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| SERMON #171 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you, MAT 7:7. Prayer is one of the most blessed places where the heart can go to meet the Lord. In LUK 11:1 we read, "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples." This is what the Lord Jesus is doing in the text before us. He is teaching us what is contained in prayer; He is teaching us how to pray. In His Sermon On The Mount, our Saviour sets forth the distinction so we are able to "...discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not," MAL 3:18. Jesus has given such heart searching admonitions against hypocritical judgment as in MAT 7:1-6. These verses tell us not to judge and of the beam of self-righteousness which we have by nature in our own eye; then He teaches us that we are not to cast that which is holy before dogs. All of these are admonitions. Now He turns to our need to pray for that Spirit of Christ as we see in His teaching in LUK 11:9-13, Luke's counterpart to our text. The Lord Jesus does not specifically mention what He is teaching us to pray for, but we see that same instruction and admonition in LUK 11:9, "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." This is the same message as in Matthew, only by Luke. Then we see in LUK 11:13, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" Now when we see this in the context of the whole Scripture, we realize the Lord Jesus is teaching us that we must have the Holy Spirit in order to rightly understand the commandments which He just gave us in V:1-6. We must have that Spirit of Christ. Therefore, He is teaching us, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," MAT 7:7. We are to ask for that Spirit of Christ to enable us to observe the things He has just commanded. We need that Spirit so we come in a humble, childlike spirit to our fellow man when we come to exhort him so we do not come in a self-righteous, hypocritical attitude. We cannot expect to receive anything unless we ask in the Spirit of Christ, and in His name. Look at JOH 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." That sounds like a very broad statement, but it is qualified. If ye abide in me means in the Spirit of Christ. How can He make such a broad statement? When you ask in the Spirit of Christ, you are not asking anything outside His will. If you abide in His Spirit, you will never ask for anything outside the will of God. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." We are to ask for the Spirit of Christ, especially considering Luke's account, as the main thrust of our prayers. We are to ask in total submission in the spirit in which Christ prayed, "...nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt," MAT 26:39b. That is the Spirit of Christ in which we must ask. We shall never receive anything we ask for in an "I am holier than thou," spirit, but we must ask in a childlike faith with a forgiving spirit. It is important to understand this principle. Take notice of V:1-6 of the chapter that is before us so we see it in the context in which Jesus taught it. He talks about judging, forgiving, the need of exhortation, and bringing forth the faults of our fellow man. How must we do this? The answer is prayerfully, in the Spirit of Christ, and in a forgiving spirit. MAR 11:24-26 says, "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." Therefore, we pray in faith, believing that what we are asking is within the will of God, and we shall have it. Verse 25 continues, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." One of the elements of the perfect prayer taught by Jesus was "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," MAT 6:12. Then we see in MAT 6:15, "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." So when the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching us how to pray, He is teaching us that we must pray with a forgiving spirit. We cannot have a judgmental spirit and expect our prayers to be answered. "Ask and it shall be given..." How? Ask with a forgiving spirit. When we have identified a fault in our brother, we have come to take out the mote in his eye. It must be with a forgiving spirit. It is impossible to come before God asking forgiveness without forgiving others. If we have ever learned to know our own hearts, we must realize the seeds of that same sin are within our hearts when we identify a sin in our brother, and take the mote out of his eye, and give him exhortation. If the Lord has spared us by His grace so we haven't fallen into that sin, that doesn't mean we are not capable of it. So we must have a forgiving spirit; we must come to exhort him, to restore him, and lift him up. It is to restore him in the faith. "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses." If we do not pray in a forgiving spirit, we are not praying; we are mocking God. We are to pray in the Spirit of Christ. Wasn't Christ sent to give forgiveness of sin? That was the purpose of His coming. Those who have a judgmental spirit are not only unforgiving, but freely judge their brother's spiritual state before God. People with a judgmental spirit often have a condemning spirit as well as being unforgiving. They condemn another person because they see a fault in him; therefore, in their opinion that person cannot be converted. One who experienced Lydia's conversion might be condemned because it was much too gentle. Some people will condemn a person's conversion because it didn't have enough action to meet their eye. Look at Lydia in ACT 16:14, "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." There is her conversion, and she and all her house were baptized. This brought about the conversion of all those who dwelt with her because the Lord had opened her heart. "She attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul." There was nothing in Lydia's conversion that was harsh, emotional, showy, or radical; it was calm and gentle. The only evidence Scripture gives of God's saving work of grace in her is that she "...attended unto;" if we go into the original Greek, that means she would "pay attention to, be cautious about, apply one-self to." In other words, she applied herself to "the things which were spoken of Paul." She applied herself to the admonitions against sin. She changed her ways. We see nothing in this account that isn't gentle, but she was converted and baptized—she and her house. If your testimony amounts to no more than this, there are those who would come with their check list of experiences which they require before you can claim to be converted. With a judgmental spirit, your conversion might be condemned because it wasn't deep enough or it was too gentle. It just doesn't meet their long list of things they feel are necessary. The Lord is sovereign; His ways are higher than our ways; He is not bound by any check list invented by man. He leads every person in ways they have not known. Those who have that unforgiving, judgmental spirit cannot forgive one who has the conversion of the Philippian jailer because it went much too fast. It all happened in one night. I have heard people say a testimony of being saved cannot be genuine because it all happened too fast. The Philippian jailer and his household were converted and baptized in one night. See ACT 16:23-37. That included his whole household, his family, and servants. This is to mean all those who heard; all who believed, and they were baptized. We may not add to the Word of God! It is silent about infants who were not old enough to understand the Word of God, or believe. "Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar," PRO 30:5-6. See how fast it happened. Some people become very judgmental if they believe a person or family claims conversion that easily or quickly. We must be so careful that we don't pass judgment on that conversion because it didn't meet our check list. Our text is in the context of Jesus' exhortation to love our neighbour. It teaches our need to prayerfully seek that Spirit of Christ in all exhortation and admonition lest we tear others apart or trample on their spiritual values. Exhortation and admonition must be done in the loving Spirit of Christ. Jesus teaches us to pray for the Spirit of Christ that every exhortation and admonition may be done in love. In our text Jesus commands prayer as a duty, as the appointed means of obtaining grace to obey the precepts He has given. We are talking about the precepts He has just given: "Judge not," "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?", and "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine." These are the precepts He has just given to us; now He commands prayer (it is not optional) as a duty; it is the appointed means of obtaining grace to obey these precepts. Watch what we see here in MAT 7:7 which is a precept with three commands, "Ask, seek, knock." There are three commands that the Lord Jesus Christ gives in this text. It is not just an option. Some would say this means that we may ask, we may seek, and we may knock, but that is not what Jesus said. It is a command that we must ask. Jesus didn't say maybe. He said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." These are three commands that we must observe and do. We must pray often, pray with sincerity and seriousness; pray and pray again. "Pray without ceasing," 1TH 5:17. Prayer is the heartbeat of our spiritual life. Our text is a command to "Ask," i.e., as a beggar asks alms. Those who would be rich in grace must humble themselves to the poor trade of begging. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," MAT 5:3. He is saying that we must come as a beggar comes asking alms: unworthy, undeserving, and strictly on the basis of mercy. The command to "Ask," teaches that we are to look to God to supply us strength to obey those precepts He has just so graciously taught. We must come before the Lord, asking and begging Him to give us the grace to deal gently with our neighbours in a certain situation. We don't go there prayerlessly. We must have the Spirit of Christ, begging, asking for support in obeying His precepts. This command to "Ask," is to teach us that we must inquire after directions from God as a traveler asks the way. If we have a certain circumstance with a brother who is taken in a fault, we must come prayerfully before the Lord asking, "How must I approach that person? How must I approach this situation? Lord, give me the grace and the humbleness and the childlike spirit, that Spirit of Christ, that I may be able to convince him." This is the kind of prayer we must bring before the Lord, asking for the directions to get where He wants us to be. EZE 36:37 says, "Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them..." He doesn't want us to just go presumptuously expecting the Lord to tell us what to do or say. We are to ask; then when we do ask, He "...will increase them with men like a flock." That is what the Lord Jesus is saying; He is commanding us to live a life of prayer. We are commanded to "seek"; that goes deeper than asking; there is a difference between asking and seeking. Seeking means we go with all effort to search out God's will as revealed in His Word with regard to the particular circumstances. We have as an example the woman who lost a piece of silver. She swept her house; she looked and didn't leave one corner untouched or one thing unturned until she found it, LUK 16:37. We are commanded to seek the Lord's face with earnestness as we read in DAN 9:3, "And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes." It was a matter of searching, not just asking, but searching with earnestness, seeking the Lord's will. It is not a matter of asking the Lord to help do this, this, and this; we cannot have the whole plan programmed, and then ask for help to carry it out. We must seek the Lord's will. We must ask for the wisdom and understanding of how to approach each situation. Sometimes we find that the Lord's will is the opposite of our will. Sometimes we find we must come to that person, confessing our sins in order to enlighten him so he can see his sin. Sometimes that isn't quite the way we had it planned, but we are commanded to seek His will. We are commanded to seek the Lord's face as a merchant man seeks goodly pearls. A man who is diligent in his trade seeks and searches everywhere to find the right market and how to put things together to make his business prosper. Those are like goodly pearls. He labors and strives and works with the sweat of his brow to bring about his purpose. It is with such diligence that we must seek the Lord. "Again, the kingdom [to walk under the sovereign reign and rule of Christ as King] of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it," MAT 13:45-46. The merchant was seeking goodly pearls, and when he found one, everything else was put aside so he could obtain it. When we seek in prayer, we must be able to put our all on the altar. We may not have a hidden sin or secret thought that we cannot reveal and lay before the Lord. We are to seek the will of our God as the man seeking goodly pearls, and when we find them, we must lay everything else aside to obtain them. The goodly pearls are symbolic of the grace to walk under the reign and rule of Christ. We are commanded to "knock" as one who desires to enter the house knocks at the door. That is such a beautiful illustration of prayer. We are to knock at the door of grace, and how do we knock to obtain entrance? Ask, believing you shall receive. A family member does not knock on a door expecting to get thrown out on the sidewalk. He goes there believing that those on the other side of the door will receive him. Sin and rebellion against God's law of love has barred the door against us; that is why we must knock rather than just opening the door and walking inside. We are to repent of our sins that our prayers may gain entrance. When we stand at the door knocking, confessing our sins, and asking to be forgiven in a forgiving spirit, we may enter. We must repent to gain entrance. It is important to understand this. In ISA 58:6-10 we see such a beautiful situation. It explains what the Lord wants us to do to gain entrance. When He bows down His ear to hear us, He looks into our heart. Are we coming there in the right spirit? "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? [Daniel was seeking the Lord with fasting and prayer. The fast the Lord wants to see in you and I is] to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [The Lord is looking for the evidence in our heart of a forgiving spirit and a right Spirit of Christ when we come before Him.] Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?" That is how we gain entrance when we come to the door knocking. What are we knocking with? Is it a heart of rebellion? The door is barred. Is it with the Spirit of Christ and love that we knock? Is it clothing the naked and feeding the hungry? Are we doing the things Christ has commanded us to do? If we are, according to V:8-10, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. [Now when we come knocking on the door, the Lord says, "Here I am." When? When we come knocking in that spirit of love.] If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day." Where is salvation? People have so many formulas called salvation. The Lord is looking for the salvation which is found in the above verses. Salvation is to be saved from a rebellious, hard-hearted spirit and come in the Spirit of Christ; then He will say, "Here I am." We all know we cannot merit salvation by good works, but neither will we ever enter God's presence in a state of rebellion. Until our heart is brought into submission, until our heart is brought to the point where we delight to do the will of God, we will never enter His presence. That is not legalism; that is the fruit of the Spirit of Christ. Jesus said in JOH 14:23, "If a man love me, he will keep my words [that is not merit, that is the fruit of the Spirit]: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." What a precious promise of eternal security! Who is "him" in that verse? It is the person who observes the law of love of whom we just spoke of in ISA 58. Luke's counter part to our text says, "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" LUK 11:13. When God's chosen people walk in rebellion, the Lord Jesus Christ knocks on their door with His chastisements to bring them into subjection. The Lord has His loved people, and if they walk in rebellion, He will come with a chastening hand as we see in REV 3:19-20, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." How does the Lord knock at the door of our heart? He knocks on our door by putting His finger on us. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." The Lord does not use chastening for entertainment; He uses it to knock on the door of our heart to break the rebellion. We must be zealous and repent. If we will open the door of our heart, if the rebellion is broken and our hearts are brought into subjection to the will of God, He will come in to us, and will sup with us, and we with Him. When the Lord works His grace in the heart, He works it by putting His finger upon us. He is knocking upon our door. King Solomon wrote about the blessedness of such interaction between a knocking soul, and a knocking Saviour. The Lord is knocking on our door while we knock on the door of grace. See this blessed interaction in SON 5:2-6, "I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh [those who possess grace recognize the Lord's knocking, showing even the faintest sign of His displeasure. Then their hearts are awakened], saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. [He sees how precious it is when his lovely Saviour knocks upon the door of his heart] I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door [He opens the door of our heart; and how does He do it? By a revelation of His love.], and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself [Why? Because He wants us to knock at His door; He wants us to seek Him], and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer." The Lord knocked on the door, but then He withdrew and returned unto His place, the mercy seat. HOS 5:15 tells us, "I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early." This interaction with our Saviour is so precious when our eyes are opened to see it. Seeking and knocking include much more than just asking and praying. We must not only ask, but "seek." We must accompany our prayers with endeavors; we must use the appointed means to seek for that which we ask, else we tempt God. We may not ask for something and then not use the means we have to obtain it. One time I felt the Lord showed me I would have a good crop. Did that mean I could sit on my couch with folded hands, not cultivating or planting? Oh no, I used the means I had with the utmost diligence because the Lord had said He would bless it. If I come to ask for something, I must use the means He has given me with maximum efforts. Watch what we see in JAM 2:14-16, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? [Now see the illustration that follows to see how we must use the means in conjunction with our prayers and faith.] If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?" What good does it do to tell a person who is in need of food and clothing to go and be warm and full when you have the needed things but do not give them to the person? Can you come before the Lord and ask Him to feed a brother or sister while you send them off in the cold without giving them food when you have it? Your prayers must be accompanied by your endeavors. Basically, this principle is what my pastor taught me when I was younger; he said "never ask God to do something until you have exhausted every means to do it." His basis for this was from JAM 2:14-16, cited above i.e., can you ask God to supply for a brother or sister, when you have the means to supply their needs? When the keeper of the vineyard asked for another year for the fig tree, he added the pledge of his utmost endeavors. When he asked his petition, he included the pledge of his effort. LUK 13:7-8 says, "Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." He asked for mercy with a pledge of supplying the work and care needed to bring results with utmost endeavors. He is saying he will dig about it, fertilize it, water it, and do everything he can, then if it bears fruit, well; if it doesn't bear, let it go. Our prayers must be accompanied by our utmost endeavors. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and grace to those who wait at wisdom's gate. Where is that gate? We have it in our lap, on our table, in our hands; it is the Word of God! Those who wait at wisdoms gate are those who search the Scriptures which reveal God and His holy will. We must pray as we seek God in His Holy Word, as we seek His will; while searching His revealed will, we must also be seeking and begging for wisdom and light to understand it. How can we come before the Lord asking for wisdom and understanding as to how we must exhort or reprove a fellow man without prayerfully searching the Word of God? It is the gate to wisdom in His revealed will. It is through much endeavor in searching the Scriptures that we learn how we escape the power of sin by avoiding its occasion. PRO 5:7-9 tells us, "Hear me now therefore, O ye children, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Remove thy way far from her [the wicked woman], and come not nigh the door of her house [Can we pray for the Lord to spare us from this or that sin and go where there are opportunities to do that sin?]: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel." If we have a drinking problem, are we going to sit in the bar saying, "No thanks," to everyone that offers us a drink? Is that the place to quit drinking? It is absurd. We must never frequent the places where the temptation of the sin is found when we are asking to be delivered from it. We are told to "Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel." Suppose we have been reproved and admonished for a sin; the first thing we must do when we ask the Lord to deliver us from it is remove ourselves from the occasion of that sin. We must not only ask, but knock, with importunity as we see in Luke's counterpart and preparatory language for our text. "And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. [Now notice what follows is the same as our text] And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you," LUK 11:5-9. When we come before the Lord with our petition, it must be more than just lip service! We are commanded to ask and seek the Lord with importunity. What does that mean? The man in Luke just would not give up. It was an urgent matter. When the man said no, don't bother me, he didn't go away saying he'd be back tomorrow. He stood there pleading and crying; he needed help. That is what we need in prayer. We must come as a woman in travail; there must be a deliverance for we cannot go on. Prayer is an expression of spiritual travail. We see this in GEN 32:24-26, "And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. [He was wrestling in prayer.] And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint [In other words, Jacob could not make one step in his own strength; he became weak within himself, but he couldn't give up. It was a matter of life or death; he was in spiritual travail. That's why he cried with such importunity!] as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." See the importunity--the spiritual travail. This is what Jesus is teaching us when He says, "seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." He is showing us the importunity, or persistence, with which we are commanded to pray. Then when we consider the counterpart in Luke that precedes it, we see the need for this persistence. Prayer is not only a conduit through which we petition for something which we do not possess, but it is fellowship or a dialogue with God which is often wholly dedicated to His praise and worship. Prayer must not always be on a selfish note. We must also have prayers of praise. David's prayer in PSA 63:1-8 is an example. "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. [His petition was for God's glory.] Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me." David's prayer is an example of a blessed prayer. It is an interaction; Christ was knocking on his door, and David was knocking on God's door. David was supping with the Lord, having a precious time with the Lord. He remembered, "as I have seen thee in the sanctuary;" the sanctuary is a place of security in Christ. He saw himself in Christ. The Psalmist expresses the interaction of the spiritual fellowship spoken of in REV 3:20, "...if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." In PSA 67:1-7 we read, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him." Our text says, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you." This is a psalm of praise. The Lord is speaking of this prayer of praise as our interaction with God where He knocks on our door, and we knock on His door. He will sup with us, and we will sup with Him. He will give us to see how we have seen Him in the sanctuary by seeing Him in the Lord Jesus Christ. He also causes our mouths to be filled with His praise. This is seeking the Lord and His righteousness for His glory. This is seeking the Lord to praise Him, not just for what we might gain, but it is in response and a reaction of praise and thanksgiving for what the Lord has done for us. Amen. |
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