Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. – Matthew 7:7-8
For the past two years, I’ve been watching Transformation Church online services. Last year, Michael Todd, the pastor, had an amazing sermon series entitled “Crazy Faith” (If you have not seen it please go to YouTube and watch it). During that series, Pastor Dharius Daniels, delivered a sermon entitled “Blazy Faith”. The message was amazing, but this particular statement Daniels made stopped me dead in my tracks: "God will let you live on whatever level you settle for." Let that sink in.
In the world of Christendom, we are always claiming abundant life, and that God will do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). However, we can be under the false impression that we are living God's best, and “living our best lives” when we really are just settling. The full context of the scripture in Ephesians 3:20 states that God “…is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” It is important to pay attention to the words “able” and the phrase “according to the power that works in us.” For example, as a parent, you may be able to purchase your 16-year old teenager a new vehicle, but whether or not you do so may depend on your child’s maturity, responsibleness, and behavior. So yes, God is able to do above what we can think or imagine, but faith, obedience, spiritual maturity, and our willingness to settle determines the level that God takes us. Some of you are receiving less than God’s best because you have been settling for less. Yes, YOU!!
As long as we can live with less than God’s best, we will. That is a powerful truth. Some of you have an insatiable hunger for all God has for you and will pursue it relentlessly. For others, you have to get sick and tired of being sick and tired before you aggressively pursue God’s best. We must have a holy dissatisfaction with mediocrity before we can experience all that God has for us. It doesn’t happen accidentally or automatically. Words like “knock,” “search,” and “ask” are all action verbs. Softschools.com defines an action verb as “a verb that expresses physical or mental action.” God is telling us in the scripture to engage in action. If you don’t pursue it, you won’t get it.
Notice the scripture does not provide a minimum or maximum on how often we need to knock, ask, or search. Neither does the scripture state how long it will take for the door to open after we knock. The scripture doesn’t say knock once, or try to search, or ask 3 times. Sometimes you knock once and God answers immediately. However, there other times in which God may take days, months, or years before He provides that which you are seeking. God's time is not our time, His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Regardless, don’t give up and don’t settle. Keep moving in faith until you receive God’s best.
Jeremiah 29: 12-13 says: “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” The key is to seek God with ALL our hearts. We have to reach a point where we won’t live with anything less than God’s best. Hear me when I say this: You were not born to be mediocre or average. People may have told you that you are not “normal” or that you are “weird.” Don’t get offended when they say that because they are right. You were not created to be normal. God has placed extraordinary gifts and talents within you that He wants to use for the betterment of His kingdom, the world, and those around you. There is greatness in you, and because God is great, you were made in the image of greatness.
In the same Crazy Faith series, the church encouraged people to write to them about things they believed in crazy faith that God would do in their lives. One woman wrote that she trusting God to pay off all her bills, except her mortgage. Many times, we are like that woman (I know I have been at times), and we pray these “God if” prayers. The God if prayers go a little something like this: “God if you can just bless me with enough money to make it to tomorrow,” or “God if you can just make me feel a little better you don’t have to heal me,” or “God if you can just bless me with a nice, honest man, or woman, I would be thankful. She/He doesn’t have to be attractive or a man/woman after your own heart.” However, the church’s response to the woman’s request mirrors God's responses to us at times: the church blessed woman with enough money to pay off her bills and an additional $50,000 to put towards her mortgage. How many times have we prayed a “God if” prayer and God exceeded our expectations and reminded us of how great He is and all that He can do?
Psalm 24:1 says the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. God made everything and owns everything. So whatever we need, God already has. That’s why God is the I Am that I Am (Exodus 3:14). For instance, if we need healing, the word already says by His stripes we are healed (1 Peter 2:24). If we need joy, the joy of the Lord is our strength (Psalm 28:7; Nehemiah 8:10). Whatever you are believing God for, DON’T SETTLE (yes I’m screaming at you through my all caps LOL). I know you may have been waiting, and experiencing disappointment after disappointment, delay after delay, rejection after rejection, and heartbreak after heartbreak, but know that God can and will come through. Trust God, believe, and be obedient to His word. Don’t stop knocking, searching, and asking. God wants you to have life and life more abundantly. When we settle, we shortchange ourselves and we inhibit God from showing up in all His fullness so that He can get the glory. So, go and live your best lives!
May God keep you and bless you... Amen!
Chan
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