Ask, Seek, Knock

Luke 11:9-10 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

ASK

• Matthew 6:8 Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!
• Luke 11:11-13 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

• Ephesians 3:20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

• John 14:13-14 "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!"

• Matthew 18:19 “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you."

• James 4:2-3 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
• John 15:7,16 "But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! … You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name."
• 1 John 3:22 And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
• 1 John 5:14-15 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.
• James 1:5-6 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

SEEK

• Acts 17:27 "His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us."
• Luke 12:31 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need."
• Hebrews 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
• Romans 2:7,29 He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. … No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.
• 1 Corinthians 14:12 Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.

KNOCK

• Luke 11:5-8 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him,  ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’  And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’  But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence.

God doesn't always answer in expected ways.

Jesus doesn't teach us to do something He will not do; He is the ultimate model and fulfillment of asking, seeking, and knocking.

• ASK - John 14:15-17 - “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you."
• SEEK - Luke 19:10 - "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” (also see Prodigal Son - Luke 15:11-32)
• KNOCK - Revelation 3:20 - “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends."

The Provider and the Provision

Mark 6:30-44 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.  Then Jesus said, "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile." He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat.  So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.  But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.  Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.  Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late.  Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat."  But Jesus said, "You feed them." "With what?" they asked. "We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!"  "How much bread do you have?" he asked. "Go and find out." They came back and reported, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish."  Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.  So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.  Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.  They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.  A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed from those loaves!

Mark 8:1-10 About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them, "I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat.  If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance."  His disciples replied, "How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?" Jesus asked, "How much bread do you have?" "Seven loaves," they replied.  So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces. He gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.  A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to distribute them.  They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food.  There were about 4,000 people in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten.  Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.

Mark 8:14-21 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.  As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."  At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread.  Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?  'You have eyes-can't you see? You have ears-can't you hear?' Don't you remember anything at all?  When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?" "Twelve," they said.  "And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?" "Seven," they said.  "Don't you understand yet?" he asked them.

John 6:26-27 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs.  But don't be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval."

Matthew 6:31-34 "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?'  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.  "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.

• Jesus is not only our provider, He is our provision
• How many times will it take for us to truly understand who He is?
• As we grow in our understanding, we grow in faith & trust, and the more we love Him and respond to His Lordship