Episode 145: Matthew Chapter 22

Have you ever wanted to learn how to pray better? Jesus’ disciples wanted to know how to pray Jesus’ style and he taught them how to pray and his way of prayer can take us way past our feeble attempts at prayer. Luke 11:1–10 (CEB): Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 Jesus told them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, uphold the holiness of your name. Bring in your kingdom. 3 Give us the bread we need for today. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who has wronged us. And don’t lead us into temptation.’ 5 He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. 9 And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

I hate unsolicited advice from others. If I wanted to know what you thought, I would have asked. However, I can jump right in and point out your faults before I look at my own log. This is the part of Jesus’ sermon where he is starting to meddle. If I’m honest with myself, I need his meddling and he is teaching me to check my heart before I dole out advice. Man, this learning from Jesus is a process and I’m a slow learner sometimes.

I have to admit that I like to do stuff for God more than doing what he says, but I’m slowly learning to do what he says rather than just doing something for him. This podcast was an act of obedience to God. I was praying and asking God to help me find what was next in my career and he nudged me to lean into my podcast, so I was obedient. My why for 2 Minute Disciple, is to get to know Jesus and his words so that we can put them into practice.

When we are anxious and panicked about our situation, we want someone else to be as anxious as we are. Jesus was calm, so calm that he was asleep and when he wakes up, he calmly tells the wind to stop. His words in that moment to the disciples are what speaks to me the most, “Why are you afraid, where is your faith?” I know, there is no need to fear, my God is in control. Easier said than done, but I’m learning.

The longer that I live, the more I realize that life is painful and death is part of life. It’s not easy to loose someone close to you and grief can be overwhelming. It hurts so much that we can’t bear it and the if only game starts to play on repeat in our heads and sometimes comes out of our mouths. Jesus is teaching me that resurrection and life are also a part of our lives, when we believe in him we never die. We also know that our God cries with us, we are not alone in our pain, God is with us.

Jesus’ way of life is upside down from the way of the people around me. Who likes to say no to yourself? The life that we gain in Jesus is our BEST life. When we trust Jesus and lay down our lives for his sake, we gain so much more than we can imagine.

This is interesting, if I want God to answer my prayers and if I want to receive things from God, then I need to offer forgiveness to receive forgiveness. I like holding things over people’s heads, I’m that Cardinal fan who still holds on to the angst of the bad call in the ‘85 World Series. I’m that Bears fan who can’t get past the double doink and I’m that crazy Illini fan that can’t get over Bruce Pearl ratting on our program and their recruiting practices. Some of you have no idea what I’m talking about, but that’s what unforgiveness is, hanging on to hurts that no one cares about anymore and you can’t change the outcome by holding on to them. Jesus is teaching me to let go of those hurts so that God can answer my prayers and give me true life. Sometimes, I don’t even realize that I’m hanging on to unforgiveness until something makes me remember and I have to let it go and ask for forgiveness as I am forgiving.

Life is busy! Each day has a list of things that need to be accomplished for work and around the house as well as to keep up family relationships. We have enough things to keep ourselves busy 24/7. I can relate to the frenetic pace of Jesus’ ministry here in Mark’s gospel, however, Jesus shows us that our relationship with God needs time too. I am learning that I have to carve out time to be with God, it doesn’t just happen naturally, I have to intentionally carve out time to be alone with God. I meet with Him in the shower and and I listen to his word while I iron clothes. This is what works for me and what I’ve learned from Jesus is that if he could carve out time to be with the father, then so can I.

I want to be great in God’s kingdom! I want to be known for preaching great sermons that lead thousands of people to Jesus. I want to be a household name and have numerous best selling books. I want people to like me and be an influencer like none other. I want to be famous for Jesus and the name people think of when they hear the word Christian. I want to heal people with the touch on my hand. I want to be the greatest Christian ever…however, those things are not what makes a person great in God’s kingdom. Greatness in God’s kingdom has more to do with humility and becoming like a child. That is hard to do, to check the ego at the door and be willing to be the lowest on the totem pole for God’s glory. My ego wants to fight back, but I’m learning to be humble a little at a time.

Jesus is teaching me to listen to people and to speak the Gospel into their lives in the midst of a simple conversation. It’s not about beating people over the head with a Bible or being obnoxious by shouting through a bullhorn the four spiritual laws. It’s about being present and having compassion on the people in your path. When we do that, we are looking a lot like Jesus and making a dent on the harvest. The little things we do every day to show compassion like Jesus are just as important as the big things we do for Jesus.