Shalom,
Psalm 99:1-3:
1 THE LORD reigns, let the people tremble [with reverential fear]! He sits [enthroned] above the cherubim, let the earth quake! 2 The LORD is great in Zion, and He is high above all the peoples. 3 Let them confess and praise Your great Name, awesome and reverence inspiring! It is holy, and holy are YOU!
This Psalm is the 5th of 6 "royal psalms" (93, 95-100) which magnify the sovereignty of the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! Unbelieving believers like to use the phrase, "But remember, God is Sovereign!", to explain unanswered prayer. What they sometimes fail to realize is that, as New Covenant believers, we have been given the responsibility for our own lives! We are to "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). "Salvation" is the Greek word "soteria", which means: rescue, deliver, safety, health, deliverance, preservation. To "work out" is the Greek word "katergazomai", which means: accomplish, to finish, to fashion, to perform, to achieve, to work. The SOVEREIGN God has instructed US to put His Word to work! His Word has His authority behind it to cause it to come to pass when it is spoken from a position of faith by a member of His family and a participant in His Covenant that has been sealed with the Blood of Jesus of Nazareth! Unanswered prayer is NOT God's doing, but OURS! 1 John 5:14-15 says:
14 And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with his own plan), He listens to and hears us. 15 And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.
So you can see that the responsibility is OURS to find out His will, from His Word, so that we can ask and speak according to His will. Then He hears and makes it happen, by confirming His Word spoken from our mouths! A similar Scripture is found in John 15:7:
7 If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My Words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
WHAT? Ask whatever I will? YES, YES, YES! WHEN I live in vital and continual fellowship with Him and His Word is alive in me, THEN I will KNOW His will and what I speak will BE His will and it will happen for me just like it did for Jesus! Remember, the SOVEREIGN God set it up this way! If you have a problem with that, you'll have to take it up with HIM! I choose to believe and obey! AMEN! Here is a great song from Hillsong called "Yours Is The Kingdom".
With everything that is covered in Luke 11, this is what stands out to me today! Verses 52-54:
52 Woe to you, lawyers (experts in the Mosaic Law)! For you have taken away the key to knowledge; you did not go in yourselves, and you hindered and prevented those who were entering. 53 As He left there, the scribes and the Pharisees [followed Him closely, and they] began to be enraged with and set themselves violently against Him and to draw Him out and to provoke Him to speak of many things, 54 Secretly watching and plotting and lying in wait for Him, to seize upon something He might say [that they might accuse Him].
The same evil spirits that operated in and through the scribes and Pharisees who hated Jesus still operate through people today! They DO NOT want believers in Jesus of Nazareth to learn the Truth of God's Word, because then THEY will be dealt with according to the Word of God! They want people to stay ignorant of the Word, ignorant of their rights and ignorant of their responsibility to do and speak God's Word. Don't fall for the trick and don't let anything or anyone keep you from close, intimate fellowship with the God of the Bible and His Word!
In Deuteronomy 5-6 Moses continues to remind the Israelites of God's Word and their responsibility to obey the Word and carry out His will for their land. The most important commandment? Deuteronomy 6:4-6:
4 Hear, O Israel: the LORD your God is one LORD [ the only LORD]. 5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your [mind and ] heart and with your entire being and with all your might. 6 And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts;
He is SOVEREIGN! KEEP Him that way in YOUR life!
Shalom in Him!
