John 16:24. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Aye mih people, there’s been rebellion in the camp this Tuesday morning; a strong sense of mutiny is in the air. My aging, aching and apparently weary body bluntly refused to get up this morning when I commanded it to.
Steups! It simply stated that it was not well rested enough to get up and perform the duties I desired, then calmly rolled over and went back to sleep. What is our world coming to eh, when our own flesh is rebelling against us eh? (smile)
I obviously had no choice but to roll over and go back to sleep with it… That is until it felt rested enough to get up and perform its duties in the excellent manner that our Leader, Jesus Christ requires of us.
Ah mih friends, yesterday was indeed a bit rough on the body, and not because of any great doings nuh, just the simple day-to-day aspects of living, but without the required rest thrown in for good measure. And that’s what’s killing many of us; we try to live life too busily, what with all the amenities we have, multitasking and what not.
But that’s not how God made us to go about this earthly life. And here is something from our One Year Book of Bible Promises titled ‘The Reason,’ which accentuates what I’m talking about.
Please pray with me. ‘God, why am I so often defeated? Why am I so full of dread and anxiety? Why am I so lamentably weak – So perilously susceptible to temptation? Why am I so often inhospitable So intolerant of the needs of others? Why am I so undisciplined So restless and dissatisfied? Why do I protest so violently? Above all, God Why do I so frequently lose The sense of your shining Presence? God, why? Why?’
Oh my fellow believers, too often, too many of us cry out to the Lord with words and feelings akin to those. But you know what God replies. It’s so simple and true: ‘Because you pray so little.’ Amen!
Yeh friends, if our souls and spirits are always, or too often in turmoil, then it simply means that we’re not communicating with our heavenly Father enough.
And the Bible verse for that promise is the middle verse of these simple and basic instructions from Bruh Paul to the Thessalonians. ‘Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ (1 Thess.5:16-18)
And yuh know my brethren, if we’d simply adhere to those three, simple basic things, ‘rejoicing, praying and giving thanks’ continually, our lives would be amazingly less troublesome and confrontational.
Now that is exactly what Christ is saying to the disciples, and to us in our Bit. ‘Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.’
He’s telling them that up to that time, they hadn’t asked anything of God in His name, but that they should begin doing so, because He is the conduit between mankind and the Creator. You can’t get to the Father except through Him. And if you ask, you’ll receive.
And isn’t that the general way things happen? When we want something we ask for it? And hopefully we’ll receive it. Obviously Jesus wasn’t talking about blatantly selfish needs or worldly lusts and sensual pleasures, but stuff that it would please the Father to give us, like our daily bread, and forgiveness of our sins.
Now yesterday we looked at the ‘joy’ aspect of our Bit, today let’s look a little at the asking and receiving part of it. Jesus said it several times; the most famous being: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’ (Matt.7:7-8) As always, simple instructions from our Leader.
And after He had cursed the fig tree and told the disciples about having faith, He reiterated. ‘And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.’ Matt.21:22)
And the last quote from Jesus, after He tells the disciples about His going back to the Father. ‘And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.’ (John 14:13-14)
The scholars explain: ‘13-14: In my name means “as My agent.” The promise of answered prayer is based on the disciple acting as the agent of Jesus’ will (cf. 16:23-26). It is also linked here especially in the accomplishment of the “greater works,” (vs.12). The promise is for unlimited resources to do the works of God.’
However friends, there is one proviso scripture to all of that. Listen to James. ‘Ye lust, and have not: ye kill (murder), and desire to have (covet), and cannot obtain: ye fight and war (battle), yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts (worldly pleasures). (James 4:2-3)
Yeh mih people, that just shows that a lot of the times we ask for the wrong things for the wrong reasons, and the Lord will not grant them to us. We need to ask for the things of God, so we can do His work.
That brings us to our Tuesday Mantra. Let’s declare it as though we truly mean it. ‘I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world. Amen!’
Now it’s time to walk that talk! Much LOVE!
…if you don’t ask…you won’t get…simple as that…
SCRIP-BITS 