Ask, Seek and Knock

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

     Many people, including myself, live just over their budget.  It seems as if I always need another 20 percent in order to break even, but I still am able to live comfortably, for now, with what we have. I always joked about praying for a Cadillac Escalade and God gve me a Kia instead.  Then, one day, I got a used Pathfinder and discovered that it was better than the Escalade.  God does work in mysterious ways sometimes. 

     Many preachers today declare a health, wealth and prosperity gospel claiming that God will give you the best things in life.  The above passage opens up a whole new resource for people who are believers but it is not a fountain of wealth as some may think.  The Psalmist declares that God will give us the desires of our heart. Psalm 3 7:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”  So, we may t hink that God is going to give me whatever I ask for.  What we need to understand is that God gives us the desires of our hearts.”  The emphasis is on the desires.  That is what God is giving us.  It is not our desires any more but His desires and so our prayer life changes emphasis from our desires of health, wealth and prosperity to His desires, of a people longing to know God and to love Him and to worship Him with all of our heart, mind, strength and soul.  When our desires become lined up with God, then, we can of course receive the blessings of God which are far greater than a fancy car, home, education, country club membership,or anything other tangible item.  Our prayers become God centered instead of self centered.  You can easily spot a person who is God centered rather than self centered.  Such was the man, Harold stevens.  He came to church to speak on the weekend for a mission conference and drove up in a Mercedes.  He was allowed to use the Mercedes as long as he wanted but the owner would not give him the title for the car as he knew that Harold would sell the car and give the money to missions as he had done before.  Harold always put God first  and himself second.  Once we realize that our desires have changed, then our prayer life has many more completions in it than it did before  because we are then lined up with God’s desires which He has given to us.  Do you desire to see men and women, boys and girls, saved, to come to Christ that they might go to heaven?  Are you bothered by what hell is like?  As I have mentioned before, I am 84 years old and God has never failed me once.  Praise God for His giving us new desires.