These memories came flooding back into my mind as I read Matthew 7:7 this morning:" Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
We find three different tasks in this one sentence: asking, seeking, and knocking. Think about each one for a bit.
Ask- those beagles couldn't speak and ask to go run a rabbit but that's what they were created to do. Every time we would go to the dog pen, they would be at the gate with their paws up "asking" to get out and find a rabbit. We are the same. We should pray and ask God for things. But have you really thought about what you're asking for? If you ask God for more patience, you may find yourself in some pretty frustrating situations which will DEVELOP your patience because God doesn't just dole out patience from His "patient bucket". Or have you thought about what you're going to do when God gives you what you've asked for? Several years ago, I prayed the prayer of Jabez for one month straight...for God to increase my boundaries because I didn't want to just "do enough", I wanted to serve Him "more than enough". Well, it didn't come right away but He definitely increased my boundaries so much so that I found myself telling Him, "Okay God, I'm good..You've given me more than enough". We'd best be careful what we ASK for because we just might get it!
Seek - those beagles I spoke of earlier were seekers. Once they got a whiff of a scent of a rabbit, with their nose to the ground, off they'd be seeking to find the rabbit. We are the same way. God puts a desire in our heart for Him and until we really seek Him, we aren't satisfied. We want a closeness with God but it takes effort on our part. We have to make time to READ HIS WORD because He lives in it. We have to make it a priority in our life because if we don't, we won't read it. How do I know this? Because I been there, done that, and even bought the t-shirt! And it takes persistence. Those beagles would run hour on end barking and barking and sometimes they would find the rabbit and sometimes they wouldn't. But you know what, God isn't like those rabbits. He CAN be found...matter of fact, He WANTS to be found! We have to be persistent instead of giving up after a few half-hearted efforts and conclude that God cannot be found. A real relationship with Him isn't found in a "drive-thru" window...we have to pull up, park, and go inside!
Knock- I will admit, I never went rabbit hunting so I wasn't there to seek how they "got" the rabbit; I only sat and listened to them run. But I remember seeing my pawpaw bring in a mess of rabbits for my granny to cook (side note-I never acquired the taste for rabbit or rabbit gravy). But the "door" was opened and the rabbits were found. Something that struck me this morning as I thought about the words "the door will be opened TO you". The door isn't opened FOR you, but TO you. You see, WE are the ones who have to walk up TO the door so it can be opened TO us; we have to be AT the door for it to be opened TO us. But we have to get out of our habits of "driving through the drive-thru window" expecting to get our gourmet meal (the good, meaty stuff from God that comes from spending time one on one with Him) when we only put forth the effort for a cheeseburger and fries (maybe just a worship service on Sunday morning or Wednesday night)! Again, a real relationship with Him isn't found in a "drive-thru" window...we have to pull up, park, go inside and sit down!
Now all this talk of food has me hungry so I'm off to fix some breakfast and munch on the "food" God has laid before me this morning!
Until next time........
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