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.