The Prayer of the Impossible

When Hudson Taylor went to China, he made the voyage on a sailing vessel. As it neared the channel between the southern Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra, the missionary heard an urgent knock on his stateroom door. He opened it, and there stood the captain of the ship. "Mr. Taylor," he said, "we have no wind. We are drifting toward dangerous reefs, near an island where the people are heathen, and I fear they are cannibals." "What can I do?" asked Taylor. "I understand that you believe in God. I want you to pray for wind." "All right, Captain, I will, but you must set the sail." "Why that's ridiculous! There's not even the slightest breeze. Besides, the sailors will think I'm crazy." But finally, because of Taylor's insistence, he agreed. Forty- five minutes later he returned and found the missionary still on his knees. "You can stop praying now," said the captain. "We've got more wind than we know what to do with!"
-Unknown. 

Hudson Taylor and the crew of the Dumfries found themselves in an impossible situation, but through determined prayer, and bold faith, the impossible, became possible.

Today, we speak of the impossible prayer. And to learn more about that, we look to Jesus.

We come to a moment in the life of Jesus, when he had just been teaching a great crowd, and famously multiplied fishes and bread to feed a crowd of thousands. Next we come to a moment that has caused wonder and amazement for endless millions throughout history.

Our scripture today is in Matthew 14:22-33.

Matthew 14:22 says, “22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd.”

They were located near the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Chelsey my wife has actually swam in the waters of this very lake. It’s about 8 miles wide and 13 miles long. Still there today. Good reminder that we aren’t studying fiction, but real events.

But today as we focus in on a powerful form of prayer, we’re going to be talking about doing impossible things. Doing things beyond. Doing things that we aren’t presently capable of doing. And we’re going to see that we serve a God who makes the impossible, possible.

So Jesus sends the disciples in a boat, to cross the lake. God often also sends us upon the waters, in uncertain places, to do things we’ve never considered before as well.

Next, verse 23: “After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone,”

Jesus goes up high on the mountain, to spend time with the Father, late into the night Jesus prays.

It reminds me how Jesus is always interceding for us, before the throne of God. He is always before the Father, in the glory of heaven, making the case for us, helping us, stepping in for us. He is guiding everything in our lives.

It reminds me of a film, a sci fi film with Will Smith, where his young son has to go through dangerous terrain so they can be rescued, and the son is guided by his father who can’t go with him, so he must continuously trust his father’s guidance in a dangerous situation. (After Earth - 2013)

So too we travel a difficult world, and we must trust our Father’s guidance, even though we can’t see him, he is like a voice to us, as we travel this world.

God is not far off, he is with us, and yet, we can’t see Him, so we must rely on His voice in our lives, and His leading, and make the choices he moves us toward. That isn’t always easy.

But today I want to address not just difficult situations, but doing impossible things. Things that are simply beyond what we could imagine that we’re capable of.

Next, the disciples face a challenge on the waters.

Verse 24 “and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.”

A great storm hit the disciples as they traveled together. The wind was against them, and the waves were crashing against the boat. They could not make progress as they traveled on the waters.

They had struck out to do their master’s will, but, the storm had hit, and caused them to be trapped and in danger.

In my life in ministry I’ve faced numerous situations where I felt trapped in a storm and unable to make it through. So many situations where I felt, I simply can’t do that.

One example, math. I had completed every class for my bachelors degree, did about half at university of Wisconsin, other half at Liberty university, I was down to 116 credits, needed 120. But, I was so afraid of the math requirement, I kept avoiding it, until finally, it was the last class, I was about to enter seminary, but I had tested so low in the math pre-tests, that I would have to take 3 other math classes to get to the math class I needed. And I said Lord, what do I do? I’m in big trouble.

God made a way. I petitioned the board of mathematics at the college, and they allowed me an exception to attend the base requirement, and I passed, by God's grace!

Next, verse “25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.”

Jesus comes to rescue the disciples, walking on the surface of the water.

As we pray and cry out to the Lord, Jesus comes to us, walking toward us, on the water of our troubles. He walks on the water of our troubles with complete ease, they have no power over Him, instead he has authority over them.

Picture that thing in your life, that problem that troubles you, whatever it might be, a secret addiction, a health problem, a sin in your life, a family problem, picture it as turbulent waters. And now, picture Jesus walking on those waters toward you. And picture him speaking over the waters, and calming them completely.

Now this has taken us as far as what we discussed last week, seeking God in our sufferings, and finding His help and rescue in those times. That’s a very good and beautiful thing. But today we’re going to take it one step deeper.

Praying through suffering and struggle is a beautiful thing, and it is amazing how God comes and helps us, amen? I love that. He has delivered me so many times I can’t even count and every time I’m amazed.

Jesus shows up, and he comforts us. As it says in verse 27…

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Fear is the key issue here, fear is what disrupts our faith, and disrupts our ability to trust God.

I’ve been learning through some wonderful mentorship that long ago when I was mistreated as a child, I began to embrace a lie that I can’t feel safe, and that I must be anxious and afraid. But that is a lie from the devil. And the Lord is helping me to embrace a new core belief: I am safe in Him.

Fear is the enemy. That’s why the Bible says over and over, “Fear not!”

We must overcome our fear and dare to believe: Jesus is capable.

I was talking to Darlene about her surgery and Pam asked her if she was afraid before going in and Darlene said no, not at all, I know God has me.

We were amazed. But Darlene really believed it so completely, fear simply had no place there. It was just trust and peace.

Is Jesus real in your life? Or does he seem distant? Do you believe you can really trust Him? Or does fear still dominate? God can deliver us from fear.

Take courage, Jesus says, It is I. He’s saying take this courage I’m giving you by my Presence with You. It’s yours, take it. And put it on as your armor. Courage. Reject fear. Look into the eyes of Jesus, and see you’re perfectly safe. Look down at your hand and you’ll see another hand in yours, nail-pierced, the hand of Jesus.

You are safe.

But now, let’s take it deeper. Peter is going to help us see the key truth we want to discover today.

Verse 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

The rest of the disciples are terrified and relieved, at the same time, to see Jesus coming to help them, in the midst of the storm. They’re happy to sit back and let Jesus do whatever he needs to do.

And often those are the kinds of prayers we pray. Lord, I give it all to you, Lord you’ll fight for me, I’m just gonna sit here quietly, I’ll just be still and know. And there are moments for that, for sure. There are seasons for that. But there are also seasons where we need to strike out, move toward what God calling us toward.

When Moses was leading the people out of slavery in Egypt, God led them along a path that seemed to lead to a dead end, and there they were, with a great sea in front of them, and the Egyptian chariots chasing behind at full speed. And the people began to cry out to Moses saying why have you led us here to die in the desert!

And we get that famous scripture, Exodus 14:13-14:

13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

The Lord will fight for you, be still! And that’s true. But, notice the next two verse in that scripture.

Verses 15-16: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

Yes, they stood still as the water was parted, but Moses needed to lift his staff over the sea, and be God’s instrument. Similarly, the people could not just stand there, they needed to begin moving down the pathway God provided.

Get moving!

This is the kind of prayer we’re talking about today. I’m going to call it the prayer of abandon, or the impossible prayer. It’s a prayer that says, Lord, I don’t see a way through, I feel like it’s impossible, but, I believe in you, I abandon myself to you, and I’m going to start moving in that direction you’ve told me to go in, that seems as impossible as walking on water. I can’t see a way, but I trust my Father, so I start moving.

For the Israelites, they could at least see the path form in the waters, to walk on the dry ground. But Jesus wants more from us.

Peter only sees water. And a storm. But, he also sees Jesus walking on that water. And he gets a fundamental truth about the Christian life, he gets it, with Jesus, I can do the things Jesus does, and even greater things. I can walk on water if Jesus commands it.

I can do the impossible, if Jesus commands it.

Does Jesus rebuke Peter, say what are you talking about, only I can walk on water I’m God your not? Nope. Jesus says one word.

Verse 29: “Come,” he said.

Brothers and sisters he’s saying the same thing to us today. Come out on the waters. Believe for the impossible. Strike out and he will see you through. Abandon yourself to God.

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.”

Peter began walking on the water, above the waves, above the storm, above the obstacles and struggles, Peter, by faith walked, his eyes locked on Jesus, and by faith he walked above the waves.

We can do the same thing. We can walk on the waters.

Peter understood something so simple: I can trust Jesus. And I can walk in that trust.

Many of us trust and wait. That’s good. But can we also trust and move forward in trust?

Yet despite our best efforts to walk in trust, we will sometimes fall short. And so it was for Peter that night.

Verses 30 says, “30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Peter took his eyes off Jesus and begin to look at the danger around him, he began to focus on the problem, instead of the solution. He centered on his fears.

We must keep our eyes on Jesus, the solution, the one with all power.

No judgment on Peter, it’s not easy to focus on Jesus with a storm spinning all around you! But even though Peter became afraid and began to sink, he cried out to the Lord, the most simple request, God please help me!

Next, verse 31: 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Jesus immediately rescued Peter.

He doubted Jesus, but Jesus still rescued Him. God does the same for us. Sometimes as we strike out in faith, doubt begins to seep in, but God helps us in those moments as well. But I think the goal is that we would learn to walk in such faith, that fear simply has no access. It’s locked out. The faith is so strong, we walk upon the water of that impossible task before us.

This is a key reality of the Christian life, that we will face situations that seem beyond our ability. Why is that? Because God is training us to trust in Him and his ability. But also, to walk forward in His strength, abandoning ourselves to Him.

As Peter took those steps forward of faith, God did the rest, he made sure the water held Peter, as Peter held his faith in God and kept his eyes on Jesus.

Next, verse 32 “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.”

The storm ceases at the coming of Jesus. It reminds me of how, after we’ve struck out in faith, and walked in the strength of God toward whatever impossible thing it is in our lives, we see the victory. The storm is defeated. And we find that the impossible has now become the accomplished victory. And that is such a reward.

I want you to see this in regard to your walk with Christ: What is that thing that you’re afraid to do? That thing that seems just a bit too big for you?

Maybe you’re afraid to pray out loud. You feel embarrassed. But what if you abandoned yourself to God and said you know what, I’m doing it.

Maybe it’s giving your testimony: It feels overwhelming, but you start to pray, and say Lord, I abandon myself to you, and move toward it.

Maybe it’s doing a special song at church, again same thing, abandon yourself to God.

Perhaps the Lord has been tapping your heart to start a ministry, or to serve in some way.

Maybe the Lord has been challenging you to witness to one of your coworkers, time to pray, take a deep breath, and head on over to speak the word.

Maybe it’s something else in your life, something that seems too big, but you can sense God calling you toward it. Make use of the prayer of abandon.

Maybe it’s fasting, you know what, let’s go for it.

It’s a prayer of faith, of trust, a prayer of boldness, a prayer of you, know what, I’m diving in, like the kid at the edge of the pool and he dips his toe in and it’s too cold, but finally he says you know what, let’s go, and he dives in.

You may just find that as you dive in, and get to work, and do your best, the storm around you, that the devil brought to try to scare you away from God’s will, turns out to be much smaller than you thought, and it simply disappears.

These fears we face are prisons often, and they are prisons of lies and deception. They are lying to us, and we don’t have to believe the lie. Jesus can break us from the prison of fear. And he'll help us to walk on the water with Him.

Verse 33: Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The disciples believed. They saw Jesus walk on water and they knew: He is the Son of God.

Jesus is capable my friends, entirely sufficient.

Therefore we are capable, if Jesus calls us to it.

Easy to say, harder when we are buffeted by fear and in this life we are buffeted by fear.

Dare to make your prayer, the prayer of abandonment to God.

With God with me, I can walk forward in faith.

With God, I can.

Simple, but not easy. Sometimes it takes an act of courage, I’m stepping out, I’m doing it, pray, and move.

Let’s make our closing prayer, a prayer of abandonment.

Prayer:
Father, we rise up in faith, we believe in your power, we believe you are with us, we believe are capable of doing all things in us, we do not stand still, we move forward in faith, give us faith, we renounce fear, give us courage, we take up courage, Lord, we abandon ourselves to you completely. We don’t doubt you. We believe in you, and we believe in our ability in you, so Lord we strike out in faith, toward that thing we’ve been avoiding, we strike out in faith, we surrender it all to you, guide us God, as we move toward that thing you’ve led us to, in Jesus name, amen.

Prayer in the Garden of Pressing

“From the magazine of the US Naval Institute, Frank Koch shares a story of a battleship assigned to a training squadron. They had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. Frank said, I was serving on the lead battleship and was on watch on the bridge as night fell. The visibility was poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge keeping an eye on all activities. (NEXT)

Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing reported, "Light, bearing on the starboard bow."

"Is it steady or moving astern?" the captain called out.

The lookout replied, "Steady, Captain," which meant we were on a dangerous collision course with that ship.

The captain then called to the signalman, "Signal that ship: 'We are on a collision course, advise you change course twenty degrees.'"

Back came the signal, "Advisable for you to change course twenty degrees."

The captain said, "Send: "I'm a captain, change course twenty degrees.'"

"I'm a seaman second-class," came the reply. "You had better change course twenty degrees."

By that time the captain was furious. He spat out, "Send: 'I'm a battleship. Change course twenty degrees.'"

Back came the flashing light, "I'm a lighthouse."

We changed course."
-Max Lucado, In the Eye of the Storm, Word Publishing, p. 153.

Today as we talk about praying through suffering, I think we’re going to discover that as much as we want God to change the situation, often God is like the lighthouse, saying to us, I want you to change your course, or perhaps more so, your perspective.

We as believers go through various forms of suffering here on Earth, such as chronic pain, mental anguish, grieving a loss, traumatic changes in life, and sickness, to name a few.

We are going to learn today from Jesus, how to pray through those sufferings in a way that we will not give up.

We come to a moment in Jesus’ life when he knew darkness was approaching, like the moment before a storm.

Jesus takes his disciples to a garden in Jerusalem, at night, to prepare himself and them for the ordeal ahead.

We look at Matthew 26:36-46.

Verse 36 says, “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

Into the prayer garden, the garden of gethsemane. It was an olive grove. The word gethsemane actually means “oil press.”

It still exists in Jerusalem today, and the olive trees there are ancient, and mysterious looking. Though probably not the same olive trees as the time of Jesus, they give us a picture of what it might’ve looked like that fateful night when Jesus went there to pray.

Gethsemane was an oil press. Do you know how the olive oil was extracted from olives in ancient times? The olives were crushed into a paste, by a large vertical millstone, the crushed olives were then placed in woven baskets and placed under heavy wooden beam, pressed down with large stones on top of them, to squeeze out the oil.

It’s fitting that Jesus would pray in such a place, where he would be so pressed and crushed by thoughts of the ordeal ahead of him.

We too are called by God into the prayer garden, when we suffer. The pressing in our lives is real. So, let us travel together with Jesus, as he heads into the depths of that mysterious garden.

First point today, when you find yourself suffering, enter the "garden of prayer" as Jesus did. 

Next, verse 37: "He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled."

These are the same 3 that went with Jesus to the mountain, Peter, James, and John. He leaves the other disciples at the entrance, and they head in among the dark trees. It probably would’ve been bright that night, because it was a full moon, due to the fact that Passover always occurs on a full moon. If these events did occur in AD 33, on April 3rd, as some have speculated, NASA has indicated that there was a partial lunar eclipse that night over Jerusalem, which would’ve made the moon appear reddish.

But Jesus gathers his three closest friends, and begins to experience deep anguish and despair. He doesn’t avoid the emotions. He doesn’t pretend they aren’t there. He doesn’t stuff them underneath. He doesn’t try to have a few drinks to make them go away. Jesus simply allows the emotions to flow out of him.

We must learn to do the same, when we’re facing suffering, we have to let ourselves feel it. We can have a positive attitude, we can hope for the best, we can declare the scriptures, but at the end of the day, we have to let the tears flow, express the pain, and let it out.

Second point, once you enter the garden of prayer, let the real emotions flow from your soul, don’t hide them, or ignore them.

Next, verse 38: Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Jesus doesn’t say, “I’m fine.” He tells them exactly what he’s feeling. Jesus is overwhelmed in his soul. Have you felt that yourself? You can’t cry hard enough. It’s overwhelming. You can’t stand how you feel. But it just won’t stop.

So he tells his friends. And he asks them to stay and watch with Him.

Third point today, bring your friends with you into the garden of prayer. If I’m struggling I’m asking my friends to pray!

Next, verse 39: Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus is going to enter a time of wrestling with His Father, on the topic of suffering. Jesus is so upset, he falls on his face, and he prays a prayer many of us I’m sure have prayed, “take this from me.”

Often suffering or judgment in scripture is pictured as a cup being drank from. Jesus knows he has this cup of suffering sitting on the table in front of him, and he is so overwhelmed, with what he knows is coming next, he asks that the cup be taken from him.

This is a very human moment for Jesus. We know Jesus is the son of God, the Lord, but sometimes we forget he was also fully human. And Jesus longs to be delivered from this suffering.

I think we can all relate to that. That’s often the first thing we do, we begin to pray, and ask God, please Lord heal this, change this, remove this, take this away.

There is nothing wrong with initially praying and praying for God to take the suffering away. Many times God will take it away, he removes the suffering, he heals us, he changes the situation suddenly, and the suffering is over. Though I think that's the exception, not the rule. 

But for Jesus we know, this cup he will have to drink. He does ask for the cup to be removed from him, but he also says, yet not what I will, but your will be done Father.

That is a great way to pray, make your request, but include the heartfelt statement, 'not my will, but yours be done God.' We aren’t in control, God is. When we pray in this way, we surrender control to God.

Jesus is wrestling and the wrestling is occurring in His heart. His heart longs for the situation to change, but if it can’t, he declares: God’s will be done.

Begin to wrestle with God about your situation, and about the suffering you’re experiencing. Pray, and pray again, be honest, be real, lay it all before the Father, seek His face, weep and mourn before Him, and just bring it to Him. Maybe its as simple as praying: Father help me! Cry it out, let your heart declare it to God!

Next, verses 40-41 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

I want to hone in on this topic of watch and pray. What does that mean exactly? He wanted the disciples to watch and pray for one hour.

I don’t think Jesus was telling them to watch for Roman guards or something. He was referring to a different kind of watching.

I’m going to get a little deep, but I think we’ve all experienced this sort of thing before.

The Lord prompts us to pray for someone. Seemingly out of nowhere, even in the middle of the night. Someone comes to mind, and you start to pray. And honestly, you’ll begin to pray things out that you shouldn’t even know, yet something inside tells you, “pray this.”

So we go into the prayer realm, and receive data from the Spirit, and we pray out that reality into the real world.

Particularly if I’m fasting, these realities will be strong, and I will know, something is going on in the spiritual realm for this person and I need to pray, right now. And then I begin to pray, and the Lord will eventually say, OK, good, that reality has been dealt with in prayer.

That’s deep, but it’s the idea of fighting for someone in prayer, when we feel prompted to, and really running with that, until we sense the victory in the Spirit.

Notice, also, the classic phrase “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

As we pray out these suffering prayers, we will face the battle between the flesh and the Spirit. The flesh doesn’t want to pray, the flesh wants to be entertained, but when we push into prayer ,even in suffering, we begin to feed the Spirit within, and the flesh begins to submit to the Spirit.

Notice Jesus says, watch and pray so that you won’t fall into temptation. Temptation is connected with the flesh, and if we pray, we strengthen our Spirit to be in control, instead of the flesh.

When we allow the flesh to lead us when we suffer and not the Spirit, our flesh reacts selfishly. But if we can learn to suffer in the leading of the Holy Spirit, we can bear up under the suffering with steadfastness, calmness, and strength. And the flesh will submit to the Spirit. 

So next point today, praying strengthens your spirit, and helps your flesh submit to the Spirit.

Next, verse 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

Many times I try and try to pray for the suffering to stop. But, at some point, the Lord will make it clear, like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, this suffering isn’t going to stop immediately. It is going to continue for a season.

We’ve tried to escape it, but now face a new reality. We must accept the situation as it is now.

Jesus in this prayer, he accepts the cup of suffering offered to him. He says alright Father, if it’s not possible for this cup to be taken away, then may your will be done.

And as we pray through our suffering season, we wrestle with God toward the moment of acceptance. We wrestle in prayer, until finally one day, we say, Lord, I finally accept this suffering, as my reality right now.

We see the cup sitting before us, we realize it’s not going to be instantly removed, and we take the cup in our hand, and submit to God, and drink from it.

Often times, simple acceptance of the reality of the situation, can alleviate a lot of the confusion and frustration around it.

Now, if God is prompting you to keep seeking a solution, please do, if he’s telling you don’t accept this, fight it, listen to God. But, I think God often says to us, accept this as it is right now, as you work on a solution.

Now, this is not to accept defeat. 

It’s not to get depressed and say well I lost.

But it is to accept the reality of the season you’re in, til it passes.

God’s will be done, not mine. I will glorify Him through this suffering. 

He will see me through it.

This point is simple: Accept the situation as it is right now. Simple, not easy.

Next, verses 43-44: "43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing."

These trials become harder and harder when we lack prayer. And for the disciples, their lack of prayer during these key moments will have real world results. As we know from history, the disciples fled, and went into hiding, and Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. I believe, if the disciples had been diligently praying that night the outcome might’ve been very different.

But even if we do fail to pray like we should, in suffering, the disciples were restored, by Jesus, Peter was forgiven for denying Jesus, the story didn’t end there, there is grace even if we fall in our time of trial.

So Jesus leaves the disciples, and goes and prays again, the same thing, Lord your will be done, not mine. He submits to God’s will completely. He accepts what is about to come. His heart has been shaped in prayer to a place of acceptance, and submission to God’s purpose.

Lastly, verses 45-46: Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

The time has come. The moment has arrived. The son of man, Jesus, will be betrayed and crucified.

Jesus says let’s go, we’re going to meet it head on.

This last point is simple: Face it. Don’t ignore it, don’t pretend it’s not there, march toward it boldly.

Just like Jesus, he knew he would suffer. He got his heart ready in the garden of Gethsemane, the garden of pressing, so he would be able to endure everything he would face. He was in submission to the Father’s will. Jesus was ready, he endured ultimate suffering, he even walked through death. Yet he rose from the dead. He won the victory.

Thankfully, our season of suffering does not often lead to death. It’s almost always a season with a time limit on it, a season where we endure, die to self by submitting to God, drink our cup of suffering, and then rise from the ashes, a new person. You’ll find yourself a new, better version of yourself, and that’s the whole reason why God allows it.

He allows it, so it will mold our character into something holy and beautiful, humble, and lovely. There is nothing like coming out the other side of suffering, still hot like iron fresh from a forge, molded and shaped, into a stronger, better version of ourselves. And the way through is simple:

Pray, and then accept your time in the garden of pressing.

Hearing God's Voice

How do I make the right decisions in life? What does God want me to do or not do? Where should I live? Where should I work? Who should I be friends with? Who do I stay away from? Where is he leading me? The questions of life are difficult to answer. Many seek wisdom in the word, as they should, but still wonder, what is God really saying to me?

In our prayer journey, we come to a topic of prayer, that can help us answer these difficult questions of life. But first, we must head up the mountain.

Have you ever gone up onto a mountain to pray? That sounds pretty amazing actually. Pack a few bags, get your hiking gear on, and start climbing. And I love the purpose behind it, not necessarily to sight see, or for exercise, but the purpose is spiritual, to meet with God.

The scripture we’re going to look at today, as we continue our prayer series, is going to lead us up a mountain side with Jesus, and three of his disciples, to have an encounter that will change them all forever.

We’ve examined different forms of prayer in this series, prayer as relationship, prayer as intercession for others, praying in faith, and praying in power.

Now today, we come to a moment when the spiritual reality of our universe becomes so very clear. Often in prayer we are doing the talking, but today we examine the moment when God speaks back to us.

Today we examine Luke 9:28-36. Previous to this moment, Jesus had explained to the disciples that if they wanted to follow Him, they would have to take up their crosses and follow Him. Remember that? But Jesus hinted, some of those who were listening would see God’s kingdom in power.

So begins our scripture for today. Verse 28: “28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray.”

Jesus takes his inner circle up the hill. When I think about Peter, John, and James, they are three radically different people. Peter was outspoken, extroverted, loud, inspiring, and bold. John was introverted, more quiet, deep thinker, creative, contemplative. James was outspoken, firm, intense, and fiery. Which reminds you of yourself?

Just like Jesus brings these three disciples up the mountain, God may from time to time call you into a time of deep prayer. It doesn’t have to be up a mountain, it could be in the bedroom or living room.

But you’ll get a sense that the Lord wants to speak to you. And I encourage you, if you sense that hunger from the Lord, to speak to you, go into a time of deep prayer.

For many of us today, that may be a bit of a foreign concept. For some here today, our prayers may be kind of short. But I want you to consider the possibility of a deeper prayer time. Maybe you feel you don’t have the time, but, consider time spent scrolling on the phone, or watching television. Maybe we have more time than we might realize.

That’s the first key for today, watch for a call from God, that he desires to meet with you. You’ll feel the hunger and draw in your heart, obey it.

So Jesus and his three disciples are climbing this mountain, getting higher and higher, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, and up they go. Finally Jesus finds a place, and he kneels down and begins to pray. He prays and prays, as the disciples watch.

Verse 29: “29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.”

Can you imagine this moment? They’ve been with Jesus for a while now, they’ve seen him heal people, multiple the bread and fish, and they’ve wondered, who is this man? But now, this moment comes, when they see something none of them will ever forget.

For a brief moment, they see Jesus as he truly is. When Jesus put on flesh his true glory was veiled. But in this moment, the disciples see behind the veil.

His body glows like lightning. I was at a coffee shop with my friend pastor Josh, and we were talking and suddenly there was a lightning strike out the window, and I saw it! If you’ve ever seen lightning, it lights up the sky. Jesus’ glows with brightness!

How does this relate to us? When we pray, we enter a different world.

We begin to see true reality. This world is filled with many deceptions, and our perceptions of situations we face are often skewed, or completely wrong. Our desires get in the way, and we can’t see clearly the right thing to do.

When we enter prayer with God, God begins to speak to us, and our perception is adjusted to match with actual reality.

You ever been upset with someone and you meet with them, and by the end you realize it was all just a misunderstanding? You weren’t perceiving reality accurately, and the encounter with the person adjusted your perspective.

This kind of prayer we’re talking about today is all about encounter with God. Shane and I were talking about this at prayer meeting, you might say it is like meditation as we approach God, we meditate on His word, but at some point as we approach in deep prayer, it becomes encounter.

As we encounter the real God, we perceive things we couldn’t otherwise know. And then we leave the encounter changed.

As Jesus transformed into shining light, something else suddenly happened.

Verse 30-31, “Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.”

Moses and Elijah appear there with Jesus, also appearing in glorious brightness. Can you imagine this moment? The two greats of the old testament, Moses and Elijah, speaking with Jesus face to face!

And the disciples get to hear a very special conversation, for they are speaking to Jesus about his soon coming departure, the word in Greek, is 'exodos.' The time was quickly coming, that Jesus would be taken from this world, into the world beyond our world.

Too often I think we view this current world, planet earth, as the most important place. But really, our travel through this earth is very brief, compared with infinite time, in either heaven or hell, this life is nothing more than a short bus ride to a destination we can’t yet imagine. Too often I worry we mistake the bus ride for the main reality, when it’s simply a passage to the permanent place.

When we pray, and we learn to listen for God’s voice, we also, like the disciples will get to “overhear” important information. The disciples get to listen in on a conversation between Jesus and Moses and Elijah, about Jesus’ coming departure from the Earth.

If we’re listening carefully. But the disciples were having some issues.

Verse 32, “Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.”

As Jesus was praying, they fell asleep. And they wake up, to see Jesus shining like a star, and the two greats of the old testament standing there with him. I love how scripture doesn’t shy away from some somewhat embarrassing moments for the disciples.

In talking about hearing God’s voice in prayer, I must admit that it’s tricky. Particularly if we are desperate for a particular answer to the prayer.

If I’m praying for a sick friend, and I’m asking the Lord, are they going to be ok? I might be tempted, as I wait for an answer from the Lord, to fill in the answer for God, and say to myself, yes, she will be fully healed. That is the danger.

When we reach a quiet time in prayer, and we begin to listen for God’s voice in silence, how do we discern God’s voice from our own voice?

I try to remind myself, that the most important fact is this: I want to know what God is saying, even if it’s not what I want to hear. Because what God says is always right.

Next, verse 33: “As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)”

Peter expects that Moses and Elijah will stay. As Luke the author notes in parentheses, Peter didn’t really know what he was saying.

It’s a good reminder, we can’t bring God down to Earth, we can only engage with Him in prayer, and then continue to live our lives.

We can’t live in the moment of encounter forever, one day we will, when we’re in heaven, the joy of encounter will never end there, but for now, we spend time with God in a different way. As we travail through the Earth his full presence is veiled to us.

Next, verse 34: “While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.”

Long ago when Moses had climbed Mt Sinai to receive the law, he entered into a cloud of God’s glory. And now in this moment, the disciples are surrounded by a cloud of God’s glory.

And they were afraid, can you imagine a cloud of God’s glory surrounding you? Truly amazing!

The cloud symbolizes God’s presence. It begins with the fear of the Lord, as they enter, they tremble before a holy God. And I’m sure they are filled with amazement.

Something similar happens when we pray. As we go deeper and deeper, seeking God’s face, and drawing near to Him, we begin to sense His presence, like a cloud of glory all around us.

This all takes time. It takes patience, as we talk to God, and declare His word, and worship Him, and we begin to pray for people we love. But then we must seek His face.

That’s probably the biggest issue with hearing God’s voice. We have to seek His face. If we begin to seek God’s face, quietly, simply in prayer, we will begin to hear His voice.

Next, verse 35: A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

The disciples, surrounded by a bright cloud, stunned, amazed, shocked, standing there with Jesus in the midst of this cloud of God’s glory, hear a voice speak within the cloud.

God the Father speaks about Jesus, saying of Him, he is my son, I have chosen Him, listen to Him.

The disciples no doubt are amazed, and realize, Jesus really is the Son of God. He is not just a man, he is God almighty. We’ve gotta listen to Him.

For us today, we don’t often hear God’s actual audible voice. It’s not impossible, many have. Though I think that sort of thing is rare.

But what I’m talking about with hearing God’s voice, appears in a different way.

And I want to be clear, when we talk about hearing God’s voice, it doesn’t just happen in prayer. It can happen in church, while reading the Bible, even while we’re going about our day, and God desires to communicate something to us. He can speak to us through another person, or an internal nudge or sense.

God speaks to us in numerous ways and one of the treasures of the Christian life is learning to listen for those unique ways in which God speaks to us.

But in regard to hearing God’s voice in prayer, most often, when I’m in deep prayer, and I’ve gotten past the initial stages, and I’m in deeper, seeking God’s face, and I’m starting to get quiet, most often the way I begin to hear God’s voice is through an internal reality.

Most often it appears in one of two ways, first, an internal knowing. It’s hard to explain, but you just sort of know something that you didn’t know before. God reveals it to your heart. It’s a revelation from God, a truth God places in our hearts, and suddenly we know.

I’ll give an example, sometimes we will think of someone and have an instant knowing that we need to pray for them.

When I’m having a hard day, I’ll get several text messages from people, God has sent a heart-knowing to them, and they reach out to see if I’m ok, and they pray for me.

Similarly in hearing God’s voice in prayer, we may receive a heart revelation, a heart download, of knowing. Suddenly, we know.

Secondly, God may speak in a soft, quiet internal voice. You may even see the words appear in your mind. This I think is a bit less common, but it does happen.

The still small voice that Elijah heard in the cave whispered gently to him, that he ought to continue his mission, despite all the hurt he had been through.

So be open to a soft internal voice, from the Lord.

One thing to be aware of is, God’s voice will always align with His written word.

If God’s voice told me to go hurt someone, I can know that’s not God’s voice, it’s the enemy, and I’m going to rebuke that. Also, if God’s voice just so happens to keep telling me to do whatever I want, I can know that’s not God’s voice, but my own internal voice, trying to be in control instead of letting God.

God’s voice will always guide us in the right direction. Be cautious, if you’ve felt you’ve heard something from God, take it to the Lord in prayer, take it to scripture, and take it to your pastor and friends. Because sometimes we can mishear God.

When Chelsey and I felt the call to leave The Salvation Army and join the Nazarene church, yes we heard God’s voice, but we took huge steps to confirm, through prayer and fasting, consultation, and testing of the word, to see if God would open doors. And God kept confirming His word to us.

So the plan is simple. We go into prayer, we seek God’s presence, we get quiet with Him, and we listen for His voice. We may not hear anything, but if we do, one of the best things is to write down what you perceived from the Lord, and then begin to seek confirmation.

Once you've received the word, you'll get a sense of conclusion. The moment has passed, and now it’s time to come down from the mountain.

Lastly, verse 36: “When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.”

The disciples heard God speak. Now they return to the lands below, changed forever by the things they experienced.

Sometimes after I’ve heard a word from God, I’ll try to stay there longer, and I begin to shoot question after question to God, trying to get more information, but that is not wise. Don’t keep trying to gain new details, simply accept what was shared, and begin to chew on it.

But now comes one final factor to consider about hearing God’s voice. Whatever you heard from God, you now have a duty to use that information in the right way. Sometimes that's a blessing, sometimes it can feel like a burden. But don’t hide what you’ve learned, use it for God’s glory. He told you for a reason.

Let's review the process of Hearing God's Voice:

We pray.

We wait.

We listen.

We encounter.

We hear His voice.

We are transformed.

We leave changed.

Now we use what we’ve learned for His glory.

What is Biblical Love?

Dave Simmons shared in his book about being a dad, a time when he and his two kids went to a mall, and the mall had a petting zoo there. He had given each of his children, Brandon and Helen a quarter to enter, and then went to continue shopping. Soon he saw his daughter hadn’t gone in. He went to ask her why.

She said sadly, "Well, Daddy, it cost fifty cents. So, I gave Brandon my quarter." Then she said the most beautiful thing I ever heard. She repeated the family motto. The family motto is in "Love is Action!"

She had given Brandon her quarter, and no one loves cuddly furry creatures more than Helen.

What do you think I did? Well, not what you might think. As soon as I finished my errands, I took Helen to the petting zoo. We stood by the fence and watched Brandon go crazy petting and feeding the animals. Helen stood with her hands and chin resting on the fence and just watched Brandon. I had fifty cents burning a hole in my pocket; I never offered it to Helen, and she never asked for it.

Because she knew the whole family motto. It's not "Love is Action." It's "Love is SACRIFICIAL Action!" Love always pays a price. Love always costs something. When you love, benefits accrue to another's account. Love gives; it doesn't grab. Helen gave her quarter to Brandon and wanted to follow through with her lesson. She knew she had to taste the sacrifice. She wanted to experience the family motto. Love is sacrificial action.”
-Dave Simmons, Dad, The Family Coach, Victor Books, 1991, pp. 123-124.

Today we’re talking about love in the context of that classic scripture, 1st Corinthians 13. But it’s super important that we understand that love is like Dave Simmons indicates, a sacrificial action.

It’s not just a feeling. It’s not something we do just when we feel like it. It’s a mindset of service to others. And let’s be very clear, we pay a price when we love. We give something. It’s not about receiving. 

The Apostle Paul is writing to a community that has a lot of knowledge. And he is reminding them that love has to be first as a Christian.

But what is love exactly? That’s what we’re going to be examining today.

But I think as Americans we assume love is “niceness.” And niceness is not love. In fact, niceness is often pretty self serving. The goal with niceness is to be liked, no matter what. To not offend someone. To gain points with others.

But that is not biblical love. Niceness wants to be liked. Niceness doesn’t want to have to call someone out on something bad they’re doing. Niceness is just letting someone float on down the river toward hell without saying a word. Niceness is more about wanting to be liked. It’s selfish. And niceness isn’t what we go for as Christians. We go for sacrificial agape love.

Jesus modeled perfect love for us, by dying for his enemies, dying for people who rejected him, in the hope they would one day receive the forgiveness he offered.

Love is something we feel. Jesus felt it in His heart. It’s not in our minds. It’s down in our hearts. But our hearts can get wounded in life, and even deadened, shut down, where we struggle to feel love for others. But, Jesus can bring out hearts back to life, if we’ll come to Him.

There’s a beautiful scripture that I think exemplifies this: From Matthew 11:28-30: “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Now there is a requirement in there, 'come to Jesus.' He doesn’t say just stay where you’re at, he says come to me, and I will give you rest. He doesn’t say there’s no action involved. He says take my yoke upon yourself, and learn from me. There is a yoke, but the burden is light, compared to the weight of sin. Here we find rest for our souls, under the light yoke of Jesus. We learn to become like Jesus, gentle, humble, soft, and at rest. This is real love.

It heals our hearts, tears flow, we mourn the pains of the past, and Jesus renews us in His love, if we’ll come to Him, again and again.

Then love speaks, and it speaks like Jesus speaks..

Love says, “Father forgive them they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Love says, “I do not condemn you.”

Yet Love also says, “Go and sin no more.”

And Love also says, “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Biblical love is willing to say a hard truth to someone in love, knowing that we may lose the friendship, but loving their soul more than their companionship. That’s real love. This is the glory of agape giving love.

It says in 1st Cor 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

We can do a lot of great things with our spiritual gifts, but if we don’t honestly love people, it won’t matter. Our message will be ugly if it doesn’t come with love. Have you ever known a Christian who had a lot of giftings and knowledge but didn’t have love? The message is empty. It isn’t life giving.

In the depiction of love in 1st Corinthians 13, we’re going to see categories, first, character traits that are loving. And character traits that are not loving. So we get a list of things to do, and a list of things not to do. Pretty simple.

Let’s dive in. First, in verse 4, “Love is patient.”

Now I know this scripture is often used in association with romantic relationships, but the context is actually speaking about loving your neighbor. I think we can also apply it to loving God as well.

Love is patient. How is your patience? Are you patient with someone who you are trying to win to Christ? Are you patient with friends and family? Patience is waiting on God. Patience is listening to someone when they’re talking.

We want to add this characteristic to ourselves, in the heart. How? Pray and ask God for patience. Then learn to practice patience. Sometimes it’s helpful to speak the word, “I’m going to be patient in this situation.” Just remind yourself of that.

Prayer for Patience: Lord, please grant me the gift of patience, I want to learn patience, to rest in you when I'm waiting, have mercy on me Lord, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, second part of verse 4, “Love is kind.”

What is kindness? I like the 1828 Webster’s dictionary definition for kindness, it says, “Good will; benevolence; that temper or disposition which delights in contributing to the happiness of others, which is exercised cheerfully in gratifying their wishes, supplying their wants or alleviating their distresses.”

Delighting in contributing to the happiness of others. As my grandma Monica always said, “It’s nice to be nice.” Niceness isn’t always bad either, as long as it’s seen as part of a bigger whole of what it means to be loving.

Does it make you glad to contribute to help someone else? I know it does for me. That’s part of love.

Prayer of Kindness: Lord, please show me how to practice kindness, even when it's hard. I choose kindness in my heart, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, third part of verse 4, “It does not envy.”

What is envy? Being envious is seeing someone who has a nice car, nice house, nice watch, nice smartphone, and instead of being happy for them, we envy them, we want what they have. We get envious, jealous, angry that they have something we don’t.

Envy is a nasty emotion. We want to pray if we struggle with envy, ask God to help us with that. Put off envy. Replace it with gratitude for what we do have.

Prayer against Envy: Father, we repent of envy. We repent of desiring things others have. Lord change our heart, we surrender our heart to you, we choose to be grateful for all we have, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, still verse 4, “it does not boast.”

We also want to avoid bragging. I did this, I did that, I’m so great, look at me.

I remember at my Grandma Bernie’s funeral, all of these people kept coming forward talking about how Grandpa had mentored them, how he had prayed with them, given them something, led them to the Lord, and Grandpa had never told anyone about all those things he did.

That’s how we should be. We should not be bragging, look at all these people I helped, look at what I do for God. We do want to shine our light. But we don’t want to brag about how great we are.

Prayer against Boasting: Father, we don't want to be people who brag, forgive us for times we've been boastful. We find our self worth in you, not in things we've done, we repent of boasting, we choose to honor others before ourselves, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, similar to boasting, “It is not proud.” Pride is thinking highly of ourselves. Pride is thinking how great we are at what we do. Pride is looking at ourselves constantly and being impressed. Lord save us from pride! Pride is what caused the angels to fall and become demons. Replace pride with humility. Stay humble. Know you are merely a servant of God, nothing more.

Prayer against Pride: Lord, you know my heart, I seek your mercy, I throw off pride, I repent of pride, and I put on humility, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next in verse 5, ‘it does not dishonor others.”

In the original Greek of this phrase, aschēmoneō, (as-kay-mon-eh'-o) it means to “prepare disgrace for someone.” It’s like setting someone up to look stupid or setting someone up to be criticized. I see this in social groups all the time, one of the guys tries to make the other guy look stupid, tries to manipulate the conversation to make the other guy look bad, and make himself look good.

Biblical love of course doesn’t set others up for failure or try to push others down to promote ourselves or make ourselves look good. Guard against that.

Prayer against Dishonoring Others: Father, I'm sorry for times that I've put others down, even passively, to promote my own position or status in a group, I repent of that behavior, and I choose to build others up, even my enemies, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, still verse 5, “it is not self-seeking.” What a great phrase, self seeking is talked about a lot in 12 step fellowship groups. It’s the lifestyle of selfishly pushing for your own way, trying to manipulate events to go the way you want. Self-will run riot is a dangerous thing.

Being self-seeking is something we want to avoid. We should instead seek God’s will for our lives. Not what we want.

Prayer against Self-Seeking: Lord, forgive me for times when I've made it about my own agenda, I repent of selfish self-seeking, and I put your will ahead of my own plans, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “it is not easily angered.” Love is not easily angered. Do you have a bad temper? Do you get angry too quickly? I know it’s something I had to fight in the past. And I realized in time, it had to do with a deeply rooted insecurity in me. So if you’re struggling with anger, find out what’s underneath the anger.

Is it a bad memory? Is it a way you were mistreated in the past? Sit down and talk about what the feeling is connected to. Let it out. Heal from the pain. And next time, the anger won’t be as strong.

Prayer against Excessive Anger: Father, not all anger is evil, but, forgive me Father when I've been too angry, or sinned in my anger, I repent of that misuse of anger, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “it keeps no record of wrongs.” How often do we see this in romantic relationships or friendships? One person keeps a record of every wrong thing that was done by the other. Then the other person brings up the record in an argument. We’ve got to get rid of these records, forgive each other, and move forward.

Then again, if you do notice a pattern of mistreatment or abuse, you should recognize that and deal with it with the other person. But once they’ve changed, let go of the record. Don’t keep bringing it up. We’ve got to forgive those hurts, and move forward.

Prayer against Record of Wrongs: Father, forgive me for times when I've kept a record of hurts that others have done to me, and used those things against them, I throw that record away right now, in Jesus name, amen. 

And then it says, verse 6, part 1, “Love does not delight in evil.” This is one of those aspects of love that distinguish it from niceness.

Niceness says I love you and keep sinning all you want. Love says, I love you my friend, but I notice something in your life isn’t right, God can help you be free from that sin. Niceness just says oh just do whatever you like. Love says: God has something better for you then that. Notice niceness just goes along to get along, it just wants to be liked, love brings up a hard truth to help the person, but in so doing, they risk the relationship. It’s sacrificial.

Love doesn’t delight in evil, it can’t.

Prayer against Delighting in Evil: Father, there have been times that I've laughed at a nasty joke, or laughed at sin, or even encouraged someone living in sin by my silence or words, Lord forgive me, I repent, help me to be bold to resist evil in all it's forms, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, so love does not delight in evil, “but, it rejoices with the truth.”

What does it mean to rejoice with the truth? It’s as simple as hearing something at Bible study or at morning church and you say, “Amen!” Because the Holy Spirit in you rejoices and says, “that’s true!” I love the truth so much. And I hate lies. We will rejoice in truth, in the way of love. And evil will make us sick.

Prayer of Rejoicing: Lord, help us always to rejoice with the truth, give us hearts that love the truth always, grant us the gift of discernment, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “love always protects.” The word here is rendered by some translations as bears. The Greek word gives the picture of someone setting aside slights or disagreements, covering over those things, and instead focusing on the good.

When I have a disagreement with a loved one, family, with my wife, or a friend, I will tend to try and overlook it, ignore it, focus on the things I love about them. Let’s try to do that too, when others hurt us, cover over the bad, focus on the good. Anyone in a marriage knows that we have to bear up with the faults of our loved ones.

Prayer of Protection: Lord, we cover over our loved ones, we protect them, but we also cover over their past wrongs, and we focus on the things we love about them, in Jesus name, amen. 

Notice the word “always” keeps appearing. It gives us a picture of constantly repeating the character trait. Repeat it, repeat it again, all our lives.

“it always trusts.” For our relationship with God we want to “always trust.” For our relationship with friends and family, we want to “always trust.” Does that mean that we trust a stranger necessarily? No I don’t think so. But we do trust that God’s word can do something in their lives. Always trust I think primarily is a mindset of being a trusting person who trusts God and trusts others, and isn’t prone to bitter mistrust.

Prayer of Trust: Lord, heal our hurts from situations where our trust was broken or hurt. We choose to trust again, even if it makes us vulnerable, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “Love always hopes.” A characteristic of being a loving person is being hopeful. Hopeful for the other. Hopeful for the future. Hopeful for the promises of God. Hopeful in general.

I know that’s hard for many of us here who have been through many hardships and have mental and physical health issues, but we can obey this to always be hopeful. Don’t be a pessimist, don’t be a negative person, cultivate hope.

That may take healing for some of us here. I confess I battle bitterness and negativity. But God is helping me. I pray about it, and he helps.

Prayer of Hope: Lord, we throw off bitterness, we throw off negativity, and we embrace your call to hope, we hope in the Lord today, forgive us for the sin of discouragement, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, “love always perseveres.” Love doesn’t give up. Love keeps going. Love stands the test. Love continues through the difficulties. Don’t give up friends.

And the last characteristic of love is that “love never fails.” Does that mean we never make a mistake? No. Love never fails means that love doesn’t fall to the ground, love doesn’t end up powerless. Love will continue always in our hearts, if we are living out these principles of what it means to be loving. The result will be, love never fails. Love will continue.

Persevering Prayer: Father, help us to never give up, guide us through the storms, lift us when we fall, cover us when we're exposed, guide us by your light, give us strength to never give up, in Jesus name, amen. 

If you skip down to verse 13, we see how important love is: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

When all the giftings fade in the next life, love remains as the greatest truth.

I think the first part of 1st Corinthians 14:1 tells us what all this means.

It says, “Follow the way of love.” -1 Cor 14:1

There are 16 characteristics that Paul mentions. 8 positive, 8 negative.

So, if we are in fact putting off the eight negative characteristics that we want to avoid, and putting on the 8 positive characteristics of love, we will then be fulfilling the command in scripture which says to “follow the way of love.”

This is the way of love.

Let’s review today… Take a look at the picture at the top of this post. The white arrows represent the actions of the Holy Spirit we take in cooperation with the Spirit, we actively put off the old ways, the unloving ways. And then the Holy Spirit also helps us to put on the new ways of love which come from above, from God.