Ask and it Shall Be Given Unto You, Seek and You Will Find Matthew 7 Vs 7-8

Matthew 7:7-8 (New King James Version)

7 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

The will of God is that his saints are contented in Him and His ways. God's will is that we follow what Jesus has to say, live a life that is a shining example of Jesus, and win people into the Kingdom. We all have a destiny on earth and God is fair as he allows even the unsaved to fulfill their destiny and have happiness on earth.

If we ask Jesus for a Rolls Royce we can ask all we like and plead for one, but our prayers will not be answered. It is important to know that when Jesus tells us to ask, it is asking for things that are in his will for us.

Jesus wants us to have a good life on earth. If we ask Jesus to help us get a job, he will help. If he has a purpose for us to suffer without money and lose our house due to unemployment, it will have a greater purpose in that one day we might be used to minister to people who are in dire straits. Every thing we do on earth is a lesson and both the good and the bad things work for our good and eventually the glory of God through our testimony.

Romans 8:28 (New King James Version) 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

God knows our destiny. God knows our dreams and if we are open to His Holy Spirit, then God will be able to lead us to that destiny.

Ask God for his will to be done, when you apply for a job and if you do not get it, you will know that job wasn't to be the stepping stone that you were meant to have. Even though you might have to wait a while to get a job, if you ask for one God will eventually allow you to get one.

If you seek a deeper relationship with God, you will find it with patience and time. If you seek a good name before men, God will honor that to further His purposes in your life on earth. If you seek favor with your boss, the Lord will see to it that you are given that favor.

We have to understand that God is sovereign and that ALL THINGS, both the good and the bad will work out for good.

Some young girls are sexually abused for years by their fathers or step fathers and cry out too God for it too stop, yet given time and healing some of these girls living in the will of God later in life, can be the most compassionate healers the world knows. Even a girl that goes into a life of prostitution can be redeemed and become a real bright light of Jesus in any red light district and save many ladies.

If you want to knock on the door of the Lord God's heart, the Lord will open His heart to you and give you comfort. If you want God to open doors for you, all you need to do is pray.

Many people cannot hear from God, and yet if they pray for God's will to be done and they ask, seek and knock the opportunities will come in time.

We have to remember God lives outside of time. I have a destiny that will see me travel the world and preach to the saved and the unsaved. If I asked for that to start in the next year, I might ask all I like and seek to minister all I like and try in the flesh to open doors myself, but if my traveling ministry is to be in five years times, nothing I do will make it happen in the next year.

You see, Jesus does not set a time limit in these verses. He says it will happen, but his timing and our timing is something different in many cases.

Don't be discouraged if you are storming heaven for years and still don't get a door to open for you. Joseph went to jail for years. Moses herded sheep for 40 years and Jesus had to wait 18 years from the time he astounded the teachers in the Temple at age 12.

If a boy of 12 had more knowledge than these guys had ever heard so that they had to ask his mother and father who he was studying under don't you think Jesus had to be a very patient man before he could start to preach?

In this NOW generation we are not used to waiting. People meet a person that falls in love with them and they assume this man or woman is the one God has for them. This is not so and so many marriages are ending in divorce. Good wants a perfect partner for everyone and yet we have to be wise and seek Him diligently with fasting and prayer to make sure the one we chose is the one God destined us to marry.

John 15:7 (New King James Version) 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will[a] ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Abiding in Jesus is obeying what he taught us to obey. Abiding in Jesus is walking in the Spirit, making every decision based on the Word of God and what the Holy Spirit puts on our heart. And so if we are obeying the Word and obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit and walking in a loving and in intimacy with Jesus than our desires will be those of the Lord's for us. This is why we can ask for whatever we desire as in this close relationship we would not be desiring anything that is out of the will of God.

If money and possessions is our idol we can ask for more money in a job and not have our prayer answered.

James 4:2-4 (New King James Version) 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

So you can see from the bold part that it is possible for you to ask God for something and God deny your prayer and not answer it as He knows you are going to spend it on the lusts of the world.

In verse 2 it says You do not have because you do not ask.

We see clearly here that we can live in lack and not have what God wants us to have simply because we do not ask God for what we need.

There are many people that get wealthy and have everything that money can buy, but who says that they are happy and if they are living a covetous lifestyle James says that they are an enemy of God. How many enemies of God do you think make it into heaven?

So now that we know God can refuse to answer a prayer, and we know that when we are abiding in Jesus and His Word all our prayers are answered, we have a good grip on what we should be praying and doing.

If I want a stronger anointing and I ask for that, that will be answered in due time when I need that extra power in my ministry. God is pretty smart. He knows what is best for us.

Be Blessed

Matthew Robert Payne

If you have enjoyed my article you can read the book "The parables of Jesus made simple" for free here in its entirety or just selected parables in chapters at http://www.parables-of-jesus-christ.net/ The book will be published in book form in January 2011