“Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7
In this message, I will
define these terms in the following manner: “Ask” is for gifts from God. “Seek”
is for opportunity by God. “Knock” is for growth in God.
“Knock”
God determined that Paul
and Silas would have to go through a dungeon to reach the door which, when
opened, would lead to the growth they desired. They had asked, and God had
given them gifts. They had sought him, and he had given them opportunity by directing
them down the right path. Now, He has brought them to a closed door, and they
began to knock. Acts 16:25 “And at
midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners
heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every
one’s bands were loosed.” Paul and his team were following God’s will to
establish this church. What Paul was attempting to do did not agree with what
the rulers of that city were trying to do. Now, where do you suppose the magistrates
had put all the disgruntled, rabble-rousing Philippians? Could they be
assembled as part of Paul and Silas’s captive audience all night long? When you
ask God to do something as dear to His heart as starting a church, He will
answer in a great and powerful manner! There was a called out assembly, a
church, and he filled it up with a bunch of disgruntled criminals. God put His
men in the middle of a group of people who were willing to go against the
magistrates’ wishes. Based on how Paul and Silas ended up there, being in that
prison did not mean they had all committed a crime or even had any egregious flaws
in their character. Can you imagine the tension? Can you sense the rage coming
from a person who had been falsely accused of a crime and then tossed into that
terrible place? Something was different that night! There was no cursing or
hateful outbursts of anger from the two men placed in the stocks. In fact, the other
prisoners were so deeply impacted by the reaction of these two Holy Ghost, anointed
preachers that revival broke out in the Philippian jail that night! Paul and
Silas sought for an opportunity and probably did not expect it to happen this
way, but they were remaining steadfast on their quest. I believe that our God
of great power is a God who still answers prayer. His paths may bring us to
some places and through some times where He must save His people, but He does
this for a divine purpose in response to our behavior or our prayers. Seeking
God could require you or me sitting in a prison cell, but that also means that
God can open all the doors for us like He did that night for Paul and Silas.
When or if that time comes we should just pray, “Father, I'm on the right path
and I'm seeking for opportunity from You. I'm just going to pray and praise You
right here and now; because, there are doors that are closed and I'm going to
knock on those doors that have been closed, believing you will open them!” Paul
and Silas were there in that prison that night realizing they were on
the right path; because, they had sought God and acted on the opportunity He
provided. They lifted up their voices and began knocking on the door looking
for God to create a church right there! God’s hand began to remove the enemy
forces and reach for the knob on that door! My friend, a church could not have be
created without the selfless sacrifice of God's people who have a willing heart
to go where God wanted them to go. Let me remind you, Paul had no promise that those
doors would swing open that night. For all he knew, it could have been a day, a
month, a week, or a year. At midnight they were praying something like, “God,
there is a door closed here. We have seen your provision. We have seen the
opportunity. When you were here on earth a few years ago you were talking to
your disciples and you said, “ask it
shall be given so you can you shall find knock and it shall be opened.” Based
on the outcome, it is possible that Paul was claiming that very promise and was
allowed to see God start the church of Philippi that night.
Paul had to be willing to
go where the doors were closed before he could knock on those doors. He could
have said, “Well, we're going to try to establish a church in Philippi, but I
don't know if we can go because we know their mentality. We know their
reputation, and we have heard about things that go on there. With Philippi
being one of the major centers of Macedonia, we know they have a great big
prison! Anyone that does not agree with them gets thrown into prison, so it
does not seem like there is a real open door there. I guess we are not going to
go.” Sure, Paul could have gone that route and just led his team to avoid the
door altogether. The only problem would be they would not have been on God's path.
They would have had to forsake the will of God. Sadly, there are way too many
of God's children that are comfortable being off His path and out of His will. We
cannot knock on doors that are out of reach. We must be willing to follow God’s
path to reach them.
Silas and Paul were about
to see all that God could do when their faith was placed in God’s promises. As
they were in this Philippian prison at midnight, repeatedly knocking on this
door, something started to happen they had probably never seen before! While
they were praying and praising God, the whole building started to shake and chains
began to clank as the ground started to rumble and then all the doors were opened!
God had the attention of everyone in the dungeon. No! They all stayed right
where they were. There was no question in their minds that this was an act of
Almighty God! The knocking on
those doors was so loud in the ears of God, He shook the place in response to
the effectual, fervent prayers of his children.
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