Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Entering the New Year with Hope in God

Bible Reading: St. Matthew 7:7-12

Key Verse: “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; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (St. Matt. 7:7,8)

DEVOTION

We have come to the last day of one more year in our lives. Sermon on the Mount gives thoughts of par excellence where Jesus embodied himself as a great teacher. And the given text is from the sermon on the mount (Matt. 7:7-12). We see a progressive intensity, going from ask to seek to knock. Jesus told us to have intensity, passion, and persistence in prayer. In this three-fold description of prayer as asking, seeking, and knocking we see different aspects of prayer and different aspects of its reward. Prayer is like asking in that we simply make our requests known to God, and everyone who asks receives. Receiving is the reward of asking. Prayer is like seeking in that we search after God, His word, and His will; and he who seeks finds. Finding is the reward of seeking. Prayer is like knocking until the door is opened, and we seek entrance into the great heavenly palace of our Great King. Entering through the opened door into His palace is the reward of knocking, and the best reward of all. There are times when we may feel that God is not answering our prayers or that he is ignoring a request that we have. In those moments, Jesus is telling us that we should not give up. Instead, we should be knocking at God’s preverbal door with persistence and faith that He does hear us and will answer according to His will. The reward of knocking is the door being opened.
 Here Jesus provides a transformative blueprint for our prayer lives—Ask, Seek, Knock. Jesus makes it clear that we should persistently and faithfully ask, seek, and knock in our prayer life. While it may seem at times that God does not hear our prayers, we can be comforted by Jesus’ teachings that our God is a Father, a much better Father than any earthly father, and will provide us with what we need and ask for, if it is in accordance with His character and His will.
 

   PRAYER

Lord, thank You for the divine guidance You have provided throughout the year. Help us to mend our ways, if we have gone astray, and renew Your Spirit within us. Inspire our minds to search the truth and walk with You in the year ahead. Amen.

Thought of the day

    If you know Jesus, you will never walk alone

Rt. Rev. Dr. Abraham Mar Paulos
North-Anerica Diocesan Episcopa

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