Ask of Me...

Before reading this, please pray for our LORD to allow you to see what He has shared with me. I am hoping this makes sense. It is exciting to me. :)


This morning I started in Proverbs 3.

²⁵ Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;

I asked, "How are we to treat those who are living in sin (like in the days of Sodom & Gomorrah where the men desired men etc.)?" Basically, I was asking about those who are pushing "their agenda" and "rights" and knowing the times are only going to get worst; especially with all that is going on today.

And I knew the answer -with love like Jesus did when He walked among us sinners. He did not accept the sin, did not cast stones at the sinner, but He told the truth. He loved them and brought them to a place where they would have to choose to either continue in their sin or sin no more and follow Me, become My disciple. Ultimately, the choice was theirs, but more on this later.

I am reading through Deuteronomy. Today, I am on chapter eleven and  I noticed once again Moses commanded, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul," (v. 13b) That is the sixth time that this was commanded, since the beginning of Deuteronomy - Six times! But it reminds me of the previous discussions -teach your children and grandchildren (4:9), diligently teach your children (6:4-9),  fear the LORD your God and walk in all His ways and love and serve Him (10:12-13), and today in 11:1-9, 13, 22.

While looking back to find these verses, another passage stood out: "But...if you seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all the these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God,) He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant..." (Deut. 4:29-31)


Then I came to S.O.A.K. in my journal.

The other verses that stood out in this chapter is twenty-two - twenty-four:

" For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do

 --- to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him ---

then the LORD your God will drive out all the nations from before you,

and you will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves.

--Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours...."

 

I see this applying to us today as a spiritual battle.

  While pondering this the song, "Ask of me and I will give the nations as an inheritance to you..." came to mind. Psalm 2:8. I pasted the whole Psalm for you to read:

Psalm 2

¹Why do the nations rage,

And the people plot a vain thing?

 ² The kings of the earth set themselves,

And the rulers take counsel together,

Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,

 

³ “Let us break Their bonds in pieces

And cast away Their cords from us.”

 

⁴ He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The LORD shall hold them in derision.

 

⁵ Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,

And distress them in His deep displeasure:

 

⁶ “Yet I have set My King

On My holy hill of Zion.”

 

⁷ “I will declare the decree:

The Lord has said to Me,

‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You.

 

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You

The nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.

 

⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron;

You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’”

 

¹⁰ Now therefore, be wise, O kings;

Be instructed, you judges of the earth.

 

¹¹ Serve the Lord with fear,

And rejoice with trembling.

 

¹²  Kiss the Son, lest  He be angry,

And you perish in the way,

When His wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

 

This in turn lead me to Acts 4. Basically Peter and John were to be imprisoned for preaching Christ crucified and raised back to life, and there isn't Salvation in any other name.  (Sounds a bit familiar only there isn't a lot of preaching going on from those who are being persecuted in the US).

 

The elders saw their boldness and perceived that they were UNEDUCATED and UNTRAINED. So, how did they become so bold and knowledgeable? They had been with Jesus. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7)

 

What were the elders to do? "So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. ²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”  --We too  should be sharing the things that we have seen God doing in our lives and have heard through the Bible.  That can be scary for some of us....

 

But if we keep reading we see that it only gets better:

Prayer for Boldness

²³ And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. ²⁴ So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, ²⁵ who by the mouth of Your servant David have said:

 

‘Why did the nations rage,
And the people plot vain things?
²⁶ The kings of the earth took their stand,
And the rulers were gathered together
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’^{[sound familiar? Psalm 2]}

 

²⁷ “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 

 

 ²⁹ Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, ³⁰ by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.”

 

³¹ And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. 

 

Did you catch that?  They prayed the scripture and asked for boldness and for God to answer their prayers in healing the sick and signs and wonders may be done through the name of Jesus!!!! 

They are living out John 15!!!  We are told to abide, love, abide, without Jesus you can do nothing, and ....

 

⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you,

you will ask what you desire, and

it shall be done for you. [!!!]

 ⁸ By this My Father is glorified,

that you bear much fruit;

so you will be My disciples.

 

 Did you see that? If we abide (dwell, live, move, grow, listen) in Christ, His love, His Word, we can pray according to His will and it will be done so that Father God is glorified !! This is not for our selfish gain but to further the Kingdom of God. His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven...(Mat. 6) 

 

In Matthew 28, Christ commanded Disciple, Go make disciples: 

 

"¹⁹GO therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

 

We must link arms with the babes in Christ and go reach the lost -teach them to observe all things that God has taught us through the scriptures.  As we make disciples they will in turn go and make more and the Kingdom of God is multiplied. 

 The Power of Multiplication

(adapted from Keith Philips, The Making of a Disciple, p. 23)
 

     Year                Evangelist                 Discipler

1                      365                              2

2                      730                              4

3                      1095                            8

 4                      1460                            16

5                      1825                            32

6                      2190                            64

 7                      2555                            128

 8                      2920                            256

 9                      3285                            512

 10                      3650                            1,024

 11                     4015                            2,048

 12                     4380                            4,096

 13                     4745                            8,192

   14                     5110                            16,384

   15                     5475                            32,768

   16                     5840                            65,536

 

*Keith’s chart compares the numeric difference between one person coming to Christ a day and one person a year being discipled to maturity. Catch the vision and start making disciples now!

 

Recently I started a discipleship partnership. I am using Greg Ogden's book Discipleship Essentials.

If you haven't been disciple, you can either find someone older than you in Christ (spiritually mature -not physically) or grab this book and pray about whom you should study it with.  

I am so excited with all that God has been showing me.

We need to pray more. Pray for boldness, all boldness we may speak His Word,  by stretching out His hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of His holy Servant Jesus.   We must be diligent and listen for His instructions, always have an ear open and ready to ask, "What is next, LORD?"

What is God been sharing with you?