Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7
"So, God, I’ve got this plan. You should give me the job with the company in town. It would be a shorter commute and I could spend more time with my family, my wages would increase so I could give more money to the church, and it would be a promotion which I would really like, but would also give me some clout in the community. Maybe I could use it to bring some positive changes around town. Isn’t this a great plan? I knew you’d like it. Thanks, God.”
It’s human nature to make our own plans and then ask God to bless them. However, that’s not what Jesus had in mind when he told us to ask, seek, and knock. Before he gave us the promise in today’s passage, Jesus first taught us how to pray - with the Lord’s Prayer. We can't forget the part “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.
Prayer is an intregal part of our spiritual journey. By communicating with God, we allow God to guide us and lead us in the right direction. But prayer isn't a vending machine where we put our request in and receive it instantaneously. Prayer is a relationship with God. God wants us to ask the questions, ask for what we think we need, seek to find answers and new ways of discerning, to actively knock when we come to a closed door. God want us to listen and learn and grow in our relationship so that we can more easily find that plan that God has for us. It is then that we will find that God is giving us exactly what we need at that moment in time....whether we think we need it or not. When we ask, seek and knock with the desire to receive and do God's will, we find a freedom from our own "plans" and are able to live with a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Today, let us seek to strengthen our relationship with God through prayer so that we may more easily discern God's plans and set aside our own. Let us pray with the assurance that our loving Creator wants for us a life that is filled with love, hope, peace, and grace - and that this is enough.
Prayer: God, we often come to you with ideas and plans for how our lives should be. Help us today to release these thoughts and rest in the knowledge that you are already watching out for us. Help us to seek your will today, praying only for the power to carry it out.
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