… simply put, ASK.
ASK boldly, importunately, continually … ASK faithfully.
ASK solely based on Who God IS.
One of the lovely things I experience in God and thoroughly enjoy about Him is Him telling me to ask … then He tells me what to ask … then He asks for me (enables me to ask) … after which I experientially have it. Every part of this experience blesses me greatly.
I particularly love the part where He tells me what to ask – Him giving me the words to say! I usually don’t realize it until after-the-fact.
When I catch up to it happening, I’m always delightfully amazed at how personally involved God is in my life.
More and more, I experience Him tenderly caring for me … the zeal of His love is breath-taking!
It is with everlasting love that I AM tenderly caring for you.
Isaiah 54:8B
We see God express His passionate love when He tells us to ASK. Him telling us to ASK is Him saying: Let ME love you, that’s at least how I’ve come to experience it!
Below are few things to consider in relation and response to God saying “ASK”. I excitedly hope they strengthen your resolve to ask unreservedly!
God’s divine power has made available to us absolutely everything necessary for LIFE and godliness …
2 Peter 1:3A
In other words, God wants to fully-fill us. He wants to fully and overflowingly satisfy us –Psalm 103:5. He wants to LOVE us.
… Ask and keep on asking … so that your joy may be full, complete, without limits, like a river overflowing its banks!
John 16:24B
His encouraging nudge to ask Him is absolutely nothing like how some would rather we beg before they give … far from it in relation to God!
He has already given us all we need – 2 Peter 1:3A. Evidently, “beg Me to give you what I’ve already given you” is most definitely NOT what God is saying or what He is going for when He says “Ask”.
By way of His Sovereign choice, we have (experience and enjoy) some of the already-God-given blessings without asking i.e. oxygen! With the others, He tells us to ASK so He can fully-fill and fulfill us as He excitedly desires to.
Asking God is an expression and a declaration of Faith. At the very least, it inherently involves believing that God exists and that He IS able to give what we are about to ask Him – this is FAITH … the one thing we know definitely pleases God.
What a wonderful privilege it is to touch and thrill God’s heart! 💖
Without Faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to God must necessarily (first) believe that God exists … that He rewards (and cares enough to respond to) those who seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Considering that we were created for His pleasure, it is appropriate to say then that asking God is one of the ways we are fulfilled:
(A) by way of living our design – pleasing God.
(B) by being fully filled with JOY!
God is El Shaddai – Giver of Himself, The Pourer-Forth …
When we ask, in a sense, we present Him with containers to pour into.
Inversely, when we don’t ask we don’t present Him with containers to pour into … we don’t let Him be God. While we may not mean to, what we tell God by not asking is: Don’t be God. This at best is rude … at worst, it is anti-God! SeLaH
Thankfully, God can NOT not be God.
… God remains true – faithful to His Word and His righteous character. He can NOT deny Who He IS … there’s no way He can be false to Himself.
2 Timothy 2:13B (AMPC, NLT, MSG)
Any contrary implication or suggestion is an outright affront to His Person – this displeases God. We see this in Matthew 25:14-30… the Parable of the Talents.
For a long time and until Dec 2020, this parable eluded confused me! Excluding the part where the third servant said his Master was harsh and hard, I couldn’t see what else he did wrong and didn’t understand why the Master (God) thwacked him the way He did.
For those who are not familiar with the story, here’s a quick run down:
A wealthy man (the Master) was going on an extended trip. Before He left, He gave three servants talents (money) … He gave to each according to his personal ability – the first got 5 talents, the second got 2 talents, and the third got one talent.
While the Master was away, the first and second servants each doubled what they were given. The third servant dug a hole in the ground and carefully buried his Master’s money.
When the Master got back, the first two servants gave account of how they each doubled His investment. He was very pleased with both of them. In response, He shares His joy with them.
Then came the third servant with his account … he said:
“knowing you’re a harsh and hard man, reaping where you did not sow … I was afraid to lose the talent, so I hid it in the ground. Here it is, have what is yours”
The Master was furious, He responded saying:
“you wicked and slothful servant! If truly I reap where I haven’t sowed, … you ought to have invested My money with the bankers, where at least I would have received what was My own with interest.“
The Master had the talent taken from the third servant and had him thrown into outer darkness.
………………………….
So there I was, interacting with God (the Word of God) … and Revelation 3:11 came up:
” … I’m on My way, I’ll be there soon. Hold tight to what you have, that no one may take your crown.”
I thought to myself saying:
aha! isn’t that what the third servant did.He held tight to what he was given!why then was he thwacked.
I left the thought where I had previously put it, on the this-one-still-confuses-me shelf, and I moved on with my interaction with God.
Shortly after, the HolySpirit responded saying:
God is The Gift that gives gifts that keep on giving.
It was in that very moment that I saw it! Oh I saw it!
I saw God’s unrelenting and sheer determinedness to be WHO HE IS ALWAYS – to be Faithful! To be Godful! To be God. There is no shadow of turning in Him and He won’t allow any misrepresentation of WHO HE IS – El Shaddai, Giver of life and every good gift. He will NEVER not be God – the Giver of gifts that give.
By not letting his talent give, the third servant’s action was anti-God. It was in direct opposition to WHO GOD IS – Giver.
God gives of Himself and because He is giving (by nature), what He gives invariably gives … what He gives MUST give. We see this in 2 Corinthians 9:10-11…
This generous God Who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is even more extravagant toward you.
First He supplies every need, plus more. Then He multiplies the seed as you sow (give) it, so that the harvest of your generosity (giving) will grow (give).
2 Corinthians 9:10-11 (TPT, MSG)
I took away a number of things from this interaction. One being that the HolySpirit is super cool! 🥰 … Another, which is more to the next point I’m trying to make, is that it behooves me to let God BE, to let God GIVE. Letting God give glorifies Him – one way to do this is by asking God.
In asking God, we make room for Him to be expressed (glorified). In His giving or better put in our experience of having what He has already given …
- God is expressed to us … He is glorified through the experience.
- FULL of JOY, we inevitably praise Him – we express Who God IS. Thus, God is glorified through us.
I Myself will grant whatever you ask in My Name – as representing all that I AM, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in (through) the Son.
John 14:13
… one more for the road. I saved the best for the last! #TheHiddenTreasure 🥰
Imagine if we experientially had all the already-God-given blessings without ever asking. Beyond the lack of appreciation for what we have … resulting from a dwindling to zero sense of need, we would not know The One Who gave them.
Our experience will be limited to what was given BUT will not include the knowledge that it was given or the knowledge of The Giver. What a tragedy!
An existence void of the knowledge of God – REAL, ABUNDANT LIFE!
Knowing God is the BEST and GREATEST blessing He has given to us!
He wants us to know and have Him (ETERNAL LIFE). One of the ways through which He has designed for us to have this is by asking Him.
Asking involves active participation and personal involvement – a key aspect of knowing God. I wholeheartedly believe that this is the ultimate reason and beautiful treasure hidden in God’s encouragement to ask – that we may increasingly know, experience, and enjoy Him personally.
Hence the category of already-God-given blessings that we experience only through the personal knowledge of God – 2 Peter 1:3B
God’s divine power has made available to us absolutely everything necessary forLIFE and godliness, through the full and personal knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3
As part of each Ask-and-Receive experience, our knowledge of God is increasingly reinforced. In turn, we are FULL of JOY, of FAITH, of GOD!
With this understanding, John 16:24B can be translated as:
ASK … keep asking so that you may know God, for in knowing Him your JOY will inevitably be FULL and overflowing.
Explicitly put …
… ASK so that your joy may be FULL (1) by way of having what you asked for which was made ready and given well before you knew to ask, and (2) even MORE so because of your reinforced and increased knowledge of God – the glory of God that was revealed (gifted) to you and thus shines through you!
It’s a win-win-win-win setup!
When we ask … we please God (win), our JOY is FULL to overflowing (win), we reinforcingly know God (win), God is glorified (win).
We have everything to gain and nothing to lose in asking God!
Sooooo … ask away! Ask faithfully.
ASK … NOT based on what we think we’ve done for Him lately.
ASK in a manner that is representative of Who God IS – His Word, His Name, LOVE.
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El Shaddai, You are MORE than I can dare, desire, or think to ask. You satisfy my mouth, my necessity, my desire … the greatest of which is YOU.
According to Your heart, fill me FULL of YOU. Hold nothing back.
Rivers in the Desert 