ask, seek, knock

Are you familiar with Luke 9:9-10? I bet you are, even if you didn't realize that was the verse. Jesus is talking to his disciples and he just told them how to pray. He gave them the Lord's Prayer. Then he tells a little story and he goes on to say:

"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."

Who doesn't love these verses??

It is thrilling to think about asking God for something and having Jesus guarantee you will get it!

But, as I read this today, here are my thoughts.

This isn't magic. This isn't a genie in a bottle that you only call out when you have wishes to be granted. I don't think this is about asking for stuff in the way we usually think of it.

It is about seeking to know God. Asking to know God. Once you know Him you will fall in love with Him and will be compelled to worship Him. Compelled. Thrilled. Determined. To give Him all glory, honor, and authority. To offer Him all obedience and submission. To joyfully give Him reign over your life.

That's what this is about. Seek God. Ask for God. Knock on God's door. Desire for Him to reveal Himself to you. And stop there.

Simply seek Him. Not for a way to ask for your own desires. But, just to find HIM!

He will answer. He will open the door. And, when he does, simply continue to ask, seek, knock. Get to know Him more. That is the heart of prayer. Seeking God.

I don't think prayer is really about seeking answers, guidance, miracles, solutions to problems. Well, there is a place for that in prayer, and there is nothing wrong with those things. But, naturally, that is all secondary. Because, when you encounter God, when you spend time communing with Him and allowing Him to reveal Himself, your only response is to worship.

Out of that reverence and worship, your prayer can only be to serve Him and be in His will.

And, of course you delightfully share the desires of your heart with Him. You openly pour out your heart. All fears, doubts, concerns, frustrations. All hopes, desires, dreams. And, ultimately, you ask God to align your will with His. You ask for forgiveness and transformation and release from the power of all that is troubling. OF COURSE!

BUT....it all pours out of a heart of worship.

When you pray, if you pray, what are you seeking?

Are you seeking God?

Or are you skipping that part and seeking your desires?

It simply can not work that way.

Today I hope to stop everything, focus all of myself on Him and ask to know Him. That is what I want to do in my prayer time. It's not about me. It's about Him. I hope I can do this every day.

50/50

A simple thought that has been on my mind a lot lately.

I know a lot of married people. And, to me, there is hardly anything sweeter than seeing a good, strong, loving marriage.

How does a marriage like that come to be?

It must be that they have mastered the perfect 50/50 plan, right? They each give 50% and meet each other halfway on everything.

No.

That is not how a good marriage works.

For a marriage to be healthy, the spouses better be striving for the 100/100 plan.

I'll be the first to admit that I am incapable of giving 100%. I may do alright in some areas some of the time. But, I am a selfish, sinful person. I am.

But, in order to truly LOVE my husband, I try to give 100%. I never think "I will give 50% and he better meet me half way with his 50%".

Mathematically, it doesn't work.

When I am striving for 100%, I probably achieve a "B" average. Somewhere in the 80% range. So, what if I was striving for 50%? I'd maybe get to 40%. That leaves a big gap, doesn't it?

We would never meet halfway.

And, meanwhile, it is usually much easier to "grade" my spouses efforts than my own. In other words, I might feel that I met or even exceeded my 50%, but I would likely see my spouses grade a bit lower.

I guess when 1 Corinthians mentions that love "does not keep score" that was good advice.

I am just so blessed beyond my wildest expectations in my marriage. As we both strive to show our love in a 100% A+ fashion, we are serving each other before ourselves.

Being in a relationship like this really does give me a glimpse of the kind of love there must be in the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Imagine that.

In that relationship, all they do is serve each other and love each other completely all the time in an perfect, unbreakable bond! Imagine how beautiful that is.

I believe that God created marriage as a glimpse into that kind of love.

I fall short all the time. But I am so thankful to have this relationship and the model that God set for loving and serving each other.

walking

Wouldn't it be weird if someone announced "I'm going for a walk!" And then they sat down and went about whatever they were doing, and never got up and took any steps? If someone in my family did that, I'd probably say something like "Ummm, didn't you say you were going for a walk? Why are you just sitting there?" And then what if that person replied to me "I am walking." That would be so strange.

Yet, I think this is what many of us do in our faith.

We have many cliche ways to describe what it means to "be a Christian". Some examples include "ask Jesus into my heart" "Have a personal relationship with Jesus" "put my trust in Jesus" "believe in Jesus". The list goes on and on.

But I think of it as a walk.

Hopefully, if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, and you have accepted His gift of unconditional love and forgiveness, you have met Him. Hopefully you have had a conversation of some kind with Him that involves submitting to Him as Lord. And, hopefully, you have invited people in your life to share that exciting news with.

In my mind, I picture my baptism as a public declaration of "I'M GOING FOR A WALK!"

Once I declare that to God and others, I have a choice every day, hour and moment to either sit back and relax, or to take steps. If I have declared that I am making a choice to walk, then it would follow that I need to take STEPS.

Does this mean I am earning God's love by taking steps? NO! The love is unconditional. My steps are simply my way of honoring our relationship.

God, my mind wanders to earthly things. All the time. My physical senses are bombarded all the time with THIS world. So, every moment that I can discipline myself to remember that I am not of this world, but yours, I submit to you and bask in your unending peace and love. And I redirect my whole being under your kingdom. Each time I do that, it is a STEP.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Now I am walking. With you. That is the only way to be your follower. There is no passive way. It is an active decision all the time.

Acknowledging your presence...step.

Acknowledging your power and glory and goodness and love.....step.

Accepting your love....step.

Talking and listening to you....step.

Seeing your creation as the incredible miracle that it is....step.

Reflecting on truth....step.

Your love is unending, unstoppable, unconditional....step.

You did not come to offer condemnation, but freedom....step.

My brief time on this earth is so limited, my eternity is with you....step.

In this world, I will suffer....step.

But you promise me joy in my suffering and eternity of peace and joy....step.

You did not come to be served, but to serve....step.

I am not here to be served, but to serve....step.

I am yours....step.

Use me....step.

Fill me with your transforming spirit of love, grace, wisdom and mercy....step.

I commit Lord, to WALKING with you. I will stumble. I will fall. I will stop in my tracks. Because I am a sinner and I am living in this cloudy world that blocks the son from my view. But, I commit to abiding in you. To accepting your gifts. To take STEPS. Please be a powerful presence in my life. Remind me. Prompt me. Keep me in your light.