What is Our Role in Prayer? - Matthew 7

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7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
We often try to answer the question of why God does not seemingly answer some of our prayers.  And if anyone knew the answer to that question they would be God.  I think this passage gives us some clues as our role as we offer prayers to God. 
First, we ask.  God calls us to present our prayers and petitions to him.  In James it says, "we have not because we ask not."  God can't answer prayers that are never offered.  By asking God we are turning to him in faith for the answer.  By asking God we assume he is powerful enough to give us what we need.  
Second, we seek.  Seeking can mean many things.  We can seek counsel from others.  We can seek God's Word for wisdom and direction.  We can seek out the Holy Spirit's presence and guidance.  We can seek God as we wait on him to answer our prayers.
Finally, we knock.  Knocking implies we do something. It is an action step.  Sometimes an answer to prayer involves us taking a step of faith.  
There was a time in my life when I was wondering if I was being called to become a pastor.  The first step usually meant going to seminary. Since I felt a leading in the direction, I started by praying to God for direction.  Then I began to seek out from a variety of people wisdom and understanding of what this might look like and mean.  Many of them were pastors, and they explained their own process of being called.  I also sought out information on seminaries and studied other materials about denominations etc.. Finally, I had to take some action.  For me this meant going to visit three different seminaries out of state.  It was through this process that I was able to seek and find an answer to my prayer.  
I am not saying this is an easy process or a simple one, especially with big life changing decisions.  But I believe Matthew gives us a process to follow as we pray for things we need and want.  It involves asking, seeking and knocking and waiting for God to answer our prayers in his way and in his timing. 

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