Remember when you were a kid and you heard the ice cream truck coming around the corner of your neighborhood blasting that high-pitched melody that would be in your head for the rest of the day? You’d run to your mom asking for a couple of dollars to get a sweet cold treat on a summer afternoon after playing outside for hours with your friends. When you got to the truck's window, you looked to the right to see all the different flavors at your disposal. You knew exactly what you wanted and asked politely for one scoop of chocolate ice cream on a waffle cone.
When you asked for your ice cream cone, you had absolute confidence in the ice cream truck. You trusted that you would receive what you asked for, right?
If we can have faith and grace as a child when asking for our favorite ice cream, why is it hard for us to ask God for what we want?
Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” NIV
Sure, maybe comparing God to an ice cream truck is a stretch, but I think the premise is the same. Asking, whoever it may be, is an act of faith in itself. When you ordered ice cream as a child, you trusted that the ice cream truck would give you what it promised. The same goes for God. Asking involves trust in God that He is going to provide and deliver what you ask for, what He promised. The first step is believing that He will provide for you. The act of asking God is not about the end product, but rather a humbling experience with your Creator, knowing that it is Him who provides and not this world. It’s a step towards growing in relationship and trust with God, something He yearns from us, an act rewarded in His eyes.
God wants to be in relationship with us and just like a relationship with any friend, it requires spending time with Him. Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t get it, wondering if you are doing this whole praying thing right? Yes, you probably are, but are we asking, seeking, and knocking on the doors that align with what God wants for us as his sons and daughters?
Notice the three verbs in the scripture: ask, seek, and knock. Each of these three actions increases with time, intimacy, and courage; Seeking requiring more than asking, knocking requiring more than seeking.
God values persistent prayer and the more time you spend with Him, praying, worshiping, and reading His word, the more you will start to ask, seek, and knock on doors that God has aligned with your purpose.
If you keep reading Matthew 7, you will see that God is a giving God (Matthew 7:11) and He wants you to continue asking, seeking, and knocking on His doors.
Written by Theresa Ann Dickerson for Alpha Flourish Stores Blog
Photo Credits: Photo by Jannis Lucas on Unsplash