Teach Us to Pray

And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1

So many unanswered questions. What place? Were they still at Lazarus’ house?  Or is the “certain place” His favorite spot in Gethsemane? Did it remind Him of Eden and that’s why He was partial to it? Which disciple asked? What did John teach his disciples? How did they pray?

In Before Amen, Max Lucado asks, “Might their interest have something to do with the jaw-dropping promise Jesus attached to prayer? ‘Ask and it will be given you’?” Had they asked and not received? Or did they just want to know what to ask for?

It’s a question we still need to ask, for we spend far too little time communicating with the Trinity.  Lord, teach us to pray just as You taught Your disciples.

Sons of Thunder

But He turned and corrected them. “You don’t know the kind of spirit that is influencing you. The Son of Man didn’t come to destroy people’s lives but to save them.” Luke 9: 55 (GWT)

James and John have just asked Jesus if He wanted them to call down fire from heaven to burn up the Samaritan village that wouldn’t allow Jesus to stay overnight. A spirit influenced them. The Holy Spirit hadn’t come yet, so it’s either their own fleshly sinful spirit or an evil spirit that was influencing them. It makes me pause and wonder what evil spirits might be influencing me.

Please make me aware and willing to cast them out. Please make me keenly aware at all times exactly what kind of spirit is influencing me at the moment and obey only Yours.

He Knew – Nevertheless

The Garden of Eden. “Let Us make man in Our Own image.” He knew that it wouldn’t take long for man to disobey. Nevertheless, He made Adam and Eve.

He knew that every patriarch would fail Him. Nevertheless, He was faithful to each one and He blessed them.

He knew that every believer would sin and sin some more. Nevertheless, He sent His son to be our Savior.

He knew that when He sent His son to earth, He would be misunderstood, ignored, neglected, abused and tortured. Nevertheless, He sent His son to be our Teacher.

He knew that our lives would be so busy that we would forget Him. Nevertheless, He sent His Spirit to dwell within us.

He knew that we would still sin. Nevertheless, He forgives when we repent and cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

He knew that our prayers would be lacking. Nevertheless, the Spirit prays for us, and Jesus intercedes on our behalf.

He knew that we would desperately need His help but hesitate to ask and forget to seek. Nevertheless, He empowers us through his Holy Spirit.

He knew that we wouldn’t have a clue about the height, the depth, the breadth, the width of His love for us, let alone be able to truly love Him in return. Nevertheless, He loves us.

Simeon

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; And to the Holy Spirit was upon him. Luke 2:25

Odd. Everyone else seemed to be looking for a warrior king. Herod was afraid of being usurped. The disciples and the people were looking for the Messiah to free them from Roman oppression. Most everyone was looking for a way out from their circumstances. Simeon however is looking for consolation, comfort, exhortation and encouragement to see them through the situation. He seems to be the only one who truly understood the coming of the Messiah. That must be why the Holy Spirit was upon him and why God allowed him to see the baby Jesus.

Indescribable

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!  II Corinthians 9:15

The indescribable gift of Your Son

Conceived by the Holy Spirit

Born of the virgin Mary

Grew in stature and favor

Led and cared as a shepherd

Taught, healed, prayed for us

Suffered under the Sanhedrin and Pontius Pilot

Died as a perfect lamb

Rose as a victorious king

Intercedes for us with the Father

The indescribable gift of Your Spirit

Drawing us to the Father and Son

Rebirths us

Seals us

Baptizes us, fills us

Indwells us

Assures us

Teaches and reminds us

Comforts and strengthens us

Leads and directs

Calls and empowers

Makes us fruitful

Prays for us, with us, for us

The indescribable gift of God Himself – all of Himself

There aren’t enough adjectives or adverbs, but we will spend eternity trying to describe His indescribable gifts.

Seasons of the Spirit

Dear Holy Spirit,

You woke me up very early this morning, perhaps because I didn’t really have quiet time at bedtime with You. As I was trying to fall back to sleep, I was thinking about You, and I began to see the different seasons that You’ve been through in Your career as the Holy Spirit of God.

Genesis tells us that You hovered over the face of the earth. That was Your first season, blanketing the earth, protecting it. Warming it. Nurturing it. Incubating.

Then along came people. And Your job changed. You would indwell specific people at specific times. Saul when he was anointed king, but You had to leave when he disobeyed Father. You anointed prophets for preaching, kings for battle, certain women for the birth of their children. I wonder how often You wanted to do more. It would have frustrated me, but I wonder if You knew all of Father’s plan and that someday You’d be able to do more. Or were You simply content to obey the Father as He directed You?

Then, there was the 400 plus years of silence between the last prophet and the preparation for the birth of Jesus. Did You know the plan from the beginning? Or were You just as surprised as the angels? Your role is different now in the New Testament gospels. In this season, You prepare people’s hearts for the coming Messiah. Simeon and Anna, Joseph and Mary, twelve disciples, well maybe just eleven. You worked in hearts and stirred them up and prepared them for Jesus’ life and words. You opened their minds to understand the truth He spoke, You opened hearts to receive His love, You opened souls to receive salvation. Most important of all, You descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and enabled Him, helping Him to do all that the Father had planned for Him.

You were with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, during the arrest, trials, scourging.  How Your heart must have broken when You had to step aside as Jesus took on the sins of the world and was forsaken.  When Jesus died on the cross, did You know He was going to rise again?

I wonder what you did during the fifty days between His resurrection and Pentecost. Were You still preparing hearts and souls? You must have been – that would be why so many joined the early church (five and three thousand). Then there was the day of Pentecost where You appeared upon every believer’s head as a cloven tongue of flame and began a new season of indwelling us. Now You enter in and make Yourself at home. You transform us, conforming us into the image of Christ. You intercede for us. You help us pray. You teach, comfort, heal, and so much more that will never understand until we see You face to face.

So, I just wanted to say thank You. Thank You so very much for all You have done in the past, for all You are doing now, and for all You will continue to do in the future. Can’t wait to meet You face to face, get a tangible hug and thank You in person (or spirit as the case may be!).

Love in Christ,

Janet Jean

The Magnificat

Luke 1: 46-55

My soul praises the Lord’s greatness- greatest of the great.

My spirit finds its joy in God, my Savior, who sent Jesus to be my Savior.

You have looked favorably on me, your humble servant. You have done so much in me, with me, through me and for me!

May all people recognize Your working in my life and call me blessed.

May all people recognize the great things You have done for me and call You Almighty.

I praise You for Your holy name and pray that all people will hallow Your name.

I praise You for the lasting mercy we and our loved ones experience because we revere and honor You.

You have displayed Your mighty power in our lives.

You scatter those who think too highly of themselves.

You pull strong rulers from their thrones. You change the hearts of kings.

You honor humble people.

You feed hungry people with good food – physically and spiritually.

You send rich people away with nothing.

You remember to help Your servant Israel forever and You remember to help Your servant the Church.

This is the promise You made to Abraham and his descendants and all peoples.

JESUS!

Mary

Mary asked the angel, “How can this be? I’ve never had any sexual intercourse.” Luke 1:34 (GWT)

Zechariah asked for proof, Mary asked how. Mary was asking for the next step. She was promised in marriage to Joseph, but apparently the marriage wasn’t going to take place for a while yet, so she asked how she would become pregnant.

Amazing. Mary’s first thought isn’t about herself and how this will change her life. Mary’s first thought is what does she need to do next. No wonder verse 28 says she was favored by God. She has the most willing heart and soul in the Bible aside from Jesus.

For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment. Luke 1:37 (AMP)

What a promise! With God, nothing is ever impossible. That super hard heart of a loved one? Their salvation is not impossible with God. No word from God shall be without power. If he has said he will do something, it will be done with his limitless power. No word from God is impossible of fulfillment. Whatever he has promised will happen. Positively – no room for doubt. What a promise!

Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me”.  Then the angel left her. Luke 1:38 (GWT)

Everything the angel said is going to change her life dramatically. Surely there are questions she needs answered, especially about her marriage to Joseph. Her trust is so complete though that she doesn’t ask a single question after she asks how this will be. She learns the Holy Spirit will come to her, the power of God will overshadow her, and the Holy Child within her will be the Son of God (verse 35).  She’s been given the privilege of bearing the Messiah and that’s enough for her.  She learns Elizabeth is pregnant in her old age and nothing is impossible for God (verse 36).

When Mary tells the angel to let everything he said happen to her, she’s also agreeing to let everything he hasn’t said happen to her. The gossip, crude and cruel remarks, harsh treatment, rejection, perhaps for a lifetime.  Mary accepts all of it – all of God’s will – without hesitating and without questioning.  She didn’t ask “Why me?” because the first thing Gabriel told her was that she had found favor with God.

The cross tells us we that have found favor with God. We don’t need to ask “Why me?” either. Although perhaps we should ask more often, “Why would He save me?”

The Right Moral State

And he (John the Baptist) will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient and incredulous and unpersuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which is the knowledge and holy love of the will of God] in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state]. Luke 1:17 (Amp)

John “turned back the hearts of the fathers to the children”.  His preaching made fathers think more about their duty to love and instruct their children. Too many fathers are uninvolved in the lives, hearts and spirits of their children.

John also turned the disobedient (all of us) and incredulous and unpersuaded (we all know someone we love who’s in this category) to the wisdom of the upright (that’s us if we believe and have asked Jesus to save us). The wisdom of the upright is the knowledge of the will of God (for us to be like Jesus) and a holy love of the will of God. We should have a holy love, not a selfish one for desiring God to make us more and more like Jesus. We should want what God wants for us, not what we want. We should love what God wants and it should be a holy, sacred love, a self-sacrificing agape kind of love.

John came in order to make ready for God and Jesus a people prepared in spirit for His working.  John came to adjust us to the right moral state, to dispose us to the right moral state (bring us into the right frame of mind), to place us in the right moral state.

That is our purpose as well – to help others live more like Christ-like lives.

In Jesus’ Name

And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.  John 14:13-14

Asking in Jesus’ name is not a magic phrase we use to get what we want.

So many people latch on the part about asking and receiving and miss the surrounding context.  It’s not “when you ask in Jesus’ name, then you will automatically receive what you’ve asked for”.  It’s ”if X and you ask in Jesus’ name, then you will receive what you’ve asked for.”

“And whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive all.”  Matthew 21:22

We have to ask in prayer.  In prayer is not reciting a list of requests and moving on to the next task of the day.  Prayer is a four-way communication.  We pray to God in the Spirit in Jesus’ name.  The Spirit prays with us and sometimes for us. Jesus intercedes and adds to our prayer.  The Father hears and replies.  The Spirit tells us the Father’s response.  We listen and adjust our attitude and prayer as the Spirit works in us and matures us. 

Secondly, we must believe.  Believe that God hears, answers and does what is best.  Believe that what God wants is better than what we want.  Then the Spirit will work in us to change our desires to want what God wants. 

“Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they will be granted to you.”  Mark 11:24

Sometimes, many times, when we pray for what seems to be impossible, we don’t really fully believe that God can or will do it.  Sometimes when we ask for something for ourselves, we don’t believe we’re worth it, or good enough or loved enough.  The verse says “have received”.  As soon as we pray (actually, way before we prayed) we already received what we prayed for.  That’s how our God works. 

“If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”  John 15:7

There are not one, but two conditions here.  If we remain in Jesus, then we become more and more like Jesus.  We begin to know the Father and what He wants, the kind of request that delights His heart.  Secondly, as Jesus’ words (which are God’s words) remain in us.  Remain, not bounce off our thick skulls, or flit around in our minds along with all our other thoughts and distractions.  Remain, as in settle down, settle in, take root and grow until they are knitted into the fabric of our being.  When we are one with Jesus and His words permeate our words, then whatever we ask for will be what God, Jesus and the Spirit would have asked for, what They want and so naturally it’s done.  If we ask and don’t receive, then we need to get still in Their Presence and check the Word.  If the request is sound and self-free, then we keep praying until the appointed time, always keeping in mind that we are only human and our experiences and desires influence our interpretations constantly. 

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatsoever you ask the Father in My name He may give to you.”  John 15:16

Here the condition is bearing fruit.   Since we have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit, any request we make related to fruit bearing will be granted.  Taking it further, God grants requests that bring more souls to Him, that help others to see and know Him better, that bring Him glory.  If our requests do more for us than they do for Him, don’t expect a favorable answer. 

“Truly, truly I say to you if you ask the Father for anything in My name He will give it to you.  Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.” John 16: 23b-24

Jesus is repeating himself (14: 13-14; 15:7).  Just because there aren’t any conditions in these verses it doesn’t mean they don’t apply. Jesus’ intent was to remind the disciples to ask the Father in His name for whatever spiritual, kingdom enhancing needs they (and we) have.

“And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” I John 3:22

We ask and receive because we keep His commandments (which are God’s commandments) and do the things that are pleasing to Him. How do we find out what pleases Him? By reading the word and following Jesus’ example.

“This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” I John 5:14-15

Here is the key. What we ask for must be according to His will. The more time we spend with Them, in the word, with other believers, the better we know God’s will. When we pray, it must be in and with confidence that He hears.  Since He hears every request, we can be sure that God gives His all to give us the very best. When what we receive doesn’t fit our request or our definition of “best”, then we have to remember that our vision and understanding is limited, and God sees a much bigger picture. In that bigger picture, what is going on is best for God, for others and for us.

“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.” James 4:2b-3

Whatever we think we are missing in life, we should ask God for. If our request isn’t granted, then we need to check our motives for any trace of selfishness. In the rare instance that we don’t find any, then we have to have confidence and believe that it’s simply not yet the appointed time.

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:17

Pray in the name of Jesus. Speak in the name of Jesus. Work, love, laugh, and play in the name of Jesus. Then watch and see what happens to your prayer life! It may not always be well with our lives, circumstances or bodies, but it will always be well with our souls.

How can we be sure? And how can we do all things in Jesus’ name? There is one more verse to add to our collection: John 14:26 “But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you.”

One more thought. We really do need to ask in Jesus’ name. Not so we can get what we want, but because apart from Jesus, we are undeserving.