By Pastor Jomo Cousins, PhD
Matthew 7:7-11 The Message (MSG)
7-11 Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
Matthew 7:7-11 is one of my go-to scriptures when I need answers or direction on a decision I have to make. In these verses, God is telling us to be persistent in our asking, seeking and knocking. I don’t know whether you have children or not, but I do know that my children are relentless in their asking until they see a result.
So many times in life we quit on ourselves, we defer our dreams and often lose our sense of purpose. God has a purpose and a plan for our lives, but we will have to press in to receive it.
James 4:2-3 speaks to us about not receiving because we are not asking with the right motives. God gave us free will, meaning we have a choice in the life we want to live. We too often settle for less than God had intended for us to have.
Here’s God’s will for you in Deuteronomy 28:13.
Deuteronomy 28:13 Amplified Bible (AMP)
The Lord will make you the head (leader) and not the tail (follower); and you will be above only, and you will not be beneath, if you listen and pay attention to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, to observe them carefully.
Here’s an acronym to help you remember Matthew 7:7-9.
Ask
Seek
Knock
And understand God wants us to ask.
Ephesians 3:20 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us,
Except from: Prayer Life: The Conversation Page 163
