Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, have you ever been in a situation where you thought everybody would agree with you only to receive immediate comments to the contrary? I found that out last Sunday when we talked about choosing the good portion and I used the illustration of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I said if everyone chose their favorite part, there would be nothing left in the bucket but chicken wings. You have no idea how many people told me after the service that chicken wings were their favorite part.
So, I am changing my tune and saying that if all of us reached for our favorite KFC portion, we would end up with - an empty bucket. Happy now? Good! And that’s all the advertising for Kentucky Fried Chicken I am planning to do.
Sometimes choosing the good portion is easy, sometimes we have to look hard for it. Sometimes choosing the good portion constitutes a bit of a sacrifice. Yet, we all know that life presents us with the necessity to choose all the time.
When we wake up in the morning, we have an immediate choice to make about our attitude toward that day and toward the people we share the day with. Am I going to be a sourpuss or am I going to be a sweetie pie? Am I going to look for reasons to be miserable or will I spend the day looking for reasons to praise God for blessings that I notice around me? Am I going to be pig-headed and try to solve every problem by my own strength, or will I lean on God’s help by staying connected to Him?
There is a funny story about a man who was hired to paint a line on a highway. The first day he did great. Painted a line mile long. But with each day, his accomplishment diminished. By Friday the foreman told him he was let go. The man protested saying that he was a good worker. It’s just that with each day he got farther and farther from the paint bucket.
If we want to live successful and meaningful lives, we must stay connected to the Source of life. Our Lord Jesus showed us numerous examples of being connected with our heavenly Father, even before His public ministry. When He was 12 years old and mistakenly left behind in Jerusalem, He did not panic. After searching for Him three days, Mary and Joseph found Him in the temple in the company of theologians. He said, “Did you not know that I would be in my Father’s house?”
And from the beginning of His public ministry all the way to the cross and the Resurrection, Jesus remained connected to the Father. In last Sunday’s Gospel lesson Jesus urged Martha -and all of us - to choose the good portion, even in stressful circumstances. Jesus practiced what He preached. He lived a busy, we may even say hectic life. There were so many demands on Him, especially when the word got out about His miraculous healings. Sometimes He and His disciples didn’t even have time to eat. But notice that even though the Lord skipped some meals, He never skipped a chance to pray.
Sometimes He got up early in the morning and went by Himself to a solitary place to pray. At times He invited Peter, James and John to join Him. Sometimes he included all twelve. In today’s reading from the 11th chapter of Luke Jesus answered a disciple’s request, Lord, teach us to pray, with a template a model for a prayer, which begins with addressing the almighty God, the Creator of the universe, as Our Father. It follows with petitions summarizing our basic needs, assuring us that our heavenly Father is not many light years away but very near, willing to protect us, provide for us, and help us. This template or a model has become known as the Lord’s prayer, something very dear and precious in every Christian’s heart.
For Jesus - and for all of us, His followers, prayer is not just a choice, but a necessity. Picture a deep sea diver. From the heavy suit and the massive helmet emerges a bundle of cords. One delivers air so that the diver could breathe, another is an audio cord enabling the diver to communicate with the crew above, and the third component is a strong cable ready to pull the diver up when his work is done. This is a lifeline between the deep sea diver and the home base on the ship.
In a similar way, God’s loving grace, our faith generated in us by the Holy Spirit, and prayer are the components of our lifeline to God. He is our Creator, the Source of life, who sustains us and saves us, and who does not leave us down here in the murky waters of this world without a means of communicating with Him. He provides us with a line of communication and invites us to share our petitions with Him. Psalm 50:15 says Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.
We live in the age of advanced communication. It’s a long way from smoke signals and the telegraph. I belong to a generation that remembers the first TV sets - a big box with a tiny little screen. We marveled at CB radios and walkie-talkies. Now I see kids operating cell phones, I-pods, text-messaging. You can not only talk to but snap a picture with your cell phone and send it to somebody thousands of miles away. Well, our heavenly Father has technology that surpasses even these modern day inventions. You can reach Him from any point on the face of the earth, any time day or night, and it’s free. It is called prayer.
Our Father in heaven revealed Himself most fully and most lovingly in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is He who assures us that our prayers are heard, received, and acted upon. Not only did our Lord show us how to pray for the right things, He also encourages us to be persistent in our prayers. God is willing and eager to help us in our needs. Ask, seek, knock.
How is your prayer life right now? Are you a seasoned veteran of faith, or are you just beginning your faith walk with Christ? We are at different levels of our Christian maturity, but we all know that prayer is an essential part of our relationship with God.
Marriage counselors know how important communication is in marriage relationships. When couples lose their ability to communicate, they begin to drift apart.
Our heavenly Father does not want us to drift away from Him. He wants us to be close enough to cuddle up to Him. It is appropriate to talk this way with such warm and fuzzy words. This closeness to God is one of the most precious benefits of our faith. It does affect our understanding of prayer and our prayer life.
When I came to understand that God’s love in Christ Jesus is not some remote possibility but a tangible reality, my prayer life started to change. I began to think of prayer as writing a love letter to the Lord. Do you realize that Jesus is deeply in love with us? This is what He said in the 15th chapter of John: As the Father has loved me, so Have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ….Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that He lay down His life for His friends.
Just like you, I would give my life for a few people, mainly my loved ones. But probably not for some stranger two blocks away. Yet, that is how Jesus loves. He is deeply in love with each and every one of us, and we have the great privilege of responding to His love in our prayers.
We have already learned that choosing the good portion has a lot to do with our faith and our attitude. Faith intertwined with our attitude affect how we view life, how we treat others, how we handle our challenges, how we conquer disappointments. Therefore, faith and attitude are inseparable components of an effective prayer as well.
People may think that learning some elaborate prayer language will achieve better results because God would be more impressed with it. I don’t think so. It is nice when we can express our thoughts with beautiful words, but there will be times when we can barely get a word out from a heavy heart. But God listens just the same. What impresses God in our prayers is a sincere heart, trust, and perseverance. And maybe even boldness.
In our Old Testament lesson Abraham showed us it is alright to haggle with God. And in the Gospel lesson Jesus says it is alright to keep bugging God, keep pounding on His door. It seems that the Lord is impressed when we don’t give up with our prayers.
Something else about the right attitude in prayer. I would like to share with you an insight from Becky Tirabassi, in her book “Let Prayer Change Your Life.” She said, “Rather than infringing on His character by telling the Lord how and when to answer my prayers, I started asking Him to meet my needs, knowing that He withdrew nothing from what He promised. …. Prayer is not just coming to Jesus; it is letting Jesus come to me!”
Interesting thought, isn’t it? She explained another helpful perspective in prayer. Do you see that picture of Jesus by the organ? I love that picture. I don’t know if Jesus really looked like that, but there is such a warmth in that picture, that it is easy to see Jesus in it.
The next time you quiet your thoughts, close your eyes, and fold your hands for prayer, picture Jesus as a real, tangible person standing right next to you - by your breakfast table, your desk at work or in school, standing right next to you at a meeting, or your hospital bed. Immerse yourself in His peaceful, soothing presence, absorbing the warmth of His overwhelming love. Then share your prayer with Him, from the heart as with someone who loves you with all His heart, and who really cares about you.
So, keep choosing the good portion. Have a little talk with Jesus. Ask, seek, and knock. Please join me in prayer.
Our loving Lord Jesus, come and be near us. Let the warmth of your presence and your tender compassion touch our hearts and instill in us inner joy that the world does not know. All things in heaven and on earth are subject to you, and we claim your promise of help with our needs. We sincerely open our hearts to you and share in silence what has been troubling us, asking not how or when you should answer this, but simply trusting in your power, we ask you to become involved in the concerns that we now lift to you and help us: Lord Jesus, we are letting our worries go, and cast our anxieties on you, for you can handle it better that we can. Let your peace hover over us and shine your light on the path to victory that we have in you. We love you too, Lord, and according to your Word, we ask these things in your holy and precious name, Amen.
