This week’s post comes from Jessica Pierce, curator of the Momssionary Facebook page which promotes motherhood as a mission field.
“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, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8
“I don’t need to hear you in my ears right now.” That’s what my 3-year-old daughter told me as she sat in her car seat, happily listening to music on the radio. I had started talking, but she was content – not ready for conversation – not ready to hear me in her ears. That small moment stuck with me, and I thought about how often we treat God the same way: happy with the noise we’ve chosen, not ready to listen, when we should be asking, seeking, and knocking. All three of these require listening.
Ask: Has your child ever ran into the room, asked ten questions in a row, then got distracted and ran back out before you could answer? I feel like our prayer life is like that sometimes. If we ask a question or ask for something, we need to listen and wait for the answer. I think a lot of times, we take the time to talk and ask, but we don’t take the time to listen to what God is saying to us. Maybe we are rushed and don’t make the time to listen. Maybe we’re scared to listen, scared He’s going to call us to something difficult, or convict us for having something else in our ear other than His voice? I hope we’re not saying, “I don’t need to hear You in my ears right now”. Let’s go into prayer with a pen and paper expecting to hear from Him.
Seek: Have you ever played hide and seek with your kids? The seeker has to listen intently for any little clue. Just like a parent hiding from their child, giving little clues to help them find you, God doesn’t play hard to get. He wants to be found. He gives us hints – His Word, His Spirit, His people – but we have to be listening, alert, and willing to move toward Him. Let’s slow down and take the time to diligently seek Him, His Word, and His Will daily with the same enthusiasm and anticipation our children have when playing hide and seek. They anticipate finding you and are excited about it.
Knock: Have you ever had your child knock on a locked door that you were behind? They are very persistent and they aren’t going anywhere until you open that door and they can be with you. If you’re the one knocking, you have to listen for the “Come in!” If you know someone is home, you knock until they open the door and allow you to come in to be with them. Knocking takes faith and patience. You don’t knock once and walk away. You trust someone is on the other side. It takes commitment to wait until the knock is answered. I hope we are not knocking once and turning away because we are too busy to keep knocking. Let’s have childlike persistence to keep knocking until we are welcomed into His presence daily.
I hope we will set apart time to listen and not just ASK Him for things. When we do, we should ask Him to align our hearts with His and to help us see others as He sees them. Ask Him to forgive you and name it specifically. What is He wanting to teach you or remind you of? Ask Him where He is leading you. SEEK His will, not your own. Practice waiting for your KNOCK to be answered and to be invited into His presence daily. Let’s not be too busy or too distracted to hear Him. Let’s not be the ones saying, ‘I don’t need to hear You in my ears right now,’ when His voice is exactly what we need most.
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