A few days ago I sat down with one of the pastors at the church I'm going to here in Aspen and he shared a few stories and parables from the gospels that really encouraged me to pursue greater faith and greater understanding of our Father's heart. I'll share a bit of what I extracted from his reflections.
Take a look at Luke 11:5-13 Here, we see a man shamelessly and persistently pleading for this friend to share some bread so he can feed a guest. Think about the friend's response for a minute. He agrees finally caving to the friend's relentless requesting. Jesus goes on to explain the nature of the Father's heart, which longs to give us good things (Ps 84:11). The man going to his friend's house knew what his friend had and that he could provide for him. We must come to the Father with great persistence in prayer knowing He can move and in fact longs to move and bless us with good things and best yet, "the Holy Spirit".
Now, let's see an example from the gospels of the Syrophoenician woman doing this in Matthew 15:21-28. This woman came pleading to Jesus for Him to move. Jesus tests her first by ignoring her. His disciples asked Him to send her away because she was annoying them and Jesus responded by basically saying I came for the Jews first. Then we see she steps it up by getting right in front of Him and kneeling before Him, asking Him for mercy (Luke describes her in his account in Luke 7:24-30 saying she "fell down at His feet" and "begged Him"). He tests her again by telling her what He told to His disciples. But she replied without hesitation asking for a "crumb" from Jesus. She knew what Jesus could do, that it was only a "crumb" for Him to heal her daughter and she persistently pursued Him until Jesus moved. Jesus then told her, "O woman, great is your faith! Be it doen for you as you desire." It was her faith that moved Jesus' heart to deliver.
Last is the story of the Centurion in Matthew 8:5-13. Here again we see Jesus being moved by the faith of a Gentile. He "appeals" to Jesus for the healing of his servant. The centurion knew the power of Jesus and asked Him to do even more than He initially agreed to, heal his servant right then and there. Jesus "marveled' at his faith. Faith moves the heart of God. When Jesus preached in Nazareth He "marveled because of their unbelief" and as result of that lack of faith He "could do no mighty work there" (Mark 6:1-6). I'm wrestling with this a bit, but it seems hard to get around the reality of our lack of faith limiting the miraculous movement of God (a future post will be about my recent journey in becoming a reformed charismatic, haha, but seriously).
In all of these stories we see a boldness and humility before a loving Father longing to move. Guys, I, we, need to be before the Father in prayer pleading, begging for Him to move. I heard a speaker say that "I wonder if our prayers are like a swing of the axe into a tree and when we get to heaven we are going to see a bunch of half cut-down trees." Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). May He fill us to overflowing with His Holy Spirit that we may bless others.
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I'm so glad we're doing this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this marks a distinct change in what society tells us to do. I feel like it is generally looked down upon to ask for things, let alone beg for things. Yet it seems that in our most pure existence, in our most meaningful relationship - we are demanded to do so. What does that say about our interactions with people on this earth? Are we too reserved? Too unbecoming?
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