Ask, Seek, and Find

Matthew 7:7-11

 

Ask

Action

Praying

Trusting God

Seek

Action

Moving about

Knowing where to go.

Knock

Action

At final location

Knowing which door to knock on.

 

James 5:16-18 - Elijah praying earnestly 7 times.  See I Kings 18:41.  Elijah is a man subject to like passions as we, therefore he is just like we are.  What he did by the grace of God, we can also do by the grace of God.

1.   Before Elijah prayed, he told Ahab the rain was coming.

2.   What would have happened if Elijah had failed to pray seven times, but had quit on the sixth prayer?  What happens to us when we fail to continue praying for the victories God can give?  [1]

 

Requirement # 1:  Believing.

Matt. 21:22 - And all things whatsoever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.  In verse 21, Jesus told the disciples that if they believed, and doubted not, they would be able to move mountains.  If we say the mountain isn’t a mountain, but something figurative (not real), then we are doubting God.  I truly believe God can move the mountains of obstacles in our life.  [2]

Requirement # 2:  Asking in the Name of Jesus.  That is, asking in the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

1.   John 14:13,14 - And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the son.  If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.

2.   John 15:16 - Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.

3.   John 16:23,24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.  Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.  [3] [4]

Requirement # 3:  Abide in Christ.

John 15:7 - If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.  [5]  [6]

Requirement # 4:  Ask together.

1.   Matt. 18:19 - Again I say unto you, that if any two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

2.   James 4:2 - Ye have not because ye ask not.

3.   I John 3:22 - Whatsoever we ask we receive of Him.

Requirement # 5:  Ask according to His will.

I John 5:14,15 - “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:15   And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

I John 3:22-23 – “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. 23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”

Matthew 21:22 – “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Psalm 37:4 – “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  Read all the verse so you will understand that if you do not delight yourself in the Lord, he will not give you the desires of your heart.  But if you delight yourself in the Lord, your desires will change and will become the desires of the Lord, therefore, your desires, and the desires of the Lord are the same, fitting perfectly into the will of the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

There are some falsities we ought to consider:

God is waiting on me to do good or to do a certain thing before he will answer my prayers.  Truth – If you need to do something – do it!  But don’t depend on your works to get God to answer your prayers.

Truth – God, many times, will not do anything until we ask him.

Truth – We miss many blessings because we don’t ask God to give us blessings.  [7]

Tell the story of the crab apple tree.

God has many good apples – we don’t need to steal crab apples.



[1] Preached to here 09-01-2002 KWRE Radio Broadcast

[2] Preached to here 09-08-2002 KWRE Radio Broadcast

[3] Preached to here 09-15-2002 KWRE Radio Broadcast

[4] The material for this broadcast is found at ..\BOOKS\PRINTED\NAME\NAME3.DOC

[5] Preached to here 09-22-2002 KWRE Radio Broadcast

[6] The material for this broadcast is found at ..\BOOKS\PRINTED\NAME\NAME3.DOC

[7] preached to here 09/29/2002 KWRE Radio Broadcast