Author: Bryan Richardson

Re:Verse passage – John 17:20-26 (day three)

“I have made your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

There’s a deeper source of loneliness and despondency than one’s conclusion that God is unknown, and that is one’s conclusion that God cannot be known. To remain permanently sealed off from even the possibility that inquiry and exploration could lead to an experience of God’s existence would be the kind of life in which atheism would make sense. In such a reality, belief in God or religious inclination would make no practical difference to a human being whatsoever. In his prayer, Jesus reaches through and beyond such a chasm between divine and human. He’s getting a message out from heaven that God is here. All things are now possible.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 3:14-21 (day three)

“that [God] would grant you…to be strengthened with power…in the inner man…”

That’s a lot of power from the Holy Spirit that Paul prays would flow to the core of your being. Will it overwhelm you? Not at all. Consider the concept of thermal runaway, by which a system – such as a car battery – receives so much power in a recharging attempt that a positive feedback loop leads to the explosion of the battery. Why wouldn’t your inner being do just that when it receives God’s power? After all, you’re “only human,” and Paul’s talking about universe-creating potency. Well, that “only human” phrase is completely contrary to what God has created. There’s no such thing as “only human.” The human creature comes into being in God’s image. God made good stuff. That’s why God’s power will strengthen you and not destroy you.

Re:Verse passage – Luke 18:1-8 (day three)

“Now [Jesus] was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart…”

Jesus confirms that demoralizing prayer experiences are a thing. The very reason for the existence of this parable, Luke states, is Jesus’s concern for the toll such experiences take on the human spirit. It’s those moments of meagerness and frailty that matter to Christ: the poor woman possessed only two coins to give; the crowd had only two fishes and five loaves; and the desperate person feels only despair in prayer. To all who know such circumstances, Jesus declares that no anguished heart will go unanswered. Thus, Jesus honored the poor woman as the biggest giver of all; Jesus fed everybody until they could eat no more; and to the person at rope’s end, Jesus says, “Tell me more.”

Re:Verse passage – Luke 11:5-13 (day three)

“…yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.”

One of the recurring assurances Jesus makes is that you are not at the mercy of the universe, but rather at the mercy of God. The created order – gravity, space, time, light, quantum particles, chemical reactions – is impersonal. God, on the other hand, is a person, and good. This is why when you ask, seek, knock, you will receive, you will find, the door will open. God responds and the universe yields. Asking, seeking, knocking – these actions are forms of persistence, and this impersonal cosmos will open up to beings created in God’s image. You’re not shouting into the void; you’re shouting into God’s ear.

Re:Verse passage – Romans 8:26-27 (day three)

“He intercedes for the saints…”

Paul’s words are a straight line from Jesus’s promise to send a comforter, his promise never to leave or forsake. Paul is not restating Jesus’s promise here. He’s not saying, “Remember what Jesus said.” Rather, he’s telling you in this passage that he has experienced what Jesus promised. He couldn’t have written these words with such clarity and such a sense of actuality unless he had witnessed such intervention from heaven firsthand. And in the way he phrases his words, you can hear that Paul isn’t claiming that his experience is an outlier. Paul often takes pains to communicate that he faces life’s drudgeries and pains just as you do. If somebody like him has known the Spirit’s presence when he hadn’t a clue how to proceed, you will too.

Re:Verse passage – Acts 2:42-47 (day three)

“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe.”

“Everything is awesome” can be a pretty irritating statement to hear from others because you experience many, many circumstances that are not awesome in the least. And it’s not just the way you’re looking at those circumstances. Suffering happens, pain exists. Well, it’s a good thing the scriptures don’t actually claim everything is awesome. What the believers in Acts 2 experienced was not the awesomeness of everything, but the reality of the good, the presence of the beautiful, and the nearness of wonder. Those who count on Christ will feel a sense of awe as they find that their deepest longings – to be welcomed and treasured by others, to mend broken friendships, to learn that they matter in this universe, to live again with loved ones they’ve lost – are the very things God desires for them.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Thessalonians 3:1-5 (day three)

“Finally, brethren, pray for us…”

A closing prayer, or, as in this passage, a closing request for prayer, seems unremarkable. It’s almost perfunctory, routine, rote. It’s expected in a customary sense, like the credits rolling after a movie concludes. Some people remain in the theater to look at the names scrolling by, though for most, that list serves as the signal that the movie has ended (unless there’s a surprise post-credits scene, but whatever). When understood in such a way, a prayer is simply a marker of finality: “This concludes our communication.” But Paul’s closing request for prayer was no formality. It was a solicitation of energy from the spiritual realm – power to continue gaining a hearing for God’s goodness, and strength to recover from the discouragement evil brings. A call for prayer is a plea for heaven-sent confidence.

Re:Verse passage – Ephesians 6:17-20 (day three)

“Be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.”

Some folks will tell others what’s really going on in their lives; many – perhaps most – will not. There are reasons for this: shame, fear, regret, confusion, distrust, or the like. Sometimes groups – even a church – will place a high value on conformity, which dissuades people from inviting each other into their questions, doubts, heartaches, and failures. How then can a church care for one another? Paul says to remain alert. Tune in to a person’s words, both spoken and unspoken. Is someone speaking about God’s goodness and yet clenching his or her fists? You have a clue about how to pray for that person. And that’s true when someone sees such body language in you. As we pay attention to each other, we can pray for each other.