Growth

Prayer, Confidence, and the Who?

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Ask, seek, knock.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”  Matthew 7:7-8
Our confidence in prayer is not in our capacity for communication or even our desperation.
Our confidence in prayer is drawn from the character of the one to whom we ask, seek, and knock.
Jesus says of Him,
“…If you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”  Matthew 7:11
Jesus reveals what the Father is like through His life, His teaching, and the Cross.
Confidence in prayer grows as we experience the grace of His answers.
Confidence in prayer never grows though unless we ask, seek, and knock during the seasons and days of our lives.

Jesus and your “I have to be in control” sickness

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31“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.34“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.  Matthew 6:31-34

We were in the middle of nowhere, somewhere in Ontario, when we spotted an antique store on one of four corners.  I was driving and we blazed past. Ellen was copiloting so we turned around. It was a pickers heaven, if you like knick-knacks.  It was packed with stuff.  And the aisles…were made for mice. The longer we stayed there, the more nervous I became, sure that at the next “turn and grab,” Mica and I would end up laying on top of a lot of broken stuff. Instead of enjoying the place, I started to worry. I needed to be in control. Sick. (Well I just considered it good parenting at the time!)

Hanging out with Jesus can do that too.  Listening to Jesus creates an unsettledness.  Encounters with Jesus can create disequilibrium. From a “I need to be in control perspective,” applying His Word seems impractical and sure to create more trouble. And that’s when the worry sets in. I wonder if Jesus saw it in the eyes of his disciples during his “sermon on the mount.” So he starts in on worry and encourages them to trust, to seek His Kingdom Today.

When the unsettledness comes, its probably a sign that we need to take a deeper look with Jesus, repent and move forward with faith.

 

Discipline ~ Key Verses — GLORIFYTHELORD

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“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening — its painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”  Hebrews 12:11

Can you identify the resistance in the following?

Lifting weights.

Taking something sugary out of our diet.

Learning a new skill.

Learning a new language.

Pressing in to understand a new set of information.

Reviewing Scripture verses in order to memorize them.

Learning a new musical instrument.

Taking responsibility of how we feel without blaming another human.

Accepting the limits of our time and energy with our current responsibilities.

All these require discipline.  What discipline has in common is that it meets resistance.  Discipline is a kind of resistance training.  John tells us that Jesus came full of grace and truth.  As He invites us into relationship with Him we also get introduced to the responsibilities that flow from our identity in His Kingdom.  Grace and truth actually run into the resistance of my heart and my flesh toward God, toward change, toward movement in His mission.  But the first point of discipline is to bring me into a yielded relationship with God.  He will enlarge my vision of His love.  He will pour in His Holy Spirit to renew our desire for Him. God disciplines those He loves in order to shape us for Christ likeness.  It may not be enjoyable in the moment but the payoff is extraordinary.

“No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening — its painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”  Hebrews 12:11

Rebirth ~ Key Verses — GLORIFYTHELORD

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“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person.  The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT

With the arrival of each new kid into our family I was gob-smacked with awe, excitement, hope, and joy!  That’s what new life does.  It creates a new perspective!

Jesus died so we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and was raised to new life.  So now since you have received Jesus and His grace for the forgiveness of sin, you are a new creation!  This is how we we can see ourselves and see others who belong to Jesus.  We have been born again.

But you know, just as it didn’t take long for the reality of diapers, dirty dishes, and noise to challenge my happy view of the kids, it doesn’t take long for the reality of my brokenness and the world’s to crowd out the truth of the new creation. But don’t settle for this fleshy view.  Re-calibrate your life with Jesus daily.  We are Jesus’ new creation, a work in progress nonetheless, but we are His masterpiece!

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”  2 Corinthians 5:17

Do you know what it feels like? When we feel pruned.

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From Mike Breen in Covenant and Kingdom.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts of every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful… Remain in me and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”

As Jesus was walking through the streets of Jerusalem toward the Garden of Gethsemane, having left the Upper Room and the scene of the Last Supper, he paints a remarkable picture of the new covenant.  He says that as he and his disciples flourish under the care of their Father, the Covenant unity between Jesus and his followers will always produce new disciples.  The Relationship will sometimes feel “pruned” (cut back), especially after times of great harvest.  Pruning is given by the gardener so that the branch ceases to concentrate on itself and focuses on the source of its life.  The pruned-back branch is much more aware of its need to remain connected to the vine.  The natural consequence of remaining connected to Jesus is that we produce fruit:

“If you remain in me and I remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”    (Mike Breen, Covenant and Kingdom, commenting on John 15.)