https://open.spotify.com/episode/5s5nOJZvRby26KInO3GZpG?si=Aw42Vu92SwK7gA5YPHJxQA David W Palmer (Matthew 7:7–8 DKJV) "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. {8} For everyone who asks r…
(Matthew 7:7–8 DKJV) "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. {8} For everyone who asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks, it will be opened."
"Knock and it will be opened to you."
Yesterday, we saw how the principle of persistent knocking applies in prayer. Today, we see that it can also apply in spiritual warfare:
(2 Kings 13:18–19 NKJV) Then he (Elisha) said, "Take the arrows"; so he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, "Strike the ground"; so he struck three times, and stopped. {19} And the man of God was angry with him, and said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times."
The prophet Elisha was bringing God's message to the king of Israel. The prophetic instruction was to "strike" with the arrow—meaning, strike the ground repeatedly. This is a picture of what Jesus implied when he used the word, "knock." However, the king only struck three times and then stopped. In response the prophet angrily said, "You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it!" His prophecy came true to the letter. Obviously, the king's lack of persistence—which was already in his heart and showed in his prophetic action—ultimately brought him undone in the actual battlefield of life.
In spiritual warfare, we need the attitude the prophet was looking for, not the one the king displayed. We need to strike with the arrow repeatedly and persistently, so to speak. This implies our determination to apply the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God as quickened to us by the Holy Spirit, repeatedly. And we need to keep at it—despite oppressive and vicious enemy counter attacks—until we have complete victory.
While in the wilderness during his forty days of fasting, scripture records that Jesus repelled the enemy with God's sword. But even he needed three bouts before the enemy withdrew completely from the area. (See: Mat. 4:1–11, Luke 4:1–14, Mat. 4:14–16.)
How does this apply to us? Jesus has given us assured victory, and God has supplied the weapons of our warfare, but we have to supply the persistence. (See: Eph. 6:10–18.)
(Romans 12:12 NET) Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer.
We must remember at this point that Jesus's promise, "Knock and it will be opened to you," applied to the "you" he was addressing at the time—his true disciples (Mat. 5:1–2). However, in the following teaching from the Master, we see that this promise doesn't always apply to those who are not his true disciples:
(Luke 13:25 NKJV) "When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from.'"
The people in this illustration knocked frantically, but they were eternally locked out because the Master did not know them or where they were from. Make sure this doesn't happen to you [1].
Another interesting twist in this promise appears in Revelation, where Jesus gives us a hint of why he is so willing to open for us when we knock; he wants us to open for him when he knocks:
(Revelation 3:20 NKJV) "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."
Where are you with all this knocking today? If you are currently feeling locked out, could it be because Jesus doesn't know you? If so, this is easy to remedy. In John 10:27, he states clearly who he knows: those who trust him to shepherd them, who hear his voice, and who obediently follow where he leads them:
(John 10:27–28 NKJV) "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. {28} And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."
If, on the other hand, you are already a fully surrendered, devoted follower of Jesus—a trainee apprentice—his promise applies to you. So whatever door you need to have opened to you, keep knocking; persist in unrelenting boldness until something happens. This will show your faith, your confidence in God's word, and that you are assured that his promise applies to you. If you want complete victory in a spiritual battle, imitate Jesus's wilderness victory; keep striking with God's weapon until the heavens are cleansed.
Also today, remember that one of the reasons he opens so readily for us is that he wants us to open for him when he knocks on our door—the door to our heart. You may have already opened it to let him in, but is he still knocking on some dark, back room in your heart that you have kept locked? Today's the day to allow him in; his light and life can outshine and resurrect even what you feel he shouldn't see.
[1] We certainly need to be sure we know what Jesus expects of us, so we won't be eternally locked out. We must be confident of being sure we know what it will take for him to say, "come in; I know you and your place of origin." To help us understand this, I have written the book, "Jesus, What Does He Say it Takes to be Saved?" If you are interested, you can look at it here:
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