Where's the power of prayer?

I know that God will give you whatever you ask him - John 11:22

That was Martha to Jesus, when Lazarus had died. We all know what came next. God really did give Jesus whatever He asked for. Wouldn't it be amazing to have that same authority and access that Jesus had, to ask for anything of God, and have Him listen to us!

Oh, hang on... isn't that what we do have?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. - 1 John 5:14-15

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive - Matt 21:22

If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it - John 14:14

Ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you - John 15:7

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours - Mark 11:24

...I think we get the picture.

Ok, well, I've asked for lots of things... but where are they? If I can ask, if God hears me & if anything I ask in Jesus name will be done... why does it so often seem like nothing happens.

If God is the one "who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (eph 3:20) - why does it seem even less than I ask or imagine happens?

If healing the sick and more is mean to be a part of life for those who believe (Mark 16:17-18), and I am meant to do even greater works than Jesus did one earth (John 14:12)... where are these great things? 

How can it be true that I have, through Jesus, the same authority in prayer that raised Lazarus from the dead?

Maybe it is because I am not the body of Jesus. We are. We are the church - together we are the body. Together we bring Jesus to the world. Alone, maybe I'm just kind of like part of Jesus' fingernail. I need the rest of the finger, the hand, the arm, which needs to be connected to the shoulder, which is attached to a healthy torso, which is supported on strong legs...

You get the picture.

Now, don't get me wrong. There would have been a whole lot of power even in just Jesus' finger nail. Praying alone doesn't mean God doesn't hear you or your prayers don't work. He does, and they do.

But alone our spiritual life is never going to be as full and alive as when we are connected the fully functioning body. When the church seeks unity and spiritual growth and maturity together, when we see health restored to the life of the church, I believe we will see greater power in the prayers of Christians, both  collectively and individually. 

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them - Matt 18:20

And this is a good thing! We need each other. We were never meant to carry this power or authority alone. God knows how much we benefit in seen and unseen ways from relying on, serving, praying with, praying for and worshiping with each other. 

If we want the same power and authority and results from our prayers as Jesus had, we need to come together as one body and do what Jesus did.

And what did he do?

- He prayed - a lot. He was always taking time away to spend it with God. Both together with others and when we are alone, we need to take this time and spend it with God. Jesus knew the Father heard Him and knew His voice intimately.

- He was moved by compassion. We ask and do not receive when we ask with the wrong motives. (James 4:3) We want to spend it on ourselves. But Jesus asked because He was moved with compassion for the needs and suffering of others. Jesus wept! When need to open our hearts to love others as He did, from deep down inside. (And we definitely need each other for that - we cannot pour out love when we do not receive His love, and one huge way that happens is through others.)

- And what did Jesus do with his power and authority? He humbled himself as a servant, to not condemn the world but to save it. As a body, we need to do the same. We need to worry less about what the world is doing wrong, and start giving out this transforming love through our actions towards lost, oppressed and hurting people.

As this intimate prayer, compassion and servanthood begins to increase in the body, the Church, I believe we will also see an increasing in the power and effectiveness of our prayers to see miracles, to heal and to set people free!!

For the big and the small

My daughter just had her 4 month old vaccinations. Never mind that she is already 5 months, and we were a month late. This post is not really about me being a slack parent...

On the morning of the day we had to take her in to get the needles, I said to my husband, "I wish I could have them for her."

You see, watching my happy little daughter's face register shock and hurt and break into tears as two nurses jab her in the legs is heart breaking. Because of her pain, and because she doesn't understand what is happening. So I wish I could take it for her, and she still receive the health protecting benefits.

And that made me think about what Jesus took for us. He took a whole lot more than a little physical pain for us, so that we didn't have to feel it, experience the pain and consequences or be separated from God. And we received the benefit.

But even though in our heads we know that is true, most often when we talk about Jesus taking all of our sins, but we focus on the obvious. (And we have a hard enough time accepting that)

Sometimes when feel like we've got what Jesus did we accept that counts for the big stuff - the 'big, ugly sins'... the ones that practically stand up and shout "I'm a SIN!" You know, murder. And maybe he was talking about lying, and cheating, and swearing at people...those obvious things.

But something stops us really accepting that Jesus actually took everything. Everything. The big, the little, the obvious, the subtle. He cares about the big and the little of our lives.

He died for every mean thought. Every careless word. Every selfish action. Every rebellious moment. Every impatient foot tap. Every tear-filled argument.

He cares about every moment that you don't feel peace. Every moment you lack joy. Every moment someone is unkind. Every moment you feel a twinge of anxiety.

It's not just the big.

We sometimes think that God cares about the big stuff that He knows we can't do on our own. But we feel like the little stuff, well shouldn't we be able to manage that ourselves? Why would God spend time on our little things - we just have to get on with it.

And so we struggle on with things that we think are too little for anyone to care about, and feel bad when we still struggle...when things end up being harder than we think they should be... we things hurt and we just try to get over it...we feel like we shouldn't struggle with it, so we pretend we don't.

My daughter's vaccination is a small thing. It is over in 10 seconds, and with a bit of comforting she is soon fine. If I - a slack, imperfect human parent - can feel so much compassion over a relatively tiny thing, if my heart breaks at her few moments of confusion and pain, then how much more will the perfect God who IS love, feel love and compassion over our 'tiny' things. Our 'little' struggles. Our confusion and hurt. Our moments of disappointment. Our minute of sadness.

I can't take my daughter's vaccination for her, because then I would be getting the immunity and she would still be unprotected.

But the thing is,  God can take it for us, and we still receive the benefit. Jesus bore every burden and all our suffering, and we received the peace.

So don't just wait to cry out to Him once the weight of your life has become unbearable. Every moment of your life, reach out for the love He has lavished on us. Take hold of His peace and joy.

Think of the love of a mother for her baby. Then multiply that by infinity and I don't think you've even come close to how much God loves you.

God cares about every. single. moment of your life. He bore every. single. burden for you - and you get the supernatural, life preserving benefit.

We are the church

I think we'd all agree that a hand is pretty useful, important body part. But that's only when it is attached to something. Alone and unconnected, your hand is pretty useless to you. It cannot fulfill it's purpose, and the rest of the body receives no benefit from it.

I'm sure you've probably heard this kind of analogy before and know where I'm going with it. The physical body as a metaphor for the body of Christ - it's a good one. Paul even used it. But it's pretty basic, Christianity 101. 

Well, it should be. But why does it seem like the basics are the things that we forget. Is it because they get crowded out by all the religious stuff we add to Christianity?

Just think, if I said to anyone, Christian or not, the word 'church', what are they going to think. Probably a building, a place people go on Sunday morning. (Or Saturday). Or just at Easter and Christmas.

What's wrong with this picture?

When Jesus said he would raise the temple again in three days,* he didn't mean a new physical building to replace to an old one. He was talking about the new dwelling place of God, with us. In us.

This leads me to two conclusions:

1. The church building is NOT 'God's house'.

God doesn't live in a building. We aren't going to 'pay him a visit' when we go there Sundays. 

He is with us always. Wherever we go, we are the church - just two or three together, there is God.*

Does that change the way you view your life and want to live your life if you think of yourself as the church? Whenever you are together with other believers, that is the church.

Could people tell that by our lives? Can they see God living in us when they look at us together?

And that brings me to the second conclusion...

2. You cannot be the church alone.

A hand detached from the physical body ceases to be of any use to itself or the body. A Christian detached from the body of Christ is doing no favours to themselves, and is being no benefit to the rest of the body.

We've go too many individual body parts floating around, disconnected from anyone else. No wonder people on the outside don't see a united Church when they look at us - just a bunch of dismembered people gathering in a building, pretending we aren't as handicapped as we actually are, while hoping we'll somehow get put back together just by being there.

Or not getting together at all, because we feel like there's no need or no point.

I don't actually blame you. I've known times where 'going to church' has been far more painful than beneficial. And sometimes it's even damaging. The church as a building is failing to live up to what the church is meant to be.

But the question of whether or not a Christian should attend church is missing the point. How often you go to a building and on what days is not the important thing.

The point is, if WE are the body, the needs to be a WE in some way. What that looks like shouldn't be defined by a building, but by the fruit.

For yourself - your life will be much more purposeful and fulfilled if you are connected and being part of what God designed you for.

For other Christians - we have all been giving different gifts for the edification of the body. When we are using those gifts, the whole body benefits. When we are disparate and disconnected, the whole body suffers.

For the glory of God - the early church grew rapidly and daily not because they saw a bunch of people going faithfully to a building once a week, but because they saw Jesus in his living body, the church, played out before them in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And that is my final point - God will build his church. It is not up to us to come up with the perfect model and mission statement. We've been trying that unsuccessfully for the entire history of the church.

God will build his church,* we just have to be there, joining with the body, willing and ready.

Even in a state of complete imperfection, even while we feel like we are not even close to functioning like we should be, I think it would make a huge difference if we just at least acted like we remembered this one simple truth -  It's not about the building. Wherever we are, we are the church. God goes with us.

How will that change how you live?

*Verse references

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." John 2:19

For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them. Matthew 18:20

...on this rock I will build my church... Matthew 16:18