All About The Process

" 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." - Matthew 7:7-8 ESV

I read the above verses in my Bible reading this morning. Jesus is calling all of us to ask Him and seek Him while giving us the promise that He will answer. We will be given to. We will find. We will have access. But I know that this summer He showed me that it is all about the process.

As I read, the Holy Spirit gently reminded me that I found these words to be SO very true in the time I spent seeking His will this summer. 

I was pretty sure when Wally mentioned this church as a possible place of service, that God could not possibly be leading us here. This wasn't what I wanted and I was pretty sure that it wasn't what I had been asking Him to do either. 

I mean I was paying great lip-service, saying "His will be done" and that "I will do whatever for His glory." But, I didn't really mean it. 

Gently, as I was following my simple Bible reading plan, God began to expose my pride and soften my heart toward His plan for our lives. I asked Him to reveal Himself to me and He did. 

Passages in John and then in Acts seem to speak directly into my circumstances and my heart. In my circumstances, He made it clear that we were to serve this new-to-us church. In my heart, He exposed my sinful self-righteousness and pride. In both my circumstances and my heart, He pulled me ever closer to Him. 

Looking back on it now, I know that in the process He was using to answer my prayers as I asked and sought Him, both components were crucial. He was keeping His word by answering my prayers and helping me find my answers as He opened the door I was knocking on. 

I think before, having heard this passage a million times, I brushed over it, not truly believing Jesus' words. But as this summer of seeking comes to a close and in many ways His will seems clear, I am beyond thankful for the journey.I am thankful for the process. 

It wasn't about me getting what I was asking for or finding what I was seeking. It really wasn't even about the door I was knocking on being opened. It was all about the process - the humility and looking, the confession and the claiming. 

No, it wasn't easy and it didn't happen over night, but my God kept His word. He revealed Himself to me and I have grown closer to Him in the process. It was all about the process.

It wasn't about us ending up at a new church or how God was going to provide for our spiritual needs. Yes, He made those things clear, but, in reflection, they are only minor details. It was all about the process.