT SEEKETH, FINDETH. AND TO HIM THAT KNOCKETH, IT SHALL BE OPEN. FOR WHAT MAN IS THERE OF YOU, WHOM? IF HIS SON ASKED GRED, WILL HE GIVE HIM A STONE? OR IF HE ASKED A FISH, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him? Dr. C. Roy Angel used to be a noted pastor in Miami, Florida when I was a boy. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT DR. ANGEL WOULD DO IN HIS PREACHING WAS TO TELL STORIES. HE WAS A GREAT ILLUSTRATOR OF MESSAGES WITH STORIES, AND HE TOLD A STORY ONE TIME OF A SHEPHERD BOY WHO WAS OUT TENDING HIS SHEEP, AND HE HAPPENED TO LOOK DOWN, AND THE SHEPHERD BOY SAW THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER HE BELIEVED HE'D EVER SEEN. HE GOT DOWN ON HIS HANDS AND KNEES TO LOOK AT THAT FLOWER, HA, HA, AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL THAT HE DUCK IT OUT OF THE EARTH, ROOT, ROOT AND ALL, AND CUPPED IT IN HIS HANDS AND BROUGHT IT UP CLOSER TO HIS FACE TO LOOK AT IT. WHEN HE DID THAT, THERE WAS A MOUNTAIN NEARBY, AND IT SEEMED AS THE …
… He wants you to ask the right thing. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone who asks receives. He that seeks knocks. And to the person who is searching, I think, he says, God's going to open the door. God wants you to know. So first of all, you ask him. So one of the first reasons we waver is we don't know his will and we don't take time to find out his will. We just hope it is. Listen, hoping, listen, just hoping that you're praying right won't cut it, friend. If you want God to bless you, then stop long enough to find out Number one, I need to know what God's will is. If I don't, I'm going to waver my faith. Second thing is this. Second cause is that oftentimes human reason runs counter or is in conflict to our faith. There's some things that God would require of us that are absolutely not humanly reasonable. …