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What Are You Looking For?

Luke 11: 9-10 "...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."

Are you looking for something? Needing some direction? Waiting for a door to open? Do you think the door is open and you aren't sure you are to walk through?

Over the years, I have done a fair amount of traveling. Some very distant and some local related to my job. One thing that is incredibly frustrating is to be in a strange place and not know where you are. Before I had a car with GPS, I would fight with paper maps, have to stop and ask for directions, have to make a phone call to find out if I was headed the right way.

I have done home health for many years, and I remember going to see a new patient one day. I should have known it was going to be a haul because she lived in a place called Ft. Lonesome. I called the caregiver ahead of time and got directions, then headed out. No cell phone then, no GPS, only my hand written directions on a piece of scrap paper. Several times I thought I had missed my turn only to come upon it several miles further down the road. My last turn was literally off-road, across a cattle gap, through a pasture full of palmettos and pine trees...and cows. Imagine my delight and relief when I saw the house and the patient's caregiver opened the door. My persistence had paid off!

In these verses, Jesus offers us a promise along with some direction. If we are persistent, we will be rewarded. The words used here for asking, seeking and knocking indicate persistent action. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. A few entries ago, I talked about the blind men who came to Jesus for healing and knocked on the door to gain his attention. I believe they were persistent in their knocking - pounding on the door. And Jesus opened the door and healed them.

Do you give up too soon when you are looking for answers from God? Faith is not for the faint of heart. It takes tenacity and perserverance. We can't give up to soon. We have to keep on keeping on. In the end, our pursuit will be rewarded. Jesus will open the door and we will have the direction, answers, faith, knowlege of him, wisdom that we need. We just have to stay focused.

So pray with confidence and keep your eyes peeled...you never know when that little ray of light is going to come through the crack in the door!

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