Did you ever wonder why God tells us to pray for the things He knows we need? Why do we need to ask, seek, and knock?
There was a woman who had three young children to feed. She sat down and prayerfully made a careful shopping list and had just enough money to buy the food she would need for the coming week.
Before she could get to the store, her friend who also had young children called to ask for help. Her friend needed food but had no money.
The first mom joyfully gave her friend one half of her money and then went shopping. As she went up and down the aisles, she put each item on her list in her basket and each item was on sale for half price! She went home with all but one item and money left over.
The woman knew that her heavenly Father would provide, but when He fulfilled her needs so completely, she knew that only God could have done this. Both families were able to give glory to God and bless His holy name.
This is a true story and the woman mentioned used the three easy, yet important steps to Godly stewardship.
1. ask:
Be specific in your prayers. God knows what we need (food) but until we know specifically what we want (shopping list) He can’t give us the desires of our heart (good gift) that will perfectly suit our tastes and bring glory to Him (Matthew 7:7-11).
2. seek:
When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we want to be a blessing to others and bring His work into their lives. Our motives will be unselfish, not to bribe or manipulate others, we will seek their good only (Matthew 6:25-34).
3. knock:
Having given our heavenly Father the praise, glory, and honor for the earthly things, He will also give us His Holy Spirit so that we can continue to be His effective and faithful stewards (Luke 11:9-13).
Then when we have done these things, we will hear the words of our Master, “Well done good and faithful servant, you were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:21).
