Receiving, Finding, and Walking through Doors
Thursday of the First Week of Lent
Daily Reading: Matthew 7:7 – 12
Focus Passage:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7 – 8)
Jesus did not prescribe a formula for success in prayer – as if there were such a thing! He described the tensions we hold in prayer. He invited us to hold the tensions between asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and entering. Each pole has its place in our prayer, in our relating to God.
You might think of it this way: There is a time to ask of God, as well as a time to open oneself to receive what God gives.
There is a time to seek relentlessly, and a time to celebrate that which has been found.
There is a time to knock on many different doors, and a time to see which doors are open already, then walk through them.
In all, the three phrases remind us that prayer does not run in only one direction. Prayer is not merely about bending God’s ear to what we want. We can ask all we want, but if our hands are not open to receive what is given, we’ll miss a significant part of God’s action.
We can seek all we want, but if we cannot find what God has already placed within us and immediately around us, we’ll overlook delight that is intended for us.
We can knock on the door until our knuckles are bloodied, but if we won’t walk through doors God has opened wide already, we’ll miss life’s fullness.
Jesus gives us insight into the nature of this God we encounter in prayer. God gives. God gives gifts. God gives good gifts.
A chief characteristic of God is generosity. God is extravagant. God spends God’s Self freely, giving over and beyond what we imagine or hope for. This is the God we meet in prayer, the God whose Spirit is poured out into us, others, and the world at every moment and in all times.
In prayer we are not begging God to do that which is counter to God’s nature. Prayer is not spiritual arm-twisting. God gives generously, extravagantly, gratuitously.
Prayer may challenge us most as an act of receiving what God has given already, a process of finding what God has uncovered within us, and the courage to walk through the open doors that God has provided already.
For Reflection:
Consider something which is currently going on in your life . . . some issue that is very present to you . . . a concern that you carry on your heart. Choose one.
Then, as you sit quietly in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to illumine for you how God may have already addressed the issue or concern. Has something already been given? Is there something you might discover which suggests God has addressed the situation already? Is it possible that a door may be open that you have not yet recognized?
Take your time. I often find that when I give myself space to truly see a situation, God has already been at work in there. When that happens, my prayer becomes a way of seeing what God is already doing, then opening myself to it.
Daily Reading: Matthew 7:7 – 12
Focus Passage:
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock, the door will be opened. (Matt. 7:7 – 8)
Jesus did not prescribe a formula for success in prayer – as if there were such a thing! He described the tensions we hold in prayer. He invited us to hold the tensions between asking and receiving, seeking and finding, knocking and entering. Each pole has its place in our prayer, in our relating to God.
You might think of it this way: There is a time to ask of God, as well as a time to open oneself to receive what God gives.
There is a time to seek relentlessly, and a time to celebrate that which has been found.
There is a time to knock on many different doors, and a time to see which doors are open already, then walk through them.
In all, the three phrases remind us that prayer does not run in only one direction. Prayer is not merely about bending God’s ear to what we want. We can ask all we want, but if our hands are not open to receive what is given, we’ll miss a significant part of God’s action.
We can seek all we want, but if we cannot find what God has already placed within us and immediately around us, we’ll overlook delight that is intended for us.
We can knock on the door until our knuckles are bloodied, but if we won’t walk through doors God has opened wide already, we’ll miss life’s fullness.
Jesus gives us insight into the nature of this God we encounter in prayer. God gives. God gives gifts. God gives good gifts.
A chief characteristic of God is generosity. God is extravagant. God spends God’s Self freely, giving over and beyond what we imagine or hope for. This is the God we meet in prayer, the God whose Spirit is poured out into us, others, and the world at every moment and in all times.
In prayer we are not begging God to do that which is counter to God’s nature. Prayer is not spiritual arm-twisting. God gives generously, extravagantly, gratuitously.
Prayer may challenge us most as an act of receiving what God has given already, a process of finding what God has uncovered within us, and the courage to walk through the open doors that God has provided already.
For Reflection:
Consider something which is currently going on in your life . . . some issue that is very present to you . . . a concern that you carry on your heart. Choose one.
Then, as you sit quietly in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to illumine for you how God may have already addressed the issue or concern. Has something already been given? Is there something you might discover which suggests God has addressed the situation already? Is it possible that a door may be open that you have not yet recognized?
Take your time. I often find that when I give myself space to truly see a situation, God has already been at work in there. When that happens, my prayer becomes a way of seeing what God is already doing, then opening myself to it.
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