The Spiritual Power of Asking in Relationships

When we stand in the kingdom of God our approach to influencing others for their good as well as our own will be simply to ask now that's that's the right way to go about it that the wrong way is condemnation engineering judging other people condemning them distancing separating manipulating violating their Kingdom and then the way to honor the kingdom is to ask ask them to change and help them in any way they ask of us. [00:03:01]

We respect and never forget that the latch of the heart is within we are glad for the fact and would not override it well wouldn't we we can gently but persistently keep our hopeful expectation before them and at the same time before God as asking is indeed the Great Law of the spiritual world through which things are accomplished in cooperation with God and yet in harmony with the freedom and worth of every individual. [00:04:12]

When I ask someone Dallas wres to do or to be or to give something I stand with that person in the domain of a constraint without force or necessitation we are together a request by its very nature unites a demand by its very nature separates and of course so does condemnation and rejection and pressure and pushing on somebody else it is this peculiar atmosphere of togetherness that characterizes the kingdom and is indeed what human beings were created to thrive in. [00:04:46]

So this notion of asking is Central to the kingdom because you remember to have a kingdom means you have a will and there is a range of your effective will you have dominion and and God wants that to be honored and that is honored when we ask that's how I bring my will before yours in a way that honors you my kingdom and your kingdom can now merge together. [00:05:30]

Prayer is nothing but a proper way for persons to interact so this Dynamic of the request of asking which is bringing my kingdom into the presence of your kingdom in a way that honors yours and is honest about mine that extends to other people and it extends to God that's why prayer is just simply an extension of what it essentially means to live in honor in this great Kingdom. [00:06:10]

The power of asking is so great it may make many people uncomfortable don't you know a people who will go considerably out of their way to avoid someone who is apt to ask them for something it may even be somebody who they don't know will never meet again but they do not wish to feel the power of the request who really enjoys eating a sandwich in front of the family dog no matter that it is your favorite sandwich which you have lovingly prepared as a tiny little vacation with your book in a quiet and pleasant place here is the face the eyes perhaps a paw on your knee you know the rest you are up up against a fundamental force of the universe. [00:06:46]

There is a difference between asking and using very striking if you go back to Genesis and God interacts with the human beings that he creates the first thing he does is to bless and then the next thing he does is to give he gives Dominion this wonderful opportunity to be powerful for the good and then after the fall when Adam hides God asks God is the great asker in scripture Jesus asks by one count over 160 questions of people because God honors our kingdom Adam where are you in other words wouldn't you like to come home but he puts it in the form of a question. [00:07:45]

Asking unites very striking uh when Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well he begins by asking her if she could let him have some water and that was a humble thing for a Jewish rabbi to ask something of a Samaritan woman that was very unusual I think of n will often talk about two of her friends that were at odds with each other for a long time what began to heal their relationship was one person asked the other for a significant favor we would take about an hour and there was something about the humility and the connection of just a simple honest request that could be rejected so it's kind of vulnerability to it. [00:08:13]

As you ask in your relationships with people is there about that right proportion of I seek to bless and I seek to give I'm not just a user but then I ask here's what I would love to have in a way that will honor their Kingdom and then I don't punish them or reject them if I don't get the answer that I want and then of course as people ask me I apply to that what is sometimes called a rutic of Charity and not of Suspicion. [00:09:21]

The power of the ask is great because it is the Great Law of the kingdom it is how we bring our little kingdoms into the kingdoms of others it begins with people ask and seek and knock and then we'll see how of course this applies directly to God prayer is the great uh way that life works in the kingdom of God make it a golden rule day. [00:10:27]

Prayer is an extension of the dynamic of asking, a way to interact with God that respects His will while being honest about our own. It is a powerful tool for accomplishing things in cooperation with God. [00:06:08]

In our relationships, strive to ask with humility and respect, seeking to bless and give rather than use. Respond to others' requests with a rhetoric of charity, aiming to understand and help, enriching both our human and divine connections. [00:09:33]