“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

It is in the nature of the sinful nature to give up easily. Its motto is, “If at first you don’t succeed, don’t ever try again.” Our verses for today, however, teach the opposite lesson. When it comes to asking God for the things that we need, we should be persistent. Indeed, Luke’s version of Jesus’ teaching is preceded by the story of the persistent friend—the friend who was shameless in his asking (Luke 11:5-8).

Thus, Jesus says, if we ask, it will be given to us. Perhaps this seems to be an obvious directive for those who are disciples of Jesus Christ. Yet, how often does it happen that we get caught up in our difficulties and forget to turn to God and ask? Instead of bringing God into the situation, we muddle through, looking to find whatever we need on our own. In such circumstances, however, Jesus doesn’t just recommend that we ask. He commands it.

Asking, however, is not quite sufficient from Jesus’ point of view. He wants us to take our asking up a notch. If we seek out what we need from God, we will find it. It’s all too easy to throw up a quick prayer to heaven and then get lost once again in the situation. Jesus is saying that something more persistent is required. We should continue to seek from God what we need until we find it.

Finally, Jesus commands that we should knock on the door. When all our asking and seeking takes us to the very doorstep of heaven, we should not just stand there and wait. We should knock on the door. If we do, the door will be opened to us. Having shown God the sincerity of our intentions by asking, seeking, and knocking, He will open the door and provide us with what we need from His storehouse within.

Jesus wants us to bear fruit. Our prayers are meant to help us bear fruit (John 15:16). All of our persistent asking, seeking, and knocking shows God that we are serious and sincere about it.