Ask, seek, knock
“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.”Luke 11:9
Reflection
Jesus gave this instruction right after teaching the disciples to pray and telling the parable of the insistent friend who knocks at the door at midnight. And notice that He uses three verbs, in increasing intensity: ask, seek, knock. To ask is the simplest — to present the request. To seek already involves movement, effort, active searching. To knock is even more insistent — it involves persistence, continuing to knock until the door opens. Jesus is describing a prayer that is neither passive nor discouraged, but active, persistent, that does not give up at the first silence.
In the original language, these verbs are in a form that indicates continuous action: "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking". It is not to ask once and give up; it is a persistence that remains. This does not mean we need to "convince" a reluctant God — He is not the ill-tempered friend of the parable, but a good Father. The insistence does not change God’s heart; it shapes OUR heart, deepens our desire, matures our faith, and keeps us connected to Him while the answer does not come. God uses the waiting and the persistence to prepare us to receive what we ask.
Each verb has its corresponding promise, and all are positive: "it shall be given you", "ye shall find", "it shall be opened unto you". Jesus guarantees that persistent prayer is not a cry into the void — it receives an answer. But it is important to read this in light of the rest of Jesus’ teaching: He answers as a good Father, which means sometimes the answer is "yes", sometimes it is "wait", and sometimes it is "I have something better". Right after, Jesus compares it with an earthly father who would not give a stone to the child who asks for bread, nor a serpent to the one who asks for a fish (v. 11-13). God does not give bad things in disguise; He gives good, and best of all, He gives His Spirit.
What this verse fights against is the temptation to give up praying. How many prayers do we abandon because the answer did not come the first, the second, the tenth time? Jesus calls us to continue — asking, seeking, knocking. The door that seems closed may be about to open; the answer that seems not to come may be on the way. And there is a difference between a door that does not open because God said "no" and one that does not open because we stopped knocking too early. If you have a prayer you abandoned out of weariness, return to it today. Ask again, seek again, knock again. The Father who hears does not tire of our persistent knocking — He honors it. Keep knocking. The right door will open at the right time.
Prayer
Lord, forgive the prayers I abandoned out of weariness, thinking the door was closed when I merely stopped knocking too early. Teach me the persistence of one who asks, seeks and knocks without giving up — not to convince You, but because the waiting matures my heart. I return to knock at the doors I had left. You are a good Father, and I trust Your answer. Amen.
Put it into practice
Take up today a prayer you abandoned out of weariness. "Knock again": pray for it with renewed persistence, deciding not to give up. And trust that the good Father answers at the right time, whether with "yes", "wait" or "I have something better".
To reflect on
What door did you stop "knocking" at too early, concluding it was closed — and what would happen if you returned to ask, seek and knock with persistence?
Bible text: King James Version (public domain).