Luke 11:9

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.

From Background Notes [BN] for April 7^th & 8^th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

When faced with the incredible story of the risen Jesus, we stand in need of faith to believe it. For that daunting challenge, God is our Father who wants to give us the Holy Spirit if we ask Him to do so. Ask, then, for faith through the Holy Spirit, and God will also give you truth, passion, and understanding as well. The work of the Spirit is to make the risen Jesus accessible to those who ask.

 
Then Jesus instructs his audience to seek. We are to seek the risen Jesus, and not only ask the Father to give assurance that he is the risen Lord. We ask for assurance in the face of perplexity and doubt. We seek because, having settled the question of resurrection reality, we now stand in need of resurrection discovery. We seek so that we may find. The Old Testament Scriptures frequently spoke about God’s people seeking and finding Him (Deuteronomy 4:27, 29; Isaiah 55:6; Psalm 27:8-9; Proverbs 8:17). Seeking implies seriousness of purpose, knowing that finding the object of the search is absolutely essential. It also points to how valuable the object of the search has become to the one seeking it. Compare Jesus’ parables of the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-46). Never stop seeking until you have found the risen Jesus. Seeking the risen Jesus does not mean we completely understand him or know him, but it does mean that we are open to fresh discoveries when we find him.

Finally, we have the command to knock. The one who knocks has finally arrived at the door and now wants admission. Persons who ask and seek are still on the quest. Persons who knock are ready to have a relationship with the risen Jesus. What is striking about door imagery in places like John 10:1-18, for example, is that Jesus calls himself “the door.” Because the risen Jesus is the door, he makes possible a full and abundant life — one that is not found anywhere else. Knocking suggest persistence, as well as possibility. Who knows what sort of life opens up for us when Jesus-the-door swings wide before us? What fresh visions of being human or what opportunities come from having a relationship with the one “who was dead, but is now alive forevermore”?

A curious twist in the use of this image of the door appears in Revelation 3:20 where the door stands between us and the knocking Jesus. Whereas Jesus’ original picture places us on the outside and God on the inside, this other way round tells a different story. Jesus says, “See, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and share table fellowship with him.” All the while we are asking, seeking, and knocking, we make the unexpected discovery that Jesus has been knocking on our door. It turns out, in hindsight, that our asking, seeking, and knocking was Jesus knocking at our door, through the Godshaped vacuum in our hearts that only the risen Lord Jesus is able to fill and satisfy.  [BN, 9-10]

Join us this week in Study & Worship at ChicagoFirstChurch of the Nazarene –

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am, 5:30pm