Response of Prayer

[The Midweek Encounter is a ministry of Encounter Church in Kentwood, MI. These posts are reflections on Sunday's message, which can be heard here each week: http://myencounterchurch.org/#/messages-media] 

Photo: A photographer in Sioux Center Iowa took this of my great grandfather, who was a praying man. 

Dear Bread of Life, 

We ask: “Who am I?” 

We ask: “What am I supposed to do with my life?”

We ask: “What is my purpose?”

We ask: “Where shall I live, where shall I work, whom shall I marry, what shall I buy?”

We ask: “How do I endure; how do i recover; how do I practice forgiveness instead of plot revenge; how can I possibly love them?”

I think sometimes we say “Jesus” but really we direct our questions to the wind because after the ask, we try to figure out all our own answers and solutions and control all our own outcomes.  

Forgive us for adding to you.  Forgive us for we add you to our list of possible satisfying or sustaining options. Forgive us when we practice Jesus And.  

“Rabbi, when did you get here?” -John 6:25 

But really we want to know, HOW. How did you get from that side of the lake to this side? How do you do what we cannot understand? Why don’t we ask the real questions we have - the deep question underneath the surface question? Is it because we don’t believe in you? If we did truly believe, then could we talk to you about what we don’t understand, but really want to know?  

“This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.” -John 6:29, Amplified Bible

Jesus - whoever you are…we want what you have. Every day we want Bread of Life. 

Please be enough.

You’re enough, right? Right. So you will heal, right? You’ll protect, right? You will give me, get me out of, you will fix this, stop that, answer now, right? You will act the way I want, when I want, how I want, right?  

“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” -John 6:35

Again, Jesus, we are so sorry. Even in our want for you to be enough, we are wanting selfishly. We are asking out of pride. We struggle with sin.  

“I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want do what is right but I don’t do it. Instead I do what I hate.” “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!” -Paul's words found in Romans 7:14-15; 18-19; 23-25, which may reflect our own thoughts

You are enough. You show yourself and tell of your Father and make it clear that you are more than enough.  You are the bread of life with leftovers. You are God of surplus.  

You are necessary to each of us.  

Forgive us for adding to you because of doubt; because we don’t know you well, because we don’t trust, because we spend snippets of time with you rather than make space for long soaks where intimacy grows; because we're afraid, unsure, or new in our knowing you. You understand completely.  

Dear Bread of Life, you are enough. Thank you. Thank you so very much.  

Amen

In Jesus' eyes as he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey… 

“Above all, there is love, an endless, deep, and far-reaching love born from an unbreakable intimacy with God and reaching out to all people, wherever they are, wherever they will be. There is nothing he does not fully know. There is nobody whom he does not fully love.

Every time I look at this Christ on the donkey, I am reminded again that I am seen by him with all my sins, guilt, and shame and loved with all his forgiveness, mercy, and compassion.”


-Henri Nouwen, Palm Sunday from Show Me The Way 

[Laura DeGroot likes to laugh out loud, drink good coffee and eat delicious food...with Jesus her family and friends.  She has lived from the West to the East coast but Grand Rapids is home as of one whole year.  As The Caffeinated Woman, she speaks to groups of people about how ordinary life is profoundly better knowing an Extraordinary God, and works at Art Of The Table.  And she loves books.]