Below is the message from Sunday, September 22, 2013 in the Wheatland Parish. The Bible verses used are Jeremiah 29:10-13, John 15:26-16:15, and Luke 12:6-12.
We talked last week about how we need to pray to create a relationship with God. What we did not talk about is, why do we need that relationship? Why do you and I need a relationship with God? What good does it do us, really, to have a close relationship with God?
There may be some of you who think the answer is obvious, but I think it's a legitimate question. It's not enough to just say “prayer gives us a close relationship with God.” If we cannot see some benefit to having that relationship, we're probably not going to pursue it. So we won't pray the way we should.
So, at this point in our sermon series on the power of prayer, we're going to talk about the ways that relationship gives our prayers power. Today, we're going to look at one of the big ones. Prayer opens us up to God's guidance.
In our reading from Jeremiah, we're told that God has plans for us. These are plans for our good. These are plans that will give us hope and a future.
We don't always get to know what those plans are. In fact, we very rarely get to see the whole plan. But that's okay. In fact, it's a good thing. If we saw the whole plan, we might get impatient to see it all happen and try to take shortcuts and then the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. Or, we might get scared and not do the things God wants us to do to follow the plan, so that again the plan would not go the way God wants it to go. There are all sorts of good reasons why God does not let us know all the details of the plans God has for us, even though we'd like to.
We don't need to see the whole plan. All we need to see is the next step along the way. And God wants to show us that next step. But we need to keep in touch with God, to have that close relationship with God, to pray to God, so we can see that next step when God shows it to us. For our prayers to have power, we need to be open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. And we can only do that through our relationship with God.
The Bible tells us we get our guidance from the Holy Spirit. That's what our other readings talk about.
Our reading from John is powerful. Jesus tells the disciples that he's not going to be with them much longer, and they're really sad. But then he says, “Don't worry. It's okay. In fact, this is a good thing.” It's a good thing, Jesus says, because “unless I go away, the Holy Spirit cannot come to you. But when I go, the Holy Spirit will come.”
And listen to what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will do. Jesus says the Holy Spirit is “the Spirit of Truth.” He says that Spirit of Truth will guide us, so we can live in truth. And he says that Spirit of Truth will tell us what is yet to come.
That's a pretty awesome thing, when we think about it. I mean, it seems like there are so many times any more where we have a hard time getting at the truth. We hear so many lies and half-truths and things that may be true but imply something that's false. Politicians lie, on both sides. Advertising lies. Sometimes people who claim to be Christians lie. Including pastors.
But the Holy Spirit is always true. The Holy Spirit is truth itself. And if we have the Holy Spirit with us, we can live in truth, no matter what anybody else says or does. And that means that we will see the next step along the path. Living in truth means being open to God's guidance. Living in truth means going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do. That's what having a relationship with God does for us.
Truth always has power. In fact, in these times, truth has more power than ever, because it can be so hard to find. It's like a precious metal, like gold or silver or something. If it was all over the place, if it was common, it would not be valuable. It's valuable because it's rare. And truth is valuable because it's rare, too. Things that are rare have value. Things that are rare have power.
The disciples really did not understand. And a lot of times we really don't understand, either. We don't understand just who the Holy Spirit is. We don't understand just how the Holy Spirit works. But we know that the way to get to the Holy Spirit is through Jesus. And we know that the way to get to Jesus is through the relationship that's created by prayer. A prayer for the Holy Spirit, a prayer for the guidance of God's truth in our lives, is a prayer that has all kinds of power.
That's all there really is to it: to go to Jesus and pray for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. We complicate things so much sometimes. We want to go back to all the rules and regulations. We want to go back to all the things the world tells us. But Jesus tells us that the world has it all wrong. Jesus tells us the world has it wrong about sin. The world has it wrong about judgment. The world has it wrong about righteousness. We cannot find the truth in the world. We cannot find the truth through politics. We cannot find the truth through material things. We cannot even find the truth from pastors. We can only find the truth through the Holy Spirit. And we can only find the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. We can only find the Holy Spirit through prayer. And our prayers can only have power if we ask for God's guidance through prayer.
But that's just it. If we ask for God's guidance, if we try to live in truth, if we're open to going where God wants us to go and doing what God wants us to do, we're going to end up doing some things that seem strange to other people. Because part of living in truth is recognizing that, as Jesus said, the world has it all wrong. We don't have to be in people's faces about that, but we need to recognize it in our own lives.
And if we do, people are going to notice that we are not living our lives the way other people do. Living in truth means having the courage to live differently, and there are always going to be people who do not like it when we live differently from the way the rest of the world does.
Jesus recognized that, too. At the end of his talk to the disciples, in a part we did not read, Jesus says “in this world you will have trouble”. But he tells them not to worry about that, because he has overcome the world, not just for himself, but for them and for all of us. In other words, the power of the Holy Spirit will protect us and see us through whatever trouble living in truth brings us.
Jesus addressed that in our reading from Luke, too. That's another powerful reading. He said that the disciples, and all of us, are going to get into trouble by following him. But again, he tells us not to worry about that. He says that if we follow him, if we accept him as their Savior, if we keep in touch with him, then we don't need to worry about what's going to happen or what we should say when it does. He said that, at the right time, the Holy Spirit will tell us what to say. The Holy Spirit will give us the truth. And the truth will have power. It always does.
I don't know where the Holy Spirit may be guiding you today. Maybe it's already guiding you. Maybe you're already open to going where God wants you to go and doing what God wants you to do. Maybe not. I don't know. That's between you and God.
But even so, we all still need to keep praying and keep seeking God's guidance. Because just because we're doing what God wants us to do today does not mean God will want us to do the same thing tomorrow. I believe that, at one time, God wanted me to be a lawyer. But now, God wants me to be a pastor. A few years ago, God wanted Wanda and me to be in North Sioux City. Now, God wants us here. And while we'd love it if we could stay here the rest of our lives, that may not be what God wants for us. We need to remain open to God's guidance. We need to keep seeking the truth of the Holy Spirit. And we can only do that through prayer.
When we truly have a relationship with God, we can go to Jesus in prayer and ask for the Holy Spirit to come into our lives. That's a prayer that has power, because it has God's power. And God will use God's power to give us the Holy Spirit. And then we'll go where God wants us to go and do what God wants us to do, because we'll have the Holy Spirit guiding us.
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