Ask, Seek, Knock

[Lamb]

Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13 both say about the same thing that if we Ask, Seek, Knock that the Lord will provide.

How do those verses correlate to God saying No when we ask for things?

 

[Frankj]

The way to pray effectively, ask for something, knowing that God has answered out prayer look around for where it is, then put it into action to make it real in the world and your life.

Consider how this was demonstrated for us when Jesus fed a very large crowd with only a small amount of food visible after he prayed.

 

[VeritatisVerba]

Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13 both say about the same thing that if we Ask, Seek, Knock that the Lord will provide.

How do those verses correlate to God saying No when we ask for things?

Those verses were spoken to Israel during Christ’s earthly ministry, under the kingdom program. At that time, God had promised to provide for their needs in visible and immediate ways, as long as they were faithfully seeking His kingdom. That’s not the program we’re under today. We’re in the dispensation of grace, where God is building the Body of Christ, not offering the earthly kingdom to Israel. He still invites us to pray, and He still cares, but His answers are given according to His purpose in Christ, not according to Israel’s covenant promises. So when God says no today, it’s not a failure of those verses. It’s just that those verses weren’t written to us.

God did promise Israel to give what was asked, to those walking faithfully within the kingdom program. The expectation was: Ask in faith, receive in kind. That included provision, power, healing, and deliverance, often visible and immediate. But now, God is not dealing with us according to a national covenant with guaranteed outcomes for provision, protection, or immediate answers to prayer. God still invites us to pray about everything (Philippians 4:6). He hears us, and He cares (Romans 8:26–27; I Thessalonians 5:17), but He answers according to His wisdom, will, and purpose in Christ, not according to covenant promises for earthly provision. Our blessings are spiritual and heavenly, not earthly and physical (Ephesians 1:3).

Paul himself asked three times for his “thorn in the flesh” to be removed (II Corinthians 12:7–9). God said no, not because Paul lacked faith, but because grace was sufficient, and strength would be made perfect in weakness. That is the model for prayer in this dispensation, not guaranteed physical blessings, but an invitation to participate in a relationship of trust, where God's answer is always for our spiritual good, irrespective of our earthly, fleshly, physical condition.

 

[BruceLeiter]

Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13 both say about the same thing that if we Ask, Seek, Knock that the Lord will provide.

How do those verses correlate to God saying No when we ask for things?

@Lamb, first, as usual, the context helps us out, at least a little bit:

Mat 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Mat 7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
Mat 7:9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
Mat 7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
Mat 7:11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Second, our Father will give "good things to those who ask him." Sometimes, we ask for "bad" things from God's viewpoint. I'm convinced that God gives four responses to our prayers, but he always answers them:

1. Yes
2. No
3. Not yet
4. Not the way you expected.

Third, our lives must run on God's time schedule, not the other way around. Sometimes, we think that we're like a dog that wags its owner.

Fourth, Luke's version helps us out even more (Luk 11:13), "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” We must make sure that what we are at the center of God's will when we pray according to his will in the Bible. He certainly wants believers to have the Holy Spirit, for example.