Part 8 New Wine
God's Way Bible Study
New Wine Part 8
Tuesday February 25,, 2025
Acts 13:36 NKJV "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption;
Great times make great people.
War time presidents are considered great presidents because they rise to the occasion. David rose to the occasion.
Esther 4:13-14 NKJV And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: "Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king's palace any more than all the other Jews. [14] For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
Esther rose to the occasion. This is your time to rise to the occasion. In order to rise, we must progress in our spiritual lives.
The Gradation of Asking, Seeking and Knocking
Luke 11:9-13 NKJV "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. [10] For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. [11] If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? [12] Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? [13] If you then, being evil, 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!”
Gradation….
1 a. A series, forming successive stages
1b. A step or place in an ordered scale
2. An advance by regular degrees.
Gradation of A. S. K.
Ask, seek, knock are all a form of asking only at three different levels.
Ask: Asking is the first grade. There are some things available merely if we ask for them.
Zechariah 10:1 Ask the Lord for rain In the time of the latter rain, The Lord will make flashing clouds; and will give showers of rain, Grass in the field for everyone.
Seek: The next level requires more of us than merely asking. We have to seek for them. Asking is relatively easy. Seeking is more involved. We have to put in the effort.
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Knock: Knocking is the highest level of prayer. Here we put ourselves out. We are ready to pay a greater price than when we were seeking.
Mathew 11:12 NKJV And from the days of John the Baptist, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
Luke 16:16 NKJV "The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
We must progress from the grade of asking to seeking and from seeking to knocking.
Asking is praying. Talking to God. At this elementary grade, our confidence is not too great, because our knowledge of God is not so great either. We are asking from our desires, what seems good to us. We may be asking by faith, yet ask amiss to consume on our lusts.
James 4:3 NKJV You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
When we have prayed for a while at this level, our shortcomings will soon begin to show up. Many will stop praying, a few will stay stuck at this level and fewer still will graduate to the next level of seeking.
Seeking is studying to gain a better understanding of God to whom we are praying. A better understanding of God will refine our prayers. A better understanding of God is true spiritual maturity.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NKJV When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. [12] For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
Knocking is going the distance. Through our improved understanding of God, we have come to a place of confidence where we are ready to pay whatever price. We know that the answer is behind the door and we will not quit until the door is opened.
At this point we will take whatever risks, face whatever dangers, because we know that on the other side of the door we are knocking is the right answer. We know we're not praying amiss.
1 John 5:14-15 NKJV Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. [15] And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Many quote these verses yet they have not done the work of seeking God and so do not really know His will.
Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Romans 8:26-27 NKJV Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. [27] Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
The Holy Spirit helps us in asking, reveals the mind of God to us, and empowers us to keep knocking until
