The Eagerness of the Lord
Good morning Immanuel. The Lord is more eager to help than we are to seek.
“Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed” (Acts 12:14-16).
After an angel came and miraculously freed Peter from the gates of a heavily guarded prison, Peter went to the gates of a prayer meeting, where he was denied entry. As he stood knocking, those praying inside couldn’t reasonably entertain the idea that God had answered their prayers. The irony is that it was easier for God to break Peter out of prison than for Peter to get into a prayer meeting!
This irony teaches us a lesson about God’s eagerness: His eagerness to answer is always greater than our eagerness to pray. And that’s good news. Our prayers never outpace the Lord’s kindness toward us. Martin Luther said, “Prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance. It is laying hold of His willingness.”
The risen Jesus is not stingy, and so the problem is never that we must work to convince Him to be kind and generous. Rather, He loves to convince us that He is faithful and generous, just as He promised! His eagerness to bless far outpaces even our eagerness to pray!
Ways To Get In On Our Life Together
MEN OF VALOR TONIGHT - Sign up and join our friends at Men of Valor tonight as we celebrate the graduating class!
BREAKFAST IN THE BREEZEWAY - This Sunday, we will host another Breakfast in the Breezeway between our 9 am and 10:45 am services! Let’s celebrate the kickoff of the new ministry year with joyful participation. Sign up to bring a breakfast item here. Drop your food off at the tables in the Breezeway!
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