Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. - Luke 11:9

It is human nature that we always want something for ourselves. We all have dreams, wants, needs and others of the same kind. And at some point in our lives, we come to God asking, begging, bargaining for that request to be granted.

God is a compassionate God. I think we all know that. In the first reading, the Lord was very angry that he decided to destroy Sodom. But here comes Abraham, asking and bargaining God. “Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?” Then Abraham continues until the last part saying, “Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?” If God was like an ordinary person, I don't think he would answer him until the end. But God is not just a mere person, nor is He anything close to ordinary. That is why till the very end He answered, “For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it.” You might wonder, why would God spare the wicked because of the innocent few. In Mark 2:17, Jesus said “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” The redemption made by Christ’s death on the cross did not have any exceptions. He did not say, “I will die in the cross so that those who are good will be better” or “I come to save those who very nice. I don’t care about those who are sinful.” But come to think of it, we are all sinful. Then who shall be saved then? Jesus, Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed (1 Peter 2:24). We were resurrected together with Christ. Just as it says in the second reading, “he brought you to life along with him”.

The Lord hears even the silent whispers of our hearts. That’s how amazing the Lord is. Like what the Psalm says, “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.” But God is not a genie where in you can just say what you wish for and in a blink of an eye, it shall be right in front of you. Prayer was not introduced to us merely as a way to send God what we yearn for in our lives. May we always be reminded that prayer is our way of communicating to our Father. Therefore, when we pray, it shall not be always about asking and asking. God is a generous God. Often times, we pray asking for something but in our hearts, we don’t even trust fully that we could have it.

“Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you”. This verse from the Bible is one of those that are common to most people may it be from Matthew or Luke’s account. You know why? Because it gives us the assurance that the Lord made a promise to us that “for everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”.

Let’s look at it one by one.

Ask. What exactly should we ask? We must be able to know what is it that we should ask God. I cannot tell you, I don’t know either. But what I know is that in James 4:3 it says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. In reading those words, I think we should be able to recognize what our reasons are for wanting some things to happen in our lives.

Seek. What is it that we should seek? "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). You might add the question, “How?”. It is a challenge for us to be able to see the Lord in everything that we do, in every person we meet and for us to be seen like Him as well by those people we meet. Seeking the kingdom of God is not like looking for a place in a map or trying to figure out what route of jeepney to ride on to get there. Our ticket to God’s kingdom is Jesus, Himself.

Knock. Where should we knock? In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:7-10).

The famous verse, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” is not about what we materially, earthly wants. For everything starts with finding Jesus, finding Jesus in our hearts and in everything that we do. Everything else will follow and fall into place.

At certain times, it gets confusing to know whether something you're praying for could be granted or maybe God has other plans for you. It's also confusing when to actually stop praying for something, when to be persistent and when to just let go. Indeed, it's confusing. But one thing I realized is that whatever happens, God always listens. We just have to trust that He is working fully in our lives and that He has a greater plan for each of us. May we come to fully accept God as the author of our perfect and awesome life story and trust that His plans are way much better than what we have for ourselves.

God bless! J

- January Santiago