Why Jesus?…

In his own words (part 14)

Jesus knew that when his disciples loved each other the Father would happily answer their prayers, John 15:16.

I’m glad to hear that, but there are times when I have no clue what to ask for when a fellow disciple is in constant pain, or they have developing dementia, or when floods or fire have driven them from their homes. Or they’ve learnt they’ve got cancer, or a child has been born with physical and mental problems. Or when fellow Christians are under enormous pressure in countries that hate them. Or their marriages are breaking up, crucial jobs are lost, they’re struggling with bitterness at the stupidity of fellow Christians, or the Bible doesn’t make sense to them. 

But for all the love we feel for these people and the prayers we offer on their behalf, their problems continue. So why isn’t God answering what we ask for in love, when Jesus said he would?  

But what do we fear most in the lives of our fellow Christians? Jesus’ comment to his disciples in Luke 22:32 is revealing: “I’ve prayed for you that your faith may not fail.” It was losing their faith that concerned Jesus most. And what a constant problem it was too, because “the devil was sifting them like wheat,” verse 31. And sifting wheat back then involved violent shaking, picturing the devil’s attempts to shake their faith and tear it apart.  

And Jesus knew what that was like in the hours leading up to his death, when the stress was so great he sweated blood and begged God for a way out. Talk about a violent shaking of his faith. But that’s when he sought the prayers of his disciples. When it came to his crisis of faith, then, he knew there was help in the prayers of others. 

Prayers for what, though? That his faith would not fail. And isn’t that the great miracle he sought and so do we, that no matter what crisis we’re hit with, or how violent the shaking of our faith is, we never stop trusting? Because isn’t it our trust in God that brings glory to him? 

On that basis, then, can we expect our Father to answer our prayers for trust in the face of overwhelming circumstances – for ourselves and for each other?…(continues Friday)