Ask, Seek, Knock

Mason Tate

Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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How do you hear from God?

We often ask this question a lot because we want to know, or we feel like we can’t hear from Him right now

Matthew 7:7–11 ESV

“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 to 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!

Hearing from God can be hard, but not impossible. Often it is us who miss it when we go to hear from God.

Jesus gives us 3 clear directives when asking to hear from God, and from those three, the promise of what He will give

Ask, Seek, Knock

Ask

what does it mean to ask someone something? You are directing a question to them, but not just sitting there hoping that they respond, but rather expecting and knowing that they will. No one asks a question thinking that they will not be heard, but sadly this is where it often goes wrong for us with God. We ask, but allow doubt and lies to creep in that He is not listening.

John 16:24 ESV

Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Mark 11:24 ESV

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

We are told to ask, and even in Matthew He says that it will be given to us. Now this is not just God saying that He is going to give us a new car, so we need to ask rightly.

James 4:3 ESV

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

The second thing of not asking expectantly is that we ask to spend on what we want. We ask for our desires, we ask for our wants and our selfish desires. Let that not be so. Instead we should ask for what He wants.

Seek

What does it mean to seek?

It is to be constantly looking for, to try and find. It is not something where we are just waiting and hoping that it comes to us, but rather we are actively looking for as well. Seek has action to it. We are told to seek the Lord, which means that we have a job to actively spend time looking for Him.

1 Chronicles 16:11 ESV

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Psalm 119:10 ESV

With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!

Seeking does more than just allow us to know more about God, but it also allows us to spend time diving into what He has called us to do, and we discover more of that, and we want more of that.

Seeking is more than just coming to church on a Sunday and Wednesday. It is a whole life thing. It is a studying His word day in and day out. It is someone who, when they study, are doing everything that they can to make sure that His word sticks in their lives, and uses it to propell them forward to know His word more and to seek Him more.

Knock

I am pretty sure that we are all know what knocking is right? There are two things that are very similar here to asking and seeking. First, when someone knocks, they are usually expecting someone to answer the door. That when they knock, someone will answer and welcome them in. Much like seeking, this also has action behind it. You cannot just knock with your mind. You cannot just stand next to a door and hope that a knocking noise happens. Instead you have to lift your hand, and actively knock on the door.

Active listening

This is something that we are taught in school, but something that we miss in our spiritual life. Yes God can speak to anyone in any way at any time. That is absolutely true. But much like you would not want to speak to the person who isn’t really listening or engaged, God wants us to be engaged in listening as well. He is telling us to come to Him, knowing that He is going to give an answer.