Are You Going to Have a Big Ask New Year?
I’m Going to Have a BIG ASK New Year!
I’ve always been one for setting goals. I love the feel of the New Year and applying necessary practices to embolden my vision for the future. The last couple of years, along with my goals, I usually have a simple statement, phrase, or a word that sums up the theme or focus for the next season of life. Last year it was a question.
This year it is one word: ASK.
Are you ready for a big ask New Year?
Nancy D. Solomon loves to tell people:
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.”
God’s Word is chock full of promises and examples of asking.
Jacob wrestled all night with God and wouldn’t let go until he received a blessing (Genesis 32). Israel was instructed to ask God for His mercy and intervention when they had fallen into hard times for disobedience (Deuteronomy 4:32). Elisha boldly asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.
In Gibeon, the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and said, “Ask what I shall give you.” Solomon didn’t respond selfishly. He asked for wisdom to know how to govern God’s people rightly, to know the difference between good and bad. As a result of his unselfish asking and pure motives, God not only granted him what he asked for (wisdom), but He also added to the mix what Solomon didn’t ask for: wealth, honor, and long life to go with it (1 Kings 3).
This is an awesome snapshot of the heart of God, our heavenly Father. Ephesians 3:20 promises us that He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to His power at work within us.
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11)
Othniel appears as the first judge of Israel after the death of Joshua (Judges 3:9). His wife Achsah was the daughter of Caleb (Joshua 15:16, 17; Judges 1:13). He gained her hand as a reward for his bravery in leading a successful expedition against Debir. In the very next verse (1:14), before the honeymoon is even over, Achsah urges her new husband to “ask” her father for a field. What made her so quick to petition her father immediately for a blessing (v.15)? She already knew her father’s heart and how he would respond!
Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). When we are abiding in God’s Word, we know the Father’s heartbeat. We see His character more clearly. His desires become our desires; His passion becomes our passion. When our hearts are rightly aligned with His affinities, there is much incentive to ask.
The more we know the Father’s heart, the more we are going to ask boldly that which is in line with His desire and His will.
If we are not abiding in His Word then our asking will become selfish: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions (James 4:3).” That’s why God’s Word is so important in our understanding of His character and our own selfish ambitions. We need humility to know the difference. But when we ask according to His will, we know He hears us and we are confident that our asking will be rewarded (1 John 5:14-15).
Remember, asking is God’s idea to begin with.
- Psalm 2:8 – Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
- Mark 11:24 – Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
- John 14:13-14 – Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
- Matthew 21:22 – And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.
- John 16:24 – Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Are you ready for a big ask New Year?
What if your New Year became defined by what you had the courage to ask for?
Get into God’s Word daily—and ask boldly.
“ASK” is my word for the New Year.