No Greater Privilege

 

Going to bed with a need on my heart can make sleep elusive. I prayed, but the need nagged. Yet in the morning, the prayer was answered. God keeps surprising me with such things. Prayer is a tremendous privilege.

This morning, I did some reading on this topic and am so blessed with what God showed me. One commentator pointed out how the history of Israel was one of failure to trust and obey God as His ‘sons’ ought. Then when Jesus was baptized, God says: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22) and this author adds that heaven must have sighed with relief for finally here is a true Son who can (and will) perfectly trust, obey, and please His Father. He adds that to Jesus alone belonged the full privilege of prayer and access for only He could say with confidence to God, “I know that you always hear me” (John 11:41–42).

Then this: when we believe in Jesus Christ we are united to him and what is true of Jesus is true of us. We also have His perfect and secure access to the Father and when we pray in Jesus’ name, we do so with supreme confidence and yet humble dependence on His unmerited grace.

Now prayer means I can go into the presence of God without any mere hopes, fears, aspirations or my own thoughts. I am going to have communion with the living God! In Him, I can abandon being self-centered, always wanting something, but realize the greatness, glory and privilege of prayer — the everlasting God is listening to me! I am praying in the name of Jesus and letting my requests be made known to God, and doing this with confidence and assurance because all that is Christ’s is also mine…

And this is the confidence that we have toward 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 that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14–15)

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

A great need today is Christian intercession for a lost world and a church that needs revival. This was always a need. In the OT, God “saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede” (Isaiah 59:16). With great needs and the privilege of prayer so wonderful, why so little attention to the throne of grace? One writer suggests it is how we view God. Isaiah 51:13 says, He is the One who "stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth" and Isaiah 64:3-5 adds, “When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways….”

How can I more often take advantage of this awesome privilege of prayer. I set times to pray. I mean well. I forget. Or my mind wanders. Or I read off a list of I-wants. I know He cares about everything yet I can be self-centered, or worse as I sometimes tell Him what to do — as if I know the better than He does. Such impertinence!

For many, prayer is an escape from obedience. I’m thankful that weakness and need motivate me, and a desire to be so reliant on Him that I must obey, and that He will fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me all that is needed. I want Him to work in me, “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13) and not quench or grieve Him by being lazy and disobedient. I want Him to “work in me that which pleases Him, through Jesus Christ.”

PRAY: My heart knows that prayer is not a means to tap into Your generous grace for what I want, but to know You better, to share my heart and hear Your heart, and to be filled with awe as well as getting answers for the perplexities that are all around me. I want others to be reconciled to You, healing for the broken, and so much more to happen that brings our needy world to their knees before Your throne of grace. Prayer is a huge topic, but even more, a huge privilege. Forgive me for neglecting it far too often and enrich my desire and obedience to draw near to You.

God who listens

Hannah pleaded with God for a child and promised to give him to the Lord when he was born. God heard and answered her prayer. When little Samuel was weaned, she took him to the temple to serve the Lord.

When the boy was sleeping, he heard his name being called. He thought it was Eli the priest, but Eli told him it was the Lord, and told him how he should respond.

And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.” (1 Samuel 3:10)

Listening to God is an important part of my relationship with Him, just as it is with my family and friends. I try to be a good listener yet feel wounded if it seems that others are not listening to me. I also tend to gauge whether or not someone is listening by their responses (or lack thereof).

Today, I realize how much I do that with God. I listen for His Spirit speaking to me, but often feel that He is not listening when I speak, particularly if my prayers seem unanswered. I know that “no” or “wait” are answers, but I easily confuse that with an uncertainty that He even hears me.

Jesus didn’t suffer from that uncertainty. He knew that His Father always listened. He said so, not that He needed to affirm it. He wanted those who heard Him realize the reason why He came.

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41–42)

My struggle has been with reasoning why people don’t listen. I wonder if I am boring, or they don’t believe what I say. Any indifference makes me feel that I don’t matter to them.

When I start thinking that way about God, my faith takes a nosedive. If He isn’t listening, then I don’t matter to Him and that conclusion is too terrible for words. I’ve sometimes reacted like a child who says, ‘If I don’t matter, then you don’t either’ and don’t want to listen to Him either.

All of this is comes from a lie about God. He does listen, is listening. The psalmist said, “Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” (Psalm 139:4) He even hears what I say before I even say it!

This week, an answered prayer smacked me in the face about my foolishness. A dear family member is approaching the end of his life. He is a Christian, but has been estranged from someone in his family. I prayed for this relationship to be resolved before it is too late. God listened and brought the two of them together. They held hands and restored their relationship. I’m not able to give more details except that this kindness of the God who listens has been emotionally overwhelming.

Why should I need affirmation that He listens? Faith is not the same as sight. He says He listens and faith believes that. Also, I am in Christ and united to Him. Therefore, God always hears me just as He always hears His Son. Unlike me, God is never distracted by other things nor does He simply ignore me. In my sinful self, I might do that, but He never does.

Samuel had the child attitude of “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” I can cultivate my hearing ability by remembering that God is always speaking, but I can also deepen my relationship with Him by remembering that He is also always listening. 

Looking Up

After doing a Bible search for the phrase “looked up” it seems that people didn’t do that very often, or at least they were looking down more than they were looking up. 

I can relate. When I go for a walk, I tend to look at the sidewalk more than the scenery. It could be related to fear of tripping or stepping on something, but metaphorically, it seems a symptom of a pessimistic nature.

Jesus was not like that. He may have been busy with whatever was in front of Him, but He also looked up, indicating His continual communication with God the Father.

And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. (Mark 6:41)

Logically, anyone who is about to feed five thousand men plus women and children is going to look up. Where else do resources come from to do a miracle? He did the same thing before opening the eyes of a blind man.

And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” (Mark 7:34)

Jesus’ most astonishing miracle was raising Lazarus from the tomb after the man had been dead for several days.

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” (John 11:41–42)

On this occasion, Jesus looked up to show those around Him that He was relying on the power that God gave Him and all He had to do was ask for it. He sets an example for me, but is it that easy? 

Most Christians know that we can look up, pray looking up, do ministry looking up, yet sometimes our problems do not work out the way we hoped. At times heaven seems closed to our eyes and our pleas, as if God the Father is ignoring His children. Does that mean we stop looking up? The psalmist thought not. He knew that there is only one source of help that makes sense and can do whatever we ask. He looked up.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. (Psalm 121:1–2)

What I need to remember is that I cannot dictate to God the help that He gives. That is, God decides and determines how to answer my prayers. I may need to develop perseverance, thus spend days, even years, looking up. Yet when in dire straits, He also can give me a vision of Himself to sustain me, such as what happened to Stephen when he was about to die for his faith.

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. (Acts 7:55)

Looking up, this man saw what he needed. His story reminds me of the beatitude that says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). If I can do anything that makes looking up a purely glorious experience, it is to keep my heart pure, which is both easy and complicated.

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Lord, lately it seems that seeing You has been difficult because there is too many other things in my line of sight. Help my eyes and my heart get beyond my tendency to look down at life’s troubles. Please grant me the grace needed to look heavenward, focusing on You — the only source of the help that supplies whatever I need.