You Have To Knock

“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  

Matthew 7:7 (KJV)

I will bet money on it: somebody reading this right now is standing in front of a door you have been praying for God to open, and you still have not knocked on the freaking thing.

You have prayed about the business. You have prayed about the job. You have prayed about the relationship. You have prayed about writing the book, starting the ministry, making the phone call, having the conversation, changing your life, or chasing whatever God has been putting on your heart. You keep saying, “God, open the door.” And maybe God is looking at you saying, “I put the door in front of you. Knock.”

Matthew 7:7 does not say, “Sit on your happy butt and stare at the door until God shoves you through it.” Jesus says, “Ask.” Then He says, “Seek.” Then He says, “Knock.” Those are verbs. There is movement in every one of them.

Faith is not an excuse for inactivity. Prayer is not supposed to become a hiding place for fear. Sometimes we say, “I’m waiting on God,” when what we really mean is, “I am scared to find out what happens if I actually try.” The enemy loves that deal. He does not always need to convince you to do something evil. Sometimes he just needs to convince you to do nothing.

Years ago, God put something on my heart that sounded a little ridiculous: bring Dr. Gary Chapman to Durango, Colorado, for a marriage event. Gary Chapman wrote The 5 Love Languages, and that book had helped save my marriage in more ways than one. I respected the heck out of him. So naturally there was also a selfish little part of me thinking, “Well, this would be pretty cool. I’d actually get to meet Gary Chapman.”

Then the enemy started running his mouth.

He is good at that, by the way. He rarely shows up with a red suit, horns, and a pitchfork. That would make him way too easy to spot. A lot of the time he sounds more like fear wearing a business suit: “Who do you think you are? He is never coming to Durango. You cannot afford that. His people will never answer you. This is too big. This is stupid. Don’t embarrass yourself.”

And here is the crazy part: I almost accepted a no from a man I had never even asked.

Gary Chapman had not told me no. His team had not told me no. Nobody had told me no. I was standing outside the door, imagining all the reasons it was locked, without ever putting my hand up and knocking.

So I knocked.

I started reaching out. Eventually I got ahold of his secretary. I explained what I wanted to do and asked the question. And instead of the giant impossible wall I had built in my head, the answer was basically, “Yeah, he would love to come. Here is what it takes.”

I remember thinking, Are you kidding me? That’s it?

It was around $5,000 plus his travel, hotel, and taking care of him while he was there. At that point in my life, five grand was not pocket change. It was real money. But it was also nowhere near the impossible mountain fear had convinced me it would be.

We did the event. Gary Chapman came to Durango. I got to spend time with a man whose work had deeply impacted my marriage, and we got to put something meaningful in front of other couples.

God opened the door.

But I had to knock.

Now, there is another side to this, because some of you are not standing twenty feet away from the door. Some of you have already knocked. In fact, you have been beating on the same locked door so long that I am surprised the hinges are still attached.

That is not always faith. Sometimes that is stubbornness.

You keep trying to revive the same destructive relationship. You keep chasing the same opportunity that God has shut down six different ways. You keep asking God for an answer while refusing to listen to the answer He has already given you. You are so busy pounding on Door Number One that you have not noticed God opened Door Number Two ten feet to your left.

Taking action does not mean forcing every door open. It means having enough faith to knock and enough humility to listen to the answer.

If the door opens, walk your happy butt through it.

If the door stays locked, quit trying to shoulder-check it like you are in an action movie. Look around. Pray. Listen. Seek. Maybe the answer is no. Maybe it is not yet. Maybe God has another door. But you will never know if your entire spiritual strategy is standing still and asking God to do the walking for you.

There are times when God tells us to wait. Waiting can absolutely be obedience. But biblical waiting is not laziness with a Christian bumper sticker slapped on it. You can wait on God while still preparing, learning, serving, building, asking, seeking, and getting ready for the moment He says, “Go.”

So here is my challenge for you today: What door have you been praying about but refusing to knock on?

Name it.

Then do something.

Send the email. Make the phone call. Apply for the job. Start the business plan. Ask for the meeting. Have the conversation. Write the first page. Sign up. Show up. Take the first step.

Do not decide somebody else’s “no” for them. Do not let the enemy use fear to turn you into a professional waiter. And do not confuse doing nothing with trusting God.

Pray like it depends on God.

Then get up and knock.

Take Action

Write down one door you have been asking God to open. Before today ends, take one concrete action that puts your knuckles on that door.