KINGDOM’S PRINCIPLE: WE ASK TO RECEIVE!
The scriptures assure that God has blessed us with heavenly blessings in high places because we are his children, I mean we have accepted God’s gift of grace in Christ Jesus. Invariably, we can obtain things from the invisible [kingdom blessings] as we hold forth our faith in Jesus Christ. Some people have asked me: why must we ask God before we receive? During discussions, others have opined, when we ask and do not receive, we are either told we ask amiss or admonished to wait for God’s time. Since God created all things and knows our needs, why can’t He just meet our needs and save us the problem of troubling Him with our unending asking? Each time this question comes up, I usually pause and smile because I had nursed such thoughts in the past. Again some of the answer may not make real sense to desperate people in serious situations; all they need are answers and solutions. Little wonder such people are easily deceived and confused; become prey of angels of light and prosperity agents. The reality goes back to the status quo that God created everything and can do whatever He likes, in His own time and in His own way.
However my response reassures folks that God does so many things both visible and invisible or known and unknown, that we are not even aware of and have not asked for. Some of them we just see them and assume they have always been that way. We also seem to take for granted all the blessings that God bestows on us. For example: Just think about the air we breath, how unaffordable it could be if we were to buy it. Yet God provides it free for us and keeps it refined despite the pollutions human beings put into it. Have we ever thought of the water that God avails us; we drink and use it for all purposes of life? No matter how infected and polluted the water is at one end, we fetch it, drink and use it for our good, at the other end. Everyday the light overtakes darkness and we have day and night; sun, moon and stars, rain and sunlight come at their times and seasons. We plant seeds in the ground and leave them there and go home, we do not know how they germinate, grow and bear fruits. The same way the miracles of conceptions take place in humans and animals and what comes to us are the finished products, just to mention but a few.
Human beings assume that all the blessings of God unto us are birthrights and God cannot withhold or take them away. Atheists and those who believe in evolution theories submit that nobody created any thing; all things just evolved. In effect nobody deserves honor and could take glory for creation. There is another opinion that everything on earth is an accident of creation. That goes to support the view that life has no meaning, purpose or destiny. Both are hard opinions for me to accept because they appear doubtful and false. The mature minds seek the truth but the simple and little minds assume and accept all kinds of opinions. They are exposed to books and tapes teaching near-truth doctrines and falsehood, accept and believe them. These are the troubling part and the difficulties; such tossed about by all winds of doctrines.
The scriptures reveal that God is the Creator and this is an indisputable fact of history [Genesis 1:31; 2:4-5a; Psalm 24:1-2]. This being the case, God has trade marks on all His creation, including mankind such that no piracy can successfully imitate them. God deserves credits – praise, glory, honor and thanks for His creation. It then means if God created, He had plans and purposes for His creation as well as principles and rules that govern them. These are called Kingdom principles or rules. Jesus taught His disciples some of these rules as recorded in Matthews 5-7. For example: Jesus taught His disciples, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who ask, receives and he who seeks, finds and to him who knock, it will be opened or what man is there among you when if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then being evil know how to give good gift to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven gives good things to those who ask Him! Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them for this is the law and the prophet” [Matthew 7:7-12]. The tricky thing about this principle is that: to ask [A], seek [S], and knock [K] means ASK; the difference between the three rests on the dimension. The Gospel of John also records, “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it” [John 14:13-14]. In effect, the kingdom rule demands we ask to receive. God deserves the right to answer us in His time and ways because He sees and knows the bigger picture and to ensure it fulfill His purpose and destiny.
This reminds me about a senior friend of mine, in the upper seventies and unfortunately his car broke down. He was hired for weekend jobs between Friday and Sunday. To enable him attend to his jobs and make some money, our mutual friend lent him a car she bought for her children, with a condition that he returned the car every Monday evening and pick it up on Friday afternoon. My friend drove the car with care and kept it neat; also grateful for the kind gesture of our mutual friend. However, he sentimentally wondered why he should be asked to return the car on Mondays and pick it up on Fridays? As I ponder on this write up, it occurs to me that our mutual friend simply played safe under the kingdom principle. Another story went like this: A son usual borrows his father’s car to run some errands. After a time, he no longer asked his father’s permission to pick the car; he simply walked by, picked the key and drove off the car, most time disrupting his father’s pre-arranged engagements. The father changed the position of the key and made his son asked for permission to use the car. In the two stories the lenders made them not to take for granted that the cars belonged to them. They applied the Kingdom rule: ask and you will receive.
In the same vein, God who instituted the kingdom rule wants us to ask and receive. He’s indeed the true owner and exercises authority and right over all that is His. King David exclaimed, “………for all that is in heaven and on earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord. And You’re exalted as Head over all. Both riches and honor come from you. And You reign over all………” [1 Chronicles 29:13f]. King David in realization of God’s true ownership and originator showered praises, honor and glory on His majesty. The Psalmist reassured, “…then they shall call upon Me and I will answer them [Psalm 91:15a]. Apostle Paul said, in Him we live, move and have our being [Acts 17:28]. He exhorted, “All things were created through Him and for Him [Colossians 1:16]. This is true of the saying that owners have rights and stewards have responsibilities. Also when praises and honor go up, blessings come down. [Read 1 Tim. 6:17; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; Ps 34:6, 17; 95:6-7].
Reach Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill @weefreeministies.org or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272. Cell: 832-881-3929.