The Fifth Sunday After Easter 2017

March 22, 2017

John 16:23-33

“Prayer”

In today’s Gospel, John relays a teaching moment of Christ, to His disciples, a week before His crucifixion. Jesus knew His earthly ministry was coming to an end and He wanted to be sure the disciples understood who He was and how they were to pray, in the future.

Our passage begins with, “In that day,” which probably refers to the day when the Holy Spirit would come and begin His ministry among them. We will celebrate that day in two weeks, on June 4th. While Christ was on earth, the disciples were accustomed to taking their questions and needs to Him personally. When He returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to assist them in their prayer life. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, 8:26-27, he wrote, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes Intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered.” Jesus instructed the disciples, and all of us, to pray to God the Father personally. Biblical prayer is to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. It will not be necessary for Christ to beg the Father on our behalf because the Father is willing to answer our requests.

Prayer is a tremendous privilege for the believer! In recognizing that we need to consider these other words of Christ about prayer: In John 14:13–14 He says, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” Jesus also said, “If you abide in me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” and finally He tells us, You did not choose Me, But I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

As a believer allows the Spirit to teach him God’s Word, he grows in his prayer life, because prayer and the Word go together. Jude verse 20 commands us to “pray in the Holy Ghost.” Too much of our praying today is in the flesh, asking for things that are not in the will of God. James points this out in chapter 4 of his epistle. He wrote, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

It is a wonderful thing to allow the Holy Spirit to burden us with prayer requests. The feeling that you need to pray for someone is an honor. The Spirit guides us to pray for those things which are in God’s will to grant.

Paul had a very heartfelt prayer in Romans chapter 9 verse 3 where he said, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh”. The Spirit knows the mind of the Father and can lead us to pray for those things God wants to give us. It has well been said that prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance; it is laying hold of His willingness.

The testimony of the disciples, that they finally believed He had come forth from God, must have gladdened Christ’s heart, but at the same time He warned them of their coming failure. He told them they would be scattered. Even God the Father would finally forsake Christ on the cross!

What a reassurance it is to hear the Lord say, “Be of good cheer!” He was about to be arrested and crucified, yet He gives peace and joy to His followers! He promises them His victory with one sentence: “I have overcome the world.”

The Holy Spirit has a special ministry in each of our lives. The question for us, today, is, “Are we allowing Him to have His way?”

C.S. Lewis once suggested that God treats new Christians with a special kind of tenderness, much as a parent dotes on a newborn. He quotes another experienced Christian who said: "I have seen many striking answers to prayer and more than one that I thought was miraculous. But they usually come at the beginning of one’s faith before conversion, or soon after it. As the Christian life proceeds, these answered prayers tend to be rarer. God’s refusals are not only more frequent; they become more unmistakable, more emphatic.”

At first glance, such a suggestion seems to have it all backward. Shouldn't faith become easier, not harder, as a Christian progresses? But, Lewis points out, the New Testament gives two strong examples of unanswered prayers: Jesus pled three times for God to "Take this cup from me" and Paul begged God to cure the "thorn in my flesh” whatever that may have been. Lewis then posed an odd question, "Does God then forsake only those who serve Him best? Jesus who served God best of all asked, close to His torturous death, 'Why hast thou forsaken me?' When God becomes man, that Man, out of all the others, is least comforted by God, during His greatest need. There is a mystery here which, even if I had the mental power, I might not have the courage to explore.

Meanwhile, little people like you and me, can sometimes have our prayers granted, beyond all hope and probability. In those cases, we had better not draw hasty conclusions to our own advantage, thinking we have some special power or merit for God to grant our petition. Instead, I want to plant this bug in your mind, as it has invaded my own. What if, in God’s eyes, we were stronger believers? What if, God thought we were mature, utterly and without question, faithful followers? Do you think He might be inclined to treat us less tenderly? If we were braver, do you think we might be sent, with far less help from God, to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle here on earth?”

One thing we may overlook is “No” is an answer. We can pray to the Father in all earnestness, looking for Him to grant, what we think, is the appropriate outcome to a given situation. But, sometimes, His answer is “No.” I’ve learned, all to well, this is a difficult answer to accept. But, Christ gave us another example in prayer and it came right after his plea to have this cup removed from him. Do you remember what He said? “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

By habit I have always asked that God show me the “why” to His will, “Let me understand, Lord, why You have made this so.” Lately, I no longer care. That sounds harsh and troublesome, but it’s true. In the past couple months I’ve stopped caring about why God makes things happen the way He does. I have come to the realization that I can never truly comprehend how our Father in heaven thinks. Now I believe I understand what God meant when He said in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” I can’t understand God’s will because I am unable to think like God. I have a very narrow view of life and eternity and He is the Grand Architect of both.

The prayer I now submit to God, in Jesus name, is that I learn to accept His will…Period.

Let’s pray a short prayer, together.

Lord, we ask that You grant us the strength to accept Your will. We bring this prayer to You in the name of Jesus Christ.

AMEN

Fr. Bill Shepard†

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Fr. Bill Shepard†