John 15:7

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you ~ John 15:7


This almost makes Jesus sound like a Santa Claus figure. I sit on his knee and ask for whatever I want, and my wish is granted. Sounds grand, doesn’t it? What do I want today? A giant boat, a new car, how about a new house? In this high turnover housing market, I certainly cannot buy one on my own, so maybe, if I ask, Jesus will get it for me – free! How shallow are these words, even as I write them. The secret to getting whatever we wish and having it done for us is in the relationship with Jesus. IF I remain in him…step one. My relationship has to be real; it has to be ongoing, it has to be deep. For when it is, my heart becomes his heart, and my desires are streamlined toward his desires. Step 2 – his word must remain in me. I cannot go off on a tangent of my own but must read what the Bible tells me. From there I learn about love, compassion, forgiveness, justice, hope, eternity. If I do not know what God has to say to me, how can I even respond in a relationship? When we have friends, we talk things through, we share our worlds, our problems, our hopes, and our joys. Then, when we need help, our friend is there at the ready to do what we need. Jesus is our friend, and so our friendship must contain all the aspects an earthly friendship contains, except our friendship with him is holy, it is pure, it is submitting to him and dying to self. Perhaps that is the real secret…dying to our wants and asking for our real needs. Then, what we wish is for the healing of a friend, a safe home for an abused woman, food on the table for a struggling friend, or a safe night for a homeless man. Jesus hears our wishes.

Pastor Julia

image by pixabay

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for your comments

Popular posts from this blog

Proverbs 18:2

Image
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in sharing their own opinions ~ Proverbs 18:2 If we are going to understand something, we must fully digest it so that when we speak, we speak with wisdom. When we have only half truths in our mind, our words become empty and senseless. We then puff out air rather than understanding when we speak. A wise person will want to improve their mind through learning in various ways from the world around them. A person who delights in spiritual understanding will find peace and enjoyment in reading the Word of God on a daily basis, and in participating with God’s people in a learning and praising environment – the church! We come together in corporate worship with the understanding that not one of us knows all things, but we bend our mind and heart to learn what God has to show and say to us. A foolish person makes a show of what they “know” to please their friends or to save face in front of them. More often a wise person will hold t
Read more

Romans 8:26

Image
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans ~ Romans 8:26 Many days, many times, I have the words for prayer. It comes forth and flows fairly naturally as I converse with my Lord God. I hope in the God I worship to hear me, and to receive my words, as I pray in the name of Jesus and believe in Him, my intercessor. He is my Living Saviour, my High Priest, standing at the right hand of God the Father. But there are times when my pain has been so deep that my words will not come. There are times when my agony is so piercing that what words I may speak would not be enough. And so, in my deep, black moments, I come before my God and let my darkest emotions erupt in sounds that only He can understand. The Holy Spirit within me cries out in my stead, and He becomes my second intercessor. It is not that He is not there with me in all my prayers, but there are times wh
Read more

Isaiah 43:19

Image
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert ~ Isaiah 43:19 When we meet a challenge, we are often found discouraged, lost, even hopeless. Nothing is working, everything seems to be against us. We do not know how to move forward, so we remain curled up in a ball. Then, a glimmer of light shines through! Hope is regained and movement is stirred within. Don’t we become excited when we begin to feel it? God moves like that. We cannot see our way around it, but He can and does. And He makes a way for us out of the calamity of our fears. It is the feeling of springtime after a long winter, or the smell of fresh cut grass. Life stirs within and we move and we see what God saw all the time – the answer to our dilemma. Our desert place becomes an oasis, and we can do what we are called to do. Something totally unexpected happens, something unheard of, but it begins in our life, and we feel the
Read more