Sometimes we are fully aware of areas in which we need to grow in character and in Christ-likeness. Other times, we are blind to the areas where we lack. God is always faithful to allow the Holy Spirit to point out those areas, whether through the means of time in his word, a line in a book, an article, a faithful friend, and sometimes, believe it or not, he might even use social media to pinpoint an area. It’s what we do in that moment of realization that is so important.

Today, I want to share with you three action steps from Scripture to take when you realize you are utterly empty and incapable of producing the fruit of the character of Christ on your own.

When our heart is convicted of our lack of patience or kindness, or whatever other Christ-like character we are bankrupt in, typically we might do one of the following:

* Wallow in self-pity and go down a spiral of self-defeat

* Turn to ourselves and try to muster up the willpower to do better

* Go straight to God with our desperate need, relying on his power to grow the fruit of his Spirit within us

The first two will leave us defeated and discouraged. But the third one, this is where God does a mighty work through his Spirit in our lives. This is where growth happens, where his character can flourish.

Heavenly Citizens

In Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, he is unveiling how to become a citizen of his heavenly kingdom. He uncovers what a citizen of his heavenly kingdom looks like here on this earth and to his hearers, it was upside down. Their view was one of self-righteousness, self-promotion, and self-exaltation. They had been taught to operate as a hypocrite, hiding their sin, overlooking their great offense, judging others out of a pseudo-righteousness that was empty and powerless.

The very first pre-requisite for entry into this heavenly kingdom was to simply be poor in spirit.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” - Matt. 5:3

Those who are truly happy, are those who recognize their bankruptcy of soul. The kingdom of heaven belongs to beggars begging for the bread of life from a place of spiritual emptiness. They know they have nothing in themselves and that God has everything. So they come with their bankrupt hearts to him and their hearts discover what true happiness is as a citizen of heaven.

But, how?

Later in Jesus’ sermon, after showing them what a good and gracious heavenly Father they have, who provides what his children need so that they need not worry or be anxious, he teaches them to not worry about their neighbors as well. We are so tempted, even as citizens of the heavenly kingdom, to fall back on resting in self-righteousness and judge others from a place of blind pride.

For example, we might observe a mom being impatient with her child in public and we are appalled and judge her actions without acknowledging we have done maybe the very same thing at different times. How can we discern our hearts and others? How can we even begin to live on this earth as a worry-free citizen of heaven seeking his kingdom and his righteousness? How can we? The answer to this question in one word is prayer.

Prayer is actually a big part of the Sermon on the Mount. This sermon is where Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. It’s where he encourages them to take their anxious hearts in prayer to their faithful and attentive Father. It’s where he exhorts them to find help to judge ourselves rightly instead of passing judgment on others; where we learn what it means to do to others as we would have them do to us. Prayer is the central form of communication with our heavenly Father while we live on this earth. Prayer is the highway to holiness.

So, it is no surprise after Jesus warns against our human tendency to judge others without first recognizing our own faults, without seeing the other person, it’s no surprise that he gives us three action steps to take leading us directly to the ‘good things’ he has for us. We are going to look at these three action steps and learn how they can be used in our lives.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” - Matthew 7:7-11

Ask. Seek. Knock. All actions resulting in a response. It will be given. It will be found. It will be opened. This is perhaps one of the most abused passages in Scripture. It has been twisted and used for getting what we want in material goods and desires. But that is not what Jesus is getting at here.

When you see this passage in the context of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, you know it’s much deeper than that. Remember, we are learning what the kingdom of heaven is like and how it’s citizens behave. Getting that car or that house or whatever our hearts desire does not have anything to do with the kingdom of heaven. We can’t take those things with us. But, we can take, patience, kindness, faithfulness and his righteousness with us. Those are the kinds of things we are asking, seeking and knocking for. We know our spirits are bankrupt, so we ask, seek and knock for the Holy Spirit to make us worthy citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

Each of these actions move forward in intensity. These are also verbs that imply a continuation. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking.

Let’s look at each one:

Ask - This is where we verbally pray for our spiritual need. Whether it’s recognizing a lack of patience or struggling with kindness, we use spoken words of prayer. We earnestly desire God to grow his character in our lives. We continually persevere in this prayer.

Seek - Not only do we verbally ask for this spiritual need to be met, (which, by the way, he promises we will receive) but we also continually seek. This requires action on our part to seek out ways to grow Christ-like character in our lives. We seek Jesus. We search his word, we read books that will help us grow, we seek counsel that will give us wisdom. It’s the efforts and labors of our prayers. It’s a prayer in action. He promises we will find what we are seeking, which is ultimately more of HIM.

Knock - If we do not find it right away, we keep asking, we keep seeking and we keep knocking. We persevere in this endeavor. We knock when we feel shut out. We knock until our knuckles bleed.

Audacious Prayers

In Luke 11, Jesus shares a parable with his teaching on persistent prayer.

Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. - Luke 11:5-8

Shameless persistence. Audacious. It’s that unflinching boldness of asking like a child would ask. Think about it, they don’t worry about what is perceived to be an acceptable ask. They hold nothing back and they KEEP ASKING don’t they? They are persistent until they wear you down. Jesus is saying, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking and you will receive, you will find, and the door will be opened to you.

Just in case we are still confused as to how this is referring to our spiritual need, look at what Luke 11:13 says

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

The Holy Spirit is the ‘good things’ he gives to those who ask, seek and knock. He is a good Father. How much more gracious and generous is he than just your average sinful parent! He goes above and beyond our earthly needs, he reaches our souls and gives us his Spirit that will help us live as citizens of heaven on this earth. He gives us more of HIMSELF.

If you are frustrated where you are at spiritually, if you struggle to bear the fruit of the Spirit, if you long to see more of Christ grown in you, then keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Pray audacious prayers and watch him change you more and more into Christ, not because of your sheer willpower, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit working his character in you.

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