Become a Prayer - Ask, Seek, Knock
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7
One of the things I love about the phrasing of this verse is how there is zero space between the instruction and the promise. The promise immediately follows, and is repeated three times. Ask-receive, seek-find, knock-open. I don’t think the implication is we will always immediately get what we want, but rather that Jesus wanted us to know and be sure of the promise. He could have phrased it differently, He could have said “Spend your life asking, seeking and knocking, and eventually maybe at the end you will receive a little something”. Jesus did not want to just tell us what to do, He wants to tell us who God is.
What Prayer is Not
I have in the past viewed this verse as a framework for prayer. It’s also found in Luke 11, when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. They must have observed His expertise in this area - His value for and practice of prayer, Or perhaps they were being good rabbinical students, where it was common for a teacher to give his disciples a type of manifesto prayer. Our brains are wired to look for patterns, for formulas, solutions that can save us energy. And so to with prayer, we often come looking for solutions and answers. But God is focused on connection, and will always value relationship above form.
Jesus does give His disciples a bit of a formulaic prayer to satisfy their request - the Lord’s prayer. And then He illustrates a story about a persistent neighbour who wakes up His friend so that His need can be met. Finally He repeats this instruction-promise from Matthew 7, to ask seek and knock. I have heard these Scriptures my whole life, and came to see it as an encouragement to be persistent in prayer, but I think there’s more to it. A really great Bible study tool is to ask why is it said this way? Why not another way? What isn’t being said is sometimes just as important as what is.
You see, Jesus did not say ask, ask, ask, and just keep asking. This is how most of us operate. We ask, maybe silently or out loud, or in a journal. We say our prayers and leave the rest in God’s hands. But Jesus did not say ask, ask, ask. He repeats 3 times to emphasize, but ups the ante each time. It is a progression that creates an image of a holistic lifestyle of prayer that encourages us to actually embody the prayers we are praying. This is a completely different way of living!
The Embodied Prayer
Ask: αἰτήσω
To desire for oneself. Pretty straightforward. But have you ever found yourself with a prayer request that’s been on your list for years, and you become numb to the desire that you have? Sometimes with desires that we carry for long periods, it is exhausting to continue praying for it because of the emotion attached to it. It’s must easier to pray as if we’re checking off a list rather than engaging our heart. Jesus is encouraging us to engage our emotions as we pray, which requires energy, time, and vulnerability.
Seek: εὑρίσκω
To seek in order to find, universally and absolutely. There are slightly different versions of this Greek word that could have been used that would have different meanings. Seek by thinking and reasoning, seek by desire, and seek by demanding something. Jesus did not use those versions. He was saying something specific here - seek knowing that you will find, without a doubt, taking action because you are confident you will find what you are seeking. He is not leading you to a pointless task or a fruitless goal. This is not a wishing exercise, it is actually quite logical and grounded. Seek in order to find, and don’t stop until you do.
Knock: κόπτειν
To knock with a heavy blow. This is aggressive, active, and risky. You don’t knock on your own door, you knock on someone else’s. If I lose something in my house and I have been seeking all over to find that thing but can’t, I might go to my neighbours house and knock on their door to ask if they have seen it. That is a desperate act, and risky because I might seem foolish, they might not have it, or they might be upset. I’m moving into territory that is not my own in order to find what I’m looking for. But I’m not just barging in, I’m letting the one with authority choose to open the door. A knock is an interruption. Is the thing you are asking for important enough to interrupt God? Can you actually interupt a God who is omniscient and omnipresent?
Is It Worth it?
Even as we look at this “formula” for prayer, we must remember that it is about connection. In each of these “steps” of asking, seeking and knocking, we are intentionally engaged in connection with the Holy Spirit. It is impossible to pray this way if you don’t know Him. If you don’t think He is good, that He is for you, that He loves you completely, you wouldn’t dare ask, let alone seek or knock. If you believe there is any chance He is waiting to punish you or that He only wants you to have the bare minimum of what’s available, you would never knock.
There are so many things I’ve prayed for that are just not worth the trouble of all of this work. And yet, God has answered some of them. What a mystery! I do think what this framework does it shows us what things we truly desire. If I’m not willing to go to this length in prayer for something, I probably don’t desire it. The greatest clue is in Luke 11:13, when Jesus says at the closing of this section, that if even us imperfect humans know how to give a good gift to a child, how much more does our Father in heaven want to give the Holy Spirit to us, His kids. An outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the greatest gift you can ask for, and infinitely worthy of continued asking, seeking, and knocking. Are you engaging your deep desire for more of God? Are you looking for the work of the Holy Spirit everywhere you go? Are you moving into new territory and taking risks in places you normally wouldn’t go?
