1306AFC020613 – The Father Hears the Son
Read it online here, please.
John 11:41-42 – Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of these people standing here so that they may believe that you have sent me.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 – Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For he gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19 – When I think of the greatness of this great plan I fall on my knees before God the Father (from whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name), and I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the spirit’s inner reinforcement—that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ—and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!
Romans 8:33-34 – Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding [ἐντυγχάνω] for us.
Jesus prayed. He prayed to his Father. He prayed because he knew (and still knows) 
his Father [1] heard him and [2] listened to him. His prayers were prayers of thanksgiving, blessing, forgiveness, obedience, and much, much more. His prayers were not selfish prayers. He prayed – and lived and died – for others. In the didache, and in the dialog with the Apostles before his passion and death, he prayed that God would be glorified through him, for his disciples, and for all believers – you and me included. Here is a good resource for looking into more about Jesus’ prayers.
During that night before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples to follow his example. Not just the example of the washing of feet and thereby the necessity of humility, I believe, but his example of prayer, of love, of faith, and of hope. Jesus and his Father are one. So, was he praying to himself? No. Of course we can immediately see that Jesus – human, visible, flesh and blood, and only begotten Son of the Father – is separate and distinct from God the Father as well as from the Holy Spirit. No other human before or after Jesus was both human and divine. God incarnated himself in Mary’s womb. Having emptied himself of the Glory of God, he became poor, helpless, dependent on others, and – in his physical nature – mortal. And yet, all the compassion, all the mighty deeds, all the teaching, and even the suffering and dying were the very things God Almighty was doing with and in Jesus. Jesus only did what his Father did. He even told his disciples, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly [ὁμοίως] what the Father does.”
Beloved, we can be sure of this. Christ Jesus is the Anointed, Incarnate, Only-Begotten Son of the Living God. His presence is attested to at the beginning of Creation and at the End of all Ages. He, Jesus, is also El Shaddai (God All Sufficient), El Elyon (Highest God), Jehovah Sabaot (The LORD of Hosts), and most importantly Elohim (The form Elohim is a plural form commonly understood as a plural of majesty, therefore Most Sovereign God). He prays. He prays for, with, and about you because he is God. He expects us to pray for, with, and about each other as we pray to, with, and for him.
Jesus Prayed. Paul Prayed. Peter Prayed. Abraham prayed. Moses Prayed. The Jesus in you is the Jesus in me is the Jesus in God so we should do what we see our Father – and our Brother and our Companion – do. Pray.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved.
Here’s a chance to pray for (as an intercessor), with (as a sibling), and about (as a source of blessing) a terrific eight-year-old named Micah. Recently Mikey took a fall and ended up with a spiral fracture in his lower leg. He didn’t carry on about it, but at the hospital the x-rays showed it was serious. Fortunately the doctor was able to set the break without pins. Nonetheless, this youngster, from a large and loving family, will be wearing something like this:
That’s a lot for a little guy to deal with for a month, so pray for with and about Micah and his family. Mom and dad are of course trusting in God, but you know how their hearts throb with compassion for their child – that same way God’s heart throbs for you! All his siblings, too, feel and appreciate how difficult this is for their little brother. And Micah? Well, he’s got the aching of healing bones, the itching of skin under that cast, the difficulties of sleeping and getting from here to there, and maybe a little feeling that he shouldn’t have tried to jump off the stairs.
Pray for everyone who asks for our prayers, for everyone you love, for everyone who loves you, and for anyone who loves them because the love we have comes from God through his Son, Jesus the Christ by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I promise you, you will be heard if you believe.
1306AFC020613 – The Father Hears the Son
Read it online here, please.
John 11:41-42 – Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of these people standing here so that they may believe that you have sent me.”
2 Corinthians 1:3-7 – Thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he is our Father and the source of all mercy and comfort. For he gives us comfort in our trials so that we in turn may be able to give the same sort of strong sympathy to others in theirs. Indeed, experience shows that the more we share Christ’s suffering the more we are able to give of his encouragement. This means that if we experience trouble we can pass on to you comfort and spiritual help; for if we ourselves have been comforted we know how to encourage you to endure patiently the same sort of troubles that we have ourselves endured. We are quite confident that if you have to suffer troubles as we have done, then, like us, you will find the comfort and encouragement of God.
Ephesians 3:14-19 – When I think of the greatness of this great plan I fall on my knees before God the Father (from whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name), and I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the spirit’s inner reinforcement—that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ—and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!
Romans 8:33-34 – Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding [ἐντυγχάνω] for us.
Jesus prayed. He prayed to his Father. He prayed because he knew (and still knows) his Father [1] heard him and [2] listened to him. His prayers were prayers of thanksgiving, blessing, forgiveness, obedience, and much, much more. His prayers were not selfish prayers. He prayed – and lived and died – for others. In the didache, and in the dialog with the Apostles before his passion and death, he prayed that God would be glorified through him, for his disciples, and for all believers – you and me included. Here is a good resource for looking into more about Jesus’ prayers.
During that night before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples to follow his example. Not just the example of the washing of feet and thereby the necessity of humility, I believe, but his example of prayer, of love, of faith, and of hope. Jesus and his Father are one. So, was he praying to himself? No. Of course we can immediately see that Jesus – human, visible, flesh and blood, and only begotten Son of the Father – is separate and distinct from God the Father as well as from the Holy Spirit. No other human before or after Jesus was both human and divine. God incarnated himself in Mary’s womb. Having emptied himself of the Glory of God, he became poor, helpless, dependent on others, and – in his physical nature – mortal. And yet, all the compassion, all the mighty deeds, all the teaching, and even the suffering and dying were the very things God Almighty was doing with and in Jesus. Jesus only did what his Father did. He even told his disciples, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly [ὁμοίως] what the Father does.”
Beloved, we can be sure of this. Christ Jesus is the Anointed, Incarnate, Only-Begotten Son of the Living God. His presence is attested to at the beginning of Creation and at the End of all Ages. He, Jesus, is also El Shaddai (God All Sufficient), El Elyon (Highest God), Jehovah Sabaot (The LORD of Hosts), and most importantly Elohim (The form Elohim is a plural form commonly understood as a plural of majesty, therefore Most Sovereign God). He prays. He prays for, with, and about you because he is God. He expects us to pray for, with, and about each other as we pray to, with, and for him.
Jesus Prayed. Paul Prayed. Peter Prayed. Abraham prayed. Moses Prayed. The Jesus in you is the Jesus in me is the Jesus in God so we should do what we see our Father – and our Brother and our Companion – do. Pray.
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever — at your service, Beloved.
Here’s a chance to pray for (as an intercessor), with (as a sibling), and about (as a source of blessing) a terrific eight-year-old named Micah. Recently Mikey took a fall and ended up with a spiral fracture in his lower leg. He didn’t carry on about it, but at the hospital the x-rays showed it was serious. Fortunately the doctor was able to set the break without pins. Nonetheless, this youngster, from a large and loving family, will be wearing something like this:
That’s a lot for a little guy to deal with for a month, so pray for with and about Micah and his family. Mom and dad are of course trusting in God, but you know how their hearts throb with compassion for their child – that same way God’s heart throbs for you! All his siblings, too, feel and appreciate how difficult this is for their little brother. And Micah? Well, he’s got the aching of healing bones, the itching of skin under that cast, the difficulties of sleeping and getting from here to there, and maybe a little feeling that he shouldn’t have tried to jump off the stairs.
Pray for everyone who asks for our prayers, for everyone you love, for everyone who loves you, and for anyone who loves them because the love we have comes from God through his Son, Jesus the Christ by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I promise you, you will be heard if you believe.
About Chick Todd
American Roman Catholic reared as a "Baptiterian" in Denver Colorado. Now living on Kauaʻi. USAF Vet. Married for over 50 years. Scripture study has been my passion ever since my first "Bible talk" at age 6 in VBS.
