Now we must remember that our Lord's mission is to bring us to the Father, Whose priority it is, to bring lost souls into the Kingdom...and importanly...for His own purposes. It's not about us! As we read in vs. 12, He has returned to His Father, and in the next verse, that He did-so in order that the Father receive all the glory. You need to know that that was and is, the full focus of Jesus' life, death and resurrection...that God be the focus of our attention, as it was His...and that He be given the glory for it...not even Jesus, and God forbid...not us! It was, and is for the One Who is central in all of life and in eternity.
That's not too difficult for us to grasp is it? But we're so distracted by our own existence that for many of us, Heavenly Father is only a bi-line. Just an afterthought before we drop off to sleep at night; only a familiar perception as we muddle through our day; little more than a familiar face on our Google Photos app. Well I think I've made my point.
Do you realize what value prayer really has in terms of our relationship with the Father? What our Lord is doing there in vs. 13 is telling the twelve to have greater confidence...as we would say, greater faith...in Him and His words. He was on His way to the cross and the tomb, but He was not untouchable. He would be out of sight, but hopefully not out of mind... and most certainly not beyond the reach of their prayers. Prayer, especially when yoked with fasting, and in tandem with obedience (vss. 15 and 21), is a force to be reckoned-with...as vs. 14 says, when done in the Name of Jesus!
Now how do you pray? Not like the Pharisee in Luke 18, I hope...“I am not like other men...robbers, evil-doers and adulterers”. In fact, Jesus teaches that we must pray in union with His will; that we pray that the Father be glorified in it; that we pray by His authority, He be the One Whose power is manifested, and nothing of our own.
But we must understand here that Jesus was not handing His disciples a blank cheque. Our Father does not honour our prayers simply because they bear the Saviour's Name. We mustn't be deluded into thinking that all we need do is to make application to God, and all our dreams will come true! In fact, the opposite applies...we don't only need to be IN His will, but we need to BOW to His will. We need to belong to more that the local bible carrying chapter of the Kingdom...we must hear Him and obey Him, and keep His commands; even to anticipate His commands. In fact, that's what being in His will implies...that it's not that we're willing to obey THEM, but that we're eager to obey HIM! There's a big difference between obeying the Law, and obeying the Law-Maker...the one, a tablet of stone, the other, the onion skin of our hearts. The one out of necessity; the other, out of love!
So what was it the Lord was so concerned they obey? Well for sure, the first and greatest commandment, and "the other, like unto the first". That's the test of our love for Him, isn't it? Just as for anyone else, all "Jesus People" love because they are loved. That's a pretty simple concept.
I remember talking with someone who had grown up absent from her grandparents; very rarely getting to visit, but loving them intensely, because they loved her so much. She knew it because they loved her first. And by their letters to her, and their phone calls to her, and by their prayers for her. And she would never have neglected those dear souls for all the tea in Taiwan! In fact, she would have done anything for them that they might have asked of her.
Sound familiar? We are more than servants, more than friends...we're family, and we love Father God because He loved us first. And He hears us when we speak to Him, and we should hear Him...and obey Him, when He speaks to us. My, oh my... why don't we obey Him cheerfully, and willingly? And why don't we even deem it a privilege, rather than a handicap? These are hard questions, aren't they. May God equip us with "sufficient grace" for the journey!
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