An Air-Tight Contract, But Don't Miss the Fine Print

As Jesus approached the end of His mortal ministry, He wanted to strengthen the Apostles for the difficult times ahead of them. Among His comforting words are these promises about prayer: 

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. 
--John 14:13-14

This is a bold promise of the power of prayer. Ask anything--ANYTHING--in the named of Jesus, and He will do it. And why will He do it? To glorify the Father, to shine the spotlight on God, to show us the limitless power of the Creator and Ruler of the universe. No one but a lunatic or the true Son of God would make such a claim. He offers us the opportunity to put Him to the test, try Him out, see what

happens. Either His word is good, or He is a fraud. So why not try Him? What is there to lose? And if He makes good on His promise, what is there to gain! 

Ah, but there is a qualification, a little piece of fine print that appears in the next chapter. 

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
--John 15:7

Jesus restates His promise, but with an introductory proviso, namely, that we must abide in Him and allow His word to abide in us. In other words, we have to do our best to be obedient, follow Him, and live like He lives. We must not only study His word but internalize it and live it. Then, and only then, is His promise sure and the contract air tight.

Go Down to My House Justified

While Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He did not neglect His detractors, who also needed to learn valuable lessons about proper prayer. He directed the following parable specifically to "certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others."

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
--Luke 18:10-14

The Pharisee prayed "with himself". It was almost like he was praying to himself. His prayer was meant to justify and satisfy himself, congratulating himself on his outstanding obedience. The tax collector, on the other hand, was well aware of his faults and sought mercy. 

The Pharisee asked for nothing, assuming his righteousness made him self-sufficient, while the publican pleaded in his humility for God to lift his insufficiency. The only real difference between the worthiness of the two men was the public knowledge of their sins. Each was a sinner in his own right. It was just that the publican's sins were easier to see. The Pharisee hid his sins beneath his robes of piety.

Jesus concluded that the pitiful publican was justified while the haughty Pharisee was not. To be justified in the gospel sense is to have Christ's atonement applied to us, to remove our sins and receive forgiveness. Both men needed forgiveness, but only the publican acknowledged his need and asked for the desired blessing, which was granted him. The Pharisee's pride, on the other hand, blinded him to the very sin for which he most needed justification--pride. His boastful prayer was of no value to him because it availed him nothing. He asked nothing and received nothing in return.

Setting aside the false good of which the Pharisee boasted, how much true good might the Pharisee have been able to do if he had seen himself in the true light? How much better can I become if I allow God to show me who I truly am, faults and weaknesses not withstanding, and then ask for His forgiveness and for the strength to try again?

Lesson in Patience

In the previous chapter of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gave a warning about His Second Coming and the desperate times that would accompany that great event. Now He begins the next set of instructions to His disciples with these words:

And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
--Luke 18:1

The parable that followed this pronouncement about praying always concerns a bereft widow and an unjust judge. Though the town judge initially paid no attention to the importuning widow, because she continued to pester him, the judge finally acceded to her request for help. Jesus concludes this parable with the promise the God will hear us, "though he bear long with" us, meaning that we may have to be patient until the Lord sees fit to answer us in His own due time.

Returning to Jesus's introduction to the parable, to "not faint" is to not lose heart. God hears all prayers, but He answers in His own due time. When answers don't come quickly or easily, we may think God isn't listening or He doesn't care. Such is not the case. God always hears, always cares, and always answers. His answers, however, are always calculated for our maximum benefit. Despite what we may want, God knows what we truly need. He gives us what we need, which may not be what we want. Sometimes the most important thing we need, amidst all our wants, is a lesson in patience.

For most of my life, I have been quite adept at instructing God in how He should run His universe and the timing of the blessings I think I need in my life and in the lives of others. I tell Him who to heal and when to heal them, who to strengthen and how He should strengthen them, whose burdens He should lift and how He should lift them. I have approached God like my personal vending machine of blessings, dropped in my coins of prayer and faith, pushed the buttons, and expected instant gratification. 

Has God heard all my selfish, self-centered, impatient prayers? Absolutely. Does He love me? Positively. Does He want me to have a good life? Most assuredly. But He is also wise enough to withhold the blessings I want and dispense the blessings I need. He is patient enough to let me learn His purposes despite my frantic desires to have Him right every wrong and heal every illness and remove every burden. 

I has taken me many years, but I have stopped, for the most part, trying to instruct God in how I want Him to fix the world and have instead offered to listen to what He wants for me, to bear up the burdens He wants me to carry, to deal with the obstacles He allows to obstruct my easy path, to serve those on whom He has chosen to allow afflictions to linger, and to wait patiently with an eye of faith for the things I truly need. God's goodness is not in a comfortable life with no drama, no problems, and no stress, but in permitting all the trials that will enable me to come to the Savior with a broken heart and contrite spirit. My purpose in this earthly life is not to be comfortable on a calm sea, but to the strong in the midst of the storms that blow my vessel towards the promised land of salvation and exaltation.

My Prayer Closet

Jesus is up against it now. The scribes and Pharisees come at him with guns ablazing to trip him up and find a fault they can use to discredit him among the common people. His miraculous healings have drawn considerable attention, the latest being the healing of a leper. The doctors of the law have come from all over to watch and observe and then to criticize. 

A man suffering from a long-time paralysis is brought to Jesus. Knowing His enemies are present, Jesus administers to the man first by telling him his sins are given. Jesus's statement has its calculated effect, driving the Pharisees into an angry frenzy. "Who can forgive sins but God alone," they mutter. Jesus responds by asking, "Which is harder to do, forgive a man's sins or heal a man's illness. But just so you know I have authority from God—" Jesus then removes the paralysis, and the man walks away.

The Pharisees next encounter Jesus enjoying himself at a feast to which tax collectors and other social outcasts have been invited. The detractors are afraid to approach Jesus directly because He has bested them at every turn. So, they jump on the disciples. "Does your master know he is eating with sinners?" Jesus hears the accusation and is quick to reply, "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick."

Unable to deflect the confrontation with Jesus directly, they address their next accusation to Him. They cleverly maneuver their criticism, however, to reflect on Jesus's disciples rather than on the Master himself: 

And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink?
--Luke 5:33

I assume to make a prayer means to prayer together, and probably in public or in prayer meetings. The point of this complaint by the Lord's detractors is that He and His disciples do not hold regular fast and prayer meetings. And it is true that the New Testament provides practically no accounts of Jesus and His disciples praying together, other than the instructional Lord's Prayer and the great Intercessory Prayer. 

Jesus certainly prayed often but usually alone. Nevertheless, He did not condemn group prayer, but it was apparently not necessary while He was among his disciples, or at least He did not intend to make a public display of it.

On another occasion, He taught: 

But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
--Matthew 6:6

My prayers, likewise, are a private matter between me and my God. I participate in open prayers, as in Church meetings and family prayers in my home. But when I really want to talk to God, I want to be alone with Him. 

Prayer is an intimate expression. An Israelite placed the prayer shawl, or Tallit, over his head and drew it around his face to pray. The closed shawl became his personal closet, drawing the Lord so close as to place God's ear next to the man's mouth. "From my lips to God's ears" is a common Jewish expression. It indicates the closeness into which we draw to the Lord when we are in our prayer closet.

I testify our Heavenly Father wants us to approach Him and come close to Him. We are each His child, an individual whom He knows and loves. He wants to hear from us, one on one, directly, personally, privately. I look forward each day to my closet time with my Father.