Ask For Nations (part 1) by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Laying the Foundation: A Year of Kingdom, a Month of Prayer

The theme for this year is kingdom. Everything discussed throughout the year, whether it is faith, prayer, or healing, connects to God's kingdom. This month the focus is prayer, and the title for the month is Ask for Nations: The Power of Kingdom-Driven Prayers.

Faith was deliberately taught before prayer, because praying without faith is fruitless. What strengthens prayer is that it is built on the solid rock of faith. Romans 10:17 reminds us that faith comes by hearing, so the foundation of faith had to be laid before the subject of prayer.

Give Thanks Even When Pressed on Every Side

This is also a season of thanksgiving. Even when the circumstances of a nation seem to give little to be thankful for, there is always something to thank God for if one looks closely.

2 Corinthians 4:7-9 says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. God promised victory, not convenience. He promised ease was never guaranteed, but victory always is. The Bible says with God all things are possible, not that with God all things are easy.

In the New Living Translation, 2 Corinthians 4:8 reads that we are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed. We are perplexed but not driven to despair. Depression is not something to make peace with or speak lightly over one's life.

2 Corinthians 4:9 says we are hunted down but never abandoned by God. Even in trouble, it is a going through, not a going to. As Psalm 23 puts it, even walking through the valley of the shadow of death, there is no need to fear evil, for God is present.

In the Contemporary English Version, 2 Corinthians 4:7-8 says we often suffer but are never crushed; even when we do not know what to do, we never give up. 2 Corinthians 4:9 adds that in times of trouble, God is with us. When we get knocked down, we get up again. The testimony of a believer is not that they never fell, but that they got up again.

Ask of Me: God's Invitation to Pray for Nations

Psalm 2:8 in the King James Version says, "Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." The New King James Version renders it, "Ask of me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession."

God is not asking us to ask for survival. Many of us pray for daily bread, but God says ask for nations. He is not promising bread when He says nations; bread is a smaller request than what He is offering. The emphasis this month is on how to ask and what to ask for. Do not ask for small things. Do not ask for mere survival. Ask for nations.

Our first response to anything in life ought to be prayer. Prayer is not the last resort when everything else has failed; it is the first response. Matthew 9:37-38 says, "Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." Jesus did not say to rush into the harvest and see what could be done. He said to pray. Whether the news is good or bad, prayer is the first response, not a last resort after every other option has failed.

When prayer becomes a last resort, it shows a lack of trust. Someone whom God calls to leave a job and serve Him may delay obedience until circumstances force their hand, and only then surrender what was never truly theirs to surrender in the first place. Prayer should not wait until we have been "relieved" of every other option.

Scripture is full of men and women who prayed and shaped history through kingdom-driven prayer. In Daniel 9:2-3, Daniel understood by books, by the words of the prophet Jeremiah, that Israel was to spend only seventy years in servitude, so he began to seek the Lord by prayer. Daniel was a politician with everything working in his favor, yet what mattered to him was what God's word said about his people and his nation, and he prayed accordingly.

In Luke 2:36-38, the prophetess Anna, a widow who had lived with her husband only eight years before he died, and who was eighty-four years old, stayed at the temple and served God with fasting and prayer, believing that the Messiah would come. When Jesus was brought to the temple, she recognized Him and spoke of Him to others, because she had prayed for that moment. Anna and Simeon prayed, and people throughout scripture prayed. We are products of prayer; a generation prayed for the generation that is here now. If this generation does not pray, there will be nothing for the next generation to inherit. We are someone's answered prayer.

Kingdom-driven prayers come before our personal, daily needs. When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He said, "Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." Only after this does He say, "Give us this day our daily bread." The kingdom comes before personal petitions, yet for many of us the order is reversed; we put our own needs first and the kingdom last.

Four Marks of a Kingdom-Driven Prayer

A kingdom-driven prayer can be identified by four marks.

1. A Prayer That Hallows God's Name

   This is a prayer that God's character and reputation be revered, honored, and exalted everywhere. Matthew 6:9 says, "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name." This is a prayer that asks for God's name to be hallowed across the world.

   Psalm 115:1 says, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory." A kingdom-driven prayer says, "Not unto me, Lord, but unto Your name." It hallows God's name first, before any personal request is brought. Matthew 6:33 reminds us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else follows.

2. A Prayer for the Coming of God's Kingdom

   Matthew 6:10 says, "Thy kingdom come." A kingdom is the king's dominion. As a child of God, a believer is not simply a member of a local congregation, but a member of the kingdom of God, and that is what binds believers together across denominational lines. When persecution comes, it does not ask whether someone is Catholic, Anglican, or Methodist; it comes against everyone who belongs to Christ.

   To pray "Thy kingdom come" is to pray for the kingdom of God to manifest on earth, in our nations, in our entertainment, and in our schools. The enemy targets schools deliberately, because even when families fail, God can still place a teacher in a school who carries the presence of God and can shape a child who comes from a broken home. When the family comes under attack and the school comes under attack, the safety net for the next generation is weakened. To pray "Let Your kingdom come" is to pray for that safety net, and for the influence of God's kingdom, to be restored over schools, families, and nations.

   Luke 11:2 repeats this same prayer: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth."

3. A Prayer Submitting to God's Will

   This is a prayer for personal and corporate surrender to God's plans over human preferences. Luke 22:42 records Jesus praying before the cross, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." This is a prayer that says, "Let Your will be done," even when that will is inconvenient, painful, or stretches us beyond our own capacity.

   This kind of surrender does not apply to matters where God's will is already clearly revealed, such as sickness; scripture does not leave room to pray "if this sickness is your will." Submission to God's will applies to choices and preferences: a tempting job offer, a relationship, a business opportunity, or a direction in life that looks attractive but does not sit right in the spirit. Not every open door is from the Lord. The greatest weapon of the enemy is to attack a person with opportunities that are contrary to, and have nothing to do with, God's calling on their life. Such opportunities can look like "the opportunity of a lifetime" while quietly working to dismantle a life. It can feel like washing one's feet with socks still on; something inside says it is not right, even when everything on the surface looks attractive.

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   It is never a loss to submit to God's will. An illustration of this: an invitation came to preach at a church, and that same week an all-expenses-paid invitation arrived for an international board meeting that included a daily allowance. Prayer confirmed that the assignment to preach was the one to honor. Despite pressure from colleagues and even a pastor to attend the board meeting instead, the decision was made to keep the preaching engagement. When this was explained to the employer, the response was understanding, and a vacation in the same location as the board meeting followed afterward. Nothing was lost by obeying first.

   Most people do not even know God's will for their lives, because their own will is too loud to hear God's voice. Many have their lives mapped out years in advance, married by a certain age, qualified by another, with no room left for God to redirect. Submission to God's will sometimes means letting go of someone deeply desired, when God says that is not His will for that relationship.

   In making choices, God's guidance works like traffic lights. God does not usually insist on one specific person to marry, but rather a kind of person, within a category. Where He gives a green light, there is room to choose; there is no offense in choosing within His permission. But where He says "no," that is a red light, and proceeding against it is where danger lies.

   There is also a will of God for calling and assignment. A legal career was once pursued with excellence and genuine passion, complete with admission and employment offers. Yet God's call to ministry meant setting that career aside, even while the skills and interest from that training remain part of who one is. Looking back, there is no certainty that the alternative path would have ended well; it might have led to greater honor, or it might have led to ruin. Outside God's will, anything can happen, for better or for worse, and there is no safety net.

   An example was shared of a ministry that opened a branch in another nation and invested years and resources into it with little to show. After much prayer, it became clear that God's timing had not yet come for that work, and the branch was closed. Later, when the timing was right, that same work grew into hundreds of branches. God makes all things beautiful in His time; His will is not only about what He wants, but also when He wants it. A prayer to know God's will is therefore a kingdom-driven prayer.

4. A Prayer for the Advancement of the Gospel

   Colossians 4:3 and Ephesians 6:19 describe this kind of prayer. It is a prayer for open doors, for boldness in witness, and for people's hearts to be made ready to receive the word of God.

   Colossians 4:3 says, "Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds." Even while in chains, the apostle asked for prayer that doors would open for the message to go forth, and that people's hearts would be ready to receive it. Miracles happen when people truly hear the word.

   A testimony was shared of a woman who had not seen her menstrual cycle for several months and had relied on medication for it to occur, often painfully. Hearing that a visiting minister was coming, she determined to attend the service even without knowing the way, carrying a sanitary pad with her in faith. During the service, hands were laid on the congregation in prayer, and by the time she returned home, her body had responded as she had believed it would. This is what happens when people's hearts are made ready to receive the word.

   Ephesians 6:19 says, "And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." In the New Living Translation, this becomes a prayer that the right words would be given, so that the gospel could be explained boldly. Proverbs 25:11 speaks of how forcible right words are; the right word lands exactly where it is needed, at exactly the right time.

   Isaiah 50:4 says, "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary." There is both what to speak and how to speak it; sometimes the right message is delivered in the wrong way and misses its mark. The prayer is for the right word, spoken in the right way, in season, to those who are weary.

   A testimony was shared of someone who had been taught never to change their confession on account of new information, much as Jairus was told his daughter was dead while Jesus was on the way to him, yet Jesus raised her. While sitting in church, this person received a message that a long-pursued job application had been denied. Rather than abandon the confession of faith already held, they chose to hold on. Shortly afterward, a second message arrived from the same employer reversing the decision and offering the position at a significantly higher rate of pay than originally expected. This is what happens when the right word comes and is held onto: it can transform an entire situation.

   This is the heart of a kingdom-driven prayer for the gospel's advancement: that as the word goes forth, the right word reaches the right person, at the right time, and produces a harvest.