A.S.K. (3)

Intro

A.S.K.

Effective prayer consists of asking, seeking, and knocking . . . A.S.K.

last week we dealt with the A . . . ask

take everything to God in prayer

ask on the front end, and not just on the back end when things are at their worse

ask when things are going good, ask when things are going bad

ask about all things, big and small

don’t take God for granted, ask for things he normally supplies you with

we need to humble ourselves and have a lifestyle of asking

now back to our text to look at the next component, seeking

Matthew 7:7 KJV 1900

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

two things we must remember with this verse

these are commands, Christians are ordered to ask, seek, knock

and we are commanded to keep on doing these things: keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking

commanded to have a lifestyle of asking, seeking, and knocking

last week, a lifestyle of asking

today we will focus on a lifestyle of seeking

knock - it takes faith to knock, prayer involves believing

you knock when you believe that there is someone on the other side to answer

there have been times when my wife drops me off at church

one cool thing is that I can work and pray uninteruppted because no one knocks on the door . . . people just pass on by, because there are no vehicles outside, and it looks like no one is here

I have had appointments with people, told them I would be there at a certain time, and they just sit in the car and won’t knock because they don’t believe I am inside (I have to call them)

but when I drive, and park my car outside, people come to the church and knock

homeless people

people from other churches seeking to pass out flyer

people seeking service times

because when they see the vehicle parked outside, even though they don’t see a person, they BELIEVE that someone is inside.

when you pray, even though you don’t see God . . . when you see his creation (birds, trees, sun, sky), you should believe that there is someone sitting on heaven’s throne

sometimes we don’t pray, because we simply don’t believe that God answers prayer

or answers that of prayer

or answers prayers that big

sometimes you have to knock anyway, like mom would tell you, because she knows better than you

prayer takes humility, sincerity, and faith, and our prayer life is usually lacking in one or all three

some of you will try ten things before finally praying

some of your will pray, but you don’t want God’s answer because they would involve effort, changing,

some of you pray, more out of habit, you really don’t believe

what if every time you fasted for a day, you got 1,000 the next day?

some of you would be about to kill yourself

it would be hard, but you WOULD do it! . . . because you would believe that it is worth it

but we don’t fast because we don’t believe it’s worth it

or we fast one time, don’t see earth shaking results and we quit

see, you were not sincere

Greek form of the verb used means to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking

God showed me that it doesn’t mean, I want a car, so I keep on begging and begging God

it means I want a car so I ask, sincerely seek the answer, and believe God will do something about my transportation

the answer might be a rich uncle buys me a car

or God my speak to my spirit and say, “wait . . . keep riding with your friend, it’s not time”

we should have a lifestyle of asking, seeking, and knocking

part of seeking is what should I be praying for

1 John 5 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

Matthew 6:10 = your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.