The good news of Christ
To give and forgive is your desire,
This grace in Christ, no need more dire;
Good News must reach the farthest isle —
Your church must face the harshest trial.
O Lord! more faith and courage send,
More love to carry us to the end!
Let us enter the opened door,
To speak salvation more and more.
One hymn we sing brings prayer into a never-ceasing part of our daily lives by asking us four questions:
Ere you left your room this morning, Did you think to pray?
When you met with great temptation, Did you think to pray?
When your heart was filled with anger, Did you think to pray?
When sore trials came upon you, Did you think to pray?
I. Acts 1:1-26. Told to wait in their time of transition, God’s people prayed. For about ten days, Jesus’ followers waited for the Holy Spirit to come upon them, and in that time they decided to find a replacement for Judas. Rather than just picking someone whom everyone liked and might give their group a morale boost after Jesus had ascended, they prayed about it first, and prayer characterized Christians’ lives throughout Acts. So, we who are waiting for our coming transition to eternity when Jesus returns (Hebrews 9:27-28) ought to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
II. John 14:12-14. When God’s people don’t inquire of Him, bad things happen (Joshua 9:14-15). On the other hand, we have record of great encouragement and growth when they do (Acts 4:31). Jesus invites us to submit to Him in prayer, promising that He’ll do what is within God’s will and not our own (James 4:3-4), so that glory will go to the Father. It pleases God when we pray without ceasing for ourselves and others to be filled with the knowledge of His will and are saved (Colossians 1:9-10). But, we have to believe that God will work powerfully through our prayers for His purpose.
III. 1 Timothy 2:1-4. We have to believe that powerful things will happen when His people pray. When the Israelites sinned with the golden calf, Moses prayed, recognizing that their only distinction from other peoples in the world, was God’s presence working powerfully in them and through them (Exodus 33:15-17) and God did all that Moses had asked. We in the New Testament time are told to intercede on behalf of others in all situations and circumstances because God desires all people to be saved. So, are you praying that the saved may be strengthened and the lost led to Christ?
Jesus’ church today is a continuation of what we can read about twenty centuries ago. Since prayer was so much a powerful part of their daily lives, shouldn’t we pray without ceasing as well?
What we want is seldom if ever your will, O God.
Your desires are specific and benevolent.
You seek the salvation of every single human being.
Salvation means restoring a person to your presence.
We think of ourselves, to satisfy our selfishness.
Turn our attention from self to others’ needs.
To your glory. To your mission in this world.
To our neighbor’s eternal destiny.
Work in us your transformation of heart and soul.
Make us like the Lord Jesus Christ.
He gave up his glory and his earthly life.
Build our muscles to pick up his cross.
Save us, O Lord, for salvation.
So much you do, O Lord, for me,
So much you give — new life and hope;
On me so many blessings you heap!
Above them all, your presence in three.
But you do not make my decision;
Free will you gave to me instead.
I choose your will, your glory, your aid —
This too in its own way is blessing.
To will to do, for strength I ask,
To never heed the tempter’s voice;
In me confirm the eternal choice,
The Kingdom first I’d daily seek.
Let Jesus be example and guide,
In every thought and word and deed;
On his transforming word I’d feed.
With you, O Lord, let me abide.
The above prayer led to this chart.
Loneliness was the first thing God found in His creation that was not good (Genesis 2:18). Today, it continues to be one of mankind’s biggest struggles and leads us to many sins, addictions, and negative coping mechanisms. Being fully man, how did Jesus handle loneliness? A glimpse into Gethsemane reveals the answer.
I. John 17:5-12. Just before Gethsemane, Jesus points to the fellowship He shares with His Father that He also hopes for us (John 10:30; John 11:42). Yet, as He gets to the garden, His circle shrinks from eleven (Judas had left) to three to just Him, whose heart was sorrowful to the point of death (Matthew 26:36-38). They had all insisted that they would stand by Him before He went (Mark 14:27-31), but after they all deserted Him (Mark 14:50). As He bore the guilt of all our sins on the cross, even the Father would forsake Him (Matthew 27:46).
II. Luke 22:39-46. Jesus was fully God, yes, but to be our sacrifice on the cross, He had to face all temptations and struggles as fully man (Hebrews 2:14; Hebrews 4:15). Having conquered the devil’s snares in the desert at the beginning of His ministry (Luke 4:13), the opportune time came for Satan to try again while all earthly support had been stripped from Jesus–Gethsemane. Jesus leaned on the fellowship He shared with His Father in prayer, but the answer was a cup of anguish placed before Him that His Father would not remove.
III. Hebrews 10:5-10. So, in this body prepared for Him and all alone except for the Father, whose will it was to crush Him for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:10-12), Jesus wrestled in the flesh with remaining a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) that did His Father’s will or living for His own will. It is the same choice that is before us as we promised with our confession of ‘Jesus as Lord’ and our baptism to trust and obey. Yet, is this what we do when life strips us of all earthly comforts and places a cup before us we don’t want to drink?
Do we, along with Jesus who made it possible for us to do so, say, “Not my will, but yours, be done”?
Help me flee the noise to hear your voice,
O Speaker of all wisdom — let suffice
A quiet time and place, with open Book,
When I might find my food, both meat and milk.
The world is starving, and with it I shall starve
Without a Word to go on — how can I live
Unnourished by your bread? Lord, break for me
The simple meal of power without delay.
And bread of work! Amid the busy tasks
Of daily life — your will the follower seeks
To do, to lead the lonely into your presence,
To show yourself benevolent, good, and friendly.
How can I lead another to where I am not?
Secure me in Christ, where you my sins forgot —
And from this place of strength and love may I
Bring many more to grace in full supply.
For thoughts on life, faith, and meaning, follow the author on his personal website. And please share this prayer, if you found it helpful.
Eternal God,
Give us endurance until the end,
Integrity of heart and hands,
Courage in the face of opposition,
Honor when our names are reviled,
Strength in the hour of temptation,
Love when others reject us,
Holiness in the midst of an immoral world. Continue reading “We desire to do your will completely”
Lord God, but I don’t want to! I want what I want, because I want it. Why surrender who I am? Do my desires not define me?! Why lose myself to another?
Besides, I know what’s good and right for me. And I have to love myself and watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to.
I can butt heads with the best of them. I know how to stand my ground. I have the best arguments.
But it’s tiring. And scary. And lonely.
Lord, help me. I admit, it’s hard to go it alone. Everybody is a potential enemy or at least an opponent to be beaten.
I can’t imagine giving up control. Letting you guide. Depending on your wisdom. Where in the world will that lead? And what if I don’t like it when I get there?
I know I’m living a fantasy. At some point, the bubble will burst. Things will escape my control. My argument will fail. My stubbornness will destroy me.
O God, I give up! I surrender! Yes, I submit to your will. Bring me peace, and joy, and love. Take it all, sweep away my shabbily built life, the shambles I have made of it.
Thank you for the promise of hope. Finally, I have something to look forward to. Finally, I can rest.
Father, in those moments when stubbornness rears its head and tries to yank the reins away, bring me back to safety.
O how it hits a parent’s heart to hear his child cry out, “I hate you!” yet that is exactly how it hits God when we turn away from Him by sinning. How do we know? A passage in Luke tells us so ….
I. Luke 13:22-35. The question that is asked strikes right to the core of God in the flesh, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” God, who doesn’t want anyone to perish but come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), knows the reality that few will find the narrow path that leads to eternal life. And, as Jesus pauses on His way to Jerusalem, we hear the Creator lament that He has often longed to gather those made in His image, who are far from Him because of sin, together. Here, we glimpse the heart of God.
II. 1 John 4:10-12. Next, we glimpse the hand of God. Because He loves us, He will not take away our choice to love Him back. We must be like Jesus at Gethsemane, who willingly submits to His Father’s will (Luke 22:41-43). Speaking as God, Jesus admits that He has often longed to gather those He created together, but they “were not willing.” A good and loving God, He longs to give us many blessings–even eternal life–but we keep ourselves from receiving them because we are not willing to love Him back by our obedience.
III. 1 Peter 4:1-6. We must return to the arms of God. If we suffer in our bodies, we are done with sin and live now for the will of God. We certainly have “spent enough time” in all sorts of sin and selfishness. How much more do we need? Aren’t we sick of our sin and the separation from God that it brings? God calls us to repent–to turn our lives, our attitudes, our ways back to Him. Once we become willing, He will gather us like a hen does her chicks and bless us in every way (Joel 2:12-14).
God’s love for us is unconditional and deep. He’s already demonstrated that by His Son on the cross. And, though He loves you, unless you turn to Him by repenting, He cannot remain just and claim you. Won’t you return to Him?
With your help, heavenly Father, today I will do your will and please you in all things.
By your Spirit, Lord, I will be righteous, just, and pure in your sight.
In Christ, God of all peace, I will know you and delight in your presence.
In the midst of your people, we will praise you as Savior who created us as your children and gave us your fullness.
So let me today take hold of your exceedingly great and precious promises to participate in your divine nature.