What do we pray for? Acts 4:29-30

I spent a couple of hours between yesterday and today talking to a lady at the hospital who asked for a preacher. I had never met her before but she identified herself as a member of one of the other congregations in town and said that she was having trouble getting in touch with someone from there. It became very apparent as soon as we started talking that the reason she wanted to talk to a preacher was because she was very frustrated about a neighbor who was causing her trouble. I couldn't follow everything she said, but by the end of it, I was reading Jesus' instruction in the Sermon on the Mount about praying for your enemies and loving them even when they spitefully use you.

I'm still not sure if the message sank in. She insisted that she was praying that her neighbor would leave her alone and that she would be able to have peace. I tried to encourage her to pray a different way. To pray that God would actually bless her neighbor instead of just praying for peace through the situation and for her neighbor to mind her own business.

Praying for that kind of stuff when someone is doing us wrong just simply isn't easy. It cuts against our grain. And yet Jesus commanded it. I don't fault this lady for struggling with the idea. I do too. When I got back to the office and looked at the verse for today, this idea of what exactly it is that we are praying for hit me again.

The context of the passage above is that Peter and John had just been arrested twice and beaten once because they were speaking out in the name of Jesus. In fact, they had healed a man in the name of Jesus and refused to not give Jesus credit and preach in his name in the shadow of the healing. And after they were released, they went back to the other disciples and the disciples prayed this prayer. They knew persecution was coming, but they didn't pray for safety. They knew beatings were on the way and they didn't pray for protection. They knew it was going to be difficult and they didn't pray for an easier road.

They prayed that God would give them the strength to continue speaking in spite of the threats!

They prayed that God's power would be displayed through signs and wonders in the midst of the persecution!

I'm afraid that it is far too often that my prayers center completely on me and on my wants and desires. I try not to be selfish or self-centered, but I pray about the stuff that is worrying me and I ask God to take it away. Not so with the people who were this close to the death and resurrection of Christ. They understood in a very visible way the reality of the resurrection and the power of God. And therefore, they prayed that God's will would be done and that they would be enabled to do it. I want to have that heart! I want to have that abandon of personal protection and comfort and I want to be strengthened and emboldened to do and to say the things that God has called me to do and to say. And even though my personal wants usually bubble to the surface first, my deeper self...who I am at the core wants what God wants. Sometimes I just have to remind myself of that.

What do you pray for?

Do you pray that God would remove your obstacles or that He would give you the strength to overcome them?

Do you pray that God would give you the strength to overcome the obstacles that stand in your way or the obstacles that stand in the way of the advancement of the kingdom of God?

What do you pray for?

Perhaps when we evaluate our prayers we will see that we have not truly been obeying Jesus' instruction about prayer when he began his prayer with "Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Maybe, if we start praying unselfishly as the early church did, we will start seeing more direct answers to prayers because we will truly be praying the will of the Father. Perhaps if we regain the passion for God's will to be done no matter the comfort or advancement of our own wills, we will get more passionate about saving souls than casting votes. More excited about winning lost sheep to Christ than winning ballgames. More serious about knowing the Savior of the World and making Him known to others than knowing the answers to the final exam.

What do we pray for?

 

Meek not weak...sort of- Matthew 5:5

"Blessed are the meek,

for they shall inherit the earth."

Matthew 5:5

“Moses was the most meek man who was on the face of the earth” (Num 12:3). Jesus taught about it…and was described as it. It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit. But what exactly is it?

The NIV usually translates meekness as gentleness. The problem in our minds, though, is that meek just sounds too much like weak. Even though we may mentally acknowledge meekness as a quality for a Christian to have, when we are confronted with a situation in which we are called upon by God to be meek, I think it is one of the hardest things for us to believe not just in our minds, but in our hearts. Because along with meekness comes the possibility of perceived weakness. And we all know that if an attacking dog senses fear or weakness, we are sure to encourage a stronger attack. Unfortunately, we also know that dogs sometimes attack less aggressively than humans! And yet the 8^th fruit of the Spirit is meekness. And so we must pursue it.

While meekness may be perceived as weakness, it most certainly is not. I have heard it described as being the same quality as a horse that is completely tamed. A meek person is not weak. A meek person is a person of incredible strength…so much strength, in fact, that the strength is under control. Picture someone carrying a heavy load. If the person is weak, when it comes time to set the load down, things are likely to get broken. But if the person has enough strength, then the load will be placed gently on the ground because the person has his strength under control and is able to be delicate in how he handles heavy burdens.
The call to meekness then, is a call to put absolutely every portion of our lives under the direction of the Spirit. After all, an animal that is well-trained responds only to its master and denies its own desires to run wild, buck loads, or turn sharply in fear (ask David Parker about that:)). When we place our temper under God’s control, we are meek. When we place our knowledge under God’s control instead of slapping others around with it, we are meek. When we place the positions of authority that we are given (think parents, teachers, managers, bosses, popular kids) under God’s control and allow Him to use those places as tools instead of us using them ourselves as clubs, we are being meek.
That is what we strive for. But remember, while we are to strive for more and more meekness (strength under the control of the Spirit), we are looking at the beatitudes in the light of them being facts about the kingdom of heaven instead of directives of how we should be. Remember the first two-- “Blessed are the poor in spirit…; blessed are those who mourn…” I believe the beatitudes with positive attributes- like this one about meekness- are listed for the same reason as the negatives: to simply lay out facts about what things are like in the kingdom of heaven. The rest of the world may perceive meekness as weakness. After all, Jesus was spat upon, slapped, mocked, beaten, blasphemed, and accused of working for Satan instead of for God. What self-respecting person among us would not feel justified in standing up for ourselves!? In fact, we would probably even feel like we were failing God if we didn’t stand up for what we knew to be right. But inside the kingdom of heaven, things are often reversed. Yes, the poor in spirit can possess the kingdom of heaven. Yes, those who mourn will be comforted. And from the other side of the equation, yes, the meek will inherit the earth.

But what does it mean that the meek will inherit the earth? We know that those who are faithful to God will inherit eternal rewards, but

maybe the reversal factor of the kingdom of heaven that Jesus is pointing out here is that those whom the world thinks are sacrificing all and being walked upon are actually living the most enjoyable life they can live on the earth!

Jesus said later that he came that we “might have life…and have it to the full” (John 10:10). I don’t think he was referring only to the afterlife! He also said that “he who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mat 10:39).

So what about it? What would it mean to actually live this principle out this week? I’m not saying we have to try to live it out in order to earn our way into the kingdom of heaven and deserve to “inherit the earth”. That would be contrary to what Jesus taught about the kingdom of heaven…that it is open to all based on God’s gift and not our merit. But if we believe what Jesus said is true, then we begin to trust that He actually knows what He is talking about. Sometimes I feel like I should just slap people and say, “what you are doing right now is making you miserable! You aren’t happy no matter how hard you try. You aren’t fixing your relationships, no matter how much you stand up for yourself. You aren’t making your family better no matter how hard you work! Why not just keep all those attempts on the backburner. You can come back to them if you want later on in life. Why not just test this truth out and see if there is merit in it? Why not quit trying to make sure everyone knows that you are strong and actually be stronger enough to take junk from someone else, because according to the God who holds all the power in the universe…it’s the meek who will inherit the earth-i.e. have the best earthly lives possible!”

Sometimes I want to say that to others. And then I think about when I justify my stance on things, defend my actions and character, stand up for my hurt feelings, and try to ensure that everyone else knows I’m in the right. When will I believe what Jesus said to the fullest?

What will it look like for you to believe it this week?