Keep on asking

Keep on asking and it will be given to you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8 AMP

Keep on asking. Yes, we can be very persistent with our asking when we really want something. But is that 'something' what God really wants for us? Is that 'something' something our Sovereign God knows will be the best for us in the long run? 

If we are asking, and have been asking for a long time I believe there are some questions we need to consider, such as:

1. Does what we are asking for align with God's word?

2. What is God wanting us to learn whilst we are waiting for the answer to come?

3. Are we asking reverently?

The Message bible has this to say, 

Don't be flip with the sacred. Banter and silliness give no honor to God. Don't reduce holy mysteries to slogans. In trying to be relevant, you're only being cute and inviting sacrilege. Don't bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn't a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we're in. Matthew 7:6-7 The Message.

When we come before God and petition Him, we are not at the department store with our shopping list. We are going into the throne room of the creator of the universe. Thankfully that throne is one of grace.

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favour to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. Hebrews 4:16 AMP

Jesus, by His sacrifice on the cross, has made a way for us to go directly to the throne. 

Therefore, brethren, since we have full freedom and confidence to enter into the [Holy of] Holies [by the power and virtue] in the blood of Jesus, by this fresh (new) and living way which He initiated and dedicated and opened for us through the separating curtain (veil of the Holy of Holies), that is, through His flesh. Hebrews 10:19-20 AMP

We need to ensure we are coming with the right attitude, which comes back to these scriptures from the psalms about having a clean heart before God.

Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23,24 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 AMP

Question for today, is there something you are asking for, but the answer doesn't seem to have manifested yet? Ask God to search your heart regarding what you are asking for, does it line up with His word? Ask the Holy Spirit to counsel you regarding this circumstance, what is it that God is wanting you to learn in it? Finally as it says in Hebrews,

And since we have [such] a great and wonderful and noble Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, let us all come forward and draw near with true (honest and sincere) hearts in unqualified assurance and absolute conviction engendered by faith (by that learning of the entire human personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), having our hearts sprinkled and purified from a guilty (evil) conscience and our bodies cleansed with pure water. So let us seize and hold fast and retain without wavering the hope we cherish and confess and our acknowledgement of it, for He Who promised is reliable (sure) and faithful to His word. Hebrews 10:21-23 AMP