23[Jesus said:] “In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Ask, dear saints.
Pray without ceasing. (1 Thess. 5)
I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. (1 Tim. 2:1)
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4)
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil….take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.
There are numerous reasons that any relationship you have with someone else is not going well.
But perhaps we may only need two questions to diagnose if that relationship is not going well.
- Do I have trouble listening to this person?
- Do I have trouble speaking to this person?
The application ought be obvious? Diagnose your heart and spiritual life. You’re in a great place to do so.
You are hearing God speak here in the Scriptures. Do you have trouble listening to Him?
And, He is very much here to listen to you. Do you have trouble speaking to Him?
In our text from John 16 Jesus says, “Ask in my name.” Nowhere is the command to pray or speak to God separated from the command to also listen to God.
Ask is the command to speak to God.
Ask in my name is the command to listen God. To ask in Jesus’ name does not only mean we way whatever we want and tack on, “In the name of Jesus. Amen.”
But it is to have faith in Jesus. Jesus, who speaks to us in the Scriptures and has commands and promises. Jesus, who opens to us the way to God and gives us access to the throne of grace where we may call upon the Father in time of need.
Faith wants to hear and listen more and more about Jesus and more and more from Jesus.
Be silent and listen.
Sit still, and listen.
Don’t think of excuses, just listen.
Be still and know He is God.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Our relationship with God is not a one way street. He is extremely interested in you listening and in you praying, praising and giving thanks.
But before we get more into the two way street of hearing God and speaking to God, we must first remember the one way street that is salvation and access to God in the first place.
I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the pictures of a dead raccoon on the side of the road with a balloon attached to it that says, “Get well soon!”
That’s us without Jesus. We can’t get well soon. We’re dead. We can’t pray or want to pray or really think He cares to listen or isn’t so mad at us He doesn’t want to hear from us.
We can’t begin to think He wants to us as a husband wants to hear from His beloved wife or fathers and mothers want to hear from the children they love.
We can’t begin to pray or love God or love others or give of ourselves without also being given to.
We can’t begin to hate our sin and evil desires and love God and His desires in full confidence that He alone is good.
We can’t get well soon. We were dead. But we aren’t dead.
God has made us alive.
Jesus first raised us from the dead and continually gives us His life and mercy and love.
He spoke.
He gave us life while we were yet dead in our sins and trespasses.
He chose us, we did not choose Him.
He came down.
Jesus will speak about being the vine and the branches and St. Paul will speak about being grafted into the vine. That is, a branch that was completely separated from the vine, being placed into the vine to begin to receive it’s life and nourishment.
That’s us.
Once dead, now alive.
Once blind, now seeing.
Once lost, now found.
Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Praying in Jesus name is first a recognition of Jesus, His work, His Word, that Jesus saves, that Jesus speaks.
Jesus has conquered the thing that made fellowship with Him impossible: our sin.
And now God is at peace with us and we are beginning to be at peace with Him. We have fellowship, communion with God in Christ.
We speak and He hears. He speaks and we hear and love and treasure.
Now it’s a two way street. One of Him giving us life through our listening to His living and active Word and in that life we speak, we pray for ourselves,
for the ones we saw yesterday and the ones we’ll see today
and for our families and communities and coworkers and government,
and the for whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and all people according to their needs.
In that life, we pray, praise and give thanks.
We ask.
We speak.
We complain, even.
There are whole sections of Psalms called psalms of lament of crying. He isn’t surprised when you cry to him.
He knows our sorrow.
He tells us we will weep and lament.
Luther says we live in this valley of sorrow.
Jesus Himself wept at the death of his friend Lazarus as well as the rejection of his love from the people of Jerusalem. He Himself sighed deeply at the brokenness of His creation a number of different times.
Cry to him. One Psalm says that God keeps our tears in a bottle.
And be honest. Don’t hold back. Jesus has not held back from you.
What a friend we have in Jesus
That’s a technical title and it’s connected with hearing God
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15)
Jesus speaks to us. He reveals heavenly secrets to us.
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, Jesus has made Him known. (John 1:18)
In Christ, the Word became flesh, and dwells among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14)
So also, then make your request be made known to God.
Pray the Psalms. They teach you to pray. They are full of joys and thanksgiving and praises and giving all glory to God and His mercy and strength and power.
And they full of prayers from people filled with doubts, and jealousy and confusion and anger and lack of understanding of why God is doing this and not doing that.
Don’t hold back. He knows what’s inside of you.
Ask him. Seek Him.
Knock and the door will be opened because he already opened it and wants you to see that comfort in the knocking.
Seek and you will find because he is here to be found. And in your prayer filed seeking he wants to comfort you that he will be found.
Ask because he is always giving. Giving more abundantly than all you ask or think or imagine. Have that new life through his word and blood flow through you back to Him and back to you.
What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer.
Every good relationship in this life teaches us about the relationship between Gods word and our prayer. In godly marriage, husband’s and wives want to listen to each other and speak to each other. It’s a joy to know someone loves you enough to share their innermost feelings thought’s and joy and pain.
And it’s a joy to have someone want you to do the same.
Dads and mom’s and their children.
Friends.
Pastors and people.
We want to listen and we know we are received when we need or want to talk.
Keep praying and keep listening.
Life and healing and wisdom and clarity are being given.
You are being pulled out of your selfish flesh when there is only sin and death into a life of love and mercy.
Love for god and others.
Forgiveness for you and forgiveness from you.
Mercy for you and mercy from you.
Pray, dear saints. He hears you.
And listen. For you hear Him!