Jesus, what you ask of us takes courage and faith. Draw us near to you so we can hear your Word and act upon it. Relieve our jealousy and cure us from our violent path.
Help us to accept the word that we hear and to carry that message to those who don’t believe so we can spread your word. Make believers out of us and those who hear your words. Amen.
Study
http://www.usccb.org/nab/051306.shtml
Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it. (John 14:11-14)
Faith requires work. Work flows from faith. One can not exist without the other if we are to attain the Christian Ideal.
With both as the foundation for a Christian life, if you ask anything of Jesus in his name, he will do it. There is no maybe about this statement. No political qualifiers. No dodging and hedging the question like in a media interview. No acknowledging the issue and then bridging to what Jesus really wants to say rather than what you are asking.
Ask. Jesus responds.
Is this free? Absolutely not!
We must ask “in His name.” First have faith. Then do the works required by that faith. Only after those conditions are met will Jesus will provide the reward.
And sometimes, that reward is not a pretty sight as we see with Paul and Barnabas preaching among the Jews. The crowd turns on Paul and stirs up a persecution. He shakes the dust off and moves on to a town that, hopefully, will be more receptive.
Action
Where are you to spread the Good News today? Will you preach with your actions or with words?
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