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Jesus said, “I’m not saying that I will ask the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you’ve loved Me and have believed that I came from God.”
Alleluia! Jesus Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
᛭ INI ᛭
THE FATHER LOVES YOU… He most certainly does. He sent His only begotten Son for you. He sent Him into the flesh to bear your sin and be your Savior. He sent His Son to die for you. God’s love isn’t just some great depth of feeling. God’s love is on display in the Person and Work of His Son, chiefly His death and resurrection, but really everything Jesus did for us and for our salvation.
The Father’s love is listed off in each line of the 2nd Article of the Apostles’ Creed. Jesus Christ was “conceived by the Holy Spirit [for us], born of the Virgin Mary [for us], suffered under Pontius Pilate [for us], was crucified, died, and was buried [for us]; He descended into hell [for us], the third day He rose again from the dead [for us]. He ascended into heaven [for us], and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty [for us], from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead,” that’s also for us!
Yes, THE FATHER LOVES YOU.
(2. THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS…)
The Father who loves you tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children as their dear father.” (SC III, Introduction) “He has commanded us to pray.” (SC III, Conclusion) To not pray breaks the Second Commandment. He also “has promised to hear us,” (SC III, Conclusion) like Jesus says today: “Whatever you ask the Father in My Name He will give it to you.” In other words: THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS.
So, we’re commanded to pray, to ask for things, with words! “Dear Father, help so and so, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” It doesn’t have to fancy! “Father, please heal her, in Jesus’ name.” “Father, keep him safe, in Jesus’ name.” “For Jill, that she would have strength. Lord, have mercy.” So many ways to do it! “Jesus, help me with this or that; in Your name.” Or there’s always the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer that never runs out! THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS. “Father, Ricky needs Your help. I’m praying your Son’s prayer for him.” Then pray the Our Father.
Prayer isn’t positive thinking. It isn’t hoping for the best, thinking nice things about someone. It isn’t keeping someone in your thoughts. Pagans, unbelievers, atheists do that! True prayer is taking the time—you could take 5 minutes, couldn’t you!—to actually use words to pray to “God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth,” Since you’re baptized into Christ, He’s also your Heavenly Father.
The Father, who created all things, promises to answer. Jesus, too! Jesus by whom all things were made, who upholds the entire universe has said, “Ask and you will receive.” We don’t pray on whim or with a false hope. THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS. As Paul also says, “For all God’s promises find their ‘Yes’ in [Jesus Christ]. That’s why we utter our ‘Amen’ to God through [Jesus Christ] for [God’s] glory.” (2 Cor 1:20) That’s why we always terminate or end our collects, the brief prayers, in church with “through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”
(Transition.)
Yes, THE FATHER LOVES YOU. He sent His Son for you to save you from sin, from death, and from the power of the devil. He’s the one who hears and answers your prayers. THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS. But then there’s the problem. You know what it is. You’ve been on the receiving end. Those times, maybe many times, when your prayers, your pleadings, your tears haven’t been answered…
(1. THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS WITH THE NAME OF JESUS.)
Well, you’re in good company. There are many prayers in the Bible where the LORD’s people wrestle with, well, reality! The LORD is merciful and gracious. He promises to help in time of need. The faithful cry out in distress. Sometimes, it appears, “He hears [their] voice. [His] ears are attentive to [their] pleas for mercy.” (Ps 130) Other times their prayer is “O LORD, how long? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?” (Ps 13) Even Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Ps 22; Mt 27) I told you, you were in good company!
Christ Himself was truly forsaken by His Father for your sake, that you’d never be truly forsaken. Things aren’t as they appear, but because of our experience we forsake prayer. A waste of time! “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Is 49:15), says the LORD. THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS. The simplest answer to unanswered prayer is: THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS WITH…THE NAME OF JESUS.
Jesus Himself warns you: “In the world you will have tribulation.” The answer to any trouble trouble, to sickness, to death, or anything else isn’t necessarily that it’s taken away. Rather, it’s overcome through the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus! Look at the Israelites. They asked for the snakes to be taken away. Moses prayed for that! The LORD didn’t take the snakes away. Instead, He gave Israel “the way of escape” (1 Cor 10)—“a bronze snake on a pole,” (Num 21) with the promise “whoever looks at it will live.” That’s a picture of Christ cursed, dead on the cross! (Jn 3) “Whoever believes in Him will not perish…but will live even though he dies.” (Jn 3, Jn 11)
Christ on the cross is the final answer to all God’s promises! Everything the LORD does is merciful and gracious. God’s Son dead on a cross and brought back to life three days later is proof of that! THE FATHER LOVES YOU. “My thoughts, My ways are not your thoughts, your ways,” declares the LORD. HE ALWAYS ANSWERS, not your way, my way, but the only way that counts: WITH THE NAME OF JESUS. Jesus is the answer to all our prayers.
For the Christian prayer isn’t hopeless. The Lord will grant restoration, resurrection one way or another. A prayer for forgiveness is abundantly answered! It’s delivered in the preaching of the Gospel (Christ died for your sin, you’re forgiven), in the “One baptism for the forgiveness of sins,” in Holy Absolution, in the bread and wine that are Jesus body and blood given and shed for you. A prayer for the strengthening of faith is abundantly answered, too! What about prayers for healing? Sometimes the final resurrection is prefigured with a healing, other times, well, your loved one’s in good company! Even, Christ wounds weren’t healed until the Resurrection. “Where I am there My servant is also.”
We pray according to God’s good and gracious will in Christ! “God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth!” (1 Tim 2) Christ also gives the best words to pray! There’s the Psalms. (The Bible’s hymnal is also the Bible’s prayer book.) There’s also the Lord’s Prayer. More than that, Christ says this: “If you abide in Me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” With His Words abiding in you, you’ll ask according to His Will! For that, you’ve also got the Spirit! “…The Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom 8:26) God also also predestined His baptized children, you and me, “to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers…” (Rom 8:26–29) Suffering, died, raised—that’s the image we’re being conformed to.
(Conclusion.)
So, “be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves!” (James 1) “Pray, praise, and give thanks!” (SC I, 2nd Commandment) The LORD commands it. He also promises to hear you. His answer is always Jesus.
THE FATHER LOVES YOU AND ALWAYS ANSWERS WITH THE NAME OF JESUS.
So take time and pray! We don’t pray on dare, as if God doesn’t care to listen. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32) So pray the Lord’s Prayer daily and much. It never runs out. Learn to pray with thanksgiving—Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers help with that! Pray before, maybe also after meals. Luther’s Peal Prayers help there, too! And when you’re struggling in the prayer department, you’ve got the Apostles’ Creed. It should be the daily—twice daily—Creed of every Christian. The Small Catechism makes that clear! Every line confess all that God’s done for you. Mentally add a “for us,” “for me” after every line. Prayer’d come easy then!
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