Luke 11 - Ask, Seek, Knock - God Answers All Prayers

Jesus says in verses 9-10, 9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” These are very powerful verses to me, you will also find them in Matthew 7:7-8; in fact, I have a plaque with the first verse on it in my living room, to serve as a reminder of God’s goodness. So lets examine them.

First, “Ask and it will be given to you”, notice Jesus didn’t say, “ask and God will think about it” or “ask and ‘we’ll see’”, but “ask and it WILL be given”, “for EVERYONE who asks receives”. Thank the Lord! Not just some people or those who are worthy, but EVERYONE who asks receives.

Next, “seek and you will find”, NOT “seek and you might find” or “seek and maybe you’ll find it”, no Jesus said, “he who seeks FINDS”. Praise the Lord! If you seek, you will find. Period.

Finally, “knock and the door will be opened to you”, NOT “knock and someone might answer” or “knock and if the door doesn’t open, give up”. Jesus said, “to him who knocks, the door WILL BE OPENED.” Bless the Lord! The door will be opened to THOSE WHO KNOCK. No knock, you may not have the door opened, BUT if you knock IT WILL BE OPENED to you. Awesome!

These verses can be interpreted in many ways, but I will address two of the main ways that I PERSONALLY look at them, salvation and prayer.

Addressing salvation: ask and receive, seek and find, knock and the door will be opened. ANYONE who asks for salvation from Jesus receives it, ANYONE who seeks Jesus will find Him, EVERYONE who knocks on the door will be received, it will be opened to them. What an awesome God we serve! It doesn’t matter where you came from, who your parents are, how much or little money you have, what race, social class, or education you have, whether you’re worthy or not; ANY and EVERYONE who seeks salvation from Jesus Christ will get it! As Pastor Rusty would say, “that’s shouting ground”. Thank you God for Your mercy, graciousness, and love.

Now, concerning prayer, I believe the same principles apply. If you ask you will receive. God answers ALL prayers. Others will say that “sometimes the answer is ‘no’,” but I don’t believe that for a minute. God answers ALL prayers and He answers them in OUR BEST INTEREST. That is, with our spiritual well-being in mind. To that, in addition to ASKING, we have to SEEK as well. This requires an effort on our part. We don’t just pray and leave it at that, we have to SEEK God’s guidance and will in the matter, we have to give an effort, not just wait. This may require us to do some work, such as KNOCK on the door of opportunity, if it is in God’s will. Therefore, the whole picture is, we ASK in prayer, SEEK God’s will and direction, and KNOCK (do the work) to allow God’s will to enter and work through us.

You might say, “Well, Rick, I asked for a million dollars, I sought a way to get it, and I knocked on the door by buying a lottery ticket and I still didn’t get squat”. Well let’s look at that.

Remember, I said God answers ALL prayers in YOUR best interest. Why did you want the money? To pay off some bills, to buy some things you like, to not to have to worry about anything, maybe even to give to the church and missionaries? The main thing you were SEEKING with the million dollars was to have the security of all of your problems being solved, but you ALREADY have that, and SO MUCH MORE, with God; therefore, your prayer was already answered!

You see, it could be, with the money, you would rely on IT, be comforted and secured by IT, use IT to solve your problems, essentially the money would become your god. You would put your faith in it, not in the one true God and that would be detrimental to your eternal soul. So God did answer your prayer, in your best interest, and offered HIMSELF to provide for you, better than the money could. God is already there to help provide for you, to comfort you, to help carry your burden, and provide for His children AND (unlike the money) He saves your soul.

You asked and received, you sought and found, you knocked and God opened the door. PERIOD. Besides, the money would eventually run out but, praise the Lord, God never does. He is the same yesterday, as He is today, as He will be tomorrow and He loves us enough to send His son to die for our sins, to pay the price of our transgressions, so we may be forgiven and live with Him for ever and ever. No amount of cash can buy you something of that magnitude. Amen?