Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you…so that your joy may be complete. I’ve asked God for plenty of things which were not given to me. What am I doing wrong? Maybe the problem is I look at prayer like the children’s card game “Go Fish.” When the opposing player can’t give you the card you want you “go fish” in the deck. If you then get card you want you happily proclaim, “I got what I wanted.” But that happiness passes immediately as you move onto the next card and start again. Jesus promises complete joy, not passing happiness. Complete joy happens when you don’t need to move onto the next thing but can rest in the gift given. So asking for something in the name of Jesus is not like saying “Jesus” as a magic word, sort of an “open sesame,” but praying as Jesus prayed. Think of Gethsemane where Jesus told God what he wanted but appended “Not my will but thine be done.” We are given complete joy when we trust that what God wants to give us is always for the best, that Good Friday is merely a step on the road to Easter Sunday.
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