Your 100 Day Prayer: Day 21 – First Things First

by TJ Bates

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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. -Matthew 7:7-8

So does that mean I can ask for a new Jaguar and get it? Hardly. In fact, if my house is straightened up, I wouldn’t even ask for it.

“Let’s put it this way: When the Spirit of Jesus takes up residence in us at conversion (the first day of real faith), he begins to sweep the house and straighten it up. We start to value what he values, want what he wants, see things and people his way, and live for him instead of for ourselves.

So when we start to pray and ask for things, we’ll be asking for those things that are in line with his will, and then we’ll see more and more of what we ask for happening in our lives. This is the promise of Jesus. This is what it means to pray in his name.

Jesus is also saying that we should never give up praying. Asking, seeking, and knocking suggest that we stay with it—keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.”

TODAY’S PRAYER: Because it’s so easy to fool ourselves, ask God to reveal to you whether you’re truly putting his kingdom first. And always keep in mind that, for reasons not entirely known to us, he wants us to bring our requests continually before him.

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Photo by Daniel H. via Flickr