Last week I was scrolling through my Facebook page when I came across this gem (thank you Patty Pruitt for letting me share it!) …

So, last night I decided to drive through Taco Villa. I love their cheesy

chicken bowl, it’s yummy. I ordered the cheesy chicken bowl, she repeated

it back correctly, I paid, got my food and drove home. When I took the food

out of the bag it was not a bowl! It was a large clamshell container! I opened

it to find a chicken taco salad! Dang it! I called Taco Villa and complained. My

husband is sick! I do not want to come back! I just want you to be aware of your

mistake! I ate the taco salad…….I loved the taco salad. I may have a Taco Villa

taco salad again tonight. From a different location, of course….

I wonder how many times I pray for the cheesy chicken bowl when God wants to give me a chicken taco salad? Instances when what I think is best for me is not what God knows is best for me? Times when my will does not line up with God’s will? When I’m not praying in surrender?

What are you currently praying for? What if that is not God’s best for you? What if you are praying for a cheesy chicken bowl when God knows what you would really love is the chicken taco salad? Where do you need to surrender your will to God’s will?

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock,

and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who

seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you,

if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for

an egg will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good

gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit

to those who ask him!  Luke 11:9-13

 

 

The late Paul Harvey told the story of a three-year-old boy at the grocery store with his mother. She sternly told him before entering the store, “No chocolate chip cookies, so don’t even ask!” In the store, she put him in the little child’s seat in the cart, and they wheeled down the aisles. He was quiet until he got to the cookie aisle. He saw those delicious chocolate chip cookies, stood up and said, “Mom, can I have the chocolate chip cookies?” With a strong voice she said to him, “I told you not to even ask. No!” He sat down. They went down the aisles but later had to come back to the cookie aisle again. He asked for them again. She told him, “Sit down and be quiet. I said no.” Finally arriving at the checkout lane, the little boy knew it was his last chance. He had to do something quick. So, he stood up in his seat and shouted as loud as he could, “In the name of Jesus, may I have some chocolate chip cookies?” Everyone around him began to laugh and applaud that little boy. And because of the generosity of the other shoppers, the little boy and his mother left the grocery store with twenty-three boxes of chocolate chip cookies!

Have you ever wondered why we pray in Jesus’ name? Is it a magical way to ensure we get the chocolate chip cookies or whatever it is we are asking for? Is it a merely a sign that the prayer has come to an end and we can open our eyes? Or is there more to it?

There’s much more to it. We pray in Jesus’ name because:

1. We Ask in His standing

We, in our own standing, have no right to present ourselves to God and ask Him anything. On our own merit, there is no reason God should answer any of our prayers. We all fall short of God’s glorious standard. “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins” (Romans 3:24). Because Jesus made us “right” we come before God with confidence and ask with boldness (Hebrews 4:16)!

2. We Ask in His authority

Jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him (Matthew 28:18). When Jesus defeated Satan on the cross, He broke any authority that Satan might have. Satan still has inherent power (2 Corinthians 4:4) and we wage war against his deceitful schemes. Nowhere does it say that Christ delivered us from Satan’s power – only that He delivered us from his authority or the right to use his power against us. “I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10:19).

In Jesus’ name! Amen!

 

 

Question: Do you long to be in God’s presence?

Not like eternally in God’s presence after death here on this earth (although the desire for that is a given) but in God’s presence in the here and now? Beyond understanding that “God is everywhere” but to know “God is here.” That God’s presence is discernible?

Answer: “Come into his presence with singing!” Psalm 100:2

God inhabits the praises of His people. I don’t know about you, but I need the Lord’s inhabiting of my life. I need His rhythms in my plans and steps. If the way to bring him closer to me is by coming near to Him through singing, count me all in! I’m no American Idol and certainly wouldn’t make it as a contestant on The Voice, but I’ll make a joyful noise with everything I’ve got!

How about you?