Key Verse: Luke 11:9 “And I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Have you ever thought of prayer as a process? Usually we think of it only in terms of verbalizing: articulating a need. But if you look carefully at Jesus’ teaching on prayer in this chapter, you begin to see prayer as far more than just talking to God.

As Jesus presents it, prayer is using your mouth, your head, and your hands. You ask. You seek. You knock. Let’s look at it.

We usually don’t ask for something we already have, so when we ask for something, we’re defining a need. Or, to put it another way, we’re defining a goal. Seeking means actively looking here, there, and everywhere, in order to find something. That is, we’re pursuing the options. And to do that we need to make some sort of plan. Knocking, on the other hand, is something you do when the options have been narrowed to a few key doors. There is a note of expectancy as you knock — an opportunity lies on the other side. So we knock. We work the plan.

Define the goal, make a plan, work the plan. Sounds like something from a business seminar. But the point is this: prayer is essentially active. It’s not passive at all. Perhaps this is why our prayers are sometimes not answered — they’re not finished. We’re to ask, seek, and knock (all active verbs). After that, we’re to receive, find, and enter. Don’t sit back when you pray — go for it!