Connection…Isn’t it frustrating when you need to make a call, and your phone tells you ‘no service’ or ‘failed connection’? The metal walls of the store you are in interfere with the signal, or the mountains are too high they cut off the signal all together, or you’re simply so far away from a tower, there is absolutely no signal at all. Been there?
Yep…me too. It’s especially frustrating when the call is vital, you need to get an important message thru to someone or you need help. We are so accustomed to our easy communications, but they fail occasionally, and we are shocked and frustrated. Even scared sometimes. Our communications are built around a system… towers, little tiny devices we call cell phones, and invisible things called digital signals. They all work together to keep us invisibly connected to each other.
Ever call God and feel like you’re got ‘no service’? Ever thought you just didn’t know how to pray at all, that you don’t have a contract with Him for ‘service’? Or pray about something and seeing no answer think you just failed to make a ‘connection’, that your prayers don’t reach His ears? Sometimes in prayer time, I find myself NOT praying at all, but thinking about what I need from the grocery store tomorrow or some such thing…I call that a ‘dropped call’ …and I’m the one who dropped. God does not fail. And the truth is, He’s even interested in my grocery list !!
This is not a perfect analogy, but it gives us a reference point. When we use a cell phone, we have to operate within the system. Our location is important. When we want to communicate with God, our location is important. We have to be praying WITHIN His will. THAT is our main problem. We often talk to God about things strictly based on our perspective. What we desperately need is to see from HIS.
Jesus Himself deliberately chose to pray within The Father’s will. “..if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away…may Your will be done.’ (Matt.26:42) He didn’t relish the idea of spikes being hammered thru His hands and feet, but He saw from The Father’s perspective…He saw the big picture, what was at stake overall…save Himself from the circumstances, or save every person throughout time who would choose to participate in His death instead of being responsible for their own sentence of death and separation from God.
‘this is my prayer…that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best….’ (Phillipians 1:9)
This morning, I am again encouraged and filled afresh with love and adoration because of the words of Jesus as recorded by John in chapter 17. I encourage you to read this chapter for yourself. Pay close attention to verse 20...because if you believe in Him, Jesus personalized this for you. Put your name in it…He did.
