Living in Jesus, Abiding in Him (25)

 

 

As we continue to reflect on John 15:7, I want to ponder more of George MacDonald’s thoughts on prayer.

 

“And there is a communion with God that asks for nothing, yet asks for everything…He who seeks the Father more than anything He can give, is likely to have what he asks, for he is not likely to ask amiss.” (George MacDonald – An Anthology, C. S. Lewis, page 54).

 

This is, I think, a wonderful adjunct to the Upper Room prayer passages (John 14:13 – 14; 15:7; 16:23 – 24), for these passages are set within Jesus’ invitation to us to live in koinonia with the Trinity and with one another (John Chapter 17). Nor should we forget the extended setting, which leads us into the Garden, the Betrayal, the Trial, and the Crucifixion. O yes, and let us not forget the Resurrection!

 

But what do we have in the Garden? "Let this cup pass from Me, yet not My will, but Your will be done." Ought we to not read and ponder the prayer passages in light of the Garden? Might not Jesus in the Garden inform our understanding of what Jesus says in the Upper Room about prayer?

 

Was not Jesus seeking the Father in the Garden, more than anything the Father could give?

 

Are we seeking the Father in our prayers, or are we focused on the things our Father can give us?

 

“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.” (Psalm 103:7).

 

Are we learning the ways of our Father, or do we still only know Him, perceive Him, externally? Are we only looking at the things our Father does, or are we learning to live in His Presence, to have our hearts joined to Him? In a sense this takes us back to the question of whether we think in terms of prayer lives, or lives of prayer…lives of unbroken communion with the Holy Trinity.

 

If we “see” Jesus in the Garden, then we see that our lives, including our lives of prayer, are to be cruciform, that is, they are to be in the shape of the Cross. In cruciform prayer we draw near to the heart of God, we are transformed into the image of the Firstborn Son, and we become broken bread and poured out wine for others. In this holy intimacy we can find that we simply do not know exactly how to pray, but we can be assured that the Holy Spirit will lift our hearts and souls and minds into prayer, and we can trust Him to lead us and guide us…even if we have limited cognitive understanding of the heavenly realms (Romans 8:26 – 27). The understanding that matters most is the understanding that we are in the hands, arms, and heart of the Holy Trinity – and that we can rest secure in the Holy of Holies – which of course is God.

 

Well…as you read the above quote from MacDonald, what do you think? C. S. Lewis thought it important enough to include it in his Anthology, but what do you think? What do you feel about this?