Bible Reading: Psalm 2; 1 Pet. 3:15-22
“Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” – Psalm 2:8 (KJV)
This is a season of celebration; celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and today is a day when gifts of Christmas are exchanged. Imagine a very wealthy man giving you a blank cheque duly signed by him. That gives you access to the amount he has in that account, no matter how large.
This is the kind of gift that God has given us as his children according to Psalm 2:8 (KJV): “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.” So you can ask for any population of the heathen and expect God to hand them over to you. This also includes their inheritance. This was the position before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. However with the coming of Jesus Christ, that has changed. What is expected of us now is to ask for such population of heathen to be converted to Christians so that the world would be a better place.
While the request remains valid and open up to date, our purpose has changed. We do not expect to make this request for personal gains but to enlarge the kingdom of God. Hence Jesus said in Luke 12:33 (KJV): “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.”
We should, therefore, be praying for God to give us tribes, cities, states, nations or even continents for Christ just like John Knox prayed in the 1540s that “Lord, give me Scotland, or I die.” By the time he died in 1572, the Scottish Parliament had adopted the Reformation doctrines and Scotland had been transformed. However, to pray this prayer successfully, you must have a good relationship with God and a passion for souls. It is a prayer that every Christian should pray so that we can claim the whole world for Christ.
Prayer: Father, please give me passion for souls and make me an incurable winner of souls for your kingdom in Jesus name.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero