- Asking – requesting and stating your need.
- Seeking – is asking plus action. A person must not just ask but be active in endeavoring to obtain fulfillment of his needs. Example: One should not just ask for a deep knowledge of the Bible, but should diligently Know the Word in his head, Stow it in his heart by memorization and meditation, show it in life by obeying its teaching, and sow it in his world by witnessing. Another Example: Not just ask for knowledge but attend services (Heb. 10:25) where he hears the Word preached or taught.
- Knocking is asking plus acting plus persevering. Revisit Luke 18:1,7; Ephesians 5:20; 6:18; Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17. Example: In case of my father-in-law, I first asked God to save him, but he did not. I did not stop. I kept visiting, writing him, calling him, inviting him to hear me preach when I came to Knoxville, etc. I never gave up but finally invited him to live with him in his latter days. This went on for 33 years when he asked me to show him how to get to heaven. I did and he received Christ in April before he died December 26th, with me holding his hand and quoting Scriptures.
Illus: riding from Greensboro, NC to Winston, I saw an “Open Bible Service Station,” stopped and went in to meet a very happy lady. I accosted her with words, “You seem mighty happy today.” “Yes,” she replied, and then pointed out the window to her husband, saying, “That’s my husband. I prayed for him to be saved 43 years ago and he just got saved last evening.
Jesus goes on to say in verses following that our Heaven Father would not:
- Deceive his child by giving him a stone which resembles bread, nor
- give him a serpent (a snake) or an eel which was not eaten by Jews at all) for a fish. (mock him.)
Verse 11 – Jesus argues from the lesser to the great: If sinful father would give good gifts to children, the Heavenly Father will give much more to those who keep on asking, seeking, and knocking.
Verse 12 – The Golden Rule. This rule appears in other religion but in negative form, such as “I will do no harm t o my neighbor) (Rabi Hillel,) but Jesus would say, “I will do my best to help my neighbor.” According t o Prof. Wm Barkley, “Jesus is the only Person in history to state such a rule”
Caution: However, the above teaching does not mean God will always give whatever we may ask. He will give good things to those who ask Him (Matt. 7:13) and the “Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13) the greatest gift of all, for through the Holy Spirit all the blessings of Jesus are mediated to the believer.
In addition to Matt. 7:7-12:
- Psalm 66:18 says we must not have unconfessed sin in our lives if we expect our prayers to be answered.