Ask, Seek, Knock

Matthew 7: 7-8 (Amplified)
7) Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you.

8) For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.

How many times have you wondered about these scriptures? What have you decided about their significance in your life? Have you decided that they have some mysterious meaning that you are not privy to? Or, you have tried asking, seeking, and knocking and it just did not work for you? Maybe you heard that it doesn't work, so why try? Did you try it once or twice and got no results, or not the results you wanted? Could it be what we've been taught by our teachers and Christian leaders? Maybe it's the religion we belong to? Dogma? Doctrine?

Maybe it is not what you think at all. Maybe it is as simple as....????   I will visit this topic in my next note!! Until then, please meditate on these verses and see what God reveals to you!!!

Proverbs 4:20-23    New International Reader's Version (NIRV)

My son, pay attention to what I say. Listen closely to my words.

²¹ Don't let them out of your sight. Keep them in your heart. 

²² They are life to those who find them. They are health to your whole body.
²³ Above everything else, guard your heart.  It is where your life comes from.

Scientists, from Micro-cellular Biologists to Physicists to Quantum Physicists, have determined through an almost endless array of experiments and tests that our thoughts, human thoughts, have a definite effect on our lives, physically, mentally, and spiritually. One physician estimated that a single thought causes a minimum of 1000 chemical reactions in the body. Just think one thought! Imagine how many thoughts a persons has in a day, multiplied by a thousand times and you can see the impact thoughts have on the human condition. Enhance those thoughts by emotion or trauma and one can see the impact of the mind on the human experience.

These chemical reactions are transmitted to every cell in the body almost instantly, via neuropeptides. (the body's information messengers - research for yourself). So, when one thinks a happy thought, 50 trillion cells instantly become happy and the body prospers. On the flip side, every negative, painful, fearful, and etc., thought entertained, causes the entire body to become receptive to conditions opposite to prosperity in health, both mental and physical!!

Many studies have shown that "stress", caused by thoughts in response to human experiences, is the major cause of many sicknesses and diseases. Dr. Bruce Lipton, in his book, The Biology of Belief, stated this:  “belief controls biology”. He goes on to prove through medical studies and research that the effect of placebos was equally successful at relieving or correcting illness, when paired with medically approved drugs that were supposed to do the same things, sometimes without side effects.

Without going into details about case studies, I wanted to provide an example of how this worked even with surgery. Dr. Bruce Moseley of the Baylor College of Medicine, reported, in 2002, the results of an experiment he had undertaken in previous years on patients who underwent surgery for osteoarthritis. He performed three different types of surgery. Each patient was told that they were getting surgery to repair the degenerative conditions. On one set of patients, he made the necessary incisions, scraped away the debris or excess fragments, rinsed with saline, and closed the incisions. The next set or group, he made the incisions and flushed the area with saline to clear away the fragments, rinsed with saline and closed the incisions. The last group (placebo group) he made the incisions, sprayed saline away from the incisions, and closed.

All three groups went through the same physical therapy, over the allotted time, and the placebo group’s success rate equaled the other groups, meaning each patient recovered with excellent results. Dr. Moseley’s comment was, “my skills as a surgeon had no effect on the outcome of these (placebo) patients”.  It was their own belief.

What does this have to do with ask, seek, and knock?  Read on!!

As I write, I am learning too… being reminded of the words I have spoken, the thoughts, the actions, and beliefs that have governed my life. Some I am ashamed of and want to forget, and some are truly from, God the Holy Spirit, that I trust and guard in my heart

Spiritually speaking, the Bible speaks about faith and believing God, unwavering and steadfast. Jesus talked about it, taught it, and demonstrated it throughout the Gospels. On several occasions Jesus said according to your faith will it be unto you; and have faith in God; your faith has made you whole, and be it unto you as you have believed. Now if the author and creator of everything made that statement (confirmed the law of confession), who is man to refute it?

So, if Jesus said (still saying because the truth doesn’t change) “Ask and it shall be given, Seek and you shall find, Knock and the door will be opened”, then it will be as he has stated, without exception. Therefore, when Solomon said/says in Proverb 4:23 "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life”. Out of your own heart (your belief system) your life experiences come to pass. Keep reading!!

Matthew 12:34-37 The Message Bible

 ^34-37"You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation." 

In these instances, Jesus was not talking about prayer, but only considering the words spoken in every day conversation. This means in business, public, and private where ideas and thoughts are expressed, including internally. Jesus also said, “and when you pray, say this, or believe this way”. In other words, your words have the power to change your life, in your inner and outer worlds. 

In the words of Mahatma Gandhi:

(I take the liberty of adding my thought to the beginning)

 “Your (original) thoughts become your beliefs”, THEN

Gandhi:

 Your beliefs become your thoughts

 Your thoughts become your words

 Your words (beliefs) become your actions

 Your actions become your habits

 Your habits become your values

 Your values become your destiny

From Workplace Warriors

The secret to effective prayer is faith in Jesus Christ and absolute trust in the Word He has spoken.   

Know in your heart that the prayer you are asking for will be answered -- know this even at the moment you ask. Believe with all your heart that God has already answered your petition even before you finish praying.
 

As Jesus' disciples stood looking and discussing in astonishment the results of one of His miracles, the Lord told them:

"Have faith in God. I tell you solemnly, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Get up and throw yourself into the sea', with no hesitation in his heart but believing that what he says will happen, it will be done for him."

"I tell you therefore: everything you ask and pray for, believe that you have it already, and it will be yours. And when you stand in prayer, forgive whatever you have against anybody, so that your Father in heaven may forgive your failings too." (Mark 11:20-25).

Remember what was asked in my note on Ask, Seek, Knock? Here are the questions

How many times have you wondered about these scriptures? What have you decided about their significance in your life? Have you decided that they have some mysterious meaning that you are not privy to? Or, you have tried asking, seeking, and knocking and it just did not work for you? Maybe you heard that it doesn't work, so why try? Did you try it once or twice and got no results, or not the results you wanted? Could it be what we've been taught by our teachers and Christian leaders? Maybe it's the religion we belong to? Dogma?

Just suppose, you don’t believe you will get what you’re asking for? Suppose what you believe “in your heart” something different than what you asking are for? Suppose you really don’t know that you believe the opposite of the results you want? How many times have you asked for something, even in prayer, and eventually said “I knew it wouldn’t happen” or “I didn’t think I would get”, or “I never get what I pray for”. Guess what! I don’t need to say it do I?

James 1: 5-8 (The Message Bible)

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

James 1: 5-8 (Amplified Bible)

5) If any of you need wisdom, ask God for it. He will give it to you. God gives freely to everyone. He doesn't find fault.

 6) But when you ask, you must believe. You must not doubt. People who doubt are like waves of the sea. The wind blows and tosses them around. 7) A man like that shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8) He can't make up his mind. He can never decide what to do.

Maybe it is not what you think at all. Maybe it is as simple as....????  

Yes, the answer is simple yet the most difficult for us who have been programmed to depend on our own abilities. Asking, seeking, and knocking, AND most of all “believing” is too simple, and to some quite frivolous, because they cannot bring themselves to believe in and unseen God. Some say that they do, but they do not. Some really, really want to believe, but doubt (previous spoken words from their hearts have governed their lives.) What is one to do? Paul says it best.

 

Romans 12: 2 (Amplified Bible)

2) Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].

James 1:22-25 Amplified Bible

For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;

For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like. But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

James 1:22-25 New International Readers Version

22) Don't just listen to the word. You fool yourselves if you do that. You must do what it says. 23) Suppose you listen to the word but don't do what it says. Then you are like a man who looks at his face in a mirror. 24) After looking at himself, he leaves. Right away he forgets what he looks like. 25) But suppose you take a good look at the perfect law that gives freedom. You keep looking at it. You don't forget what you've heard, but you do what the law says. Then you will be blessed in what you do.

You have probably heard many explanations as to what these verses refer to spiritually speaking. Yet usually the simplest and easiest to understand something, is sometimes the true meaning. However, I’d like to leave you with an opinion that may be more truth than mere conjecture. Here we go!

The Bible clearly states that when one is born again, he is a new creature, meaning his spirit has been recreated by God and from God;  born of God in Christ Jesus! Right? The book of John states very clearly that Jesus was the Word, the entire Word of God. Everything in the Bible as we know it – The Word – is Jesus. Jesus is personified in every written word in the Bible.

If you are born again, being in Christ, and God sees you as He sees Jesus, a joint heir with Jesus, then when you read the Word - look into the mirror - the Bible, what you should see is a reflection of you are as God sees you. James says, when you read the word “it is like when a man looks at himself in a mirror”. The image you see in the truth and principles is the actual truth of who you really are, but you (me, us, they) walk away after reading and forget (unbelief) who you (we) are. You read, get head knowledge, but it never gets into the heart. Therefore, out of the heart the mouth speaks of the things from the “old things that are passed away”. Jesus said, “you have not, because you ask not” .

Please understand, I include myself in this analogy. However, I believe God showed this to me not only for my benefit, but for yours as well. Maybe, you will receive it with the grace and love as intended, and will endeavor to examine your heart as I am doing mine, asking for understanding, seeking wisdom, and knocking on the door of truth. Others are probably doing the same.  Praise God.

I pray that you have received this message and decided to search your heart, and are allowing the God of Love to open the doors of understanding that will propel you to a higher level in Him.