Tag Archive for 'prayer'

Praying in Jesus’ Name

Published on 6/5/2010 in Bible Study. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

John 16:25-31

v. 25 “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father.

v. 29 Then Jesus’ disciples said, “Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech.

30 Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.”

31 “You believe at last!” Jesus answered.

I wonder what they would have done if after they said, “now you are speaking clearly,” Jesus would have said, “you think this is clear? You ain’t seen nothin yet!”

Just as Jesus didn’t need people to ask Him questions to draw out the truth that was in Him, the Holy Spirit is going to be in these guys to guide and help them and teach them before they ask the questions. In Jewish culture, the way to learn and gain understanding was to ask question after question, leading you down a path of discovering and realizing the answers as you asked questions. Jesus doesn’t have to do that because He can see what is in people’s hearts to address their questions and needs before they ask.

How much more-so shall our joy be complete when we ask the Father and pray to the Father?! He knows what we need before we ask; He knows the words we speak before we speak them. THAT is how our joy becomes complete. When we ask God and see that He answers we have His perfect joy.

That word “complete” as in “that your joy may be complete” is the same word pleroo which is used for a stuffed net, filled up cup, full, stuffed, packed. I have some friends that I’m not sure would credit God with any event. Amazing displays of luck or chance are treated as random as mishaps or tragedy. I have noticed that as I ask for things from God, boldly and in detail, He shows off to me and my family by fitting into the box we put Him in. My joy gets stuffed when I see that God does answer our prayers and show off in our lives.

My call from Fire & Rain for an interview came after we prayed at lunch one day “Please God, make F&R call while we’re eating lunch today and call me in for an interview.” After lunch I sat down on the couch, kinda bummed and wondering where the money was going to come from. That instant the phone rang and the guy said, “I’m sorry to do this to you, but can you be here in 10 minutes for an interview?”

One 2-hour interview later he gave me the job.

If you look at Isaiah’s quote of God in Isaiah 29:13-14

[13] And the Lord said:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

[14] therefore, behold, I will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

(Isaiah 29:13-14 ESV)

It looks like the main thing God wants is for people’s hearts to be close to Him. THAT is what it means to pray in Jesus’ name, to have your heart close to God.

for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:27

God LOVES it when we LOVE what HE LOVES! HE loves it so much that He responds and rewards and treats and almost teases us to ask for and LOVE MORE! When we love Jesus, we love God, and we follow His lead in reversing the wrongs done in Eden. Jesus’ life was the defining and deciding event in reversing the effects of the fall in Eden, and when we show love to God we show that reversal’s momentum in our lives.


Walking the Path around a Convent in Ferdinand, Indiana

Published on 6/3/2010 in Bible Study and Family Life. Closed Tags: , , , , , , .

Outside view of the Convent

Sunday I took my two oldest sons to Family Day at the Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, Indiana. My Aunt, who is in her 60s, has been part of the community there since she was 18.

It’s pretty cool walking around such a place. I’ve taken them to St. Meinrad and we’ve snuck around, but yesterday we had a tour from a lady that has lived in and even had cleaning duty on almost every part of the place except the catwalk on the roof (she said she wants to get up there sometime before she gets too old to climb the stairs or balance up there!)

There were two things that stuck out the most to my kids, and they really are the coolest things of our day there. The Monastery was built in 1915 (we found the cornerstone) and you can see pictures of that here. As we walked up to the church, we noticed a large circular window on the side, and 4 tiny square statues around it. After a closer look, I noticed that they are the four creatures mentioned in Rev. 4.

Around that circular window, you’ll see the heads of the four creatures from Revelation 4

Four creatures, one with a head like an eagle, one with a head like a man, one with a head like a bull, and one with a head like a lion. For some reason my boys think that part is super cool and draw those creatures sometimes, so that was pretty exciting. My oldest said seeing those was his favorite part of the day!

When we got inside the church after lunch and some games, we noticed something even more cool. That window that the four creatures were around? It was a stained glass window showing Jesus seated on the throne. That made the whole thing even more complete. To the outside world, they were just weird creatures, but when you’re inside the church, you can see that they are eternal continual worshipers of the King.

One of my favorite parts happened inside the church. Just inside the door, is a big marble bowl full of holy water. People in the catholic tradition have water at each entrance to the church, and when you go in the door, you dip your fingertips into the water, and then make the sign of the cross. This is a way to reflect and remember your baptism.

Note me all excited & pointing things out, and Davo chowing on a roll he stole as we passed through the kitchen.

I explained that to my boys. They were confused because the baptistry they are used to seeing is at Crossroads. It’s an indoor pool that could hold about 5 people! We’ve even seen a guy float in it with an air mattress and a cigar! But I digress. So I start talking to my mom and what does Sister Jane do? She gets her hands wet and flicks Isaac right in the face! You gotta love that. Water fight in the sanctuary!I’m just glad Isaac didn’t retaliate with a hearty YMCA splash.

We walked all around, checked out the serious pipes on the organ and the whole upstairs. We stood within inches of the ropes connected to the bells and resisted the urge to pull and bring the whole city up the hill. We walked up and down some of the turrets outside, down a hill where we heard about the real tunnel that is on the hill, and then ended up at the Labyrinth.

The details on the Labyrinth can be found here. When I read this, I thought, “this is weird. What kind of over-emphasis on spirituality and diversion from the Gospel have they gotten into!” [one of my fellow Bible Attack League members do refer to me as Zealboy] Then I realized that walking while praying has been a HUGE part of my life! The #1 thing that I do when I have a lot to pray about is go for a walk! So my prayer labyrinth is a rectangle around my park, or a big labyrinth through the hood–and the prayer labyrinth of the sisters is mowed in the grass of their hillside.

My boys kept calling it a maze and Aunt Jane corrected us.

“A maze is full of choices about which way you should go. A labyrinth just has one path.”

How about that! So the only decision you have to make is: will you step into the labyrinth‽

Is he praying in the middle? No, he's playing with an inch worm.

We had a great time running or walking around the path, and we did alter the rules a little bit. We didn’t pray, we played. And the soothing wind chimes in the center served as our victory bell that we rang when we got to the middle. (It took about 8 minutes at a brisk walk to get there.)

The coolest part was on the drive home, and my oldest son told me why the labyrinth was his 2nd favorite part of the day.

Dad, that labyrinth was kind of like life. You can make all kinds of choices and cut across the lines and get to the middle, and you think there are all kinds of ways to get to the middle, but they are wrong. And there are all kinds of people going to the middle all kinds of ways, but they aren’t getting there right. There is only one way, and when you take that one right way, you get to the middle, and you know you did it right!

Pretty cool. If there is one thing I’ve learned from reading the Gospel of John, it’s that Jesus is indeed the Way. He’s gone ahead of us to make the way, and He also became the Way.

All you have to do is decide if you’ll step into the Path.

Victory!

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Praying for Heat Pumps In Jesus’ Name

Published on 5/29/2010 in Bible Study. Closed Tags: , , , .

John 16:26-27

26 In that day
you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on
your behalf. 27 No,
the Father Himself loves you because you have loved me and have
believed that I came from God.

After thousands of years of the Levitical Priesthood being slowly warped into a teaching of privileged access to God, Jesus takes Torah back to it’s origins by telling the disciples they can talk to God directly.

Last night I remembered this as I lay in my bed. It was 89 degrees in our bedroom and the only breeze was from a fan. Our heat pump has shut down on the Friday evening before the 3 day Memorial Day weekend.

I was a little ticked at God about it breaking. “If the Hebrews could walk in the desert for 40 years without their shoes wearing out, can’t our brand-new heat pump work for more than 2 years?!”

I started to think about this section of John 16 and how I could go directly to God and ask Him to fix the heat pump. Then came a really good question.

You can go to God, face to face, and you’re going to ask Him to make you cooled off and cozy?

SERIOUSLY?!

When Jesus says we will ask for things in His name, it’s in His style, in His manner, in His way.

My wife has cute feet. If I were to explain their proportions, I’d say they were about like three squares put next to each other. Most people would consider them normal, but they are not what I grew up with.
I come from a long line of German and Irish feet that are more like a swimming flipper than a foundation for walking or running.

[you just went from Jesus’ name to your feet. What’s up?]

My son was lamenting that as he is about to begin swimming lessons, he doesn’t think he’ll be able to swim very fast. What?! I said. You are going to swim great! Take off your socks. Look at your feet. You don’t have sweet little feet like mommy. You’ve got tremendous Sullivan feet! Look at those things! Those long webbed toes, those skinny heals. You’re gonna swim like a Sullivan, boy! You’ll do great!

When he jumps in the pool, he’s going to swim like a Sullivan because he’s got Sullivan feet. When we pray like a Christian, we pray in Jesus’ name because we’ve got a Spirit like His. When we are praying for comfort and coziness, we aren’t.

I don’t want to unnecessarily soften this. Jesus only prayed for comfort when He was about to be face to face with the Devil in death and abandoned by God the Father. And even then it wasn’t comfort as we talk about it, it was spiritual deliverance.

When we go to God for more than just satisfaction in our 20 minute instant, when we ask Him to mold us into a form and then show us what to request, when we completely yield ourselves to Him, we find that the things we start to ask Him for are FAR more satisfying than a repaired Heat Pump or a winning lottery ticket.

Some of you know the secret to this, because you’ve been there. When you get to that point, there is only one thing you ask for, and He gives it, just like He said He would.

Not Just the Beatles Are Gonna be Bigger than Jesus…

Published on 4/23/2010 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

It just blows my mind to think about these three verses. The power and relationship and closeness of Jesus and the Father is now working to help us and to work through us in our daily lives–forever! Jesus was in perfect relationship with the Father while He was walking around on the Earth among us. Now His Spirit lives in us and He continues His intimacy with the Father while at the same time dwelling inside of us. THAT is greater than He ever did when He was flesh and blood down here, because now He has millions of bodies to run around in and advance His Kingdom and make His name great!

To ask “In Jesus Name” is by His authority and backing and in His Spirit, not just tacking on some magic words at the end of your prayer. When I was in Asia, there was a 2 month span in which I was one of only two expats present at our organization. Because of the financial rules, for those 2 months, I had to become the accountant of the organization. The ladies that worked there still did all of the work, but if anything major went down (PRAISE GOD IT DIDN’T) on my watch, I would have to sign for it. I couldn’t just sign the name of the Australian that was the full time REAL accountant, because HE WASN’T THERE. Even if it was something he approved of, and something he signed all of the time, I had to put MY name on it because I was the one PRESENT and RESPONSIBLE to back up my signature.

To ask for something IN JESUS’ NAME is to ask for it when He is present and responsible to back up your request. To know Him and to believe Him and to hear what He is asking. He wants to be involved in all of our activities because He knows that the most glory comes and happens when His activities are our activities.

If You Haven’t Gotten It Yet, It’s All About God’s Glory!

Published on 10/2/2009 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

- John 11. 41 – Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 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.

Previously some of the leaders had said that Jesus had a demon,
      and others asked, “Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” Now
      Jesus does something that they all know, no matter how hard
      hearted they may be, that no demon could ever do. And they know
      that for something of this magnitude, God would never listen to a
      sinner.
Jesus showed a lot of humility in calling on the Father. I don’t
      want to say that though, because there is an arrogant or prideful
      tone to saying someone “showed a lot of humility”. He deferred to
      the Father for the Father to get Glory from this event. When
      Moses got angry and struck the rock, he said, “Shall I bring
      water for you out of this rock?” and God was upset with him
      because he did not “Bring glory to God.”
      Jesus brings God glory by showing to everyone around that this
      miracle is at the request of a man to God. It is not luck,
      chance, fate, God’s unstoppable do-what-He-pleases will, or the
      work of demons.
I was in a class once and the prof was talking about praying for
      people and then afterwards asking if they felt anything when he
      prayed for them. A student in the class asked, “Weren’t you
      afraid of God looking bad when they said, no, they didn’t feel
      anything and your prayer wasn’t answered?”
      The teacher answered something about how he left God’s reputation
      up to God and that he thought he’d be lying if the made the
      person think that God answered every single prayer we pray
      instantly. I think another aspect of it is what happens here with
      Lazarus. There are many times that I tell people that I’m praying
      for this or that, and I really am, because I don’t want God to
      answer my prayer and them give credit anywhere else.
The Father wants us to know that He listens to us. He wants us to
      know that He deserves glory and credit and attention for the
      things He does, and that we do not benefit in any way by trying
      to skim some of it off for ourselves.
There are a lot of situations and events that I think people are
      afraid to ask God about. They may be afraid to be honest with Him
      or afraid that if they get what they ask for, it may require
      opening a tomb that stinks. The fact is, that’s underestimating
      Him and selling Him short. How much better to be over the top in
      our confidence and dependance on Him, so that when He does more
      than we ask He will get even more glory?

to sleepy to post

Published on 9/10/2008 in Bible Study. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

I’m sitting here doing my thing where I fall asleep w/ the computer in my lap!

I need to follow up on yesterday’s post. Somebody bought my whole family lunch today. Then, in the evening we had a knock at the door, and it was one of our neighbor friends. Every few nights he rides his bike around our park at breakneck speeds for exercise. Whenever we see him and we have the chance, we run out in the front yard and chant “Go, Steve, Go!” over and over again and he laughs. Tonight he showed up with coupons for free ice cream! Hooray.

The coolest part? When he told the lady at Ritzy’s what he was doing, she gave him the coupons for free!

Please pray for God’s Kingdom to come in many ways whenever you read this. I have had several friends posts need for prayer and help today in various places (facebook and emails). It is enough that I prayed earlier, “God, there is so much intense serious stuff to pray for, can I just moan and groan and you’ll go through the list yourself?!”