Pursue

[Kokavkrystallos]

Matthew 7:7,
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:"

Of course some of us might know this is also an acrostic:

Ask
Seek
Knock

Spells "ASK"

And we begin by asking, but don't stop there. We seek. Then we knock. It's a progressive pursuing or pressing in; and I don't mean "progressive" like the politics or liberal churches! It's a progressive, as in continual asking, seeking, knocking.

Matthew 7:8 explains: "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."

John 14:13-15,
"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
If ye love me, keep my commandments."

I include that last verse because it goes right along with asking in prayer. Jesus inserts that into his discourse here : "If ye love me , keep my commandments."

John also writes in his first epistle, "
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." (1 John 5:2-3) And then shortly after that, "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (5:14-15)

Again, prayer is tied in closely with keeping the commandments, which we do by faith, and not of works.

Jeremiah 29:13 says, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

Isaiah 55:6-7,
"Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

Note here again, seeking the LORD in prayer, and calling upon Him is directly associated with repentance, for immediately after saying these things about seeking and calling, the Scripture calls upon the wicked to repent; to forsake their their way, and for the unrighteous to even forsake his thoughts. That's repentance and a call then to keep the commandments as Jesus said in John 14 right after speaking of prayer.

Psalm 66:18 does say "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:"

And finally, knocking is a continual persistence, a pursuing of God and the things of God. This means entering into deep prayer, not some couple of minutes here and there. Pray without ceasing, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. If we follow these instructions, yea, commandments rather, then we will see things happen in our lives and we will experience the true walk of a believer, and the power of the Spirit moving. On top of all that will be a joy and a love of the LORD that only He can give you.

Pursue: Pursue Him. Ask, Seek, Knock. Amen