Seeing the President
It was a cold, wet afternoon and a weary soldier stood in his mud-splattered uniform outside of the White House. With tears tracking his face he looked down at his shoes.
A young boy walking by asked him what was wrong and the man answered, “I’ve been trying all day to see the President, but I’m not allowed in. I have nowhere else to turn.” The youth smiled and said, “Yes, it’s hard to see the President. Follow me!” and taking the man’s hand, they walked past the guards, across the lawn, up the steps and right into the crowded mansion. No one stopped their progress.
The unlikely pair turned a corner and entered the Oval Office of Abraham Lincoln and the boy said, “Dad, this man would like to speak to you.” It was the President’s son who took this man by the hand and ushered him into his father’s office and made the impossible, possible.
I’ve heard this, supposedly true, anecdote several times and while the parallels to our faith life are transparent, they are worth pondering.
You and I are the needy person outside the gate, seeking help.
You and I have a Son to take us by the hand and lead us into the presence of the Father.
You and I, because of who leads us, will be welcomed, heard, embraced, encouraged.
No matter what you need, regardless of the apparent hopelessness of your situation, and in spite of how many times you have tried and failed—you hold the hand of the Son, Jesus, who will walk you into the throne room of the universe and vouch for you with the Father. And that is the true truth we all share. Prayer is the avenue we walk with Jesus to that place.
Our confidence is that every prayer is heard by a good, good Father. Every prayer is answered, sometimes with agreeing to what we seek, other times by saying “No” to the request, or simply “Not yet.” We come before God and he makes the decision. Our part is to ask and keep on asking, closing each prayer with acknowledgement that he knows more than we.
We can easily forget that time spent in prayer is so much more than only asking, even for the most worthy of requests.
It looks like taking time reminding yourself of God, praising him for who he is, adoring him for how we trust that he works in his world.
Prayer includes confession, not begging for forgiveness, but coming clean with what we have thought and done, truth-telling.
We lift up others to our Father with their needs, and we thank him in advance for how life turns out.
And listening, in silence, to God’s voice plays a key role in abiding in him. This takes reigning in mind-noise and simply sitting, contemplating him, his world and our place in it.
But how do we best pray for ourselves?
Surely, we are invited to pour out our hearts with requests while at the same time ceding our demands of desired outcomes. So, giving up control and arranging ourselves under our Father, we say, “Your will be done.” Which is just another way of saying, “I know what I think is best, but I trust you in whatever you choose.” And there are times when that kind of trust brings a person close to what they think they can endure, but he is worthy of our trust.
A worthwhile roadmap for me when praying for myself is to simply personalize and pray scripture. Ephesians 1:17-19 is a good example to use.
May the God of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give me a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the full knowledge of him, and may the eyes of my heart be enlightened, in order that I may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe.
This is good stuff. It never hurts to pray for wisdom, to experience hope, to understand my inheritance in Jesus, and to ask to tap into the power of God to successfully navigate life. The poet Christina Rossetti takes these ideas and puts them to verse.
Lord, grant me eyes to see, and ears to hear, and soul to love, and mind to understand
When we pray, it’s good to have his words on our lips. Think for a bit as to how you pray for yourself. Might thoughts like those in Ephesians put a sharper edge on your blade? So often my prayers, when I think of them, seem dull, safe, predictable, but not an Ephesians 1 prayer. Look again.
Asking to really see and know and experience who God is and what he is doing
Leaning into how my calling in him gives me a living hope, and saying that out loud
Understanding more each day the benefits from my inheritance in Jesus
Seeking to know how the power of God himself is in us and for us every day we live
Now, those are things my eyes and my heart need to be open to and enlightened by.
Like that soldier having Tad Lincoln escort him in to see the President, isn’t it good to know Jesus is our advocate before the Father? Transformed by his righteousness, we are welcomed into God’s presence, just like he desired. Carrying our name as son or daughter, we are embraced without hesitation.
How about investing some time listening and talking with God about your life. Try out praying scripture, personalized. Tell the truth about what you’ve done and how you feel. Ask for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened to a bit more of all God has for you.
Now, that’s prayer worth making time for.
It’s music time!
…and a couple of lame jokes
One beautiful Sunday morning, the pastor announced to the congregation:
"My good people, I have here in my hands four sermons...a $100 sermon that lasts five minutes; a $50 sermon that lasts fifteen minutes, a $10 sermon that lasts a full hour; and a coin sermon that lasts till noon.
"Now, we'll take the collection to see which one you want."
*************************
My niece, pregnant with her second child, was certain she wanted an epidural for pain management during childbirth.
Her doctor asked her at which stage of labor she wanted the epidural administered.
Her response: "Just meet me in the parking lot!"