Ask Not What God Can Do For You, Instead Ask What You Can Do For God
When we drop to our knees and pray for our troubles, or our healing, do we ever think to ask God what we can do for Him? Our relationships seems to be one sided pretty often. I know a large number of Christians who don’t evangelize, they don’t even spread the Gospel to friends and coworkers where they can. God has asked very little of us, and even though it’s not much, we still cannot bring ourselves to follow God’s will. We are told to love God, and to go forth and spread the word of God. How can we expect to have God’s grace if we aren’t good stewards of what we’ve been given? Matthew 28:18-20 “18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I myself have often found myself on bended knee asking God for this and that. I’ve begged for grace, and for significant change in my life. I’ve often found myself focused on what I’ve been asking of God, but I have failed to consider that I may not be doing enough for God. I have been thinking about JFK’s speech nicknamed the Ask Not speech. We are the heirs to the kingdom of Heaven. We as a society have allowed our Christian voice to fall to the wayside. We no longer stand up preaching the Gospel, or evangelizing within our own spaces. “United there is little we cannot do, in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do, for we dare not meet a powerful challenge.” (JFK) As a Christian faith we now find ourselves divided as we rewrite the Gospel, as we preach only bits and pieces. We have forgotten about the great commission, and we no longer keep the Gospel in our very hearts. I hear many people claim to be Christians, yet don’t know scripture. I know many Christians, yet walk a life of the world, and not one in the Lord. Those same people beg God to save them when things get tough. We have spent years walking away, and it won’t change overnight, but we must learn to change, learn to turn around and walk back towards God. “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man!” (JFK) There comes a time when we must take our concerns to the foot of the cross. “How am I supposed to show love to somebody over and over and over who constantly rejects me?” (Fireproof) Have we truly gotten to a point in our life when we reject Christ? Have we come to a point where we only follow God if we get something out of it? Have we gotten to a point where we walk our own way because we think we are better then God? I think we have. I believe we have a fight ahead of us, and it’s with ourselves. We have walked our path in the darkness, and we’ve expected to be given grace when we don’t show it. I would surmise we are exactly the things we complain our spouses, our friends are towards us. We are stubborn, we are ungrateful, we are foolish, we are foolish, and we are hateful towards the one that matters most, God. We expect to be given rewards because of the works we do. We expect to be given the joys in this world based on the nice things we do for others, that we think our works on this planet means we deserve God’s love and grace. We will never be able to do enough to earn our way to Heaven. “God loves you even though you don’t deserve it, rejected him, spat in his face. God sent Jesus to die on the cross and take the punishment for your sin because he loves you.” (FireProof)
When we truly look at how we are treat God in our lives, I think most of us would say we all fall short to be deserved of the graces of the Holy Spirit. We are all of us, not worthy of that grace, but because of Love we have it. We will never do enough to earn our way into Heaven. We will never be good enough due to our Sin nature to earn the graces of God. The beautiful part is, we don’t have to. We don’t have to rely on our good works to be granted the graces of the Lord, we just need to give up ourselves and we need to give our hearts to the Lord. 2 Corinthians 12 :8-9 “8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” We must learn that God’s love and grace is sufficient. If we want to be in God’s graces we need to allow God into our hearts. How can we expect to be given the deepest desires of our heart, if we turn our back to God? God’s love is never ending; it’s beyond anything we can ever understand. God’s grace and peace are always with us, we just need to open our hearts to it.
With the Great Commission we are told to go out and spread the gospel to all whom we come into contact with. God has given us the tools we need to do His work. Ephesians 4:11-13 “11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[a] and teachers,[b] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[c] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,” In our walk with the Lord we must always be thinking of how we can better Serve the sovereign of the universe. We must also remember to give thanks for all we have. Many people only go to the Lord in prayer when they are in need, but fail to thank God for the little stuff. I have gotten into the habit of praying multiple times a day. Although I sometimes struggle with my prayers to my Heavenly Father, I have to catch myself in my asking for prayers and then wondering what I’ve done to deserve them to be answered. Matthew 7:7-8 “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.” When we the faithful hold true to the faith, and can understand the give and take from God, we will understand that we owe everything to God. It’s in that love from God we understand that we will never be deserved of the grace in which has been given to us.
The Devil preys on those who struggle and those who stumble. It’s much like the cheetah and the gazelle. Although the cheetah is much faster, it’s only when the gazelle makes a mistake that it’s caught. Although the Devil is in our lives every minute of every day, when we remain focused in our walk with God, and keep the Armor secured and tight, will we be able to make it through. Even if we are caught from time to time, the sword and the spear gives us the tools to fight back. As long as we continue to fight back against the raging storms, light will always snuff out the darkness. We must remember we are soldiers for Christ and we must always remain vigilant. Those who walk in the Lord will both have the grace of God and will often be more prepared when the Devil strikes. Trust in the Lord and walk as closely as possible. Remember when we ask what we can do for God, the answer will always be “give it your all.” The struggles that may come when you are walking with God may be far greater then you’d realize, that just means you are more of a threat to the Devil. When you are preaching and teaching God’s word, the Devil will try everything to knock you off balance. Psalms 50:15 “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Nothing in this world is free. If we want something we must be willing to give something. What we are asked to give isn’t much, yet possibly the hardest thing to give. We cannot expect to be given the desires of our hearts if we allow our heart to be poisoned by this world. If we allow everything but God into our heart, then the things we ask for might by very definition be apart of the problem. We must learn to trust in God completely, and turn to God every day for both the big and small things in our life. We must turn to God when things are wonderful, and also when things are in shambles. When we realize we are nothing without God, and we have nothing without God, then and only then will we begin to understand the nature of our trials and tribulations. John 5:30 “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” Having faith in the Father is just the first step towards an enlightened peace. We must learn to let go of ourselves and submit fully to Abba. When we do that and we are asking God, “what next” then we will see the fruits of our labor. Have faith, and you will receive your desires, but in all things worthwhile it takes work, and effort. Remember though, the desires of the heart may not be what’s best for you. Just because you desire a Ferrari doesn’t means that’s what’s best for you. Unanswered prayers are sometimes a blessing and not a curse. In your life are you willing to give up your sinful self for the love of Jesus Christ?
The Arrow Preacher 