The Unanswered Prayer of God

Do you remember the time that God prayed? You can find it in John 17. The flesh-and-bone incarnation of God bent low one night to draw close to the very earth from which He had formed man in the dust. Surrounded by men made in His image and likeness, the Divine Son lifted His voice to the Father, reflecting the internal conversation first recorded in Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let us make man in our image and likeness.”

Once again, an internal dialogue happens within the Godhead, but this time, we hear it in human language and words we can understand. What we hear is stunning because Jesus is praying not merely about us but for us. He expresses a desire, reflecting the hope and longing of a sovereign God who has unlimited power to accomplish His will. And yet, instead of forcing our will to align with His, He gives us indescrib- able freedom, delegating both authority and responsibility to us.

Now, imagine you have a child whose room looks like a third-world country after a tsunami. You tell your spouse, “It’s my greatest desire that Jeffrey cleans his room and stops throwing toys at his brother.” What if Jeffrey overhears this, blows it off, and ignores his dad? Two weeks later, the room is still a mess, and his brother is still ducking for cover.

If that scenario pulls your parental triggers, you may be shocked at the grace of our Father, who has waited two thousand years for us to care about His greatest expressed desire.

Try this question on for size.

Can you imagine God praying a prayer that He expected us to answer?

I realize that’s a lot of pressure, so let me ask you a different question. What is unity to you? I will return to these questions in a moment, but first, I invite you to think about some other words: Instantly! Suddenly! Acceleration! These and so many more adrenaline-inducing words flood commerce and marketing as companies and services strive to speed things up even more. A culture flooded with these trigger words has trained us to live with a certain level of expectation and entitlement —even when we pray. Instant answers are the hope behind every fervent prayer, and why not? If Amazon can deliver my package the same day I order it, why not expect the same measure of efficiency from heaven?

We find ourselves entitled to getting things when we want them and the way we want them. Let’s revisit this thought: Imagine waiting two thousand years for an answer to a prayer. Such has been the case for our Lord and Savior since the night He uttered the profound and mysterious words found in John chapter 17.

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:20-24, NASB)

In that prayer for every believer, Jesus appeals for our unity, defining it as a oneness that reflects the other-centered, self-giving love existing within the Godhead of the Father, Spirit, and Son. Yet two millennia later, the answer to this prayer has yet to materialize on a large scale or as a sustainable culture. Now, don’t give place to guilt and shame here, believing we’re just a bunch of rebellious losers. If we don’t under- stand what He was actually talking about, we’ll never see what Jesus expressed in prayer realized.

I believe we have a pretty major misunderstanding of what unity is. When I talk with people about what unity means to them, they almost always define it as agreement in some form. This definition of unity tends to lend itself to creating cultural gatherings that reflect a unifor- mity of style over substance.

Many Christians envision an idealistic, utopian, spiritual existence that looks something like a commune. One group may be bearded neo- hippies living in a retreat center in the woods, drinking craft coffee, swaying to jangly acoustic guitars in daily singalongs and Bible stud- ies. Others envision laser-lit mega gatherings, with stadiums full of thousands fixated on a single individual, leading them into a collective single-mindedness—until they’re all rocking in unison. Still others pine for anything that feels like church without it being “churchy.” Whatever that means.

But I don’t think any of these alone is what Jesus was praying for.

One day in prayer, I asked the Lord to help me understand unity. As I began journaling what I felt stirring, as a response from the Father’s heart, this is what I wrote: “While there is tremendous power in agree- ment, unity is not necessarily agreement. Unity is much deeper than agreement. If unity were merely agreement, then all of us would live our lives arguing others into our opinion as best as we could.” (And I think we can agree that happens often, especially online.)

The unity that Jesus prayed for is not Him cheering us on to create conflict and division, elevating the rightness of our opinions over the righteousness of His desire. This is what I believe is meant by unity and oneness from the perspective of Christ: Unity is when you find yourself willing to lay your life down in sacrificial compassion for people who don’t even agree with you.

One day, a lawyer came to Jesus and essentially asked, “What’s the best the Law can do?” Jesus responds with, “Love God and love others,” which has become a slogan for many evangelical churches. But, this man wasn’t asking what the highest revelation of Christian love was. He was simply asking for the greatest commandment in the Old Covenant Law.

In light of this, consider the new commandment that Jesus gave: “Love one another as I have loved you.” Under the Old Covenant, you love like you. Under the New Covenant, you love like Jesus. This is how we are empowered with supernatural compassion to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, and pray for those who despitefully use us. This revelation is also how we fulfill the divine call on each of our lives to live the ministry of reconciliation.

With that understanding of our mandate as children of God, we become a living invitation for people to witness the goodness and glory of God through the love we have for one another. As long as we define unity as agreement, we will continue to create an “us and them” culture, creating division and turning entitlement into a Christian virtue.

If you take a close look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17, you’ll discover that the focus of His prayer was on the disciples with him, as well as all those who would come to believe in Him through their word. There are currently an estimated 2 billion people on planet Earth who claim to believe in Jesus. And yet, within that collective mass of humanity, there are some divisions so deep and vitriolic that the venom and violence of our discourse have spilled into the public square of nearly every online forum, like a backed-up toilet. We’ve made a mess of our message, and nobody seems to care. As a people of grace, I believe we should care—because it matters to God. The Son of God has only one bride.

When we gather, we have the opportunity to put this unity on display, recognizing that there is more than one kind of unity. When we come together, we acknowledge that there are different styles and prefer- ences when it comes to preaching, music, seating arrangements, atmos- pheric elements, and more. Every opinion holds value on some level because it allows each unique identity to be expressed, weaving a tapestry of diversity into the beautiful and glorious body of Christ. Diversity is beautiful; division is not.

In our gatherings, we have the opportunity to exercise both individual and corporate liberty. In our individual liberty, we express ourselves as those who have an intimate relationship with God, reflecting a union as unique as the individual. During corporate gatherings, however, we should look for opportunities where leaders invite everyone to unite in expressions of worship or learning that demonstrate the other-centered, self-giving relationship of love between people.

There’s something remarkably powerful about these moments, and this is where agreement works into unity. Agreement doesn’t cause unity to manifest; it’s a byproduct of an already-existing unity grounded in pure love for God and one another. And this is how the world will know we are in Christ. With that confidence, we can say with our elder brother, Jesus, “If you’ve seen me/us, you’ve seen the Father.”

(You can find the rest of this book, including many chapters by many amazing authors, on Amazon.com. Search for the title, Free to Gather, compiled by Robin Smit.)

An Unbranded Revival

In Acts 11:26 there’s a significant moment here as an entire year of teaching and discipleship is condensed into a single verse, and yet it carries historical importance because this company of believers is branded as Christians at this point for the very first time. 

By this point in the story nearly 10 years has passed since the ascension of Jesus Christ. What baffles my mind as I consider this is how the early church was able to operate for more than a decade with thousands and thousands of followers without being branded. 

These days we don’t launch a church without a brand, a logo, a website, and a social media team. But the success of the early church transcended all human marketing strategies. 

Now I don’t believe there is anything inherently wrong with marketing as it proclaims the good news of the gospel and draws peoples attention away from the countless distractions around them. But I would like to point out to you That you don’t need to market an authentic move of the Holy Spirit. As long as there is an avenue for the testimonies of what God is doing to move from one person to another, the life and resurrection power of Jesus will flow. 

A Free and Fearless Temple

Can a Christian be cursed or have a demon? There is no biblical precedent where a believer in Jesus Christ can be cursed in any way. There isn’t a single example in the Scripture of anyone breaking a curse off of a believer. I know that may be hard to believe, and it may not be your own experience, but if we’re just looking at the Scriptures, this is what we’ve got. You may get angry at this and you may want to fight for your right to be cursed, but why?

Ready for this? There is not one example in the Bible of a demon called lust, or perversion, or immorality. However, in Galatians 5 what we normally attribute to demonic influence are called “works of the flesh”. The word for works is “Ergon” meaning anything accomplished by hand or mind. 

As a matter of fact, one of the few named ungodly “spirits” that is in the Bible is fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” How does it get dealt with? 1 John 4:8 “Perfect love casts out fear.”

Every now and then someone once again brings up the possibility that a believer in Jesus can have a demon. So then we’ll have Christians wondering if they do, and that invites partnership with a spirit of fear, which isn’t from God. So the very teaching designed to educate the believer telling them that their bad behavior is the devil becomes the very doorway by which a fear gets a foothold in our life. Clever. 

But can a believer do evil things? Sure. God tells Cain in Genesis 4, “Sin is crouching at the door. It’s desire is for you but you must master it.” God doesn’t say that sin is in you. (And God doesn’t say that sin is in you because of what your parents did. So much for generational curses.) The door represents a barrier over which we have authority. What’s in your life? Whatever you open the door to. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with me.” The reality is that we can have in our life whatever we open the door to, for better or worse.

In Col 3 we are told, “Put to death what is earthly in you.” Then he lists some works of the flesh. He doesn’t say these are all demons. He says these things are just earthly, so kill them off within you. How do we do that? Galatians 5:16 says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Union is the solution.

If we think that every tendency, temptation, desire, or habit is a demon, then we’ll be getting deliverance over and over and never learn to walk in freedom and the fruit of the Spirit, which includes self control. 

So what’s happening when a believer in Jesus is experiencing temptations and gives in? Is it the devil? Well that would be far more convenient to make demons the scapegoat for our issues. But I believe what we’re dealing with most is our “self” out of control, but there’s a solution for that. Paul addresses this in 1 Cor 6.

He first says in verse 12 that everything is lawful. In other words God’s not going to stop you. The new law is that you’re free (Romans 8). But just because we can do a thing doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. He says not everything is beneficial or profitable, and the next line says, “but I will not be mastered by anything.” Go back to what God said to Cain about sin. “It’s desire is for you but you must master it.” Who is the master here? There is an often ignored fruit of the Spirit called self control that we must give attention to. The Holy Spirit is given to us to teach us how to be free, how to walk in freedom, and how to manage our freedom without being mastered by anything that would bring us into bondage.

Paul goes on to talk about food, immorality, and even prostitution. He then poses a question in verse 19, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” If someone has been fornicating with prostitutes, how could they still be a temple of the Holy Spirit? Paul doesn’t say because of what you did you’re no longer a temple. He’s asking have you forgotten who you are or do you just not know?

The fact that he poses this as a question tells us that these people who have fallen to the most serious cultural taboos either don’t know who they are or they have simply forgotten. They’re living contrary to their identity by either ignorance or careless neglect. Paul never says these believers have opened the door to demons and now need deliverance. We’ve just forgotten our true identity in Christ. Are demons real? Yes. Do we have to be afraid of them? No. We just don’t get to blame our ignorance or neglect on the devil. In both instances where Paul confronts the devil in a person, it was in someone who was not a believer. The Apostle Paul never implies that a believer can have a demon, even if they’re doing something seriously wrong. Once Paul tells the church in 1 Cor 5 to hand a wicked person over to satan for the destruction of the flesh that their spirit may be saved. (Let that rock your theological boat.) Later in 2 Corinthians Paul tells them to restore him, but mentions nothing about deliverance. There’s no indication that Paul blamed the behavior of the man on anyone other than the man himself. We have made self control a neglected fruit of the Spirit by blaming the devil every time we lose control. 

He finishes the chapter up by saying, “Glorify God in your body.” 

Here’s the way we parent, or exercise mastery over the self. Glorify God! The word for Glorify is “Doxazo”. It means to think, praise, extol, magnify, celebrate, honor, adorn with lustre and splendor, render excellent, make renowned, and to cause the dignity and worth of God to become manifest. When you see God as glorious, and then realize that you’re made in his image, what does that say about you? Christ in you, the hope of glory, becomes the pervasive identity that brings the deepest pleasure and satisfaction to your spirit, soul, and body that could ever be. 

Verse 17 is one of the most beautiful promises in the Bible. “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” (KJV) The word “joined” here is the word “Kollao” which means to glue, cement, or fasten together. Union changes everything. A revelation of union reveals your identity silencing the influence of darkness in your life.

So then as a result of this, Paul says in verse 18, “Flee immorality.” He doesn’t call it a spirit that needs to be cast out but an option that is to be avoided. The fruit of the spirit of self control empowers us to say yes to what is good and no to what is evil. Being a Christian is not a membership to a club. It’s being born and and adopted into a family by the will of God. (John 1:12-13) It’s a revelation of union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, living, moving, and being with and within us to fill the earth with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord. 

Make this your declaration. If I am all in Christ and Christ is all in me, then I have no need to fear for I am a temple of the Holy Spirit. Evil or darkness is not of me for the light of the world is all in all within me. I am one with God, in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and He did that. Thank you, Jesus.

(For more on the topic of Angels, Demons, and Spiritual Joyfare, go to billvanderbush.com and download the series on the resource page.)

Bill Vanderbush

The Blessing of Beneficial Consequences

The Blessing of Beneficial Consequences 

By Bill Vanderbush

Maturity happens when you come to care about knowing what the people who have gone before you know. Immaturity is revealed in a young traveler who despises the voice of an older traveler speaking to them revealing where they are, because it feels condescending. And pride won’t entertain condescension. But the perspective is flawed for the older traveler is not calling down but rather calling back. It is the heartbreaking cry from the voice of a traveler who cannot call back to their younger self, warning of the perils of limited foresight. They call out across the gap of generations. 

The generation gap is a chasm bridged by the wisdom of those farther along who care enough to call back while other old travelers, jaded or perhaps amused by the arrogance of the adventuring young traveler, delights to watch them learn by consequence the hard lessons they learned in their own formerly proud perspective. They have learned a valuable lesson. Never underestimate the educational value of consequences. 

But what gives pause to the amused elder is that realization that not all consequences are the same. Some consequences you don’t recover from. Some leave scars of regret so deep that decades later the pain hasn’t subsided as much as deepened into either fear or wisdom. Fear is that crippling brokenness that pulls the parking brake on living. And perhaps that’s what keeps the young traveler from heeding the call of those further along. As they look ahead they see the pause of progress and despise the fear that made them quit. Rather than fear, the challenge to the old traveler is to move in wisdom, but keep moving. 

Wisdom is the ability to spot regret in advance. It’s the ability to recognize that every choice has a consequence attached to it, and to choose the choices that carry the blessing of beneficial consequences. 

So then it’s the old traveler who is still traveling who has the ability to inspire the young traveler coming along. It is with this heart that we hear an old traveler named Paul state in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” The wise old traveler recognizes that every old traveler is a young traveler to an even older traveler. We never stop being a student. The question we all must never stop asking is which old traveler are you going to follow? Paul evealed that the old traveler he was listening to was the one known as the Ancient of Days. He is a trustworthy guide for he is the Word made flesh who dwelt among us, who is aware of every step we’ve ever taken and who never leads us astray. 

Jesus is the traveling God who is not afraid of the journey. The journey that takes him from the creator’s expression of the invention of humanity, forming mankind in his image, to stepping into the image of mankind only to be rejected to death by that very humanity. From the place of mankind’s greatest expression of cancellation, he forgives, redeems, and reconciles us in a journey through death and back to life again into a glory that doesn’t separate us from Him, but grants us access to that same glory. The glory of himself. And that’s why Jesus Christ is the oldest traveler who is worth following into the endless adventure that is the glory of God.

Journey on.