Receiving from God in Honest Prayer

The week leading up to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday always brings me back to familiar passages of Scripture. Even in their familiarity there often seems to be something that I notice again - that challenges me.

I was reading in Luke 22:39-46, where Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was in anguish. Jesus' prayer in this passage was honest. He didn't shy away from expressing what He was really feeling.

I was struck by verse 43 as I read. It says:

"An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him."

I don't know if I've really paid attention to this verse before.

In the middle of His honest prayer, as Jesus was pouring out how He really felt to the Father, God sent an angel to comfort and strengthen Jesus. We can't know of that would have happened regardless. But, I think it's significant that it happened in the midst of His prayer.

It is when we cry out to God in our struggles that He meets us in that. And we experience His comfort and strengthening. When we admit our need, we're in a place of being open to that.

When we're busy acting like we have it all together, even if we don't, we're not in a position to receive anything from God. We likely don't even see the offer of it, because we're so busy maintaining our facade. But, if we're willing to admit and express our need to God, we get the privilege of experiencing His comfort and strengthening for what we're going through.

Are you honest with God in your prayers? 

Are you open to receiving comfort and strengthening from God for whatever you're facing?

A Life-Changing Encounter with Jesus

What would it look like for you to ask Jesus for what you wanted and needed unashamed of your request and undeterred by what those around you say?

What are you missing out on from Jesus because you've allowed other to silence your request?

These are two questions I was left wrestling with after reading of Jesus restoring sight to a blind beggar in Luke 18:35-43. There was a blind beggar sitting by the roadside when he heard that Jesus was passing by. The blind man cried out for Jesus to have mercy on hi. People rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he continued to call out to Jesus. Jesus stopped and asked what he wanted. Jesus then restored the sight of the blind man and he began to follow Jesus.

This blind man, whose name isn't given, knew what he needed and he knew Jesus could bring it. When he had the opportunity he cried out to Jesus for it. Even when others tried to get him to be quiet, he kept asking. And the result was getting what he asked for. The result was a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

The blind man received his sight because he refused to let others silence him. He continued to make his request for mercy known and it resulted in a life-changing encounter with Jesus.

What life-changing encounter with Jesus are you missing out on because you've allowed others to silence you request?

It's a sobering question to reflect on. Not to cause us regret, but to challenge us to stop listening to those who try to silence us.

Will you start asking Jesus again for the request you have that others have silenced?

Keeping All the Rules But Missing the Point of Them

Are you so focused on keeping all the rules that you're missing the point of them?

Luke 18:18-30 records a conversation Jesus had with a rich ruler about getting into the Kingdom the God. We easily see the connection to putting trust in our worldly wealth as being the problem. Jesus tells him to sell at he had and give to the poor, which causes the ruler to go away sad because he had great wealth.

We know the importance of where we're storing up our treasure, because it reflects on where our heart is. In our culture it's easy to focus on our money and possessions because so many see it as the most important thing. But Jesus calls us to see treasure elsewhere.

As I was reflecting on this conversation Jesus had with this ruler, I was struck by something else this time. Jesus' first answer to the man was about keeping God's commandments. The ruler's response struck me: "All these I have kept since I was a boy." (Luke 18:21). This ruler lived a good life, a moral life, but something was still missing. He still didn't have the full picture.

It's after this that Jesus talks about selling all he has and giving to the poor. When He said this Jesus was revealing the ruler's heart. This ruler was focused on keeping all the rules, or doing the right thing. And, in doing so, he had missed the point of them.

That brings me to the question I started this post with: Are you so focused on keeping all the rules that you're missing the point of them?

It can be easy to get caught up in doing all the right things, in living according to the rules, but when it comes to anything with a cost we're not willing to go there. Outwardly we're in, but when it comes to our hearts we're not there. We've gotten focused on the checklist and we've missed the point.

Where have you gotten so focused on keeping the rules and missed the relationship and the heart that's the most important?

The Light that Draws People

"We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."                  -Madeleine L'Engle



I've been thinking a lot lately about how we share the gospel in the culture we live in. A culture with massive and ever growing divisions among various groups of people. The dividing lines we draw seem to be becoming more and more pronounced.

So much of what we hear today is about discrediting "the other side." About telling people they're wrong and we're right. Most people seem to just want to prove themselves right, at everyone else's expense.

And that has an influence on how we share the gospel with people. If we get caught up in the anger and the drawing of lines and trying to prove we're right with everyone else, then our gospel message is compromised. It will affect our ability to be heard - really heard, rather than just being more noise.

That's where I think the quote I opened this post with is so important. Our light shining in the darkness of this world is the way forward. It doesn't mean we don't talk about our faith. In many ways, I believe it means we clearly speak the gospel message, but we also have to do so in a way that makes people want what we have. Our speaking and our living have to come from a place of love, because that's what will attract people to the source of the light we have.



"We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."                  -Madeleine L'Engle