ASK SEEK & KNOCK

ASK SEEK & KNOCK

In this study, we are going to learn about prayer. Prayer is communication with God. We are going to look at one aspect of prayer I’d like to call A.S.K. A.S.K. stands for Ask Seek Knock. These are progressive levels of growth in intensity of prayer. There are two times in the scriptures where Jesus talks about asking, seeking, and knocking and we are going to look at both.

The first we are going to examine is when Jesus gave a sermon, which is commonly, referred to as ‘The Sermon on the Mount.’ In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was speaking to the crowd that followed him to a mountain. He said many things, we are going to look at what he had to say about levels of prayer.

Matthew 7:7-8
"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."

In the verse we have just looked at we see the three elements of prayer which are, ask, seek, and knock. The levels or intensity increases with the prayer. Asking implies a simple petition. Seek indicates an earnest search. Knock shows perseverance in spite of hindrances.

·  ASK

First let’s look at ask. Jesus says, "Ask and it will be given to you." Ask in this verse is the Greek word, aiteo (ahee-teh'-o); it means to ask, beg, crave, desire, to require. Ask means to simply present your wants and burdens to God. To turn to him for support and supply, according to his promise.

Asking is the first level of prayer. It is simply presenting a request to God and receiving an answer. In order to receive, the condition is to ask. In James 4:2 it says…. you do not have, because you do not ask God. Asking is very important and sometimes there is a sense of frustration when we feel that our prayers are not being answered. It is not that the asking is wrong it is how and why we are asking. There are things that hinder our prayers. Asking with the wrong motives is only one example. Sometimes we do not receive because we ask with the wrong motives deep within our heart.

James 4:3
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Sometimes it is not only asking with the wrong motives, but it is also, doubting what God says He will do. Let’s look at another verse where we are encouraged to ask for wisdom.

James 1:5-7
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

Matthew 21:22
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.

The conditions for asking are that we must not only believe, but also we must have a clean heart of forgiveness towards others. Unforgiveness in our hearts not only blocks our prayers but keeps us from being forgiven.

Mark 11:24-25
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Another principle in asking is that we must also ask according to God’s will and not our own. If we are asking according to our own desires and will, God is not obligated to answer us. However, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

I John 5:14-15
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.

Obedience is important in seeing prayers answered. We should not think that we can be disobedient and live any way that we choose and that God will still answer all our prayers. We must obey his commands and do what pleases him.

I John 3:21-22
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.

One last verse to look at on the principle of asking. It’s all about relationship. Relationship to Jesus and remaining faithful to him is the springboard for answered prayer.

John 15:7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

We have just looked at the first level of prayer that is called asking. Sometimes prayer needs to go to a more intense level called seeking. God promises an answer to the one who diligently seeks Him. Many of our dispassionate prayers are not answered for good reasons; it is almost as if we are asking God to care about something we care little or nothing about. Seeking involves action and usually carries with it some emotion.

·  SEEK

Jesus says to, "Seek and you will find." Seek is to look to search, as for a thing of value that we have lost. Seeking isn’t passive, it carries emotion and action. Seek is the Greek word zeteo (dzay-teh'-o); and in the positive sense carries the meaning, to worship, to desire intensely, to seek for, to seek after.

Seeking is a deeper level of prayer. This is the level of prayer where answers are not as immediate as at the asking level. Searching involves a process, and Jesus says there are areas of life that require more than asking; there must be seeking, searching. Something is lost, hidden from us, something is missing, and through worship and prayer together then becomes a search, a plea for insight, for understanding, for an unraveling of the mystery.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Proverbs 8:17
I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

Hebrews 11:6
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.

How are we to seek? Interestingly enough it is through prayer and worship. Just like the Greek word ‘seek’ points to worship, the two Hebrew words for seek point to worship as well. The two Hebrew words are: baqash (baw-kash') and darash (daw-rash'). Both carry the meaning to search out and strive after. Baqash conveys seeking and begging with worship or prayer. While, darash is seeking often strictly related to worship.

Psalms 27:8
My heart says of you, Seek (baqash) his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek (baqash).

Psalms 105:4-5
Look (darash) to the LORD and his strength; seek (baqash) his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,

Isaiah 55:6
Seek (darash) the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

We are called to seek with all your heart for those who earnestly seek after the Lord will find him.

Jeremiah 29:13
You will seek(baqash) me and find me when you seek(darash) me with all your heart.

Deuteronomy 4:29
But if from there you seek (prayerfully/seek) the LORD your God, you will find him if you look (worshipfully/seek) for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

·  KNOCK

Now we move onto the third level of prayer called knocking. Jesus says, "knock and the door will be opened." Some translations say it will be opened to you. We knock when we want entrance into a place. Knocking involves repetition, a knock is not a single rap, it is a series of raps. It is a request for admittance, repeated if necessary, and it suggests situations where we seek an entrance, or an opportunity. Ask . . . seek . . . knock. Asking is a simple use of voice, seeking is a motion of the as the body and emotions are involved, and knocking is an effort to open and pass through obstacles.

Knocking is beyond just asking and seeking it takes us into a desperate cry or calling out to the Lord, it is often after we have passed through the asking and seeking part of prayer.

1. Asking is when you want something given to you.
2. Seeking is looking for something you want…
3. Knocking involves somebody. Knocking involves the personal contact of someone on the other side of the door to open it.

Jesus told a story in Luke 11, to illustrate the concept of persistence of knocking and calling out until the answer came. A man needed his friend’s help and began entreating for him to get up and open the door to give it to him. Jesus then finishes the story with the A.S.K. This is the second place in the Bible where Jesus talks about asking, seeking, and knocking.

Luke 11:5-10
Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' "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. "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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Knocking in Jesus’ day did not just involve rapping on a door, it also involved calling out. First there was the calling out and then rapping if there was no response. A calling out to the Lord can be found many places in scripture, this can be equated to knocking. It is a passionate desperate calling out to the Lord to hear us.

Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Psalms 145:18-19
The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

Psalms 91:14-16
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Sometimes ‘knocking’ can involve prayer and fasting combined. A good example of this is in the life of Daniel. Daniel continued to "knock" despite the fact he saw no visible results because Satan hindered the answer from God. In fact the enemy hindered it for nearly 21 days until Yahweh’s angels pushed through.

Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

The 120 gathered and how they "continued" in prayer is an example of knocking. These men and women sought fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit and continued "knocking" for 10 days until the answer came. Knocking is a continual phase of prayer. It is a type of praying through until the answer comes.

·  DOOR SHUT

Jesus tells us to ‘knock and the door, or it will be opened’ to us. There is a time for knocking when the door will be opened. There is also a time when the door will be shut and no amount of crying out to the Lord will open the door. Let’s look at a few examples of when the door is shut.

Parable of the Ten Virgins
Matthew 25:10-13
"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!' "But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The Narrow Door
Luke 13:23-30
Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them, Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from." Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

Jeremiah 11:14
Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.

We can see through these verses that there is a time for knocking and entering through the door of Jesus our Savior. Let’s make every effort to stay close in relationship and enter through the narrow door. Let us seek Him while He may be found.

·  CONCLUSION

We ask for what we wish; we seek for what we miss; we knock for that from which we feel ourselves shut out. Answering to this threefold representation is the triple assurance of success to our believing efforts. In James 5:16 it says that the continual passionate prayer of a righteous person brings forth much.

In both cases of Matthew chapter seven and in Luke chapter eleven, where it talks about asking, seeking, and knocking, Jesus finishes by making a contrast between our Heavenly Father and earthly fathers/parents to show how much our Heavenly Father desires to give us good gifts. In other words, to answer our prayers. Let’s turn to Matthew seven.

Matthew 7:7-11
"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!

This type of prayer, Jesus models himself many times by asking, seeking and knocking. Remember the relationship between the Heavenly Father and the person praying must be established. The lessons we learned earlier about not doubting, being obedient, not having any unforgiveness in our hearts, and also praying by faith are all important in establishing the answers the Father wants to brings forth to us. Let’s look at one last verse about Jesus and his prayers before we close today. All the elements of ask, seek, and knock are here, as well as the Father’s hearing His prayers.

Hebrews 5:7
During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission

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