“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 every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” – Luke 11:9-10

Jesus wants you to be confident in prayer. Therefore, when we pray, He teaches us that we can expect to receive an answer; we can expect to see some sort of fulfillment to come from taking your requests to the Lord.  These verses beckon us to look for something to happen as a result of praying.

He doesn’t tell us to “ask” without the expectation of receiving something.  No, He says if you do this, then this will happen; and so, it goes with the other instructions to “seek and knock.” 

Even if the answer doesn’t look the way you imagine it should, your prayers do not fall on deaf ears.  Be confident that God hears you.  God is attentive to you.  God does not leave you in a state of wanting.  David said, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want,” (Psalm 23:1).  There will be results.

I love to garden, and when I plant a seed in the ground, I expect to see growth come out of it.  It may take a while but eventually, I should start seeing a little sprout beginning to poke its head through the surface of the dirt.  As I watch it grow to full fruition, I also expect to be able to one day reap off of what I have sown.

Your prayers are like you planting a seed, and what is being said here is that when you do these things: ask, seek and knock, growth is going to come from it.  Expect it!

The word “shall” appears as a reassurance for us four times in just these two verses meaning, this is what will happen as a result of praying in this manner.  Let me remind you that Jesus is the one who is teaching this lesson and He is the one telling us to “Ask . . . Seek . . . Knock.”  He is the one who speaks of “receiving, finding and opening” as a result of praying. 

Whatever it is, keep looking to God for the answer.  The Bible teaches us to “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God,” (Philippians 4:6).  Make it known unto God and keep making it known with the anticipation of seeing something happen.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him,” (1 John 5:14-15).  Therefore, we can expect to see results.

• Modified excerpt taken from 4 Keys to Powerful Prayer

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