Asking, Seeking and Knocking
(week 20, 2006)
Olubi Johnson
Luke 11:9-10 NIV: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Here the Lord Jesus reveals to us three levels at which we pray:
1. Asking is making a request to God based on the written Word.
John 15:7 NKJV: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
2. Seeking is praying in the spirit about the request to get the wisdom of God as to what to do to get the answer.
3. Knocking is walking in the spirit so as to act on the wisdom of God obtained during seeking: which will cause the answer to come into physical manifestation.
Why do we need to ‘seek’ and ‘knock’?
We need to seek and knock because there is a satanic opposition to answered prayer, which we overcome as we seek God in prayer in the spirit and as we knock by acting on the Word of God by walking in the spirit:
Daniel 10:12-13 NKJV: Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Notice Daniel’s prayer was heard the first day he prayed, but the answer to the prayer was hindered by an evil spirit: prince of Persia for 21 days. As Daniel continued to seek God, God sent reinforcements from heaven in the form of Michael to overcome the evil spirit hindering the answer and the answer finally came.
So in the New Testament we are instructed to pray in the spirit with all kinds of prayer regularly (i.e. daily, weekly or monthly see our book “A practical guide to prayer” for more details) to wrestle and overcome evil spirits that will seek to hinder answers to our prayers:
Ephesians 6:11-18 NKJV: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
After praying in the spirit, we then walk in the spirit to act on the wisdom the Holy Spirit gives when we pray in the spirit, so that the sinful nature in our flesh will not prevent us from doing what we should to cause the answer to the prayers to come:
Galatians 5:16-18 NIV: So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
