im·por·tu·ni·ty [ˌimpərˈto͞onədē, ˌimpôrˈto͞onədē]

1. persistence, especially to the point of annoyance:

“you urged me on with untiring importunity” · “he yielded to the importunities of his advisers”

Importunity is a persistent and unrelenting force that never ceases to knock on your door. It is like a pesky fly that buzzes around your head, refusing to leave you alone. It is a nagging voice that keeps reminding you of something you’d rather forget. It is a constant reminder that you have unfinished business to attend to. It is a feeling of restlessness that keeps you up at night. It is a force that drives you to keep pushing forward, even when the odds are against you.

11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,^[a]
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.^[b]
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.^[c]
And lead us not into temptation.^[d]’”

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

OPPORTUNITY

op·por·tu·ni·ty  [ˌäpərˈto͞onədē]

1. a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something:

“we may see increased opportunities for export” · “the collection gives students the opportunity of reading works by well-known authors”

Yes, the word “opportunity” is used in the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible.

For example, in Galatians 6:10, it is written “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” ¹.

In Ephesians 5:16-18, it is written “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil” ².

The post IMPORTUNITY vs. OPPORTUNITY – Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer appeared first on IAskGod.

Passover and Easter celebrations have Biblical roots. The Passover celebration is rooted in the narrative of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Torah, narrating the Israelites’ liberation from Egyptian slavery by the Hand of The Most High God, The Great “I AM Who I Am” .. The God of Righteousness, Jehovah-Tsidkenu, Our God and Father Who said: “You Shall Have No Other God’s Before Me” .. and as so many times in the histry of mankind – God has dealt not only with mankind, but the “idols” that those stubborn men have made with their own hands!

WHO IS “I Am Who I Am” .. is He not, THE GOD OF ISRAEL? .. Is He Not Our God who stands in opposition and against all our difficulties — Our God, and Our Father who “contends” for you .. Our Jealous God [EL-KANNO] who competes , strives and debates all disputes in our behalf through the BLOOD OF JESUS [Our Advocate] the One We Call and the ONE John the Baptist called – The Lamb of God – who takes away the sins of the world!

Have you ever read the whole story, as told by GOD In His Written Word? .. Try It .. EXODUS 3 – 13 .. sure it’s a 15 minute read, but in this day of Pandemic, Covid 19 and this Corona Virus lockdown .. this may be the “best read” of your life, maybe the best read of the rest of your life? Thinking about things like: the man Moses, Aaron, his brother, the Pharaoh of “mighty Egypt”, what The Lord God Said .. how many times God offered a way out to Pharaoh .. who chose to “mock God” and say, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

DO YOU KNOW THE LORD OUR GOD? Do You Know His Name .. JEHOVAH-JIREH, Our God Who PROVIDES, JEHOVAH-ROPHE, Our God Who HEALS and RESTORES,  JEHOVAH-NISSI, OUR GOD and Father – The GOD OF VICTORY, The Banner of the Cross, who sent His only Son, Jesus to represent Him ..

DO YOU KNOW, Our Father Who Art In Heaven .. JEHOVAH-M’KADDESH, Our God, The God of Holiness, JEHOVAH-SHALOM – Our God and Father, The GOD of PEACE! .. The One Who sent His Only Son – Jesus, the Prince of Peace – to bring His Father’s message to all men ..

DO YOU “hallow the Name” .. of Our Father In Heaven? .. JEHOVAH-ROHI, Our God Who GUIDES and Directs Us .. The One Who Shepherd’s Us even in a dark valley like: The Covid 19 Corona Virus Pandemic? .. The One Who Is A LIGHT  unto your path and a lamp unto your feet .. and if you know His Son , you can say – Jesus, You are the “GOOD SHEPHERD” .. lead me to your Father ..

Today Is The Day of Your Salvation .. cry out to Jesus, the Way to the Father. John 14 5-7, Thomas ( The Doubter ) .. said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” .. Consider crying out today .. Our Father, Who Art In Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name .. HALLOWED BE THE NAME OF “JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH” , Our Father .. Our God and Our “Ever-Present” Friend!

The post Holy Week Passion Time: Jews Christians Muslims – YOU & JESUS appeared first on IAskGod.

The Prophet Elijah in the Old testament was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly .. that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. So What DEo You Do – Shelter in Place? Does this prevent you from praying? You ask questions like what should I take – Advil, Ibuprofin, Aleve, Bayer Aspirin — for this COVID-19 influenza? .. should this stop or prevent you from praying?

If you are afraid .. If you are looking for some simple and easy ways to HELP? .. if you are asking – What can I do today? .. What do I do with my life today? .. What should I do about all this Corona Virus and COVID-19 stuff?

Read About What A Man of God can do in 1 Kings 17 .. and how by the Hand of The Lord God of Israel.. Elijah Announces No Dew or Rain .. Elijah Is Fed by Ravens .. read what Elijah did for the Widow at Zarephath .. and then when her son became sick, got worse and worse and finally he stopped breathing — and MAYBE if this would happen to you or a loved one .. WHAT WOULD YOU ASK GOD? … What do you have against me? Did you come to bring my sin out into the open? Did you come to kill my son or one of my loved ones?

THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS – The Lord Our God who is the SAME YESTERDAY .. and today .. and FOREVER — answers prayer. So I ask this again? .. IF YOU DO NOT  PRAY .. then you do not ask? .. and IF YOU DO NOT ASK – You Will Not Receive!

.. Consider this   http://www.iaskgod.com/content/how-great-your-name-throughout-earth

The post This Pandemic, COVID-19, Corona Virus .. WHAT CAN I DO? appeared first on IAskGod.

El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty)

El Elyon (The Most High God)

Adonai (Lord, Master)

Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)

Jehovah Nissi (The Lord Our Banner) The Banner of the Cross.

Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd) Our God Who Guides us

Jehovah Rapha (The Lord God of Healing and Restoration)

Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is Always There)

Jehovah-Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness) Through the Blood of Jesus

Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The God of All Holiness) Our Father Who Sanctifies Us

Jehovah Jireh (Our God Who Provides for Us)

Jehovah Shalom (The God of Peace)

Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts) Commander of The Sovereign Armies of Heaven

The post OUR FATHER In HEAVEN is the same – yesterday, today .. and forever! appeared first on IAskGod.

I would guess if you gre up Catholic you’ll never forget these words .. nor how many of your “christain friends” in later years would say things like .. WHY DO CATHOLICS “worship” Mary? I never did, but I will say that I always held her in the “highest esteem” as my mother taught us .. for she was THE MOTHER OF JESUS .. and I was never ashamed to tell someone that I always recalled the words in Matthew 7:18 – 18 .. A good tree can’t bear bad fruit. And a bad tree can’t bear good fruit.

You might enjoy reading this .. “25 Questions For Mary”, From Max Lucado’s Book, “God Came Near.”

1. What was it like watching him pray?

2. How did he respond when he saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue?

3. When he saw a rainbow, did he ever mention a flood?

4. Did you ever feel awkward teaching him how he created the world?

5. When he saw a lamb being led to the slaughter, did he act differently?

6. Did you ever see him with a distant look on his face as if he were listening to someone you couldn’t hear?

7. How did he act at funerals?

8. Did the thought ever occur to you that the God to whom you were praying was asleep under your own roof?

9. Did you ever try to count the stars with him….and succeed?

10. Did he ever come home with a black eye?

11. How did he act when he got his first haircut?

12. Did he have any friend by the name of Judas?

13. Did he do well in school?

14. Did you ever scold him?

15. Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture?

16. What do you think he thought when he saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body he made?

17. Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him?

18. Did you ever catch him pensively looking at the flesh on his own arm while holding a clod of dirt?

19. Did he ever wake up afraid?

20. Who was his best friend?

21. When someone referred to Satan, how did he act?

22. Did you ever accidentally call him Father?

23. What did he and his cousin John talk about as kids?

24. Did his brothers and sisters understand what was happening?

25. Did you ever think, That’s God eating my soup?

The post Hail Mary, Full of Grace – The Lord [Yeshua] is With Thee appeared first on IAskGod.

Hebrews 3:7-19

The warning in Hebrews 3 is a serious one. Anytime we ignore what God has said, it may be evidence of a hardened heart. Although we usually think this condition applies only to those who reject Christ, the reality is that believers can “be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).

When the Lord begins to convict us, we could rationalize our disobedience, thinking it’s not that big a deal. Or we might be tempted to preoccupy ourselves with other things to avoid facing the issue at all. Perhaps we’re unwilling to deal with that sin because we’re afraid of the changes God is challenging us to make. Therefore, we distract ourselves with other thoughts and activities, pushing Him further and further from our mind in hopes of silencing His conviction.

We may think ignoring the Spirit in this way is not a serious issue, but it is rebellion against God, which is the very core of sin. And rebellion often begins with a refusal to relinquish control and trust the Lord. When we start catering to our own preferences, it’s not long before we redefine what God has said in an attempt to make ourselves feel better and quash the nagging sense of guilt.

The danger in such behavior is that we lose sight of our “first love”—our actions testify that we love our sin more than Christ (Revelation 2:4). The result is a heart that is desensitized to the sin. By ignoring the Spirit’s warnings, we can become acclimated to unrighteousness and adopt a sinful lifestyle. This is why we must carefully guard and examine our hearts.

Your daily devotion for 07/27 from In Touch Ministries

The post Rebellion Comes In Many Forms appeared first on IAskGod.

Among the Islamic states are: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Oman, and Yemen. Other states where Islam is the politically defined state religion are: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Somalia and Brunei.

SO I ASK … IS A MUSLIM a person, a faith or a religion?

Definition “A” .. a Muslim who believes that Islam is the complete and universal primordial faith that was revealed to them and consider the Quran in its original Arabic to be the unaltered and final revelation of God.

Here, in a nutshell, is the one great purpose of Jesus coming to earth. And it is echoed throughout the New Testament in different ways and with different words – but all with the same meaning and thought.

Why did Jesus come?  —-  Jesus came to save sinners!!!   OK .. what color sinners? .. what race of sinners or peoples? 

Luke 19 [NIRV] Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.  2 A man named Zacchaeus lived there. He was a chief tax collector and was very rich.  3 Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. But he was a short man. He could not see Jesus because of the crowd.  4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree. He wanted to see Jesus, who was coming that way.

Jesus reached the spot where Zacchaeus was. He looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay at your house today.”  So Zacchaeus came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

All the people saw this. They began to whisper among themselves. They said, “Jesus has gone to be the guest of a sinner. ”

But Zacchaeus stood up. He said, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of what I own to those who are poor. And if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay it back. I will pay back four times the amount I took.”

Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to your house. You are a member of Abraham’s family line.  The Son of Man came to look for the lost and save them.”

SO I ASK AGAIN … IS A PERSON OF MUSLIM ORIGINS a person, a faith or a religion — and if they convert to CHRISTIANITY .. what are they then?

Definition “B” .. what do you call a Muslim who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour? .. and believes that the Bible is the inerrant Word of the Most High God [Elyon]  (Biblical Hebrew עליון; Masoretic ʿElyōn) is an epithet of the God of the Israelites in the Hebrew Bible. ʾĒl ʿElyōn is usually rendered in English as “God Most High”, and similarly in the Septuagint as ὁ Θεός ὁ ὕψιστος (“God the highest”).. would these now be Christian Muslims, Muslim Christians, Muslims of a Higher Order?

The post WHAT IS A MUSLIM? .. a person? .. a faith? .. a religion? .. a Mosque? appeared first on IAskGod.

No truth, No Certainty .. our new and modern sociatal relationships [social relationships] Social Media Today .. all our modern day answers .. do you understand that the most powerful weapon in this world is the TRUTH.

In all that we see and hear today .. all that we read .. and post .. and tweet .. truth is not absolute today it is made to something that we take in  “relative terms” .. maybe you believe in political correctness .. just causes .. the green new deal, global warming .. it is all our own thinking ..

Take a few minutes and consider this by a very wise man .. Ravi Zacharias (born 26 March 1946) is an Indian-born Canadian-American Christian apologist. A defender of evangelical Protestantism, Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God?

The post Ever Ask – Is Truth Dead? appeared first on IAskGod.

• Mishlei (Book of Proverbs), a collection of fables and wisdom of life.
• Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), a book of contemplation and his self-reflection.

So maybe we can take some #insights into the questions .. He ASK GOD .. as we seek to ask our own questions .. take some time to reflect and listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=928&v=Hlpws_cHqMU

The post What Did SOLOMON – Ask God? appeared first on IAskGod.

There IS a war going on, and it’s of a spiritual nature. Ephesians 6:12 also tells us that. Turn to Ephesians chapter 6, a companion piece to our 2 Corinthians chapter 10 passage. The two go hand-in-hand.

12 For we do not wrestle against _____________ and ___________, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against _________________ hosts of wickedness in the ___________________ _________________. (NKJV)

If our battle is not with human beings (“flesh and blood”), but with “rulers of the darkness of this age,” what sort of weapons must we use? What Are You Using To Fight the Good Fight?

The post Getting High and Staying High – With The Almighty God of The Bible appeared first on IAskGod.