"Prayer Power"
December 2006
Prayer Patterns – Ask, Seek, Knock
What do you need today? The Bible says we are to ask our Father in Heaven for everything we need.
“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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Mt 7:7,8)
My husband and I longed for our parents to believe the truth that Jesus is the only way to Heaven. If they would not believe, we would not be reunited with them in Heaven.
And so we spent years in prayer asking, seeking, knocking (a-s-k) for my in – laws’ salvation. It was 35 years before Dad Prater asked Jesus to forgive his sin. Don’s mother didn’t completely trust Jesus until 2 hours before she died, at 94.
We were asking, seeking, and knocking for my dad until he was 85 years old. He received Jesus as his Savior right before he died. That was 40 years of prayers! And my mother didn’t surrender to Christ until 2 years before she died, at 83.
That is a long time to pray! That’s a lot of asking, seeking, and knocking. What if we had given up? But we didn’t. We believed God’s Word. We kept knocking in prayer until Jesus changed our parents’ doubts to faith. He even allowed me the privilege – though we lived hundreds of miles apart – to be with each of them and lead them in prayer for salvation when they were ready.
Webster’s dictionary defines what ask, seek, and knock mean. When I read the dictionary definitions I saw something I had not seen before in God’s Word.
Ask means to request, to require, need, or desire. We request with our voice, our mouth.
Seek is to look for, search for. We look or search with our eyes.
Knock is to strike or hit, especially with a noise. We strike or knock with our hand. (My amplified Bible says we should knock “reverently”.)
So my voice requests; my eyes, both spiritual and physical, look for God’s answers; and my hand is knocking, by faith, on His door. All three senses are involved in prayer. I hadn’t understood that before. Faith believes God for answers. And He does answer, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
Jesus said, if we know how to give good gifts to our children, “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Mt 7:11)
What gift do you need today? Are you asking God for help? For healing? For salvation for a loved one? Perhaps you need money for food and rent. Ask. Focus your eyes on Jesus, seek His answer. He hears His children and opens His door wide when you knock.
Lord Jesus,
I ask, seek, and knock for my friends. Open blind eyes. Give them the gift of faith to see You as the only Door to Heaven. Help my friends trust Your Word and Your character and find eternal life in You. Then use them in their world to ask, seek, and knock in prayer for others who are still in darkness. Thank you, Father. Amen.
# # #
Petey Prater is a Beaverton, OR writer and speaker who can be reached at donprater@juno.com. She writes poetry, articles, and devotionals and contributed to two books available in Bible book stores or on Amazon:
Prayers for Troubled Times compiled by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers and
101 Stories of Answered Prayer by Jeannie St John Taylor, AMG Publishers