SCRIPTURE:
"He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it." (Mark 9:31b-32, NIV)

OBSERVATIONS:
I asked myself what 3 things did Jesus share with the disciples?
1. The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.
2. They will kill him.
3. After 3 days, He will rise.

INTERPRETATION:
I asked myself the significance of Jesus sharing those things with his disciples?
Jesus was very open with his disciples and wanted them to know about His life and what was going to happen to Him while He was on earth. Also, I believe it was to give the disciples the opportunities to question Him to learn from Him but the disciples did not understand and were afraid to ask Him.

IMPLICATIONS:
I saw important implications for my own life. Just as Jesus shared His life with the disciples, Jesus shares His life with me through His Word. I need to always go to Jesus with anything that I do not understand and ask Him without being afraid. Jesus shares more than His life with me. He shares the principles of living. There will be times I do not understand at all why something should be done but I need to go out in faith trusting Jesus and do it.

HOW GOSPEL GIVES ME TESTIMONY REGARDING A.S.K:
This morning I also read from Psalm 116 where the Psalmist says, "Because He bends down and hears, I will pray as long as I live." This was a wonderful Psalm giving me confidence to go to the Lord anytime and ask Him of anything. I do not need to be afraid but whatever I do not understand that Jesus shares with me, I can turn that to prayer and ask Jesus what He meant. In His time, He will reveal it to me. Things you do not understand, He will reveal to you to in His timing.

I can ask Jesus because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is through the Gospel that I have been saved by the Blood of the Lamb of God. Because I am saved, I belong to the King of Kings and can ask Him of anything. He promises, 'Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open to you.' Wow! When I ask Him of anything, I need to be mindful of His Word that He shares with me because God will not go against His Word. His Word is filled with promises for my own abundant living. It is filled with promises for you too.

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NIV)

More than anything, I am so thankful that I was able to ask Jesus to save me from sin and be my Lord and Personal Savior. Now, I have the Holy Spirit living in me to guide me and lead me. His Word will sustain me. Praise the Lord.

I ask you now dear friend, why not ask the Lord in life?
Dear friend, just as the disciples were afraid to ask Jesus what He meant, we can succumb to that mode too if we are not careful. Jesus shares things with us through His Word, His Spirit, and His church and if we do not understand what He is sharing with us, we need to ask of Him. We need not be afraid. When we ask of Him we need to remember that whatever He reveals to us will not go against His Word. Praise the Lord. It is wonderful to know that Jesus loves us so much and Jesus did come back to life on the third day to save, ransoming us from our sin.

Whatever we are going through, we can ask of the Lord for help. He waits to hear from us and will answer us in His timing. But before we can even approach the throne of grace and find help in time of need, we need to accept the ransom paid by Jesus and not strive on our own to be received into the Kingdom of God. We cannot on our own if not for the grace of the Lord. Jesus saved us because of His love for us. We as His children can openly share with the Lord what we are going through and ask Him for help, hope, and healing in our lives.

He will answer and give us what we ask as we ask it in the Name of Jesus and according to His will. Praise the Lord. No good thing will He withhold from His children.

May you come to experience asking Savior kindly!

"Asking Savior Kindly! (A.S.K)"/"Why not ask the Lord in life?"

Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thanks for being open with the disciples and sharing your life with them. Oh Lord, they did not understand what you shared with them and were afraid to ask. Oh Lord, there are times in our lives that we are afraid to ask of things. Oh Lord, I thank you so much for sharing Your Word with me and moving me to action. Help me to always remember that I can ask of you of anything and you will hear and answer when I ask it in Your Name and according to your Will. Thank you for the power of Your Word, Your Spirit to work in us the church. Oh Lord, thank you that I can pray to you knowing that you bend down and answer. I love you Lord. Thanks for loving me so much and dying for my sin.

Lord Jesus, You are my all in all. You are my Prince of Peace, Rock, Savior, and Friend. You are my Holy Father guiding me through to live a life of righteousness, holy righteousness. Oh God, I need you more than ever. I need to feel your hands around me holding me tight. I need your love to surround me so that you can glow in my life. Help me please Jesus. I desire in your presence. Thank you for guiding me to live a life of righteousness. Oh God you love me more than ever. You hear my voice when I cry out to you. When I seek your face, you fill me up. You are my all in all. Thank you Jesus so much for your help no matter what I face, your grace is available and you take my case. Thank you for hearing us and answering us. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! AMEN! (Most of the prayer is from a vineyard song called “All in All”)

You don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and give you peace to LIVE out your actions.

How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?

One of my pastors, Pastor Hugo SHARED this example one Sunday at the RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:

If you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no peace.

But  as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.

Yes, friend God is aLIVE and wants to bring a transformation in your life through the GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and LIVE with us.

Yes, friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE & LIVING GRACE.

When we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive us and RESTORE us to Him and we will find peace in Him.

^"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)

Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.

"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)

Come to Jesus as you are and pray this prayer to accept Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior. He will transform your life around! Praise the Lord! You don't have to have all the answers! You can come as you are!

If you want to be a soldier in the Lord's army, you can become it right now. Now is the time of Salvation! You do not have to wait but can pray this prayer and give your life to Christ to serve Him daily! There is no draft but coming to Christ is voluntary. He loves you so much and wants you to come to Him! He will take care of you, guiding you and leading you!

PRAYER:
Dear Jesus, I love you. Thank you for loving me so much and thank you for choosing the cross to die for me. You became the Son of Man and lived here on earth. Then you humbled yourself and became obedient to death-even death on the cross. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. You died on the cross so that I can be covered in your blood and cleansed by your blood as I acknowledge that I need you and cannot enter Heaven without you being my pathway. So, Jesus I confess all my sins to you and all the ways I have tried to get into Heaven when you already provided the means and the Way. Thank you for all that you have done for me. "The cross is the place, a wonderful place where accused and condemned find mercy and grace. Thank you Jesus, it is at the cross where the wrongs we have done and the wrongs done to us were nailed at the cross. Thank you Jesus, at the cross you died for our sins and at the cross you gave your life for us." I thank you for that and thank you for coming back to life to save us. Thank you Jesus for being there for me! Thank you for loving me. I love you Jesus! Please take me as I am and make my life into something that you will be proud of. I surrender my life to you and need your help to live for you. I am forever grateful for what you have done for me and I can never repay you. I want to live for you and need your help. Help me Jesus please. I thank you Jesus for saving me! Thank you for hearing my prayer and answering me. Whatever your will give me the willingness and strength to bear it. Thank you Jesus! I acknowledge you as my Lord and Personal Savior! In Your Name I Pray precious Jesus! Amen!