Ask the Father

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you.” Thus Jesus promises the disciples before He departs from this world. The people of God will not be left stranded, but the Father will look out for their well-being. All they need do is ask in Jesus' name, and trust God to give what they need.

On this occasion, Jesus gives a lesson about how Christians ought to pray. “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Ask the Father for what you need, and He will give it to you, in order that your joy might have been fulfilled. You have not because you ask not. Just ask for what you need and God will give it.

What does this mean? You could easily come up with a list of prayers you have uttered and appended Jesus' name, and the Father has not granted them. At least not in the sight of your eyes. Every day, devout Christians pray for all sorts of things that will not come to pass. This leads some to think that God does not listen to prayer. After all, if God had listened to prayer, your father or mother, your child, your spouse, or whomever for which you fervently prayed, would not have died. It is easy to regard the exercise of prayer much like poor Martha in Bethany regarded the power of our Lord to deal with Lazarus: I know that eventually nice things will happen to good Christians, but right now I am not so sure.

Does God answer prayer? Is the immutable, unchangeable, all-knowing and all-seeing God moved by the pleas of His frail, sinful people? Does He relent from disaster and save those He loves from the perils of death?

On one hand, some say that God is beholden to His creation. He has promised to bless His people by granting whatever you ask in Jesus' name, so “name it and claim it.” If you ask, no matter what, God must give it. His will is tied up with the lives and actions of His people.

On the other hand, there are those who defend the eternal and immutable attributes of God by saying that God does not answer prayer. He only does what He would have done all along, regardless of whether you prayed for it or not. The value in prayer is not to God, but that it forces you to confess your need and your faith. Prayer does not change God, but it changes you.

Neither is correct. God is not beholden to creation. He is not required to give you anything you might dream up, just because you vocalize the name of Jesus as you ask for it. He is not obligated to give you anything you want just because you want it. He is God, and you are not. He will do as He pleases, according to His Word and promises.

Nor is God totally immutable and unfeeling. He is not beyond the prayers and pleas of His people. His heart is indeed moved to compassion by the repentance and the heart-felt needs of His children. He is able to do so abundantly much more than you might ask, because He is your loving Father who delights to hear your petitions and responds in love to your needs.

“The Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came from God.” For this reason, the Father delights to hear your prayer, and has promised to grant what you ask in Jesus' name. To pray in Jesus' name is to pray as He directs you, and to pray for the things He has promised to give you. Jesus has made you children of the heavenly Father, and so you have no need for another to pray for you, but you yourself must pray to Him.

And so the Son of Man has taught the children of men to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven. He delivers the invitation and command from the Father to come to Him with every petition, supplication, and need of body and soul. You are invited to come before Him in sincerity and truth to ask Him for whatever you need, just as a beloved child asks his dear father. So also has your heavenly Father promised to hear and to answer your prayers, giving you whatever you need to support this body and life, to protect you from evil, and to guard and keep you in the one true faith.

The Father loves you and hears your prayers because He loves His Son. You believe in the Son and love Him, and so are the beloved of the Father. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, covers you and makes your prayers acceptable to God. You are worthy to come before God because you have been baptized into His death, and so share in His life. His cross is your access to the Father. Because you live in Him, in the shadow of His cross, you have no need of an intermediary to approach the Father on your behalf.

Covered in the righteousness of Christ, filled with His life and His Spirit, you are made worthy to enter the presence of God. You cannot put off praying because you feel unworthy. You cannot make it someone else's job because you do not know how. You are made the son of God by new birth into His kingdom. He has made you royal priests and has granted you access to His presence and promised to hear you.

You are worthy to approach God because Christ is your righteousness. You know how to pray because Jesus has taught you to pray and has given you the words to say. The Son and the Spirit pray for you, interceding where your prayers fail. But you are commanded to pray, and you are given the words and promises of God to hold up to Him. For God delights that you should take up His Word in faith and hold Him to what He has promised.

It is your duty as a Christian to pray to God for any and all petitions and needs. You must pray for your needs of body and soul, for your neighbor, for the whole Church of God on earth, and for the enemies of the Faith, that they be either converted or put down in their wickedness. You are commanded by Scripture to pray without ceasing, for the prayers of the faithful are a great weapon against the crafts and assaults of the devil.

When you pray “Hallowed be Thy Name”, you pray for the preaching of the Holy Gospel, all faithful pastors and ministers of the Church, and against all who would oppose the Gospel and the giving of God's gifts. You pray for the pastors of the Church, that they would be pious and diligent in the Lord's work. You also pray that you would be repentant and faithful in receiving the Gifts which the Lord gives by the pastor's hand.

In the second petition, you pray “Thy kingdom come”, asking that the realm of the devil be banished from among you, that his kingdom would come to naught, and that his servants would be defeated at every turn.

The third petition, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, leads you to pray that the will of God be done in every time and place. Not that it will not be done without your prayer, but that God would grant that you be an instrument of His will, especially of His mercy toward your neighbor and brother.

In the words of the fourth petition, “Give us this day our daily bread”, you pray for all in authority, for all parents, for all society, for all your needs of the body, and for all that sustains your soul. You pray that you might be fed with the food of heaven, which strengthens you with the forgiveness of sins and fortifies you for the journey through this life.

The fifth petition, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, leads you to pray that God would show you how to live in love and peace with your brother.

In the sixth petition, “Lead us not into temptation”, you pray that God would relieve you and all who find themselves in the throes of temptation, guilt, and any great shame or vice. You pray that the Holy Spirit would come upon you and lighten the darkness which surrounds you.

Finally, when you pray “But deliver us from evil”, you pray for that blessed end, when God will deliver you, and each of the faithful according to His plan, from this vale of tears and receive you into His loving arms.

The “Amen” which ends the prayer of the faithful is the strongest confession of faith you can make. Yes, it shall be so. You end your prayer, and go about your life, because it is in God's hands. You cannot take back what you have given over to His direction, but must leave it with Him who has the power to do what you cannot. You must recite His promises to Him, and trust that He will do it, because He is faithful.

Pray, then, earnestly to the Father of all goodness and mercy. Pray for the sake of Jesus Christ, who has covered you with the blood of His cross and made you worthy to petition your heavenly Father. Pray for your needs of body and soul, and for the needs of your brother and of all people. Pray fervently, and let your trust be strong that He will do what He has promised.

And your joy will be complete in this way, that you have entrusted all things to God's direction, entreated Him according to His Word, and you now rest securely in the knowledge that the Lord preserves the lives of His saints according to His good pleasure. To Him who is able to do for us far more and better than we ever could be all glory, honor, and thanksgiving, now and forevermore.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!