ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, BELIEVE !

ASK, SEEK, KNOCK, BELIEVE: If we want happiness for our children, how much more does God want the same for us who are his children. If we want good health for our children, how much more does God want good health for us. If we want material blessings for our children, how much more does God want the same for us. Luke's account of this story gives us a few more details. (Luke 11:5-13). "And he said unto them, which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is, to me, and I have nothing to set before him ? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And i say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone ? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent ? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion ? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give them Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? THE PRAYER OF IMPORTUNITY: in this account, which is with the prayer of importunity, many people have had the mistaken idea that Jesus was teaching us to keep on asking in order to get results. In this parable we see a man who had a guest arriving during the night. He didn't have any bread to set before him, so he went to his neighbors house and ask for a loaf of bread. The neighbor responded, "I'm already in bed; don't bother me." But when the man Pleading with him, he finally granted his request. Jesus was illustrating here that although the neighbor would not get out of bed to give the man bread just because he was a friend, he gave it to him because of his importunity. Jesus was saying how much more our heavenly Father will hear us and grant our request. It is the importunity of faith, and the Word of God or the promises of God is the boldness of faith, it is not the importunity of unbelief that gets results. We can keep on begging God -- importunity all we want -- and we never will get an answer if our importuning prayer is in unbelief. In other words your prayers are not based upon the Word of God. It is the importunity of faith that works: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." Andrew Murray had real insight into the subject of importunity in prayer. He said it is not good taste to ask the Lord for the same thing over and over again. And I agree, because if you believe that he heard you the first time then you would keep asking over and over again that is a good indication of unbelief. He said if the things which you have prayed about Hassan materialize, don't ask again the same way you did in the beginning. That would be a confession that you didn't believe God the first time. Just remind God of your request. Remind Him of what He promised. Remind Him you are expecting the answer, in truth, you already have the answer if you have the Word of promise, and let this importunity be an importunity of faith. It will bring results. Luke's account of this story is more detailed than Matthew, and in verse 13, Luke added something. Matthew recorded, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give GOOD THINGS to them that ask him ? Look in enlarges on this by saying, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly father give THE HOLY SPIRIT to them that ask him ? Although Matthew doesn't specifically name the Holy Spirit in this verse, we know that the Holy Spirit is a "good thing." I am sure the Holy Spirit had a purpose for inspiring Luke and Matthew to recall things as they did. The Holy Spirit, As He inspired Matthew, wanted to stress the good things of life. He wanted us to know that God loves us just as we love our children and want them to have good things. The Holy Spirit inspired Luke to emphasize the spiritual things God has for us by asking, seeking, and knocking in faith, we can enjoy the abundant blessings God has for his children.