I just read John 19. How could I even hope to convey the depth of meaning in this chapter?
I can’t.
I can only, in tear-stained humility say:
God’s love—
Spoken in truth
And in silence.
God’s Son,
Through incredible affliction,
Showed extraordinary love.
God’s grace—
Demonstrated at Calvary;
Mine to receive!
Lord, to attempt anything further would be futile. Your grace and love overwhelm me. I can only sing, “Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
All of John chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus is speaking to God, His Father. Considering His impending death (for something He didn’t do!), it amazes me that the focus of this prayer is about exemplifying and giving glory to God.
This ability to have a single focus is due to the fact that He states in verse 25. I find it interesting that He included an attribute of God as He addressed Him:
“O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You.” (John 17:25, NASB)
I don’t want to beat a dead horse with the Praise Walk concept. (First, let me insert a promise right here and now: I have no clue why that disgusting saying “beat a dead horse” is still in use, and I hereby declare that I shall not use it again! Okay, back to the more serious and life-changing topic at hand!) But I saw in reading this chapter today that because His heart and mind were saturated with an in-depth knowledge of God, He naturally lived—and died—for Him. Knowing God, which includes knowing His attributes, names, character qualities, and actions, makes the difference.
So today, I’m going to do a Praise Walk (PLEASE, when you’re done reading this post, download my FREE, short, very-few-words explanation of a Praise Walk by clicking here). Then I’m going to choose one single attribute, name, character quality, or action of God to focus on today: first, by praising Him for that element that is a part of Who He is; secondly, by being deliberate to apply it in my own life.
[Example: The Lord is patient with me. I will endeavor to patiently wait for His answers and also be patient with others.]
If you don’t have time to download the brief explanation of a Praise Walk (which you can do here or by clicking on the photo below), here’s a simple graphic I made last year that might give you some ideas. Have a great, praise-filled, God-focused day!
I’m starting to sound like a broken record. [Wait! Is that a totally outdated expression now that the younger generation has no clue what that big black disc is that goes round and round inside that giant box?] Maybe I should say that I’m starting to sound like a CD that has a piece of lint on it and therefore keeps playing the same thing over and over!
Regardless of how I introduce it, I once again saw this repetitive, though minor, element that keeps showing up in these middle chapters of the Book of John in John 16: 23–24 today:
“In that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made full.” (John 16:23-24, NASB)
This recurring theme of asking and receiving was apparently important for Jesus to convey in His final time of ministry on earth.
In my eagerness to understand why this came up in yet another chapter and in another setting within the book, I checked Barnes’ New Testament Notes
Barnes, in essence (i.e., not quoting him here, but I am instead paraphrasing in my own words) explained that the disciples were so used to having the physical Jesus right there, making all the right choices and providing for them, that they had to be taught about His role as Mediator. They would soon need to go to the Father in the name of Jesus, the One Who would mediate their requests to the almighty God.
That makes sense to me now.
But I firmly believe that Jesus also had John write this out in permanent ink for me to know that God will give it to me—it being what I ask for through the name of Jesus—”so that [my] joy may be made full.”
WOW! He fulfills my desires because He desires my joy!
But I must pause here and state what should be, but might not be, a “given”: The more I know of Him, the more those desires change and the more my prayers become about His glory instead of my wants!
Here’s a real-life illustration:
I confess: I still, after all these years alone, want a diamond so big and of such high quality that my friends say, “Aren’t you afraid to leave the house in that thing?” In fact, I’d like three or four of them! Call me shallow. But it’s true.
But the more I see Christ and observe His incomprehensible, unconditional love, I see that He uses “things” to further the kingdom and to show His love and mercy. The cost of a ring like the one I selfishly long for would feed hundreds of people and supply materials for several rooms at the Hospital of Hope in Togo, West Africa (see link below).
The joy of such a diamond (insert slight, honest, transparent sigh here at the mental picture of said diamond) ends when life ends. The impact made by using those same funds on furthering kingdom work is eternal.
Yes, He knows my wants, desires, and needs, and He longs to provide all of them that are in accordance with His plan for me. And that is what I think He meant by fulfilling my joy through giving me what I ask for.
And so I find that my prayers are changing from “give me” to “let them have.”
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My prayer list is really long. No seriously—it’s really long. That doesn’t make me pious or more spiritual than others; it simply means that when someone posts a “Please pray for my mom; she’s having surgery tomorrow” on Facebook, and I enter my comment, “Praying in Indiana,” that I really am praying and going to continue to pray about it. It means that when a friend calls and asks me to pray about something, I will. It means that when I say, “How can I pray for you this week?” I truly want to know because I truly plan to say your name and your request to the Lord when I speak to Him in prayer each day.
It’s not because of who I am, but it’s because I believe in the amazing power of the Great I AM!
So as I read John chapter 15 today (in my ongoing daily reading of John as I prepare for Easter), I was once again struck by the simplicity and yet the complexity of two statements, one in verse 7 and the other in verse 16:
“If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” (John 15:7, NASB)
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.” (John 15:16, NASB)
While there are specific “if” and “so that” elements of these promises, which I must, by His power, fulfill, the bottom line is that all that He is and all that He has are available if I but ask. It’s what He stated, and I must take Him at His word.
In the fall of 1999, I was working at a small Christian college in Northern Wisconsin, and Dr. Dave Doran (currently pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI) came to the campus to teach a week-long course and to speak in the daily chapel services. I was greatly struggling with the seeming “emptiness” left by my unfulfilled plans and wishes, and I asked if I could meet with him for some counseling. (He and his dear wife are long-time friends.)
I’m sure it was odd for him when I started our meeting with “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.” We were the same age (38 at that time), and he already had an amazing wife, four awesome sons, and a well-established ministry in the Detroit area. I was a constantly fluctuating single with no prospects for “permanent male companionship” up there in the snowy woods!
As a good counselor would, he asked what I wanted to do and what I wanted to be. I was honest (which, by the way, is the only way to be when receiving counsel; after all, they’re counseling you, not the you that you wish you were), and the conversation ended up eventually pausing briefly on my continuing desire to be married to a man who loved God and to be a companion to that man to the glory of God.
Dr. Doran then asked me a question that has stuck with me: “As you pray for that, is it a demand or a desire?”
Good question.
My answer is not the point of this blog post, so that’s all I’m sharing of my helpful, God-focused, personal session!
But the point I do want to share, getting back to the verses that hit home with me in John 15 this morning, is that I think I finally, fifteen years after being asked that question, saw the bottom-line way to truly recognize the difference between whether my prayer requests are demands or desires, and I’ll share that finding straight from what I wrote in my God-and-I-Time journal entry:
There’s a fine line between a demand and a desire. I think that what increases the difference between the two is when I pray for something and then attempt not to simply do right and abide in Him but to manipulate circumstances to bring about what I have requested.
A demand takes control; a desire yields control.
So as I continue to honor my commitment to pray for others and to pray for my own desires (and yes, that desire remains, despite total contentment in who and what I am today: single), I will expectantly wait for God, yielding control to and acknowledging the control of the One Who is listening to those requests with selfless love and with the ability to do what He has promised!
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Numbers intrigue me. I love their unique patterns, and I often form numerical equations in my mind to help me remember things: for example, several years ago, I had a phone number that ended in 1339, which, for a “numbers person” make total sense: 1 x 3 = 3, and 3 x 3 = 9. If you’re not a numbers person, you’re saying, “huh?” and if you are a numbers person, you’re thinking, “duh.” Any numbers I hear—ever—go through this process! [By the way: all numbers this week (actually, 4/11-19/14) are the same forward and backward: 4/14/14; 4/15/14; 4/16/14, etc.!]
Now that I’ve let you in on a glimpse of just one odd side of how my mind works (yes, one of many, I’m sure!), you’ll understand my fascination with the fact that as I prepared to read John 14 this morning and first asked for God’s guidance to point me toward a verse, section, principle, or thought to put into action today, I was led to verse fourteen:
John 14:14, NASB: “If you ask Me anything in my name, I will do it.”
Now, lest you think I’m saying it was some “sign” because of the numbers, I’m not. I’m just sharing that it was cool that after I was pointed toward this verse, the irony of the “numerical fascination” made me smile: John is the fourth book of the New Testament; therefore, my verse of application today was 4/14:14; and today is 4/14/14! Again, it has no spiritual significance—it was just a fun nonessential fact about a very essential verse.
So many religious leaders and groups have turned this verse into what is dubbed the “prosperity Gospel” (the bottom line with that way of thinking is most often: love Jesus and be filthy rich) that we often shy away from its powerful truth.
It’s not written in some difficult-to-understand code of numerical (in)significance. Jesus says, “I will do it.” Not “I might”; not, “I’ll think about it.” He says, “I will do it.” And He keeps His word.
So, because Jesus keeps His word, is my faith so small that I am not receiving what I ask, or am I receiving what I ask, but my faith is so small that I can’t see it?”
Lord, my relationship with You too often runs so shallow that I impose my own thoughts and reactions onto You. Yet I come to You today with a sense of longing, imploring You to grant my desire for renewed fellowship and for You to answer, “I will do it.” Lord, I want to know You—not the You I imagine You to be, based on my finite thoughts, but the You Who keeps His word and supersedes those expectations by more than I could ever ask or think.