INQUIRING OF THE LORD: PASTOR MENSA OTABIL – SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE, 4TH JULY 2021
SPECIAL SUNDAY SERVICE BY DR. MENSAH OTABIL (GENERAL OVERSEER INTERNATIONAL CENTRAL GOSPEL CHURCH (ICGC) ACCRA, GHANA)
TOPIC: INQUIRING OF THE LORD
DATE: 4TH JULY, 2021
TEXT: 1 SAMUEL 30:7-8, 2 SAMUEL 2:1 AND 2 SAMUEL 5:17-19.
Amen! Let’s rise up together, as we make our DECLARATION OF FRUITFULNESS in this Year of Fruitfulness:
Are you ready? Say with me:
The Eternal God is our Refuge. He opens Rivers in desolate Heights.The Lord makes the wilderness a Pool of water.
The LORD God is my Sun and Shield; The LORD gives Grace and Glory.
Therefore, I delight myself in Him. Those who are Planted in the House of the LORD shall be Fresh and Flourishing.
Though the Earth be shaken; the Name of the Lord is my Strong Tower. By Faith I affirm that: In Christ alone is my Salvation. In Him I live, and move and have my Being.
It is written: The Righteous are like trees Planted by the waters; bearing Fruits in its Season.
So I boldly declare: As for me, my God has made me Exceedingly Fruitful.
In this Season, my Spirit bears Fruits of Righteousness, my Talents make Way for me. With my hands, I will Plant, I will Build, I will Harvest – Day by Day, Step by Step.
In Jesus’ Name – Amen!
I am speaking briefly on the subject: “INQUIRING OF THE LORD”.
One of the things we all do during times of Prayer is that we Inquire of the Lord: we Praise the Lord, we Ask God Questions, we want God to Guide us, we want God to Direct us, we want God to Order our Steps.
And so it is important to learn a few things about what it means to inquire of the Lord.
And then we will spend a few Minutes just to Pray on that Topic.
I’ll read three (3) Passages of Scriptures together, from 1 Samuel 30:7-8; 2 Samuel 2:1 and 2 Samuel 5: 17-19.
I will read them sequentially one after the other (NKJV):
1 Samuel 30:7-8:
7 Then David said to Abiathar the Priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I Pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
2 Samuel 2:1:
It happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the Cities of Judah?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “To Hebron.”
2 Samuel 5:17-19:
17 Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went down to the Stronghold.
18 The Philistines also went and deployed themselves in the Valley of Rephaim.
19 So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?”
One word runs through these three (2) Verses; and the word is “INQUIRE”.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO INQUIRE?
It means several things – I will give you three (3) things that it means:
- It means to Raise a Question.
It means to investigate something, to interrogate a matter.
And we see in David’s example that he interrogates the Lord. He investigated, he makes an enquiry, he raises a Question: “Shall I go up?”
So, to Inquire means to raise a Question.
- Secondly, to Inquire means to Seek for answers.
When you need answers you go to the one who has answers.
When we make enquiry or when we inquire, we are looking for answers. We want somebody who knows the answer to tell us the answer.
In this sense, David knew that God had the answers; so he asked Him (God) for the answers.
… When we Inquire, we raise a question, we seek answers.
- And thirdly, when we Inquire, we are Asking for Help, or we are Pleading for Help.
It involves Prayer!
In the Hebrew language, the word that is translated for us in the English as “Inquire” is used many times for People who Presented their requests before the Lord.
Inquire also means to Pray, to ask for Help or to seek God’s Guidance.
When we inquire of the Lord, it means we address our Questions to the Lord, and we seek Answers from Him and we seek for His Help.
In all the three (3) Passages that we have read, we know that David inquired of the Lord.
These are not the only times where David inquired of the Lord. I only chose three (3) – But he did it very frequently.
David inquired of the Lord throughout his life – He inquired of the Lord; he sought for God’s Direction.
How was he able to do that? How could David who was not a Priest Inquire of the Lord?
Because David had a Personal Relationship with God! – He knew the Lord and he spent a lot of time in God’s Presence.
If we are going to Inquire of the Lord, we must know Him Personally; Not know Him care of somebody!
David had a Personal Relationship with God; and he was also able to inquire of the Lord because he sought for God’s Mind when he was making a Decision.
It was only King Saul who acted impulsively.
David didn’t act impulsively; he also sought for the Mind of God and that is the reason why he won all his battles – Throughout his reign, he never lost a battle.
Because he didn’t just go fighting! – He fought the battles that God asked him to fight.
And there are times that God will tell him not to fight some battles, and he will not fight them!
And so, he had a Hundred Percent (100%) Success because he inquired of the Lord.
It wasn’t just because he was a Good Soldier but because he sought for God’s Mind in his Decision-Making.
And not only did he know how to ask God Questions, he also knew how to hear from God. He developed the ability to hear from God.
In the Old Testament People depended mainly on two (2) Sources for Direction – The Priest and the Prophet.
There were times that Prophets spoke to David and there were times that Priests spoke to David.
But in a lot of the enquiries he made, it wasn’t from a Prophet or from a Priest; but he spoke directly to God. And God spoke directly to him.
Even under the Old Testament, David knew how to hear from God.
And for those of us who are in the New Testament, you better know how to hear from God, if you are going to inquire of the Lord.
And then when he had inquired of the Lord, he followed God’s Leading Faithfully. Once he knew the Mind of God, he followed.
He didn’t just seek for God’s Mind and God’s Will for him; he was a Doer of God’s Will.
How was David able to do that? What was his Methodology? What was the Process? What did he do when he was making an enquiry of the Lord?
Well, in his Psalms (One in Particular) he gives us a certain clue – Psalms 27:4-5, David gives us a certain Process and it reads:
One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord. All the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His Temple. For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His Pavilion; In the Secret Place of His Tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a Rock.
There are Three (3) things I want you to know:
- Abiding in God’s Presence.
This is the first thing that helped David to know the Will of God.
He says: ‘One thing I desire is to dwell in the house of the Lord.’
And one of the most important Pursuant is to be in God’s Presence, to dwell in the house of the Lord!
In the Old Covenant – Which is the Covenant that David lived under; the Presence of the Lord was in the Temple, because that is where the Ark of the Lord was.
So, when People wanted to be in the Presence of God, they will go to the Temple – And David did that many times!
He would sometimes go to the Temple and just sit down – Just sit down before the Lord and wait on the Lord, be in His Presence.
If you are going to enquire of the Lord, you better be in the Presence of the Lord.
You must love the Presence of God, you must be happy when you are where God is Abiding in God’s Presence.
If we are going to Inquire of the Lord, we must Abide in the Presence of the Lord.
David said – That is one thing he did!
… And not only that, he says that:
- When he was in the Presence of the Lord, he beheld the Beauty of the Lord.
He observed the beauty of the Lord!
He saw God in His Majesty, and he called the Majesty of the Lord – “The Beauty of the Lord.”
In the Presence of the Lord, David thought about the works of the Lord, the ways of the Lord. He saw how God has put all things beautifully together – beholding the beauty of the Lord.
You know, many times you look at life Generally – ‘This is happening there, that is happening there.’ And we never see the hand of the Lord in the event of life.
Sometimes we even see our lives and we think our life is confused: “I don’t even know what I’m going through – Everything is just confused.”
But when you behold the beauty of the Lord, you will see that He is making all things work together for your Good. You see His Beauty, you see His Plans, you see His Design.
You see that God is a God of beauty; He is a God of Order, He is a God of Design. Nothing happening in your life is by accident.
And David said: I saw that in the Temple of the Lord; I beheld the Beauty of the Lord, that God is working in my life.
Have you taken out time to admire the works of God?
Yes, you can admire the works of God in Creation – We see the Mountains, and we say, oh how beautiful the works of God.
But I am talking about: Have you taken time to look at your life and see the Beauty of the Lord?
Have you seen the Beauty of the Lord in whom He allowed to be your Parents? Have you seen the Beauty of the Lord in all the things you have gone through in this world? Have you seen the Beauty of the Lord in whom he allowed you to marry? Have you seen the Beauty of the Lord in your children? Have you seen the beauty of the Lord in what has been happening in your life since COVID-19 broke out?
Because, when you look and see the Beauty of the Lord, then you can see that Nothing is an accident!
And that is what David said. His life was not all sweet and nice and honey; his life had a lot of bitterness.
But he said, when I go to the Temple all I see is God’s Beauty: I see Him working my life together, I see Him moving things together, I see Him making all things work together for my Good. I see the Beauty of the Lord.
… And then he said, because of that:
- I will Inquire of the Lord – Seeking God’s Will and Guidance.
David inquired of the Lord, while he beheld the Beauty of the Lord in an Atmosphere of Worship.
If you can’t see God’s Hand orchestrating all the events of your life, you cannot trust Him to ask Him for His Will.
I used to have a lot of struggle Praying for God’s Will.
And I have said it before, that Hymn: “Take my life and let it be consecrated unto You” – When I was singing that Song and I got to: ‘”Take my a hand and feet”‘; I wouldn’t sing.
Because my Mind couldn’t see that I can trust God with my hands. “What if He breaks it?”
If I say God take my leg and He knocks it out; ‘take my heart He breaks it.’
… Because sometimes you can go through some bitterness in your life.
And that happened when I lost both of my Parents as a Teenager in one Year – And I said I can’t trust God: ‘What if I trust Him and He kills me?’ What if I say ‘Lord take my life and He says thank you and it takes it? (Laughs)!
Because I couldn’t see the Beauty of the Lord in the chaos of my life. But now, I can look at everything that happened to me and see the Beauty of the Lord in His Temple.
And so I can Inquire of the Lord because I know that what I saw as chaos; was God working out His Plans and Purposes in my life.
It is when when you see the Beauty of the Lord in your life, that you can say: Lord show me Your Will.
Because you know, whenever He leads you, it will be Good!
So David tells us of the sequence – He does not just rush into the Presence of the Lord and say Lord, I need money, who should I marry? Tell me what to do.
- No, he starts with Abiding in the Presence of the Lord.
- And then he beheld the Beauty of the Lord.
And after that, he says Lord by the way: what should I do about that Thing? How should I handle that Problem? Should I deal with this directly? Should I find out about that Person fighting me in the Office? Should I reply him or should I just leave him alone?
… And God will say: Do this and don’t do that. And do this and do that.
David, after he has done that, he says in Psalms 27:5 – For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His Pavilion; In the Secret Place of His Tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a Rock.
David says when we seek the Lord, Inquire of Him, He will Protect us and Promote us, set us on the Rock and hide us in His Pavilion.
I. There is a Place in God where, although the enemy is wild outside, he cannot get you.
II. There is a Place in God where everything may be going wrong but in that Place there is comfort.
III. There is Safety, there Security. And when we Inquire of the Lord, He takes us to that Place.
In the Old Testament, the Temple was God’s Dwelling Place – That is where they went to inquire of the Lord.
But where do we go today the to inquire of the Lord? Do we also go to a Temple, to a Church Building?
1 Corinthians 3:16 says: Do you not know that you are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
David had to go to a Temple to see God.
But today, we don’t have to go to a Temple to see God because, God’s Spirit dwells in us.
HOW DOES GOD LEAD US?
The Spirit of God dwells within us, not in a remote Physical Location.
Because when at night, you need direction, you cannot get up and say let me go to Christ Temple (ICGC Headquarters Parish).
If you live far away from the Temple (in another Country) how are you going to come here and Inquire of the Lord?
But your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit because He dwells in you!
The Enquiry is not taking Place outside you – It is taking Place inside you.
The Spirit of God speaks within us.
The Lord can and He does speak to us by the inward Witness: through Dreams, through Visions, through Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But all of that happened because the Spirit is taking residence in us – We are His Temple!
Unlike David, who had to go to a Place; we have to be in a State of Worship, we have to be in a State of Contemplation, we have to be in a State of Prayer!
And the Spirit of God leads from within us.
Sometimes, God lead us without speaking to us – He simply holds our hands (so to speak) and work with us you just hold your hand and walks with us.
You say, Lord, where are we going? – He says, just Trust me?
And he holds your hand and guide you.
You don’t hear His Voice, just His Direction.
There are other times when you will hear a Voice, there are other times when you don’t hear a Voice.
… And all of that comes because the Holy Spirit dwells within you.
This morning, we can also learn from David in our Prayer to “INQUIRE OF THE LORD”.
And I am going to give us four (4) Prayer Topics that we will Pray about, as we put into Practice what we have learnt today.
Let us Pray!
Are you ready to Pray?
Alright, let us rise up together – Do you want to Inquire of the Lord? I don’t know what you want God to speak to you about.
But I believed God is going to speak to you and you will hear His Voice – Amen.
Even if you don’t hear His Voice, you will feel His Guidances and his Direction.
PRAYER POINTS:
- Say with me: Heavenly Father, You are my Dwelling Place. Thank You for drawing me into Your Presence. Your Presence is Heaven to me.
- Say: Heavenly Father; I behold Your Beauty, I see Your Hands bringing everything in my life into Your Perfect Will.
- Say with me: Heavenly Father, lead me by Your Spirit, guide Me by Your hand, Order my Steps into Your Will, in the Name of Jesus!
You will be led by the Lord; not by fear, not by emotion, not by anxiety – The Lord will lead you! There is beauty coming out of your life, there is design in your life, there is a Purpose.
… So I want you to Pray!
- Say with me: Heavenly Father, what do you want me to do? Where do You want me to go? What should I stop doing? Impress your Will on my heart.
… Now Inquire of the Lord (ask Him Specific Questions)
Impress Your Will on My heart Lord. Let us have a clear Sense of Purpose and Direction, in all that we do Lord – Show us what to do, show us where to go, show us whom to talk to, show us whom to ask for Help and whom never to ask for Help.
Show us what to say. When you are in that Place, you just want to say: When we go for that interview what should we say Lord? What should we not say? Inquire of the Lord!
CLOSING PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we come before You this Morning; You are our Guide, You are our Helper, you are our Strength, you are our Shield.
I behold Your Beauty in all the events of our lives, we see Your Hands bringing Order out of choas.
We see You Lord taking what was meant to be evil to work out your Purposes.
We see You using our lives to manifest the Glory of God, so that all will know that there is a God, and His Ways are Perfect.
So Lord, we honour You this Morning; and we Thank You for the Direction You give to us and we Thank You for the Guidance in Jesus Name – Amen and Amen!
Give the Lord Praise this Morning – Amen!
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