"13 You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14 Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!"
This verse has a lot of years noted next to it in my Bible! It seems as if it comes up in my life at exactly the right times. I don't particularly remember May as being a hard month, but I remember some of those years being overly tough. How awesome, that we can ask for ANYTHING in His name and He will do it! Not only does He want to let us know that He'll do anything if we ask it in His name, but He wants us to understand that he is serious, so He repeats Himself.
I went to college to become a youth pastor, and while I didn't finish school, I did learn some things while I was there. One of those things that I learned, was really more of a joke, but "all good pastors will have three points in their sermons, and if they want their congregations to remember something, they will repeat it." It appears that at least part of this philosophy is Biblical! I always understood where they were coming from on that one, for me, learning is a memory thing. I've always struggled with spelling, I just don't do it well; and have discovered that spell check is my friend. When I was little, my mom's solution was to "look it up" but unfortunately for me, looking it up requires knowing how to spell; at least a little bit. So instead of always asking people how to spell something, I would try and write it down (once I knew how to spell it) repeatedly so that if nothing else, my fingers would remember how to write the word (this has become much easier now that I type most things!!) so I see the point in repeating ones self to drive a point home.
Jesus isn't driving just any point home here, He is making it very clear to us that He will take care of us; at least that is how I see it. I don't know if it's because I'm a female and automatically want to take care of people, or if I just see Jesus in a nurturing kind of way; but I feel like He is the ultimate care giver. I don't think this verse is telling us we should just ask for things left and right, after all; Jesus is not the Genie on Aladdin! God has always been like a wonderful parent that teaches His children well. That means if we mess up, there are consequences, He won't just give us all the money in the world with out our having earned it. I don't want to get to "deep" here, but since He gave us free will (link is to dictionary.com's definition of free will); we have the choice to do what we want, but we will also have to pay the price for those choices. There are many examples of this throughout the Bible, from God repeatedly letting the Israelites lose in battle to Jesus dying on the cross to save us from our sin. Like all good parents, God wants to see us suceed in life, so if we ask Him; in Jesus Name, He'll give us what we NEED.
I have to admit, it's very easy to blog on this subject, but a lot harder to believe it. For the past nearly six months I've been seeking paitence in my life, and I don't feel like I'm any closer now then I was at the begining. I want to take this verse and beg God to give me a baby, but I just don't think that is what God meant when He gave us this verse. I guess I'm not sure what He meant, only that asking implies choice; and I don't want something that God doesn't think is good for me. I just have a hard time seeing that a baby might not be good for me, right now.
This month has been rough on me, I felt my empty arms more so then normal, and my "lonliness" seems greater. I'm not sure if that is a direct resault of longing, or if my journey is starting to pay off. I have a feeling that it's my journey that is making it more noticeable for me. The longing that is in my heart has been there for a long time, but now that I am seriously learning things about paitence, I'm starting to see that as discontment in my walk with Christ, and that brings a bit of guilt with it. So, I'm taking this verse to heart today and I'm asking God for three things, a healing that would result in a baby in my arms, paitence to wait for that healing; and an understanding if that healing isn't in His will for my life. Hard prayer, but I already feel a little bit better by asking for that understanding as well.
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