Can’t be what we can’t see
Can’t speak if we can’t breathe
Can’t dance if we don’t move our feet
It’s a blur tryin’ to keep pace
Days running like we’re in a race
Can’t move if we’re in our own way
I guess the crisis is
We’ve just one life to live
And no one knows what happens next…


So what are we waiting for? What are we waiting for?
Why are we wasting all the time like someone’s making morе?
What are we praying for? What are wе saving for?
What if we could be the light that no one could ignore?
What are we waiting for?
Waiting, oh, waiting for, waiting for…

[For King and Country, Chorus: Joel Smallbone]

“What are we waiting for, let’s just ask Him,” said one of his disciples.  Jesus, teach us to pray.  Are his followers beginning to understand where His power originates as He loves, heals, encourages, and forgives?  One thing is evident, they have learned enough about Him to know that His habit of stealing away by Himself to a quiet place to commune with His Father keeps Him determined and focused on why He came to earth.  But, they wonder what He and His Father in Heaven talk about.  What is Jesus asking?  What is God telling Him?

Luke 11, The Message

Ask for What You Need

11 One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, “Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

^2-4 So he said, “When you pray, say,

Father,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

^5-6 Then he said, “Imagine what would happen if you went to a friend in the middle of the night and said, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread. An old friend traveling through just showed up, and I don’t have a thing on hand.’

⁷ “The friend answers from his bed, ‘Don’t bother me. The door’s locked; my children are all down for the night; I can’t get up to give you anything.’

⁸ “But let me tell you, even if he won’t get up because he’s a friend, if you stand your ground, knocking and waking all the neighbors, he’ll finally get up and get you whatever you need.

⁹ “Here’s what I’m saying:

Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find;
Knock and the door will open.

^10-13 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The greatest argument for the priority of prayer is the fact that Jesus was a man of prayer. To be like Jesus, we pray.  Jesus prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21), before He chose the Twelve (Luke 6:12), when the crowds increased (Luke 5:16), before He asked the Twelve for their confession of faith (Luke 9:18), and at His Transfiguration (Luke 9:29). Jesus was consistently in communion with the Father who sent Him, asking “what’s next, Father”, with a heart of obedience, trusting the outcomes to God.  Jesus is the perfect example of how to relate to our Father in Heaven in a prayer conversation of asking and listening for God response to us.

The disciples knew that He often prayed alone (Mark 1:35), and they wanted to learn from Him this secret of spiritual power and wisdom. If Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, had to depend on prayer while He was here on earth (Hebrews 5:7), then how much more do you and I need to pray! Effective prayer is the provision for every need and the solution for every problem.  Most importantly in the asking is trusting God for the outcomes.  We pray. He works.  God is always at work, always with us, always for us. Who better to ask than the One who created all and knows all?

I am reminded of the old gospel song my parents used to sing, 

I don’t know about tomorrow
I just live from day to day
I don’t borrow from the sunshine
For its skies may turn to gray

I don’t worry o’er the future
For I know what Jesus said
And today I’ll walk beside Him
For He knows what lies ahead

Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand

When we pray “may your Kingdom come” asking for “His will be done” we receive God’s greatest gift—a relationship of love, mercy, and grace that does not quit and never gives up on us! 

When we ask for forgiveness and He not only forgives, He forgets the sins we regretfully remember.  God will free us from the bondage of remembering so we can move forward as we pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

When we ask for His help when tempted by the evil one; God responds with the power of His Holy Spirit working within us to help us grow in His character in ways beyond our human abilities. 

When we ask, in Jesus Name, and trust the outcomes to God; God is standing by ready to provide all we need to grow in His love.  Ask, seek, knock.  Jesus, our advocate before God, hears and opens the door to the greatest relationship we will ever have with our Father in Heaven! 

So, what are we waiting for?  What are we praying for?  To be light in the darkness!

Heavenly Father,

Hallowed is Your Name. Great are you, Lord!  May Your Kingdom come, Your will be done in every detail of our lives on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day all you know we will need to live our lives for you in ways that make you smile.  And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into temptations but deliver us from evil and evil’s schemes to distract and deceive us with intentions of destroying our relationship with you.  For you have all power.  May your power flow through us.  To you be the glory, honor, and praise forever and ever! 

In Jesus Name, Amen!  Yes!