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Monday, January 30, 2017

I Pretended to Interview Jesus

Coming back to the house after a walk with the dog, and feeling the weight of having failed to die to self and let Jesus flow through me 100% of the time...I began to see the root of having expectations of others and then wanting control.  Somehow out of those thoughts I began to imagine an interview with Jesus.
Interviewer:  I would like to ask you some questions about things that hinder your prayers.  Do selfish motives ever hinder your prayers, James speaks of this in his letter? 
Jesus:  No
Interviewer:  Okay well how about not forgiving others, that is one You mentioned when You taught the disciples how to pray, do you have trouble with that?
Jesus:  No
Interviewer:  This one gets everybody, not being kind to others, Peter tells us that can hinder our prayers, is than an area You struggle with?
Jesus:  No
Interviewer:  Well, honestly, this interview hasn't been much help to me, I struggle in every one of these areas and they block or hinder my prayers often.
Jesus:  Why?
Interviewer:  Because I am human I guess.
Jesus:  Why?
Interviewer:  I was born that way.
Jesus:  But weren't you born again, born from above?  Aren't you a new creation?
Interviewer:  Well yeh, but as I look at these areas of my life I see how often I fall short and I try harder but, well, there isn't much change.
Jesus:  So you look at the old creation, instead of the new.  You are a new creation, spend time with Me, focus on Me, get to know My love for you and let that love flow out to others.  There is no fruit in looking at the old creation, the flesh, and there is no fruit in trying harder.  Fruit is found in Me.

2 comments:

Chuck said...

Expectations are equal to commandments without the ability to accomplish them. By placing expectations on people, we are saying we NEED them to do something in order for us to be happy. They fail us, we feel justified in being annoyed, angry or disappointed, the life of Jesus has nothing to do with any of that. If Jesus life so flows in and through me, filling me, overflowing through me, I have no "need", I have no expectation of others, I am truly free to truly love. My prayer for others is for them to know the height, the width, the depth, the breadth of His love, and then for that love to be the pipeline that brings His power to them to flow out of them. This calling is very high indeed!

Chuck said...

Another day, another chance to fall short of being a beloved son. The aging car appears to have worn out, and it has carried a heavier than normal load lately, so it appears to have died a "premature death" and there is no $ in sight to replace it... so I fall into grumbling and complaining.. and I know that is not the place of life and peace, but I go there, and I sit there and I stew there... until today, when I read an author who calls this, "living less loved" and somehow that "clicks" in me, and I see that I was giving great power to the circumstances before me, but not to the God who loves me and calls me His son. Can any circumstance take away or subtract from that love? No, no, a thousand times no, so I return to His arms, and trust Him once again. Grateful for His faithfulness and mercy!