Jesus said we are to ask if we want to receive.
My mother encouraged me as a little girl to pray specifically. She bought me a small white leather notebook, and in it I carefully recorded my requests. Then, at her instruction, I left a blank line under each one so I could record the date of the answer. In the front of the little book, she penned these words:
Thou art coming to a King,
Large petitions with thee bring,
For His grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much!
So feel free to ask! But leave a blank space under your request so you can record the answer! Because Jesus said if we ask we will receive.
If our kids always behave
and our boss is always pleased
and our home is always orderly
and our bodies always feel good
and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and happy and loving, others shrug because they’re capable of being that way too. On the other hand, if
we have a splitting headache,
the kids are screaming,
the phone is ringing,
the supper is burning,
yet we are still patient, kind, thoughtful, happy, and loving, the world sits up and takes notice. The world knows that kind of behavior is not natural. It’s supernatural. And others see Jesus revealed in us.
In our increasingly secularized society, spiritual suffering is often ignored. It seems to get categorized under all sorts of psychosomatic labels. We may try to drug it, drown it, or lock it up, but it doesn’t go away because it is very real. The spiritual suffering Jesus endured on the cross is not as easily recognizable as His physical and emotional suffering, but it was by far the worst suffering of all. We first glimpse it when Jesus was stripped of His robe and left to hang virtually naked before the world. The emotional shame and humiliation would have been acute for any dignified Jewish rabbi. Yet it wouldn’t even have warranted an honorable mention alongside the spiritual humiliation He endured as He was spiritually stripped of His robe of righteousness in God’s eyes.
Christ didn’t just take our sins upon Himself, He became those sins for us. Imagine how dirty and vile and evil and guilty and ashamed Jesus must have felt as He hung there before a holy God with our sins exposed as though they were His! Would you thank Him for bearing your sin – so that you can wear His righteousness?
God the Father split history in two when He flexed the divine, eternal muscle of His will and exerted His power on His Son’s behalf! How He must have eagerly anticipated and rejoiced in the vindication and resurrection of His Son! His power was so mightily tremendous that Jesus was:
Raised up from the dead!
Raised up without our sin!
Raised up to life!
Raised up through the walls of the tomb!
Raised up past the guards!
Raised up through all His invisible enemies!
Raised up to a position of authority over the entire universe! Raised up to be seated at the right hand of God!
Jesus was raised up! He’s alive!
Real meaning to your life is found in the glorious dawn of God’s story, which breaks into full revelation in the Person of Jesus Christ. What an astounding truth! What a life-changing message!
Because He emptied Himself of all but love, you can be filled.
Because His body was broken, your life can be whole.
Because His blood was shed, your sin can be forgiven.
Because He submitted to injustice, you can forgive.
Because He finished His Father’s work, your life has worth.
Because He was forsaken, you will never be alone.
Because He was buried, you can be raised.
Because He lives, you don’t have to be afraid.
Because He was raised, you can be strong.
Because He reached down to you, you don’t have to work your way up to Him.
Because His promises are always true, you can have Hope!
Praise God for just giving us Jesus!
