I want a Palace!!

Keep DARING to ask God for more!

You've probably heard the story of Alexander the Great. He was known as a great Conqueror back in the 300 B.C. time period. He conquered all the "then known" world. It is told, that when he reached Asia, he realized there were no more countries to conquer and he actually wept. However, besides being a great conqueror, he was also a compassionate ruler. Every year he set aside one day that he called compassionate day.

On this special day out of the year, he randomly selected different people across his nation who could come and make their requests known to him. They could ask for whatever they wanted or needed. So, after the people had been selected, they were brought to the palace. The King sat on his throne, and people began to come forward and ask for things. They spoke through his spokesman.

The first man came forward. "I don't have money to buy food for my family. Can you supply food for our family?"The spokesman shared the request with the king, and the king replied, "Request granted! Next!" The next man came forward. "I’m a poor man. I don’t have money for medicine. Could you help me get medicine of my family?" Again the king replied, "Request granted! Next!" And so the requests continued one after another. 

Finally a man came forward with a different requests. When he knelt before the king, the king asked, as he had each man before, "What would you like me to do for you today?" The man turned to the king's spokesman and replied enthusiastically, “My lord, can you please tell the king that I want a palace! I want a nice palace…” Before he could continue the king's spokesman began to get upset and angry. "What impertinence! Don’t you see all these people asking for food and medicine. How dare you to think that you can ask for a palace?" 

But the man continued, “Yes, I want a large palace with a big hall where I can host a banquet, because I have lots of friends. And I want the palace to be well furnished." The spokesmen was getting more and more annoyed. "I will not ask the king this! This is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard!" But King Alexander saw his spokesmen was getting angry and he spoke up, “What is going on? What does the man desire?” The spokesmen reluctantly turned toward the King and came forward and whispered in low tones that only he could hear. 

“King, I'm afraid to tell you this. I can't believe how unreasonable this man is, and I know you will be upset. But he's asking for a palace. But not only does he have the audacity to ask for a palace, but he's asking that you'd make a large banquet hall, because he evidently has lots of friends. And he wants the whole thing to be fully furnished…I'm so sorry. I know this is such an unreasonable request, and I tried to get him to ask for something more reasonable, but he persisted." King Alexander paused for a moment, then with a large smile on his face, he turned to the petitioner and enthusiastically replied, “Request granted!” 

The spokesmen looked at the king in astonishment. "How can you grant such an outrageous request?" he asked in shock? The king replied smiling. "You see, all these people are asking for food, for medicine, and for mundane things. They think that’s the only thing I can give. But they don’t need a king to give them these things. Anyone could do this for them. But this man… THIS MAN… He's the first man that's really made me feel like the King I am. For only I could grant such a request.”

Have you ever wondered how God must feel, the King of the Universe, when we come to Him just begging for a few morsels of bread, for a few dollars to pay our bills, for a few small things? Here, He's the King of the Universe. He created our world out of nothing, He can move mountains, cause fire to come down from heaven, and bring the dead back to life! And yet, we are content if we just receive a few crumbs from His table. I say that we dare to ask Him for more!!!!!!! We need to start asking Him for a PALACE! Oh, I'm not talking about the physical kind (although we are promised that even this will come in time. See John 14:2), but I'm talking about the spiritual kind. Like impossibilities that are simply out of this world, that only someone like God could do!

“I asked the angel why there was no more faith and power in Israel. He said, “Ye let go of the arm of the Lord too soon. Press your petitions to the throne, and hold on by strong faith. The promises are sure. Believe ye receive the things ye ask for, and ye shall have them.” I was then pointed to Elijah. He was subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly. His faith endured the trial. Seven times he prayed before the Lord, and at last the cloud was seen. I saw that we had doubted the sure promises, and wounded the Saviour by our lack of faith.” Early Writings, p. 73

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us." Eph. 3:20

Review:

• Bible Thought: Dare to ask for more! While it's ok to ask for small things (God calls about every detail in our lives) remember that He can do anything. Let's ask for a "Palace" of blessings! And let's see what He will do!
• Blessing: If you liked this story, get ready as there are more to come. This is actually excerpts from our new book on prayer "Daring to Ask for More" that is in progress. Yes indeed! This is the big project I've been working on these last couple months. I've asked God for blessings and I believe He's in the process of building a palace that will challenge all of us to go much deeper in prayer. So stay tuned! He is blessing!!
• Battles: My battle today… well, as always, it's to be faithful and to keep my eyes on my King! There are many distractions, so this is my battle.