Ask, Persist, Believe, and Receive - Matthew 7:7-11

Just Ask… and Believe, then Recieve.

Father,
As we learn from this passage today, help our faith to be expanded and to understand what Jesus was talking about here. Help us to keep at it when we face “No’s” from life, whether literal or figurative in our given situations. Give us the strength we need to keep on keeping on, and to keep asking, seeking, and knocking as situations present themselves. Thank you that you have never failed to give us what we need for each day. Thank you that we have come to today alive, breathing, and able to do life. Thank you for today. Help us to make the most of it as we listen to you every step of the way.
Amen.

Matthew 7:7-11 (TPT)
Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. For every persistent one will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he longs for. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door.
“Do you know of any parent who would give his hungry child, who asked for food, a plate of rocks instead? Or when asked for a piece of fish, what parent would offer his child a snake instead? If you, imperfect as you are, know how to lovingly take care of your children and give them what’s best, how much more ready is your heavenly Father to give wonderful gifts to those who ask him?”

Keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. Be persistent, knock heaven’s door down and keep at it until you receive that which you ask for. The reception may not look like what you thought it would, but you will receive it from Our Father. He delights in giving us good gifts, and he planted those good desires in us in order to fulfill them in the fullness of time. Ok, so I went a bit off track with the passage there, but there are many other passages that flow in the same way, throughout the Bible. We are His children, and He loves us. Sometimes it is hard to see it in the moment, when it feels like every moment is a fight to survive, but the fact that you are still here, breathing enough to complain and feel that disconnect from how you percieve it should be, speaks to the fact that He has given you what you needed in every moment to get you this far.
My wife and I sometimes struggle, in fact now is one of those times, as I am sure that it is for many of you who watch this video. Times feel hard right now. Money is tight, and increasingly shown to be worthless, yet those of us who are children of God can have peace and hope. Why? Because our Father always works it out for us, and we always have what we need in the moment when we need it. Does it always look the way we want it to? No. Is it always easy or smooth sailing? Hell no. But we can rest in Him, knowing that He has us in His hands, and that nothing can take us from that place. So how does persistence work? How do we position ourselves to receive and to learn whatever it is that we need in each moment? Persistence, like the woman with the unjust judge, or Bartimeus on the road to Jericho, keeps at it until we get what we need, whether justice, healing, provision, guidance, or anything else in life. Faith allows us to persist when human reason would tell us to sit in shamed silence, defeated. Faith allows us to be in position to learn and to receive what we need in each moment, as Jesus taught us to pray in the Disciples’ Prayer. Here is a link to when I covered that:
https://rumble.com/v187ynq-disciples-prayer-3-provision-and-forgiveness.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y
When we stay in the NOW, we always find that we have what we need. When we borrow trouble through worry or regret, we find ourselves drained and stressed out. Stay in the NOW. It may feel irresponsible, but the truth is, you will find clarity to do the things that you were stressing over, and you’ll be able to approach them more calmly as well.