Ask and You Will Receive, Seek and You Will Find, Knock and the Door Will Open – Kingdom Promises and the Power of Prayer for God’s Kingdom People
Introduction
This is by far the longest document I have put on this blog and so I am publishing it in the ‘articles' section. I intended to write a relatively short post on Matthew 7: 7, 8. As I wrote, I realized that it was not possible to correctly understand the verses I was addressing without Scriptural context. And there was a lot of context – all of Matthew 6 and 7. I quickly discovered that the context necessary to correctly understand Matthew 7: 7, 8 contains every element of the gospel plus some other stuff. A lot of doors were opened as I wrote, and I went through every one of them.
I have been immensely blessed by the writing. I hope you will be blessed by the reading of what I wrote. I have broken the document into sections to make reading easier. To read a much shorter version of this document, see the post, “Three Doors, Three Promises – Part 2. Ask, Seek, and Knock and the Door Will Open”.
In this document I examine the incredible promises in Matthew 7: 7, 8 (and much more) found in the Sermon on the Mount:
“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 . . . 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!” (Matthew 7: 7 – 11 NIV).
Together with the Lord’s Prayer, also found in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching us profound truths about prayer.
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6, and 7 is possibly the greatest teaching in human history. It is much more than a description of how to live righteously. In one verse (“But seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness”) Jesus turns the current (at the time) religious ideas completely upside-down and introduces, for the first time, a totally new, radical way for people to live their lives. Until that teaching, men and women lived in the kingdom of the world, also known as the kingdom of self, enslaved to sin, darkness, and death. That was the only life available to them.
But on the mountainside somewhere on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, probably not far from Jesus’ home town of Capernaum, Jesus revealed to the crowds the explosive news: a new life is possible – a life of freedom, hope, joy, and power unlike any life experienced before in the history of the world. And this life would last for eternity. It is life in the Kingdom of God. In Mark and Luke, Jesus calls this “good news”, the gospel. What we know today, that they could not have known then, is that we enter into this life through the blood of Jesus (He is the door into the Kingdom) and by the power of the Holy Spirit, who could not be given until Jesus ascended into heaven. Then, in the middle of chapter 7 of this sermon, Jesus made the outrageous invitation, intended for Kingdom men and women – “ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened unto you”. Can you imagine the stunned silence in the crowd when they heard these words? What about us? Do we fully appreciate what Jesus is telling us in His most famous sermon?
To understand what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 7: 7, 8 it is necessary to place these verses in the context of Matthew 6 and 7. It seems to me that embedded in these chapters is the word choose. Jesus is making it clear (at least to me) that human beings, including unbelievers, have God-given freedom – free will – to choose to live either in the kingdom of the world or the Kingdom of God. In other words, we have the freedom to receive and accept God’s offer of Kingdom life, and therefore we have the freedom to reject His offer. He will not force us. “God is a gentleman; the Holy Ghost is a gentleman. He will not come in where He is not wanted” (Tozer, Mystery of the Holy Spirit, pg. 94). We must desire the Kingdom life.
First, Jesus calls us to seek His Kingdom – that is, choose to seek Him. This choice determines everything about our lives now and for eternity. It is within the context of this Kingdom choice that Jesus invites us to ask, seek, and knock. For some reason, when we choose to ask, seek, and knock, which we do in prayer, God’s promises, within God’s Kingdom constraints, are activated and His power is released. Prayer is important!
Context
God created the earth. Even though the world has been corrupted by the Fall, God intends for this world to be our ultimate home, described in Revelation 21 and 22. God loves His creation, but He does not love the Sin that has wrapped it in darkness. God’s purpose is to bring all of creation – physical and spiritual – under the control of the Holy Spirit, perfectly surrendered and submitted to Him. This is God’s plan of restoration.
The Universe that we live in consists of two separate but interacting realities: the kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God. His purpose is to make us Kingdom people so that we can walk in His Kingdom life and power, releasing His Kingdom into the kingdom of the world for His redemptive purposes. It is not His intention for us to become Kingdom people ignoring or abandoning the kingdom of the world, but to partner with Him in restoring the kingdom of the world back to His original purpose, condition, and function.
In Matthew 6 and 7, the last two chapters of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us that every human being lives in a kingdom; and the kingdom we live in determines our spiritual, emotional, and physical lives. Human beings live either in the kingdom of the world (also known as the kingdom of self or the kingdom of satan) or the Kingdom of God. Ultimately, a life of darkness, isolation, emotional and spiritual death, slavery, and loneliness mark the former. Light and life, connection with Him, healing and wholeness, freedom, and authentic fellowship mark the latter.
All human beings – past, present, and future – are born into the kingdom of the world. This is the ‘normal’ reality for humanity. Most go through life oblivious of the fact that there is another Kingdom. Others have heard but walk in unbelief; or they have heard, believe, but rejected this Kingdom life.
How does humanity come to know about this ‘other’ Kingdom? Jesus tells them about it in Matthew 6 and 7. Or they hear the news about the other Kingdom from us. I believe our primary responsibility as Kingdom men and women is to share this ‘good news’ with the world. We do this as we share Jesus and all that He taught, especially by sharing Him and His work in our lives. Jesus tells us that He has come to preach the gospel, or good news, of the Kingdom of God. We should too, by sharing the truth and reality of the Kingdom life, and by exemplifying Kingdom living in how we live, speak, and act.
Matthew 6 and 7 – We Must Choose
Throughout chapters 6 and 7 Jesus is telling us to choose the Kingdom of God and a life of relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Let’s look briefly at these verses to get a deeper understanding of ask, seek, and knock.
Jesus begins chapter 6 by telling us to not call attention to ourselves when giving to the needy, fasting, and praying. For example:
“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men” (Matthew 6: 2 NIV).
The religious people who let others know that they are giving to the needy, fasting, or praying are seeking the honor of men and not giving, fasting, and praying to connect with and honor God. Jesus calls this hypocrisy. Man’s desire to be honored by men is one of human being’s greatest idols. It is a sign that such a person is living in the kingdom of the world. But we have a choice – pray and fast privately, not openly.
In Matthew 6: 19 – 21, Jesus is more specific. In these verses, Jesus tells us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where rust and moths destroy and thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus is saying human beings must choose where to store their treasure – either in the kingdom of the world or the Kingdom of God, which Jesus also calls the Kingdom of Heaven.
The treasure that Jesus is speaking about is not just worldly possessions. Treasure is also our sense of worth or value, esteem, confidence, belonging and connection to others; and our ability to deal with pressure, tragedy, and loss. Treasure is also freedom from negative emotions and ungodly beliefs and lies. We all want more peace, hope, and joy. These emotions are also part of the treasure. In the kingdom of the world we choose to build up this treasure by finding our value in work, money, possessions, accomplishments, knowledge, relationships, health and physical appearance, sports, sex, power, and so on. Generally, those who are looking for their value in the things of the world select one of these (or others) to be their ultimate concern.
When that happens, this ultimate concern becomes our god, the thing that we worship, and the thing that we believe will give us life and our lives meaning. It becomes the thing that we serve, and not (as most believe) the thing that serves us. We are telling God, “We have what we need. We don’t need you.”
Basically, we have made ‘self’ our god. Self is synonymous with ‘flesh’. Flesh is always at war with spirit. In fact, the flesh hates the spirit because the role of the spirit is to subjugate the flesh. When we turn to self or the idols selected by self to find our value and worth, we are in effect telling God, “We hate you”. Because God desires us to live in covenant relationship with Him, idolatry is synonymous with infidelity.
Our ultimate concern is the home of our heart! Jesus is warning against this, saying, “these things will be taken away from you by the world and satan (the thief), and when that happens your heart will be taken away with them. You will be left with nothing – no life, no joy, peace, and (at least as you see it) no future.” And, of course, God hates idolatry. He will never give His glory to another. John warns us simply at the end of his first letter, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Jesus reinforces this message in Matthew 6: 24 when He says that “no one can serve two masters . . . you cannot love both God and money”, where money represents one of the ultimate concerns we worship in the world. You must choose one or the other. Because everyone is born into the kingdom of the world, and there are only two choices, not choosing is making a choice!
In Matthew 6: 25 – 32 He tells us not to worry about the things we need – it is bad for us to choose to find our value and our security in the things of the world, rather than choosing God. This is unbelief, and indicates that we are relying on ourselves, and what the world can give us for our lives. We have rejected God and His love and grace. We have been deceived. It is another manifestation of idolatry and Sin.
Again, Jesus tells us to choose in Matthew 7: 13, 14 with a mini-parable of the two gates and roads. The wide gate and the broad road (the kingdom of the world) lead to destruction; the small gate and narrow road (the Kingdom of God) lead to life (and sadly, only a few find it). Jesus tells us to choose the small gate and narrow road; choose to seek life in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus ends His Sermon on the Mount with a final metaphor in which He calls us to heed His words and choose life in His Kingdom:
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house, yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7: 24 – 27 NIV).
Jesus is warning us to choose to build our lives on a firm foundation – the Kingdom of God and His promises. Choosing to build our lives on the false, unreliable promises of fulfillment in the kingdom of the world and a self-centered life is like building our lives on shifting sand. And of course, dishonors God and separates us from Him. The promise of fulfillment in the kingdom of the world is deceptive and deceitful. When life gets hard, as it always does, the kingdom of the world and its promises will fail us, often catastrophically. In the Kingdom of God, where the rock is Jesus, there is security and the abundant life. He calls us to choose to put His words into practice. And of course, there are the eternal consequences of rejecting Him and His Kingdom.
Jesus is speaking very plainly and specifically in this passage. He is making it completely clear that we are the ones who must choose to put His words into practice. I see no indication that the choice will be made for us by the Holy Spirit – it will not be done for us, nor will it be done under some type of spiritual compulsion. We must listen and we must choose to obey. And if Jesus is calling us to choose, then He knows that we have the ability to obey.
Toward the end of Chapter 6, Jesus gives us good news. There is an antidote or alternative to the darkness of life in the kingdom of the world. Jesus tells us – choose to seek the Kingdom of God, not life in the kingdom of the world.
Hallelujah! The Kingdom of God
“But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”(Matthew 6: 33 NIV).
What a radical promise. What a tremendous gift! I can live with Jesus in His Kingdom? And we know from other verses (e.g. 1 Corinthinans 3: 16) the Holy Spirit will live in my heart. How is this possible? That the door is open to me at all, a Sinner, is pure divine grace. I cannot make myself worthy to enter the Kingdom of God, under any circumstances. Only Jesus can do that. But paradoxically, Jesus tells me to choose and to ‘seek’, which is clearly my work, while at the same time God is seeking me.
“But seek first His Kingdom” – When I seek the Kingdom I am also seeking the King. Every Kingdom has a King. Wherever the King is, there is His Kingdom. Before anything else, we need to choose and seek Jesus. We publically proclaim: “Jesus is Lord!” His will, purposes, and plans need to be first in our lives. He must be our ultimate concern. His glory must be our ultimate priority. It is Him that we must worship, not the things of the world. Christ’s dynamic, redemptive rule and reign in our hearts – one definition of the Kingdom of God – must replace the rule and reign of self.
“The Fatherhood of God belongs to those who have responded to the divine seeking love and have submitted themselves to God’s Kingdom. God seeks people, not because He is their Father, but because He would become their Father” (Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, pg. 84).
What does Jesus mean when He says “all these things will be given to you as well”? Well, necessities for life for sure, but even more importantly, God will give us Himself. Through Him we find our value and worth as a human being. In Him, we find our hope, peace, and joy. In Him we find the love of the Father that so many hunger for; as well as His power, spiritual gifts, and the right to come to our Father with our petitions knowing that He hears them. Also, the promise that our Father knows what we need and will give us good gifts, including but not limited to, the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the Kingdom of God, we will find intimacy with God, life in abundance, and the joy of releasing the Kingdom into the lives of many others. In His Kingdom, we receive spiritual deliverance, and emotional and physical healing. In the Kingdom of God we find meaning and purpose! God will give us the life now that He created for us to live from before the beginning of time – God will give us our true selves, healed and whole.
In other words, we will find the treasure that we all want, but cannot obtain outside of a relationship with Jesus and life in His Kingdom now. “Now’ because this life, while not perfect because we still live in a fallen world, is available to God’s Kingdom people today. To live in the Kingdom of God today is ‘heaven on earth’; it is to enter into eternal life now, which (obviously) lasts for eternity. It is to begin to be restored back to the relationship with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden of Eden before they ate the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Trials and tribulations will come for those living in the Kingdom God. But in the Kingdom of God we will have the Holy Spirit walking with us through ‘the fire’, bringing victory and triumph, peace, joy, and hope even in the dark times. He is our comforter and our “strong tower”. How do we access these promises? We ask and it will be given to us; we seek and we will find; and we knock and the door will be opened to us – through prayer!
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is urging those hearing His voice to choose and to seek His Kingdom. Are these invitations only for a select few? What about us 2000 years later? Is Jesus speaking to us as well? Of course He is! When combined with other passages in Scripture it seems to me that Jesus is offering these invitations and promises to anyone willing to choose to seek His Kingdom, anyone with the desire and longing to know God – and therefore be ‘saved’.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16 NIV). God loves the “world”. That is all of us. “Whoever believes” also implies some choice, although faith is a gift. And “eternal life” is kingdom life. It seems to me that Jesus is telling us that God is offering Kingdom life to the world, although not all will choose His Kingdom.
“This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men” (1Timothy 2: 3 – 6 NIV). God wants all men to be saved, but not all will be saved. Why not? Because some will choose to store their treasure on earth, walk on the broad road, choose to follow the wrong master, and build their lives on sand rather than rock. When offered the choice, they will choose the kingdom of the world, rather than the Kingdom of God. The offer of the Kingdom is made to all men and women, because God “wants all men to be saved”.
So, you are free to choose; choose wisely. These words of Jesus’ echo the sermon Moses preached to Israel just before they entered the Promised Land:
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life” (Deuteronomy 30: 19 NIV).
We do have a choice – that is why Jesus tells us to “seek first His Kingdom” and then “ask, seek, and knock’ – or not. Your choice! But the moment we choose, the work in us is God’s work through the Holy Spirit.
Summary of Chapters 6 and 7 of the Sermon on the Mount
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes it clear, at least to me, that God presents us with a choice – live in the kingdom of the world or live with Jesus in the Kingdom of God. And that choice has eternal consequences. We have the freedom to accept or reject His Kingdom – and many in the New Testament (and today), when presented with the kingdom choice, rejected Jesus and His Kingdom. But once we choose Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters in and begins to transform our hearts and minds. If we say no to Jesus (and He might present the choice to us many times) and continue to live in the kingdom of the world, our ultimate eternal destination is hell. Our choice is that important.
In his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, John Stott summarizes Jesus’ teaching with these words:
“So Jesus confronts us with Himself (in the form of the Kingdom), sets before us the radical choice between obedience and disobedience, and calls us to an unconditional commitment of mind, will and life to His teaching . . . Jesus emphasizes with great solemnity that on a thoroughgoing obedience our eternal destiny depends.”
“Here then is the alternative, either to follow the crowd (the kingdom of the world) or to follow our Father in heaven (the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven, same thing), either to be a reed swayed by the winds of public opinion or to be ruled by God’s word, the revelation of His character and will. And the overriding purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is to present us with this alternative, and so to face us with the indispensable necessity of choice.”
“This is why the Sermon’s conclusion is so appropriate, as Jesus sketches the two ways (narrow and broad) and the two buildings (on rock and sand). It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of the choice between them, since one way leads to life while the other leads to destruction, and one building is secure while the other is overwhelmed with disaster.
‘Far more momentous than the choice even of a life-work or a life-partner is the choice about life itself. Which road are we going to travel? On which foundation are we going to build?” (Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, pgs. 205 – 211).
Our choice!
Ask, Seek, and Knock – Instructions for Prayer
Invitations and Promises
It is within this context that we examine the text and the promise that we will receive what we ask for in prayer.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”.
The Greek should be translated as, “ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; and knock and keep on knocking.” This is the reality of the Christian life – we never stop asking, seeking, and knocking. As Kingdom men and women, we are called to constantly come to God in prayer with our requests – not just for our benefit, but to partner with Him in His plans of restoration.
What !? If I ask in prayer I will receive? If I seek through prayer, I will find? If I knock through prayer the door will be opened to me? Jesus repeats these promises in the next verse for emphasis: “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Jesus wants to make sure we get the point and understand the power of prayer. Andrew Murray writes, about these verses:
“That the Lord should have thought it needful in so many forms to repeat the truth is a lesson of deep import. It proves that He knows our heart, how doubt and distrust toward God are natural to us, and how easily we are inclined to rest in prayer as a religious work without an answer. He knows, too, how even when we believe that God is the Hearer of prayer, believing prayer that lays hold of the promise is something spiritual, too high and difficult for the half-hearted disciple. He therefore at the very outset of His instructions to those who would learn to pray seeks to lodge this truth deep into their hearts: prayer does avail much; ask and you shall receive; every one that asks, receives. This is the fixed eternal law of the Kingdom: if you ask and receive not, it must be because there is something amiss or wanting in the prayer” (Andrew Murray, ‘With Christ in the School of Prayer, pg. 11).
There Are Conditions – First, Seek His Kingdom
Of course, Jesus is not saying that God is a genie in a bottle or a supernatural Santa Claus, giving us whatever we want. There are important conditions to these invitations and promises.
The first condition is that these invitations to ask, seek, and knock and the associated promises are for those who are seeking the Kingdom (as in, “Seek first the Kingdom”) or already living in the Kingdom of God. Next, Scripture tells us to ask according to His will (1 John 5: 14, 15). And, in John we are told to remain in Jesus, stay connected to Jesus, and ask in His name (John 15: 7 and in John 14: 13, 14; and John 15: 16, 17).
This first condition of Kingdom seeking or Kingdom life is the foundation on which “ask, seek, and knock” is based, so I am going to explore it in more detail in the next several paragraphs. I’ll look at the other conditions in the next section ‘Ask and It Will Be Given to You’, below.
The invitations – ask, seek, and knock; and the promises – you will receive, find, and the door will be opened – are the elements of an eternal Kingdom law that can be most simply expressed as, “ask and you will receive.” The invitations are not available to people choosing to continue to find their value in the kingdom of the world, and thereby rejecting God’s invitation to Kingdom life and benefits. If we choose to find our value in the kingdom of the world, essentially telling Jesus “we don’t need You, we are fine on our own”, or “Jesus help me in this emergency, but otherwise leave me alone” then we have no right to ask, seek, or knock and expect to receive. If there is anything in your life that you want more than God, then you might get it, but you won’t get Jesus and His Kingdom. A.W. Tozer writes:
“If there is anything bigger in your spiritual life than God, anything bigger than your yearning after God, then you will never be filled (with the Holy Spirit). I have run into Christians, who have for years wanted to be filled in a vague sort of way. But the reason they are not filled is they have other things they want more. Because they want it more they either get it or try to get it, but they do not get God (and His Kingdom). God will not come rushing into a human heart unless He knows that He is the biggest thing and nobody has a desire bigger.” (The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, A.W. Tozer, pg. 97).
People who are seeking or living in the Kingdom of God acknowledge that God is the King – all-powerful, all knowing, and all loving. He is worthy of worship, obedience, respect, and awe and wonder. They have chosen to submit and surrender to Him. Jesus reigns and rules in the hearts and minds of Kingdom people. Kingdom seekers or Kingdom people (really we are all Kingdom seekers in one way or another) are learning to live with a spirit of humility. They offer the fullness of who they are to Him. They are learning to say, “All I have is Yours; Your will be done, not mine.”
In return, God says to them, “All I have is yours. Come to Me and receive your inheritance. Ask, seek, and knock.” God wants to give to His Kingdom people His fullness in response to the offer of their fullness to Him. How does He do this? In large part through this Kingdom law – “ask and you will receive; and receive without limit because God is extravagantly generous”.
In the context of the verses I discussed above in Matthew 6 and 7, those who have chosen to seek the Kingdom of God – the narrow gate – have therefore chosen to reject or turn away from finding life in the kingdom of the world. They have repented!. They were born into one kingdom; by choice they are seeking a new life in the Kingdom of God. They are beginning a new journey. And part of that journey is learning, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring their flesh under the control of their spirit.
Not only that, but they have turned to Jesus because they believe that He is trustworthy and fully capable of providing all they need for life. They believe, as Jesus says, that He will give good gifts. This is faith or at least the beginning of faith.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
So is it all me? Is all of this done in my own power? If I am correct, and to “seek first the Kingdom”, requires repentance and faith, then the Holy Spirit must be involved because repentance and faith are gifts from God. I think once I choose Jesus (and He makes it clear – I must choose), His way, and His Kingdom (even if that choice is poorly understood in the moment of choosing), God gives me an enabling Holy Spirit who makes my choice to repent a tangible reality and gives me faith. At that point, or maybe some later point (when I knock and enter through the door into the Kingdom of God?) God gives me an incredible Kingdom gift – the indwelling Holy Spirit.
The indwelling Holy Spirit is a settled, permanent, penetrative influence and presence in our life. The Kingdom man or woman is now God’s temple and God’s Spirit lives in them!! God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit living in each of us, is a helper, a counselor, and a friend. He walks through life with us. We can visit with Him like we would visit with a close friend. We can talk with Him, thank Him, praise and worship Him, and laugh with Him each day. We can share every part of our life with Him – our joys, sorrows, struggles, and victories. It is the Holy Spirit on earth who intervenes for us with God in heaven. It is through the Holy Spirit that we ask, seek, and knock. Power flows into us through the Holy Spirit. It is the infilling of the Holy Spirit that allows us to release ‘living water’ into the world.
We cannot be a Christian or live the Christian life without the indwelling Holy Spirit – and there can be no indwelling Holy Spirit apart from repentance! It is through the Holy Spirit that God can have the close, intimate union with us that He desires, even longs for, and has looked forward to from before the beginning of time. We can pray, “Holy Spirit, I want to see with your eyes, hear with your ears, and think with your mind. Let the air I breathe be your breath in me.” He is one with us. We are one with Him. And He will never leave us!
One more thought about the Holy Spirit. When we recognize His presence in us, our prayer life changes. I am no longer praying into the universe hoping and believing that I am heard. I am having a conversation with the Spirit within me. I ask Him what I should pray for. He asks me what I want. When I praise Him, worship, ask, seek, and even knock it is between Him and me. He is my counselor, helper, and mediator. I am in Him and He is in me. He is my connection to the Father. Do you have this Spirit? No? Ask for Him! God will give you what you ask for.
Repentance is a condition for Kingdom life. It is foolish to believe that someone who hasn’t repented can enter into life in the Kingdom of God, because, for one thing, without true repentance we are not trusting and believing in God. We are still relying on our self-life. As I wrote above, the self-life is a life lived under the power of the flesh, and the flesh hates the spirit. Apart from repentance we cannot have the Holy Spirit.
When we truly repent – when we turn away from finding our value in the kingdom of the world and turn to Jesus and life in the Kingdom of God – we have, in my mind been born again. Jesus tells us that we are born again by water and the Spirit. When we are born again, the Holy Spirit fills us with His life-giving power.
“I tell you the truth, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again . . . I tell you the truth, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh (life in the kingdom of the world), but the Spirit gives birth to spirit (life in the Kingdom of God)” (John 3: 5, 6 NIV – words in parenthesis are mine).
There is more to the ‘giving’ of the Holy Spirit than I can discuss here (or understand). For example, Jesus breathed into the disciples in the Upper Room on the night of the resurrection, telling them to receive the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit of power was given to them at Pentecost. Are there two infillings of the Holy Spirit in our lives as well, beginning when we repent?
First, Choose
I know this: Jesus gives a command – First, I must choose to seek His Kingdom. Jesus is telling me I have freedom to choose and New Testament scripture makes it clear that I will be held responsible for my choice.
“While God seeks the sinner and offers him or her the gift of the Kingdom, He remains a God of retributive righteousness to those who reject the gracious offer . . . People must respond to this overture of love; otherwise a greater condemnation awaits them. Bultmann speaks of God as One who has come near to people as “The Demander”. When confronted by Jesus a person stands before God and must make a decision (that is, they must choose). The outcome will be either the salvation of the Kingdom or judgment” (Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, pgs 85, 86).
In fact, the decision or choice is the only part I play in this Kingdom work. I choose to turn from finding my value and life in the kingdom of the world to seeking life in the Kingdom of God.
How do human beings, born into the kingdom of the world, even discover that there is a kingdom alternative? They can find out about the ‘other’ Kingdom in many different ways: God speaks to them through the beauty of His creation, they see Billy Graham on late-night TV, a friend exhibits the joy and peace of Kingdom life and it is attractive, or a hundred other ways – but, I believe, mostly through us, His Kingdom people. It is God who reveals through all these different ways the Kingdom alternative. But when it is clear that there is an alternative to life in the kingdom of the world, “the Demander” calls each to choose or decide. In which Kingdom will I live? The decision will not be made for me – except, as a person living in the kingdom of the world, not choosing is a choice.
Ok, lets say I choose to repent and begin seeking the Kingdom life. But making that choice a transformative reality, where one life is put aside and the other put on so that I am a changed person, is the work of the Holy Spirit. That, I believe, is being born again. I enter this process as one person; I exit with a new spirit or heart as another person. Still me, but changed.
I don’t just repent of what I have done – for many this is synonymous with confessing or admitting guilt. I can do that. But most fundamentally I repent of who I am, asking to be changed. I cannot change myself. I choose to repent; the Holy Spirit produces the repentance or change in me. The Holy Spirit has a role in all of this work, but so do I – even if my role is minor compared to His. It is not one or the other; it is both.
Here is an example of what I mean. Suppose I am convicted by friends and relatives that I have a problem with lying and I choose to change. So, I bring my decision to a worship service. During the time of confession I confess and even repent of lying. But when I leave the church I am still a liar. Why? Because habitual lying is rooted in some deeper pain and woundedness in my heart, and my repentance did not touch that place of pain. In fact, some consider lying a mark of evil. I can choose to repent of lying, but the real work must be done by the Holy Spirit. My heart must be healed and transformed, and I cannot do that in my own power. True repentance is marked by fruit – in this case no more lying. That fruit can only come through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is as deep as I can go into these mysteries. God’s way is never a formula. There is no box in the universe big enough to contain God. He is outside of creation. For me, there is mystery in how God works in the heart of the man or woman who chooses – especially because scripture tells us that God chooses us. I believe (and Matthew 6 and 7 has clarified this belief for me) that even though God knows in advance who will choose Him, apparently His foreknowledge does not negate or influence our freedom to choose, because Jesus tells us over and over again that we must choose Him and His Kingdom. Perhaps God calls us His ‘chosen’ because before the beginning of time God knew that we would choose Him.
God is sovereign. To deny that is to believe that God is not God. But we have free will. To deny that is to deny the word of God, because I believe scripture is clear on that point. We are left with this – there is mystery and tension in these two apparently conflicting ideas. God is sovereign and I have free will. But there is hope. There is a person in the middle of the tension. That person is Jesus. If we focus on Him, His love, and His Kingdom we will avoid the theological pitfalls and live in the fullness of all He has for us. And we will be and become the Kingdom people He calls to release rivers of living water into the world for His purposes and plans.
When we seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we begin the journey through repentance and by faith. But like asking, seeking, and knocking, we repent and keep on repenting; we believe and keep on believing. We are, at the same time, holy and being made holy, or as the author of Hebrews writes, “Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10: 14 NIV). This work of ‘becoming’ is the work of the Holy Spirit, but I must participate. When God makes the offer, I must choose – Jesus and His Kingdom, or self and the kingdom of the world. As Moses says, “I set before you life and death. Choose life.”
What About Prayer?
Over the years people have asked me about prayer. The most common question is, “Why pray? God is omnipotent and sovereign. He knows everything from before the beginning of time until the end of time. He knows that I am going to ask for something and He knows before I ask what I will ask for. So why doesn’t He just supply what I need before I ask? I can think of several reasons why prayer is important:
We pray because God commands us to pray. God has His plans, purposes, and ways. Often these are unknown to us. Our work is to obey His command and ask for whatever we want or need, within the conditions discussed above. We might request something for ourselves, for friends and family, for our city, nation, or the world. Even though God knows what we need, we are commanded to ask. James says, “You do not have, because you do not ask.”
We pray because through prayer we are intimately connected with God. We come to God, our Father, like children. Asking affirms our relationship with Him. We don’t ask from people we don’t know. We don’t ask from people we don’t believe have the capacity to give. And we don’t ask if we think that we can get the thing we are asking for by ourselves. We ask out of humility, and at times even desperation. We ask out of our dependency on Him. Asking, seeking, and knocking are signs that we are living in a right, intimate relationship with God, our Father. This pleases God.
God our Father is love. He loves us and He wants to live with us in a loving relationship. He will not coerce us to choose Him. He does not want slaves. He wants willing servants who love to do the will of their Father – not slaves forced in some way, consciously or unconsciously, to perform for Him. Coercion is not love. So God treats us like sons and daughters who have the right to come to their father and ask in prayer. Our choice.
We pray because God has chosen to work through our prayers. Our Father, through the Holy Spirit and prayer, makes His will for something to happen on earth known to us. It might be healing, revival, or some small matter in someone’s life. When we listen to God, hear His voice, and understand His will, we pray for that thing to happen. In this way, God’s will becomes reality. We partner with God in prayer to make His will tangible, visible, and real. We do this for His glory, but He uses our prayers. God does not need us. He is God – all-powerful and all-knowing. But God has chosen to work through His children in the world and He has given us real power and authority to make His will reality. That is why we are called, “Rulers and Priests to serve our God.”
Some people believe that the sole reason we pray is because prayer changes us. Prayer does change us, but that idea overlooks the significance of the partnership between us and God to release His Kingdom into the kingdom of the world through our prayers.
The invitations to “ask, seek, and knock” and the associated promises point to the goodness, grace, and love that the Father have for us. They are the means by which, through prayer, God can give all of who He is – His fullness – to His Kingdom children. And that delights God.
How Do We Ask, Seek, and Knock?
Ask, seek, and knock can be thought of as three slightly different but related ways we come to God with our requests, depending upon our circumstances. We are commanded to ask, seek, and knock – and Jesus makes it clear that these are our responsibilities – but sometimes we make our requests with one, sometimes the other, or sometimes all three. An ‘ask’ is embedded in all three, but they are each slightly different. Here is what I mean:
Jesus places no apparent restrictions on what I can ask for, although as I said above, this is not an open invitation, like a genie in a bottle (more on this below). I can ask God for anything – like a job, a wife or husband, provision for my ministry, healing, more faith, more power, or more of the Holy Spirit. When I ask, I am asking for a gift.
When I seek, it is not so much the gift I am seeking. I am seeking the Giver – I am seeking God and more of His presence. I can ask a friend for a cup of sugar, a loaf of bread, to borrow his car, or even for a loan. Depending upon our relationship, all of these ‘asks’ are permissible. But when I seek to deepen the relationship with my friend, what I want most is more of his presence – to talk, listen, and laugh – for us to go deeper into each other’s hearts. I think “seek and you will find” is more about this aspect of my relationship with Him than it is about asking for something tangible.
When I knock, I want whatever is on the other side of the door, but at the moment the door is closed to me. I am seeking admission. For example, knocking on the door to the Kingdom of God, asking to gain entrance. Or, when I knock I am asking God to open a door and let me deeper into His heart. The Greek word for knocking conveys a sense of persistence, almost impatience.
As I wrote above, I believe God wants to give us the fullness of Himself. He does this in response to our asking, seeking, and knocking. But His fullness is multifaceted and glorious. If we just ask, we might miss His presence. If we just seek we might miss His gifts. If we don’t knock, we might not be persistent enough. But with all three together – ask, seek, and knock – we have the greatest chance to access all of who He is, or at least all of who He is that is available to us.
Finally, if what we are asking for, seeking, and knocking about advances God’s Kingdom, releases His glory, draws us or others deeper into God’s heart and makes us more like Jesus, increases faith, brings more joy, peace, and hope to God’s children; pushes back the darkness, and defeats the power of evil then the promises of God will certainly be activated and we will receive what we asked for, we will find what we are seeking, and the door to God’s Kingdom and God’s heart will open to us.
In the following sections I look more deeply into what it means to ask, seek, and knock.
Ask and It Will Be Given to You!
Apparently God wants us to ask Him for what we need or want. Throughout Scripture God commands His people to ask.
God told Solomon, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” He asked God for a discerning heart! Then God, in His grace, mercy, and abundance told Solomon, “I will give you that” but “I will give you what you have not asked for – both riches and honor”. Apparently God wanted Solomon to ask and then He gave him more than he asked for.
Just before Elijah was taken up into heaven, he commanded Elisha, “Ask, what may I do for you, before I am taken from you?” Elisha asked, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me” (2 Kings 2: 9 NKJV). When Elijah was taken up to heaven, his mantle fell to earth. Elisha tore off his old mantle, put on the mantle of Elijah, and became the man who performed more miracles in the bible than anyone else, except Jesus. Elisha had asked for more of the Holy Spirit.
The prophet Jeremiah writes:
“This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, “we will not walk in it” (Jeremiah 6: 16 NIV). We are commanded to ask where the “good way” is, which is, of course, Jesus. And then we have to choose that way. In Jeremiah’s time, the Jews rejected God’s way and so can we.
Remember blind Bartimaeus? Bartimaeus cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “I want to see”, said Bartimaeus. Jesus knew what Bartimaeus wanted. He wanted Bartimaeus to ask! Once he asked, Jesus gave Bartimaeus his sight and said, “Your faith has healed you.” What does faith have to do with asking? We ask because we believe that God can give us what we ask for, that as His children we have the right to ask, and that His promises are true. These beliefs have power. That power is faith.
Ask! We are invited, even commanded to ask.
There Are Conditions – Ask According to His Will and In His Name
It is primarily through prayer that we make our needs and wants known to God – with some conditions! First, as I wrote above, we come to Jesus with our requests as Kingdom seekers, obeying Jesus’ command to first seek the Kingdom of God. Jesus is telling us that our prayer life must emanate either from the heart of one seeking the Kingdom of God or from Kingdom power resident in a Kingdom man or woman.
There are other conditions.
James tells us:
“You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4: 2, 3 NIV).
We need to ask. Asking is the key that unlocks the promises of God. Nothing is too small or too large for God. But we do not ask with wrong motives – to spend on our pleasures. And be careful what you ask for. You might get it.
John tells us:
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him” (1 John 5: 14, 15 NIV).
We are instructed to ask according to His will. This is a big condition. How do we know God’s will? We ask Him in prayer. “Jesus, show me your will in this matter” is a great thing to ask for. Too often I act or ask without first consulting Him. Then the outcome usually is not good.
Or, as Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you”, if you ask in My name.
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15: 7 NIV); and “I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete” (John 16: 23, 24 NIV).
Jesus makes similar promises in John 14: 13, 14; and John 15: 16, 17.
In these verses Jesus connects answered prayer to remaining in Him and asking according to His name. Both of these conditions describe the prayers of the Kingdom man or woman and mean essentially the same thing as, “ask according to His will”. But notice also that Jesus tells us, “My Father will give you whatever you ask.” “Whatever” encompasses a lot of prayer requests, even when connected to, “in My name”. Jesus places no restrictions on what we can ask for, only how we ask and the condition of the heart of the one asking. God wants His Kingdom children to experience joy.
Does Christ rule and reign in your heart? Are you submitted and surrendered to Him? Have you repented and do you walk in faith? Then, Scripture says, ask for whatever you want.
However, we have all asked and not received, at least soon after the asking. When we ask, the responsibility for giving what we ask for is God’s. He might answer the prayer immediately. Or, He might wait 10 years or longer to answer the prayer. His timing is always perfect.
God is not only good. He is also wise. I have asked God for things, and looking back am very grateful that His answer to my prayer was, “No”.
The promise – ask and you will receive – within the context of these conditions, is a Kingdom promise that God takes very seriously based on the number of times He repeats it in Scripture. It is a promise that we can put our faith in – it is part of what it means to build our house on the rock. Most of us need to step into the abundant life with more faith, claiming that promise and acting upon it. Think about it – “Ask and you will get what you asked for”. These are the words spoken directly from the mouth of the Creator of the universe, the One who always speaks truth.
What Shall We Ask For?
What shall we ask for then? Jesus tells us to “First seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” That seems like a good place to begin. For those who have chosen Jesus and His way, they can ask for the Kingdom; that is, life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God – the rule and reign of Christ in their lives. God’s will is for all people to live with Him in the Kingdom of God in this age, although not all will choose and receive this offer. Some will reject the offer of the Kingdom (e.g. see John 3: 36). Here is what George Eldon Ladd says about asking for the Kingdom:
“The Divine Reign is not a fearful power before which people are compelled to bow, but a gift. Children exemplify the trustfulness and receptivity of the “sons of the Kingdom.” The Kingdom belongs to them, not because their humility is a virtue that merits it, but because they are responsive . . . The promise that those who ask shall receive, and those who seek shall find is to be understood in this context. “The thing to be sought is the Kingdom of God, which, being found is the satisfaction of all needs” (Luke 12: 31). The door to be knocked at is the door which gives entrance into the Kingdom of God” (A Theology of the New Testament, George Eldon Ladd, pg 71).
Jesus is the door (gate, depending on the translation) to the Kingdom (John 10:9 NKJV). When we knock on the door to the Kingdom of God, we are ‘knocking’ on Jesus.
Is that all we can ask God for? No, there is more. As I wrote above, in 1 John we are instructed to ask according to His will. OK, so what can I ask for that is in accordance with His will? Plenty of things:
How about a greater hunger to know Jesus? What about more of His Holy Spirit or better yet, the baptism of His Spirit? Can we ask for His faith, His joy, His peace, and His Hope? Yes, of course we can. We are called to love others the way Jesus loves us. Ask for more love, which is like asking for living water. Is it God’s will to heal? Yes, it is. So ask for that. What about revival? God’s will is to see His people saved, so ask for revival. You can ask for the gift of repentance. Do you need to release unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, or even hatred from your heart? Ask Him. What about the power of God to accompany your ministry? Ask Him for that. Do you struggle with addiction to drugs, alcohol, or sex , including pornography? Ask Him to set you free. It is His will that you walk in freedom.
Do you need material things to do ministry or be the person you believe God created you to be? Ask Him for money, a job, a wife or husband, or help with meeting some of the challenges in your life. I once heard a teacher in a Sunday school lesson tell the class, “ask God, but don’t ask for yourself.” John tells us to ask for whatever you wish, with no restrictions except that we ask according to His will. And that is between you and God.
I have noticed that too often I ask, but what I ask for is too small. Think big, really big! Pray for revival to break out over the entire world. Pray for the cloak of deception to be ripped away from the forces of evil operating in your nation. Pray for a great harvest of millions to enter the Kingdom. Pray for strength for our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church. Pray for your ministry to reach across the globe. And personally, the greatest gift to ask for is more of God – “Father, make me like Jesus”.
The list of what God wants us to ask for is probably almost endless. But according to Jesus, James, and John – we must ask! In general, God waits for us to ask. And then the royal, kingly promise – “it will be given to you”. How about this? Ask for more of His faith to believe His promises, especially this one.
Jesus Tells Us God Will Give Us the Holy Spirit If We Ask
There is one more aspect to “ask” that is important. The parallel scripture in Luke (11: 5 – 13) contains more information. Here are the relevant parts of those verses:
“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given 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” (Luke 9: 9, 10 NIV).
And, a few verses later in Luke, Jesus says this:
“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 the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 9: 13 NIV).
“Ask and it will be given to you”. What is “it”? It is the gift we are asking for. And what is that gift? Here Luke writes that the gift the Father gives in response to our asking, seeking, and knocking is the Holy Spirit. Is it possible that the asking in the Matthew and Luke passages is about receiving spiritual gifts from the father and not about other blessings that are more worldly like asking for a wife, a job, or even healing?
It is true that in Matthew 7 Jesus puts no restrictions on “ask”. And the other verses from John and 1 John tell us to ask for whatever we want according to His will and in Jesus’ name. For some situations I believe Jesus has made it clear in scripture that He has already given Kingdom men and women power and authority to do things like cast our demons, physically heal, raise the dead, and command storms to die down. I am wondering – am I supposed to “ask” for these things also or will Jesus simply tell me, “You do it”? Perhaps my responsibility is to “ask” for more of the Holy Spirit, which would include more of His faith and more of His power. And then with more faith and power, in the name of Jesus, I do the work He wants completed. Just asking.
“May God help you to never stop persevering till you get what you want. Let your aspirations be large and your faith rise until you are wholly on fire for God’s best” (Smith Wigglesworth, ‘The Faith Collection’, pg. 270).
Seek and You Will Find!
Jesus commands us to seek. In English, seek means, “to go in search of or quest for something”, “to try to find or discover”; or “to ask for something”. Seeking is almost the same as asking, but slightly different. Is seeking connected to asking, or is seeking done independently of asking? If I ask and get what I am asking for, why do I need to seek that thing I have already been given? What if my asking prayer is not answered quickly? When I ask God for something, He will answer my prayer on His timetable, not mine. It might take 50 years before I receive what I asked for. In the meantime, is Jesus commanding me to seek?
There is a seeking that accompanies asking. If I ask God for more faith I believe that the more I ‘step out’ in faith, the more my faith will grow. Reading God’s word and praying are important ways to grow in faith. I believe that both of these actions are related to ‘seeking’. If I ask for the gift of prophecy, I can begin to prophesy. If I ask for a greater ability to love, I can begin to choose love when the opportunity arises, believing that God will supernaturally grow my capacity to love. I can seek to be set free from addiction through prayer, and then begin partnering with God by seeking support and accountability, putting locks on my computer, or seeking emotional healing or spiritual deliverance.
Seek Him!
But I believe ‘seek’ has a deeper meaning. When Jesus invites us to seek, we are being invited to seek Jesus Himself. We seek His presence, His heart, and His mind. It reminds me of Psalm 84:
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84: 1, 2 NIV).
This is the cry of the Kingdom man or woman. They already know the dwelling place of God – His Kingdom. God has found them! But yet, they are seeking more of Him. Their heart is crying out for more of His heart. This passionate desire to have and know more of God is what seeking means to me. The gift is what we ask for; the Giver of the gift is Who we seek.
This type of seeking is the “air we breath”. This is our every day work to stay connected, to become more like Jesus, and to grow in holiness – to seek to go deeper into the heart of God, to come face-to-face with Him, to see Jesus.
Seek With All Of Your Heart
When we seek, I think we are seeking, or should be seeking, four outcomes. We are seeking:
To live more fully in the presence and power of God – to live more ‘in-Christ’
To more completely discern His will for our lives
To align our hearts, minds, and actions with His will
To more fully become the person we were created by God to be
How do I seek these four related outcomes for my life? As I wrote above, first I “seek His Kingdom and His righteousness”. I seek with faith – I believe that if I seek God, I will find Him. I seek with my whole heart – passionately, relentlessly, and enthusiastically. “With my whole heart” also means not being doubled minded – looking to satisfy the longing of my heart in the things of the world and at the same time trying to find the small gate and the narrow way that leads into the Kingdom of God. As Jesus says, “you cannot serve two masters”. The Father wants us to love and seek Him wholeheartedly. Jeremiah writes:
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back from captivity” (Jeremiah 29: 12 – 14 NIV).
The author of Hebrews connects faith, and seeking God relentlessly and passionately, with God’s rewards or gifts:
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him” (Hebrews 11: 6 NIV).
God loves it when we seek Him persistently, passionately, and enthusiastically – with joyful expectation! When we choose to seek in these ways, we do not seek alone. The good news is that the enabling or indwelling Holy Spirit helps us on this journey of sanctification. The ultimate objective of our seeking is to find and to know the heart of Him who created us. But Jesus tells us we must choose to seek.
How Do We Seek?
Here are some ways that I seek His presence, seek to know His will and align myself with Him, and seek to become the person God created me to be. This list can be summarized by Jesus’ command – “deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me”. Part of what it means to “follow Jesus” is to seek more of Him. Breaking this command down, here are some specific ways I can ‘seek’ more of Him:
Learn to hear the voice of God and be open to God’s spoken revelation in your mind and heart. Many people think this is not possible. It is possible! Ask, “Lord, teach me to hear Your voice”.
Receive and accept from God what He has for you each day, including the Father’s love, His forgiveness, His spiritual gifts, and His friendship.
Rest in Him. We are seeking, not striving.
Spend your time in Godly pursuits – study God’s word and pray regularly, surround yourself with godly friends, have conversations about God and what He is doing in your lives, read some books about God like A. W. Tozer’s “The Pursuit of God”.
Conversely, spend less time on things that draw you away from God, like watching TV, godless movies, sports, pornography (for sure. This is a soul-killer), social media, etc. I don’t cut these out of my life entirely (except for pornography!), but I try to limit them and balance them with time with God.
Reading God’s word is crucial, but don’t just read. Meditate and soak in His word. The same with prayer. Set aside time with God in intimate conversation. Ask, but also listen. Read “With Christ in the School of Prayer” by Andrew Murray.
Yield to Him daily. Surrender and submit to God. Be obedient. Be willing to follow where He calls you to go. Like Paul, ask God, “Lord what will you have me to do?”
Take authority over the demonic voices accusing and discouraging you. Tell them, “Go, in Jesus name” or “The Lord rebuke you”. In Christ you have the power to do this. Walk in that victory. One way the enemy discourages us is continually to bring up old sins. Do not let the sins of the past from which you have repented control you. They can destroy your walk if you let them. Tell these voices to “shut up”. Leave the old behind. Really!
Walk in thanksgiving and gratitude, giving praise to God each day.
Be repentant. As I have said before we do not just repent. Repent and keep on repenting. And I don’t just repent of what I have done. I repent of who I am.
Stay your mind on Jesus. This requires discipline. It is how we stay connected to Him, and connection is essential.
Seek to Love God, Jesus, yourself, and your neighbor (who might be your enemy).
Forgive everyone, including yourself. Unforgiveness can shut us off from the Holy Spirit.
Faith is a gift. Ask for more faith – more trust, more confidence, more dependence, and more power. Faith is the enabling power of God.
Walk in the fear of the Lord. This means walk in the wonder, awe, and reverence of Him.
Get healed! Spiritual deliverance and emotional healing are essential parts of seeking Him and learning to hear God’s voice. For many, there can be no Kingdom life without spiritual and emotional healing. We know what Jesus tells us about unforgiveness, and for many the only way to forgive others is through spiritual and emotional healing. Get rid of anger.
Seek to live your life each day in the center of His will. This is what it means to be a Kingdom man or woman – surrendered and submitted to His will – living in His presence, and becoming more like Jesus. God wants us to search Him out. He is asking, “How do you want to know me?” He says, “Seek me and you will find me.”
Knock and the Door Will Open to You!
Ask, seek, and knock are all action verbs. But it seems to me that seeking involves more energy than asking, and knocking more energy than seeking. Ask, seek, and knock are in ascending levels of intensity and urgency. Knocking requires certainty and commitment. I have finally reached a place in my mind and my heart when I am ready to take the final, definitive step. I have chosen; I have decided. Open the door. I want to enter in. I want my answer or my outcome. It seems very presumptuous to me to knock. I am telling God, “I have come to claim the promise that You will open the door and give me what I have asked You for”. But we knock with humility. Remember whose door we are knocking upon. And we must be wise – “be careful what door you knock on. It might open up to you.”
The Greek word used for knock – krouo – means “to rap, to strike, or to beat on the door with a stick”. This is not a tentative, polite knock. I am pounding on the door insistently. Of course, to knock like this also means that I am certain that what is on the other side of the door is good, life giving, and intended for my benefit and for His glory. I don’t just knock with persistence; I knock with anticipation and excitement. I knock in faith.
Examples of Knocking In Scripture
Here are three examples of knocking in Scripture. The first is found in Acts 12: 11 – 16. In these verses Peter miraculously escaped from prison and made his way to the house of Mary the mother of John. He knocked to gain admittance. When the servant girl did not initially open the door, he kept on knocking until he was admitted. He was persistent.
Next, knocking reminds me of the persistent widow in Luke 18: 1—8. She was bold. The widow kept coming to the corrupt judge with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.” Initially he refused, but because of her persistence he finally gave her what she wanted. Jesus adds, “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? “Who cry out to Him day and night” – that is what I think Jesus means by knocking.
Finally, in Luke 11, the parallel passage to Matthew 7: 7, 8, Jesus retells the same parable about the neighbor asking for bread and the good gifts the Father gives His children. In the Luke passage, Jesus says this in response to the man who goes to his friend at midnight asking for bread:
“Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything’. I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11: 7, 8 NIV).
Although the passage does not explicitly say this, the man asking his friend for bread was probably knocking on his friend’s door. It is midnight. That is how he wakes his friend. And the man is knocking boldly and persistently. That is what I believe Jesus means in Matthew 7: 7 when he invites us to knock and promises that the door will be opened to us. Like the man imploring the friend, we will receive what we were knocking for when we knock boldly and persistently.
Why Knock?
Knocking is another way of asking, but with boldness, persistence, and confidence. When we knock we are getting face-to-face with God – knocking on the door to the Kingdom of God or God’s heart with our requests. We knock to know God. We knock to go deeper into His heart and His mind, which is to say we knock on the door that leads us deeper into the supernatural realm. Can we do that? Can we know God this intimately? Cry out to God, “Lord, I want to know you. Take me deeper.” It reminds me of the cry of Bartimaeus? “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. I want to see.” Me too, “Lord, I want to see.”
Of course, we knock when we intercede for others and the world. We knock with these prayers believing that God is going to open the door. We will be able to walk into whatever is on the other side of the door. We also knock knowing that what is on the other side of the door can flow or stream out into the world. I often think that knocking opens the door for the light of Christ to flood into the world – pushing back the darkness. But we must knock.
Away From Me You Evildoers, I Never Knew You
The foundational basis for the invitation, promise, and power in prayer – ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will open – is the Kingdom life. The invitation, promise, and power are for those who have chosen to reject the things of the world as their source of value and have turned – repented – to Jesus. The Kingdom heart is surrendered and submitted to Jesus. Kingdom people say, “Not my will, but Yours.” They call Jesus, “Lord”. They have chosen Him to be their ultimate value. All of their hope, peace, joy, security, comfort, and faith are found in Him – or at least these things are being added to their lives as they grow in their relationship with Him. In the Kingdom of God they have received Kingdom gifts: the indwelling Holy Spirit, transformed (or transforming) lives, power and authority delegated to them as they live with and stay connected to Jesus, spiritual gifts, and faith to believe God’s promises. But what about those, including many Christians, who believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died on the cross and was resurrected, yet continue to find their value and worth in the kingdom of the world?
More Context – An Important Warning: Watch Out For False Prophets
A very disturbing passage is sandwiched in Matthew 7 between the tree and it’s fruit (“every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”) and the wise and foolish builders (“the wise man who built his house on the rock . . . and the foolish man who built his house on the sand”)? This final look at Matthew 7 provides an important warning for all of us who are asking, seeking, and knocking. Here are the verses:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven (aka the Kingdom of God), but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7: 21—23 NIV).
Preceding these verses is a warning from Jesus: “Watch out for false prophets”. Apparently, some who call themselves Christians are prophesying in their own power. They are not speaking for the Lord. Why? What are they doing? Here is my understanding of these verses:
As Jesus makes clear, it is God’s will for us to turn from finding our value in the things of the world, to finding all of our value in Jesus. He is our worth, our hope, and our joy. Of course, to do this we must repent. As I wrote above, repentance begins with our choice and then is made real by the enabling Holy Spirit.
When we repent, we turn from finding our value in our self and the things of the world driven by our needs, wants, and desires. We turn to life with Jesus in the Kingdom of God. The first mark of the Kingdom man or woman is the willingness to deny the right to themselves, manifested most obviously in surrender of their will, which is the flesh, to God’s will. The kingdom person says, “Yet not my will, but yours be done.” If you are not doing or at least making an effort to do the Lord’s will, then you are still following your will. If that is the case, you are still living in the kingdom of the world.
Evildoers and the Spirit of Religion
I think Jesus is telling us that there are some, not willing to submit to God’s will, who are searching for their ultimate value in the kingdom of the world under the authority of their flesh, yet calling Him “Lord, Lord”. They pray with wonderful words, they might prophesy, pray healing prayers (and even heal), and know the bible from front to back. But, if these actions are ways for them to find their value, especially to be honored by men, then they have not repented. They are not living in the Kingdom of God. They may know about Jesus; they don’t know Jesus because they are living outside of His Kingdom. John writes about these: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life (Kingdom life), but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3: 36 NI). These supposed-Christians are deluding themselves – they will be sent away from Jesus and His wrath will remain on them. I think these are the “evildoers”.
As I wrote above, one of the strongest idols in the world is ‘man’s desire to be honored by men’. In the New Testament this idol is exemplified by the behavior of some of the Pharisees. Men and women giving to the needy, fasting, and praying in ways that allow the world to admire them are called hypocrites by Jesus. This idol is one of the roots of the spirit of religion, also manifested as a desire to be relevant. As I have written often, the world offers many idols – counterfeit ways to find our value. The ‘religious’ life is one of the most powerful. Jesus recognized this when He pronounced the Seven Woes over the Pharisees:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You shut the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23: 13, 14 NIV).
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23: 27, 28 NIV).
These are terrifying words directed at some of the religious elite of Jesus’ day. Aren’t these the evildoers that Jesus is referring to – the ones who appear righteous on the outside, but inside are still “storing their treasure on earth” and walking on the broad road to destruction? Do we have the same type of religious elites in the Christian Church today – perhaps masquerading as Prophets or Apostles?
How Can the Evildoers Perform Miracles?
One aspect of these verses that has always puzzled me is the claim by the evildoers, “Lord, did we not in your name . . . drive out demons and perform many miracles?”.
As I have written above, there are only two kingdoms, and we all live in one or the other. When we live in the Kingdom of God, we worship Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – we desire to do the will of the Father. Our power and authority flow from Him. When we live in the kingdom of the world, we worship self. Well, sort of. Jesus makes it clear that in the kingdom of the world, we are really enslaved to a power greater than ourselves. John tells us, “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one” (1 John 5: 19 NIV).
Satan has power. Sorcerers, witches, witchdoctors, and others operating in the occult have power delegated to them by satan. In Acts 8: 9 – 24 we read about such a man, Simon, who practiced sorcery and amazed all the people of Samaria with his magic:
“He boasted he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power”. They followed him because he amazed them for a long time with his magic” (Acts 8: 9 – 11 NIV).
Simon found his value in the accolades and attention given to him for his miracles and magic. He lived for and needed the honor of men. By seeking his value in this idol rather than in Jesus, he brought himself increasingly under the authority of satan. His magical powers were the manifestation of this darkness. The same is true of all occult activity in the world today. There is no such thing as good witchcraft, including Harry Potter. All real magic and all witchcraft are demonstrations of the dark power of satan, and should be renounced. To the extent that we give our time and attention to witchcraft, even in TV shows, movies, cartoons, and books, we open a door for the enemy to enter our hearts.
Men and women who call Jesus “Lord, Lord” but who have never turned to Jesus for their value, who daily ignore His command to “Seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness”, and who have never repented, can have considerable power – the power of the occult is real. But in spite of their external appearance and pious words, they are aligned with satan, not Jesus. These are the evildoers Jesus is speaking about.
How can we spot them? Many times we cannot. They are clever and sly. They ‘fit in’. But Jesus sees through them. So first, God judges them, not us. But Jesus warns us to watch out for these ‘false prophets’. To do this we need His wisdom and discernment. He tells us we will recognize them by their fruit. Here are some thoughts about the more obvious ‘fruit’ we might see: they have not repented, nor will they. They pray and fast so you will notice them. They foster relationships with the rich and powerful and dismiss everyone else. They use their reputations to make money and to gain power. They are smooth talkers, they might come across as ‘nice’, but beneath this veneer they look for ways to control others. They lie. Beneath the surface of their ‘religious’ life, there are behaviors that are dark and evil. They manipulate and shame others. They boast, are prideful, and bask in other’s recognition of their powers and accomplishments; they are the antithesis of humble. They point to themselves, not God. They are easily offended and do not seek accountability or accept criticism, even when it is offered in the spirit of love. They pursue their own agendas; they do not do the will of the Father, unless it aligns with their own wants, needs, and desires.
Jesus invites us to ask, seek, and knock. Then He promises that we will get what we ask for, we will find what we seek, and the door will be opened to us, if we do these things according to His conditions. These promises, which we activate and receive through prayer, are one major way for God’s glory, power, and purpose to be released into the world. These promises release light, push back the darkness, and are capable of defeating the power of evil.
Satan and his powers and principalities will be defeated by the prayers of God’s righteous Kingdom people. But satan wants to counterfeit even God’s power. Those who call Jesus “Lord, Lord”, and Jesus calls “evildoers”, are counterfeiting God’s power and grace to advance the kingdom of the world at the expense of the Kingdom and the glory of God. What is their ultimate Sin? They seek their value in the kingdom of the world; they worship self and are under the dominion of their flesh. They pretend to be someone they are not – they are covetous and deceptive. They are liars. They are enemies of God. They will be cast into outer darkness for eternity.
Ask, Seek, and Knock – The Power and the Promise of Prayer
When prayers rise up from a Kingdom heart they connect with and release God’s immense power; they have the potential to bring about life changing, even world changing, outcomes.
Be careful what you ask for, you might get it; be careful for what you seek, you might find it; be careful what door you knock on, it might be opened to you. Perhaps this is another way of saying, “pray for God’s will to be accomplished, in the name of Jesus”, so that we are praying for the right outcomes. Even in prayer we have the freedom to choose what to ask for, seek, and the door to knock on. I think the scriptures telling us to ask according to His will and in His name are not so much to limit us, as they are to protect us. And as I wrote above, when we ask as Kingdom men and women we are less likely to turn “ask and you shall receive” into an idol used for our own selfish purposes.
Sometimes the blessing is for the door not to be opened, or for the open door to be shut, perhaps against our wills. I have experienced this; it can be painful. We ask, seek, and knock in faith. When the door is closed, we deal with that in faith as well.
Many Kingdom men and women have too limited an understanding of the power of prayer. In prayer we are handling dynamite – the root word for dynamite is the Greek word in the New Testament, dunamis, meaning ‘power’. Dynamite can be used for good – it can also destroy, especially if not handled with the proper amount of fear and respect. When you pray, especially prayers of intercession, pray with reverence, awe, persistence, and expectancy. God has given us a cosmic mandate to release power that can radically alter the world around us today.
As I wrote above, the other mistake many Kingdom men and woman make is they do not pray big enough! For sure, sometimes God calls us to pray for small things, at least things that seem small to us. Much of the time we pray for what most directly affects us – our family, or the small part of the world in which we live. Those prayers are necessary.
The big, bold prayers are what I often neglect to lift to God. For example, pray that the cloak of deception satan uses to hide evil, malice, and abuse in the world be ripped away for evil to be clearly seen for what it is – death and pure hatred. Purge the world of darkness through prayer. Pray for evil in the hearts of men to be exposed and for these men to be saved. Pray for the end of world hunger and disease like malaria and cancer. Pray for the defeat of evil antichrist ideologies. Pray for the end of abortion. Pray for the safety of the world’s children. Pray for healing of people and nations. Pray for the end of corruption, sex trafficking, pedophilia, and war. Pray for millions of Muslims each year to be saved. Pray for persecuted Christians to endure and abide. Pray for Jesus to return. Pray as God leads you, but do not retreat in the face of a really big request.
Does all of that sound too good to be true, too naïve? What does Jesus mean when He tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you”, if not for objectives like these? He puts no size restrictions on this invitation. And He is not a liar. He means what He says. It is God’s will that the earth be restored back to His original purpose, condition, and function. Our prayers for ‘His Kingdom come’ are one of God’s primary means of restoration.
“The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat . . . The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child will put his hand in the vipers nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11: 6 – 9 NIV).
Isaiah describes our future. But it is our prayers, prayed in the power and authority given to us by Jesus and in His name, which will help make this future our reality. If we don’t pray for the ‘big things’ in general they will not happen.
We are called to use this mandate, privilege, and responsibility well – which means, in part, seek not only His Kingdom, but also His righteousness. Let His righteousness in our hearts be the source from which our prayers emanate. As we pray Kingdom prayers, from hearts that are seeking not only His Kingdom but His righteousness, we release light and goodness into the darkness of the world, a darkness whose depth most good men and women cannot comprehend, but Jesus and His Angel Armies can defeat; a darkness that must flee in the presence of Light. Darkness has no substance. It is only the absence of light.
This is a big deal!! God is calling all Kingdom men and women to step into their anointing and pray with power, authority, persistence, and expectancy arising from faith in the promises of God – “ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you”. As Moses told Israel, “Choose life”.
Wow. That is a lot of writing (and reading!).
John