Their comfort and protection were of no consequence, only their obedience to the call of the Christ. The disciples didn’t ask for the annihilation of those against them, just the courage necessary to be faithful in spite of them.
As a parent, how often was I praying for God to suit the circumstances of life to my children? What was better was the prayer to ask God to suit my children to their circumstances.
What God chose to allow my kids to face had to run through His Sovereign hands first. If He chose for them to experience hardship, then THAT WAS WHAT WAS BEST for them even if it wasn’t what was easiest or safest.
What They Gained
We cannot miss what God provided them. God filled them with the Holy Spirit which enabled them to go out and speak the Word boldly, even in the face of great danger.
This ties back to the passage in Luke where Jesus was teaching the disciples about prayer. In Luke 11:9-13, Jesus explained how God would answer bold prayer but it is imperative to consider prayer for “what”.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
I just recently noticed what God said He would provide from “bold” prayer. It wasn’t all the temporal stuff I was praying for but rather spiritual. Yes, we are to ask, seek and knock but what we really need more than ease, comfort or protection is the Holy Spirit, who will equip us for whatever is being required of us at any given moment.
What My Kids Needed More Than “Blessings”
My kids were not being served well by a mom asking for their protection as much as a mom asking God for their power to overcome! The world doesn’t need weak kids growing into incapable adults unwilling to meet the challenges of life head-on. For that matter, nor does the kingdom.
I want my children to be the kind of adults who will be strong and courageous, no matter what. I want them to be part of the solution, not the problem! It is my desire as a Christian mother that they make a powerful difference for the name of Jesus!
Those disciples taught me plenty about the priority and wisdom of asking for the right things -to be equipped for what is difficult, what God deems necessary. Christ hammered it home with the value of the Holy Spirit. He is key to what it will take to get through this life to the glory of God.
It serves my kids better to ask God for their equipping rather than their “blessings”. Prayer now revolves around the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives more than the temporal issues concerning them.
He IS their greatest need, just as much as He is mine as their mother. I think what I learned is that as much as I may want God to bless them, I want THEM to be a blessing to God as well!
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This article originally appeared at GretchenFleming.com.
