Learning to Knock--Trust

Luke 11:9-13(NLT) 9 “And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “You fathers—if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? 12 Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not! 13 So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

I have come to find the difference between "seeking" and "knocking". I began to seek the meaning of Paul's admonition in Philippians 2:12-13 (NASB) 12So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. I asked the question many ask, "What is the 'work' when our salvation is a free gift?" It goes back to the word "salvation". We throw the word around loosly. We speak of salvation of souls as being an initial experience of a sinner coming to believe and accept Jesus Christ as his Savior. At that moment his spirit is born into the Family of God and he becomes a blood-washed new creature in a new nation that is not geographical or of this realm. There remains the "saving of his soul" that is an on-going experience and will involve many ministries and your own personal work with the Holy Spirit leading the way and revealing the Word. The soul, like our spirit, is everlasting. We are a spirit, we have a soul, and we live in a body. The body and soul are very close. So close, that when the spirit and soul leave the body, the body dies, while parts of that body may be used in a person with a soul and still live and be effective.

Our soul is our personality, our drive and motivation. How we think and react to circumstances is in our soul. I believe our energy is tied to our soul also. While our bodies can be trained to more energy, our soul can cause lethargy through despondency. A happy outlook is better than medicine in many cases. We have to "work" at the saving of the soul. Let the Word of God abide in you. Meditate on it and eat it. Let it be the mirror into which you look. Then apply it to your reactions, motivations and relationships.

Knocking is the way we have a door opened. We do not change in our human nature's reactions to people and circumstances without knocking. It is putting into our own being a "natural" response that is Christ-like. It is walking in His Rest, His Peace, His Forgiveness and Mercy. I capitalize these because we have a human response that is often mistaken for these. This is why we go through tests. The human response fails in the testing, so we go back to knocking at the door.

The greatest tool in the task of knocking is trust. Proverbs 3:5-6(NLT) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. 6 Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. I have witnessed people seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit and realize that the most needed asset in this asking, seeking, and knocking is trust. The deeper we go in God and the more we receive, the greater the need to trust. The more we see in our self of our own nature, the greater the need to trust in the One Who is at work in us. Knock, and keep on knocking, until the door is opened and you witness the completed work that God has in His mind.

When God created the vegetation on this earth, He commanded the ground to bring it forth. He had in mind what He wanted in all its detail, but He commanded the ground to produce it. He has brought your spirit to Life and now He commands you to do the works prepared before all creation for you to do. It is not enough for you to know, or even to understand, you must become. He came to BE the Way for you to become as He IS. So, keep on knocking!