A PRAYER TO START

Sometimes we need to receive a prayer, not just offering one up. Today, receive the prayer below, adapted from the first chapter of Ephesians, as one spoken over you. Where you see a _____, insert your name. Read slowly, and let the grace of God be lavished upon you.

Jeremy, a servant of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are Christ City Church, who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed _____ in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he choose _____ in him before the foundation of the world, that _____ should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined _____ for adoption as his child through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed _____ in the Beloved. In Jesus _____ has redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of _____’s trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon _____, in all wisdom and insight making known to _____ the mystery of his will, according to the purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In Jesus _____ has obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that those who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him _____ also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of _____’s salvation, and believed Jesus, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of _____’s inheritance until _____ acquires possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

For this reason, because I have heard and witnessed _____’s faith in the Lord Jesus and _____’s love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for ______, remembering _____ in my prayers that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give _____ a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of _____’s heart enlightened that _____ may know what is the hope to which Jesus has called _____, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward _____ who believes according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under Jesus’ feet and gave him as head over all things to the church family, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Know then today _____ whose you are, and what you already possess in Christ Jesus. Amen.

GETTING THOUGHTFUL

A.W. Tozer once said that what you think about when you think about God is the important thought you will have as a human. He is right. How you perceive God, or who you perceive God to be, will inevitably shape the way you relate to God—if you relate to him at all.

Is the God in your thoughts distant or near? Is he kind or cruel? Is he patient or quick tempered? Does he demand perfection or does he long-suffer our growing up? Is he one to give generously or withhold to keep you clinging to him for the basics? Are his ways a puzzle to figure out a person to follow?

These are the questions we all must answer, and many that our neighbors and children will ask—internally if we do not draw them out, out-loud if we would have the courage to ask. And, these are the questions that the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus answer for they and we too.

Jesus entered into the dust and dirt, family and friends, enemies and anguishes of the everyday world in order that you and I might know and perceive God clearly, well, rightly (or righteously if you’d prefer). That is why in John’s gospel he introduces Jesus as “The true light, which enlightens everyone”, even if “his own people did not receive him” and “the world did not know him” (John 1:9-11).

Matthew 7 gives us a chance to be like those who “did receive him, who believed in his name” who “he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood nor or the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Here in Jesus closing remarks in his Sermon on the Mount, we are reminded of who God is an how we are to perceive his nature. In verses 7-11, Jesus enlightens us to think about God in such a way that invites us to ask and receive, seek and find, knock and let the life with God be open to us. Will we?

REFLECTION

Read Matthew 7:7-11, twice. Consider what Jesus is doing here at the end of his sermon and the beginning of his ministry. Jesus wants us to know something of God, to perceive God in a manner that compels us to venture with him through life each day, to trust him as we pursue first his kingdom and his righteousness and receive what he so graciously lavishes upon us. Such is the God who once kindly promised, “Seek me and you will find me when you search after me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Use these questions to help you prayerfully reflect individually and/or discuss as a DNA group

Consider Tozer’s observation. When you think about God, what descriptions come to your mind, what emotions begin to rise up?

What has contributed to your perception of God? What people, what experiences, what teachings, etc.

What about your co-workers and neighbors, do you know what they think about God? Why or why not?

How would you describe the God revealed by Jesus here in Matthew 7:7-11, and the entire Sermon on the Mount?

What can you expect from this God?

What would keep you from asking, seeking and knocking to engage with this Father described?

What do you think keeps people form seeking a life with God in the manner Jesus describes here?

Describe what venturing through life in relation to the God Jesus pronounces would be like, if indeed he was the God you thought of when you think of God.

What would be different about your life and faith if you believed Matthew 7:7-11 were true?

ECHO

There is something in us, whether shame, fear, or perhaps even ambivalence, that keeps us from asking, seeking, and knocking with assured hope of finding what we are searching after. Emily Dickenson writes of this timorousness at the door of grace that many of us feel in her poem, “I years had been from home”. May her description of our timidity, coupled with Jesus’ description of the Father compel us to keep our hand upon the latch and let the door spring open.

I years had been from home.

And now, before the door,

I dared not open, lest face

I never saw before

Stare vacant into mine

And ask my business there.

My business,--just a life I left,

Was such still dwelling there?

I fumbled at my nerve,

I scanned the windows near;

The silence like an ocean rolled,

And broke against my ear.

I laughed a wooden laugh

That I could fear a door,

Who danger and the dead had faced,

But never quaked before.

I fitted to the latch

My hand, with trembling care,

Lest back the awful door should spring,

And leave me standing there.

I moved my fingers off

As cautiously as glass,

And held my ears, and like a thief

Fled gasping from the house.