Just A.S.K.

"How to ask, seek and knock."

Matthew 7:7-8

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

Just ASK! We forget to ask because (1) We are busy with so many things like trying to look for answers outside the Will of God, (2) We don't want to bother God because maybe, just maybe, He'd be angry at us for waking Him up early in the morning just to ask for help, and (3) We have forgotten that our God makes everything possible, even if it's humanly impossible.

We box God into our own context, or experience, or even meaning, that our relationship with God as Father has become distorted. For example, we ask God for something and not get it -- we get angry with God and think of Him as a Father who really doesn't care. Do you sometimes receive a "No" answer from God to your prayers? Well, surely, there is nothing wrong with God, maybe there is something wrong with the request you have (read James 4:2-3). God wants to hear from you, He wants to bless you "but" since He is our Father, "He knows what's best for us." Who are we to say that we know what's best when the One who created us in our mothers' womb knows the purpose of our very existence.

Another type of boxing God in this A.S.K. context is this: we seek, but we seek the wrong things. We seek for ways to answer our problems not letting God interfere. We let God interfere when all our resources are gone. Wouldn't it best if right after a "need" we go immediately to our Father? But we tend to forget this, that the Creator has everything that we need. We just need to seek Him first. (read Matthew 6:33)

Seek (in greek means) "to seek [in order to find out] by thinking, meditating, reasoning, to enquire into"

Isaiah 1:18-19, God says ...¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land;

Do you seek God earnestly? Do you really want Him? God invites you to reason with Him, talk to Him like human, tell Him what you feel.

Learn to knock. Whenever I go home, I always knock when I don't have the keys to the house. If I need to pee, I knock rapidly because I need to call the attention of the people inside the house. Isn't prayer the same thing? The only box that we have here is that, we only pray when we need to ask God a favor which so many times turns out to be a very big favor. We need to knock on God's not only when you need it but every day, hour, minute. He is a Father, not an earthly Father but your Father most High! He is concerned about you and what you're going through. He wants to know what you are feeling, and He wants you to wait on Him. Even if you're waiting for so long, wait for him.

I just want to end the devotional with this story: After a couple of months in my first job in an advertising firm, I was put in a team that advertised liquor. The liquor was called this "devils" name, and I was having a hard time really advertising that brand. It was the hardest time because God led me to resign. I turned to human answers and it didn't supply any good solutions, so I what did I do? Ask, seek, and knock. I resigned after a struggle with God but right after that He showed me why it was it was the right response for me to do. I earned more after than that first job.

So are you really A.S.K.ing? Learn and ask God how to ask, seek and knock.

God bless!