I Will Do It

I Will Do It

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14:13-14 This is a staggering promise. But why haven’t my lottery numbers come up then?! To ask something in the Son’s name stages the prayer in a certain way. So some thoughts: 1) The posture of all prayer is humility and submission—not presumption and impatience. 2) To ask in the Son’s name is to ask like he would ask—with the confidence that would glorify his Father’s power and the humility for the Father to use it on his own terms. 3) Jesus says the purpose of this doing is to glorify the Father in himself. To ask in the Son’s name is to enter into a holy place. If you ask in the Son’s name, you are right in the middle of the union of glory between Father and Son. Why is this important? It reveals how much is at stake from the Son’s point of view. Glorifying his Father means everything to Jesus so the doing he promises for us is of the utmost care and value to him. This is good news. Notice, Jesus promises the prayer will be done but he doesn’t clarify how or when. All asking-prayer comes from a point of need, but who has a better understanding of what his children need—us, or the one who formed us and set every variable (almost all of which we don’t even realize) of our lives? Who had a better understanding of what...
Preach

Preach

Preach Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. (1 Thessalonians 2:9) The Greek word that is most often translated as ‘preach’ is κηρύσσω – kérussó (Strong’s 2784). The word in the Koine has an uncertain origin but the definition is ‘to be or act like a herald’ or ‘to proclaim’. The role of a herald has changed with time. Coming to the English language from the Old French heraut from the Frankish via herewald, literally ‘war-ruler’, in other words a martial or commander, it has three distinct contemporary meanings: 1. A messenger 2. A harbinger 3. A steward (of heraldry -a rank/position at the College of Arms) All three meanings are relevant to the ‘preacher’ of the Gospel, who is entrusted (stewardship) with a message of the coming of the Kingdom of God. In the same passage to the one above Paul says: …we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. (v4) But there is another meaning, especially given to the verb ‘to herald’ and this is ‘sing the praises of’ – this is surely what all Christians, joy-filled with the fruit of the spirit, wish to do? However, sadly this is often not the case. Nowadays, the idea that a Christian should ‘preach the Gospel’, in other words, proclaim the good news of Jesus to those not in faith that he is the Christ, has become frowned upon. In conjures images of street corner evangelists ranting at...