SYNOPSIS: Where is the greatest, safest, most satisfying place in the world? In the very center of God’s will, that’s where! So why not move there — ASAP. And here is a prayer that is a great first step in making the move in that direction: “Father, not my will, but yours be done!” Have you come to that place where you can surrender what you prefer to what God wills? When you can so entrust your life to the Father’s perfect plan — no matter what that means for you — you will have discovered, as Jesus did, the Divine eye in the midst of every Satanic storm. And that is the greatest, safest, most satisfying place in the world!

Moments With God // Matthew 26:39

Jesus went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

Where is the greatest, safest, most satisfying place in the world for you and me? In the very center of God’s will, that is where! That is why praying, “Father, not my will, but your will be done.”

When we can learn to not only pray but earnestly desire God’s will for our lives—unpleasant and undesired circumstances notwithstanding—then we will have discovered what Jesus knew all along when he prayed that prayer on the very night he was betrayed: that he was in the Divine “eye” of the Satanic storm.

Jesus desired his Father’s will more than anything else—even life itself. He knew his purpose in life was to fulfill God’s plan: To redeem a lost world by his sacrificial death. He entrusted his own personal preferences to the One who not only works out all things for his own glory but for the good of his children as well. (Romans 8:28) That is why Jesus, whom Hebrews 12 calls, “the author and finisher of our faith,” looked at the cross with great joy. That is why he heroically endured this ghastly assignment. That is why he even despised the shame of hanging upon that cross like a death-row inmate. For Jesus knew that the path to the crown was by way of the cross. Now, he has arrived and is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

Have you come to that place where you can surrender what you prefer to what God wills? When you can so entrust your life to the Father’s perfect plan, no matter what that means, you will have discovered, as Jesus did, the Divine eye in the midst of every Satanic storm. And that is the greatest, safest, most satisfying place in the world!

Take a moment to absorb how Hebrews 12:1-3 says it:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [Jesus and others who heroically fulfilled God’s will], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Are you struggling with God’s will? Does it seem a little too much to handle? Keep your eye on Jesus! Consider what he went through! For if you endure your cross now, then afterward comes the crown!

Before he was martyred by the Naizis, German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter from prison, “Much that worries us beforehand can afterwards, quite unexpectedly, have a happy and simple solution… Things really are in a better hand than ours.”

Did you catch that? Things are in Better Hands!

That’s why Jesus’ prayer, “Father, not my will, but yours be done,” is a really good prayer for you to pray. Your life—unpleasant and undesired circumstances notwithstanding—is in better hands than yours.

And after your cross, if you endure by doing the will of the Father, comes the crown.

Synopsis: This one truth trumps—no pun intended—all your concerns: God is in charge! He allows politicians to be elected, he keeps presidents on a short leash, and at the end of the day, whether rulers rule well or not, God will accomplish his purposes. He is in control—he reigns over all! History is really His story. It always had been, it is right now, and it shall be tomorrow. Let that give you great comfort and cause you to be much saner in the next election season.

Moments With God // Proverbs 21:1

The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Hey all you Republicans out there, relax, the president is on a short lease. And for all you Democrats, you need to chill out, too. For those of you who still believe it’s all Donald Trump’s fault, or for anyone who’s convinced President Biden is the Antichrist, lighten up! If you’re thinking the man or woman who occupies the Oval Office will be the one calling the shots, think again:

God is in charge!

I love how Daniel 2:20-21 reminds us that all the political convulsing we do, especially in an election cycle is ramping up—which in today’s world means all the time—is really nothing more than a tempest in a teapot when stacked up against the plans of the Almighty:

“Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings.”

Now I’m not saying that politics is unimportant or that the upcoming elections won’t have consequences. The truth is the party given the power to rule greatly affects the cultural-moral-spiritual direction of America and the person in the Oval Office has great bearing on both the outward strength and the inner fortitude of our nation. It matters, and as believers, we are obligated to be well informed and actively engaged in our political process. But can I remind you again of this one truth that trumps—no pun intended—all your concerns?

God is in control!

God allows politicians to be elected, he keeps the president on a short leash, and at the end of the day, whether rulers rule well or not, God will accomplish his purposes. He is in charge—and in control. As someone has correctly said, history is really His story. It always had been, it is right now, and it shall be tomorrow.

God rules!

I hope that gives you great comfort, and I hope it will allow you to be a little saner and kingdom-focused as the politics of the election season heats up well beyond the point of sanity.

I love what Benjamin Franklin said at Constitutional Convention of 1787: “God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that, without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.”

Let me say it one more time just in case you missed it:

God reigns!

“ To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees. — BILLY GRAHAM

SYNOPSIS: There is a lot of prayer going up for you! I hope that comforts you, because whether you realize it or not, you’ve got quite a prayer team. Think about this: When you pray, it’s not just you praying. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit get engaged the moment a prayer leaves your lips—if not sooner.

Moments With God // Luke 22:31-32

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.

There is a lot of prayer going up for you! I hope that comforts you, because whether you realize it or not, you’ve got quite a prayer team. Think about this: When you pray, it’s not just you praying. Romans 8:26-27: 26 says,

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 with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

That is tremendous news! Paul says the Holy Spirit is actively engaged, at this moment, interceding within you and through you, lifting your life, taking your case, speaking your name before the throne of the Heavenly Father and praying the Father’s perfect will for your life. As the great theologian C.H. Dodd so appropriately noted, “Prayer is the divine in us appealing to the Divine above us.”

Even when you don’t know what to pray for, or how to pray, or stumble through prayer, or even shortsightedly pray things that would be to your harm, the Holy Spirit comes alongside you to translate your prayer into the world’s greatest prayer, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Through the Spirit, “our prayers,” as C.S. Lewis said, “are really His prayers; He speaks to himself through us.”

As frustrated and inept as you might be, when you pray, you unleash a divine dialogue between Father and Spirit. When you pray, Father and Spirit are strategizing how to turn the circumstances of your life, both good and bad, into that which will produce the greatest good in you. That’s why there’s no such thing for a child of God as ineffective prayer.

Now as amazing as that is, there’s more. Not only are Father and Spirit in a constant conversation about you, the Son is in on the discussion as well. Romans 8:34 says, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Compare that to Hebrews 7:24-25, “Because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Jesus’ job description as resurrected Lord is to be your personal intercessor. We saw that with Peter here in Luke 22, but it didn’t stop with Peter. Now Jesus stands night and day before Father representing your case, too. And he intends not just to help you get through whatever you’re going through, his mission is to save you completely!

What all of this means is that Father, Son, and Spirit are actively engaged on your behalf at this very moment, and they won’t stop until they see that the Father’s perfect plan is fully worked out in you both in time and for all eternity.

And when you join them, that’s quite a prayer team you’ve got, isn’t it?

SYNOPSIS: Corrie ten Boom asked, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” Make it the former; use prayer to let the Holy Spirit steer you to where God desires to take you. Believe me, it will be far better, infinitely so, than any place you could dream up in your own mind.

Going Deep // Focus: 1 Samuel 8:19-20

But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.”

Here’s a scary thought: God may actually give us what we demand.

I don’t know about you, but as I review the things I have asked the Lord to give me over my life, there are plenty of things in hindsight that I am totally grateful he withheld. There are times that God didn’t answer prayer—at least not in the way I demanded. There were times when he said “no”, there were times when he said, “not now”, there were times when he said, “maybe”, and there were times when he was silent, but in his silence I got the picture: he was clearly saying, “just trust me.”

God is flawless in his wisdom, unassailable in his kindness, and often beyond understanding in his timing. And over the years, I have learned to trust him with the things I am praying for. I am also learning to ask him for what he wants more than what I want. I have learned to be suspicious of the desires of my heart, realizing that on my best day, my heart is still the most deceitful part of me, and yes, desperately wicked. Though I think I do, I really don’t know how bad it is. Jeremiah lamented similarly,

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

For that reason alone, we should be quite circumspect in our asking. Israel wasn’t. They wanted a king—desperately. They wanted to be like other nations, wanting a physical representation of leadership rather than an unseen God. And even though they were warned what a king would demand of them, they were unswayable. This broke Samuel’s heart, but God reminded him that it wasn’t an indictment of the failure of his leadership, it was an indictment of the Israelites’ incomplete trust in God.

At the end of the day, God said to the childish demands of Israel, “Okay, have it your way.” And while the first hundred years of the monarchy was by and large a pleasant thing for Israel, the next several hundred years were not so great. Like the psalmist said of the Israelites in the wilderness,

They soon forgot what God had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them. (Psalm 105: 13-15)

Other translations say that God sent leanness to their souls. How sad that God would give into what we persistently and foolishly demand, but in getting what we ask for, we lose what God wants for us. Now this is not to say that we should not feel free to ask of God for the things we need and even the things we want. It is the clear promise of scripture that our Father longs to provide both:

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires. (Psalm 37: 4)

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. (Matthew 6:33)

If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. (John 15:7)

What we should be very careful of, however, is not submitting our desires to him first; not allowing him to sanctify our wishes. In the verses above, the operative idea is that we put the business of God first in our lives, then subordinate our wants and dreams to that. When we do that, we will get what God wants, which is always infinitely better that what we can imagine.

So go ahead and ask, but ask for what God wants above all else—may your kingdom come, may your will be done—and you will get a little heaven on earth.

“ Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? —CORRIE TEN BOOM

SYNOPSIS: Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of his name to let God know our needs. And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“and your joy will be complete”). But asking in his name implies two interconnected things: First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives. Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause, and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom interests. Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource. With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Project 52 – Weekly Scripture Memory // John 16:24

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

What Jesus revealed to his disciples about prayer was a completely new thing in Israel. Under the old “house rules,” people had to go through a priest to contact the Almighty. They had to bring a sacrifice—depending on the need, there were a variety of sacrifices required—which had to be offered in a proscribed way. There was no direct contact between God and people.

But a new day had dawned, and by Jesus’ once-for-all sacrificial death on the cross, complete, free, unlimited, direct and easy access had been opened up between people and God.  The writer of Hebrews so beautifully described it this way:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)

Jesus is our access card to the very throne room of the Father, where we can boldly and confidently use the authority of Jesus’ name to let God know our needs.  And when we ask in his name, Jesus promises both answers to our requests (“ask and you will receive”) and a complete sense of satisfaction in gaining the Father’s provision (“your joy will be complete”).

Now asking in his name implies two interconnected things.  First, it implies that we are living under his authority. By that I mean we are giving his rule first place in our lives, we are learning to look at things through his perspective and we are considering our needs and wants in the light of their relationship to the Kingdom life. Truly living under his authority is the best guard against the selfish asking some would take this verse to legitimize.

Second, it implies we are asking in his authority. That is, we are under his rule, we are serving his cause and we are acting as agents of his Kingdom’s interests. We know who we are and who he is, which leads to a bold and unabashed confidence in coming before the Father to request the release of Divine resources to fulfill the needs of his ever-expanding Kingdom.

No wonder Jesus assured us that this kind of praying works, for in essence, as C.S. Lewis so cleverly wrote,

“Our prayers are really His prayers;
He speaks to himself through us.”

Asking in that sense is both the believer’s highest privilege and most powerful resource.  With that in mind, let’s start asking!

Reflect & Apply:  If you are like me, understanding prayer this way calls me to evaluate my life to see if I am living under his authority—and all that implies, and asking in his authority—that is, acting as an agent of his Kingdom’s interests. And, if you are like me, there is usually some realigning needed to bring my life—my thoughts, attitudes and practices—back into Kingdom alignment.

SYNOPSIS: God is very clear that consequences follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakable in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, Asaph, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in God’s mercy—then prayed like crazy for a crop failure. I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for his discipline. Micah 7:18 tells us, “Mercy is your specialty.” Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—or perhaps, a once blessed life!

An Impassioned Intercession // Psalm 80:19

How do you pray for a once-godly nation that is now suffering the just punishment for rebellion? You do what the psalmist did: Boldly, persistently and unashamedly pray for restoration![/callout]

Restore us, O LORD God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

Three times the psalmist made the exact same appeal for the restoration of Israel—Psalm 80:3,7,19. Each appeal is more intense than the previous, building to this crescendo of importunity in the final verse. He even sneaks in another plea for revival in the penultimate verse: “Revive us so we can call on your name once more.” (Ps. 80:18) This guy is bent on national renewal in Israel through a spiritual awakening!

What is interesting about Psalm 80—which you would agree is especially applicable for America right now—is that this desperate cry for restoration came during a time when the Almighty had removed his blessing because of the nation’s persistent rebellion. It was most likely written at the tail end of the Northern Kingdom’s rebellious run as a nation, and they were suffering the harsh reality of life without the protective hand of God—deservedly so!

How like America! We, too, have strayed from our once declared dependence upon the Almighty’s protective hand. We have abandoned the collective sense of our national raison d’être: To serve God’s purposes in the earth. We have bowed at the idol of political ideology, conflating our politics with Kingdom value’s. And let me be clear, the Christian nationalism that is growing in America is nothing less than idolatrous! Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36)

We have traveled so far down the road of spiritual rebellion—both sinner AND saint—that God will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah if he withholds punishment on this nation much longer. That is really what we deserve. But in reality, isn’t what was true of Israel, and what is true of America, true of you and me, too? At the end of the day, aren’t we all undeserving of anything but God’s judgment?

Yet what is even more interesting about Psalm 80 is that the appeal for restoration is not based on the worthiness of Israel, it is rather rooted in the immutable character of God—who is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in love and delights to show mercy rather than send calamity! (Psalm 103:8-14, Joel 2:13, Micah 7:18)

God has been very clear that consequences will follow sin; the law of sowing and reaping is unmistakably clear in Scripture. Yet the psalmist, along with other Biblical writers, often placed their hope in the mercy of God—and prayed like crazy for a crop failure.

I think it’s okay to pray for a crop failure. In fact, I would even say it’s wise to pray that way. Why? God may just substitute his mercy for discipline. The Message translation says of God in Micah 7:18,

Mercy is your specialty.

Since mercy and grace are what makes God, God, why not tap into them and pray for the restoration of a once mighty nation—and perhaps, a once blessed life!

“ Free grace can go into the gutter, and bring up a jewel. —CHARLES SPURGEON

Do you ever feel inadequate to come before a holy God in prayer? Have you witnessed prayer warriors interceding with such ease that it intimidates you because you could certainly never pray like that? Do you ever run out of words when you pray? When it comes to prayer, do you feel as Ringo Star once sang, “it don’t come easy.” Guess what! That’s okay! When I don’t know how to pray or what to pray or feel so incredibly inadequate to pray, the Holy Spirit dwelling within me does the praying for me. He takes my inarticulate, jumbled thoughts and raises them to the Father above, making perfect sense of the things that are running through my mind and burdening my heart. My prayers don’t have to be smooth, they don’t have to have perfect grammatical structure, they don’t even have to make sense. They just need to come from a heart that is crying out for the Father’s best in my life, and the indwelling Spirit does the rest.

A Simple Prayer for Praying More Powerfully:

You never know when your worst enemy and most hostile persecutor will become your greatest spiritual ally and closest gospel partner. But how you respond to them when they are your enemy may very well determine if and when they come to know your Savior. Stephen’s gracious spirit as he was being stoned made a lasting impression on Saul, perhaps a haunting impression that was one of the keys to his conversion. The best chance of turning an enemy into a believer is by loving, serving and laying down your life for them, you know, the way Jesus did.

“ Stephen’s accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul, later called Paul. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep. —ACT 7:58-60

A Simple Prayer for Grace Under Fire:

What a great promise: God will withhold no good thing from the one who does what is right. Every blessing, every provision, and every grace will freely flow from the treasury of heaven into the life of the person whose heart is full of integrity, whose ways are upright, and whose actions are pleasing to the Lord. Now that is not just an empty promise from a “prosperity preacher,” that is from God himself. Yes, what a promise!

“ For the Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right. —PSALM 84:11

A Simple Prayer for Every Good Thing:

If you have received Christ as Savior, you were baptized BY the Holy Spirit into God’s family forever. But since you believed, have you been baptized WITH the Holy Spirit—drenched, saturated, overflowing? Have you received that promise of the Father? If not, in whose power are you trying to live the Christian life? Ask for the gift. Wait for the baptism. And by any means necessary, receive the drenching of the Holy Spirit.

“ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! —LUKE 11:13

A Simple Prayer for Spirit-Drenching:

God, drench me with the Holy Spirit. Fill me to overflowing with your love. Saturate me with your presence. Cleanse me with your fire. Enable me with your power. Equip me with your gifts. Transform me into what you want me to be. Let my life continually spread the fragrance of you wherever I go. For your glory alone, I ask in faith and with gratitude in advance for the promise of drenching in the Holy Spirit.