Sacred Mundane: The Blog

As I mentioned Monday, I’m on an adventure in prayer. There’s a lot to learn. For instance, when Jesus said in John 14,

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it” (v. 13-14)

What exactly did He mean by that?  That’s a crazy promise and we’re left scratching our heads, Surely He didn’t MEAN that??

Did He?

Well, the context always helps us. The verse directly preceding says that whoever believes in Jesus will do the works that He does, in fact even greater works. So, those who believe in Jesus (i.e. those who pray to Him) will be carrying out His work. The verse directly following this passage says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

So those who believe Jesus will be all about His business, doing His works, and those who love Jesus will be obeying His commandments. 

If I’m employed by a powerful official and he sends me on an official errand or trip, I will go bearing his name and do exactly the work he’s directed me to do. If there are expenses, of course he’s the one who’ll pick up the tab. I might even get a per diem or a company credit card.

If I need special access into some building, he’ll make sure I have his pass-card or ID or that I’m granted whatever access I need. If I need a company car, he’ll provide it. Of course since I’m on his errand I won’t be messing around, stopping at Target shopping for a new purse. I’ll stick to task because I’m on official business and my boss has given me everything I need to carry out his work. If he’s a good boss, he’ll make sure I know exactly what that work is, so I can do it successfully.

So as long as I know the stuff my boss wants done, I’m set! Everything I need he will provide for me. Anything I ask for, in carrying out King Jesus’ special mission, will be provided. [bctt tweet=”Anything I ask for, in carrying out King Jesus’ special mission, will be provided.”]

It’s kind of starting to make more sense, isn’t it? So as I’m reading through the gospels right now, I’m taking note of the stuff Jesus does. What exactly are “the works He does”? 

Now, of course there is too much to list all here, but it’s helpful to note these glimpses from the book of Matthew, of the stuff Jesus does:

And [Jesus] went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. (Matt. 4:23-24)

When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.”And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. (Matt. 8:1-3)

“Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” … And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. And when Jesus entered Peter’s house, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve Him. That evening they brought to Him many who were oppressed by demons, and He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.” (Matt. 8:6-7, 13-17.)

 And getting into a boat [Jesus] crossed over and came to his own city. And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven.”  And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”  But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Matt 9:1-8)

While he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion, he said,“Go away, for the girl is not dead but sleeping.” And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose. (Matt. 9:18-25)

And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed him, crying aloud, “Have mercy on us, Son of David.” When he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.”And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about it.” (Matt. 9:27-30)

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.(Matt. 9:35)

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. (Matt. 10:1)

And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay. (Matt. 10:7-8)

And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.” (Matt. 11:4-6)

He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! Soit is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all. (Matt. 12:11-15)

Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. (Matt. 12:22)

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Matt. 14:14)

And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. (Matt. 14:35-36)

Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matt 15:28)

And great crowds came to [Jesus], bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, ³¹ so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking,the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel. (Matt. 15:30-31)

And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.”  And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17:14-20)

And large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. (Matt. 19:2)

And behold, there were two blind men sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” And stopping, Jesus called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. (Matt. 20:30-34)

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. (Matt. 21:14)

This is the stuff Jesus does, and more. For today, consider looking straight into the face of our Lord Jesus, through the pages of Scripture, and consider the holy errand He has called you to today. His Word guarantees that whatever we need for that work, He will provide for us. Welcome to prayer! It’s a glorious adventure.

 Happy weekend! Thanks for reading. 

Oh friends it’s so great to be back! What a treat y’all had, having Caila here sharing her beautiful heart with you, and although you may be disappointed that I’ve returned and had secretly hoped that she’d be the new voice here forever *smile*, I am so deeply grateful to be back here, back home, pounding the pavement of this sacred mundane life.

There is so much swirling around in my spirit I don’t even know where to begin. In some ways it’s as if God has unveiled a massive, mostly-unfinished, sculpture, looming large in my vision but incomplete. I’m not exactly sure what it looks like, but I see a general shape, and He invites me to discover the rest, to take His Word like a small chiseling tool, and get to work carving away at my long-held wrong-thinking, letting it fall away like dust, and allowing the truth of His Word to be unearthed in all its glorious greatness.

This will probably take forever.

The beautiful thing about blogs, however, is that unlike print-books, I have the freedom to share with you my works-in-progress. My thoughts-in-progress.

Me-in-progress.

Isn’t that what community is?

Sharing our real works-in-progress selves with each other, “iron sharpening iron,” is Christian community, ditching the cultural compulsion to only share, as Caila said, photo-filtered, ultra-flattering snapshots of our finished-product selves.

We do this spiritually just as much as we do it physically.

All it does it damage true community, forfeits the sacred fellowship that could be ours.

But what’s really damaging is that we do it with God.

It damages true community with Him, forfeits the sacred fellowship that could be ours.

In what is now my favorite book on prayer, The Praying Life, Tim Chester the “pray as a child” simile and carries it out into completion. What does it really look like to pray to our Dada-God, Abba, with a childlike faith and childlike spirit?

We don’t over-spiritualize.

We don’t pretend to be something we’re not.

We don’t stress over getting the words right.

We talk out loud.

We start wherever we are, with whatever’s on our minds.

We listen.

We ask for stuff, whatever it is we need.

We fully expect Him to hear, to care, to respond.

When we do not engage our real selves with our real Heavenly Father, we completely miss out on the real, dynamic, life-changing relationship offered to us in prayer.

Before I left on our trip, I had begun changing the way I prayed. One day in particular, I started praying out loud about some things on my heart. Instead of the usual super-spiritual way I had worded it before, I just poured out the most raw, childish, aching-hurting stream of true, real, heart-cries that I possibly could. It was like pulling a rotten tooth–extracting that painful thing that had been lodged in there so long.

But out it came, and in He came, with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2).

And to my everlasting amazement, the issue (that had plagued my heart off and on for more than a decade) was completely resolved within the week.

Wait? You mean God actually answers prayer?

Wait? You mean God does stuff? He doesn’t just want me to pray because it’s a good discipline, and He doesn’t just respond by telling me to be more grateful about all the garbage in my life? Wait, He actually resolves some of it?

Wow! Maybe I should pray more! 😉

The first steps of my big, scary unknown journey, are just to live more childlike. To chisel away all my grown-up, faithless, pride-filled drivel. To talk to God frankly.

Instead of over-spiritualizing and explaining-away the outlandish claims in scripture, I will believe them.

I will take Him at His Word.

{Here’s to a week lived in childlike faith and frank communion with God and each other. Bless you, friends! Thanks for reading.}