Tag: supplication

The Key to Confidence

The Key to Confidence

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy

Sometimes your requests will never be rejected from our Lord. Our struggle often comes from a lack of confidence in the Lord.

We can ask for the Lord’s help but we are still unsure of ourselves. This effects our performance and belief in our own abilities. We need to find the recipe for confidence to sustain us. Our confidence is in the Lord, the Provider of all good things.

Can you out-give God? Can you give God more than He gives you? The answer is a firm, “no.” Otherwise, how could He be God?

We could never give God more than He gives us, this is a rule that has remained steadfast for centuries. It is impossible. If you give God more, then He will give you much more. Some people give their entire lives to the Lord, then their reward is in eternity. It is impossible for the Lord to deny the reward of the one who gives.

This is our first rule in the recipe of confidence- we can never give more than God.

What can I  give in return? If I live in sin, I have bad habits, my life is a total mess. I have nothing to offer the Lord, and so, I assume that the Lord cannot give me anything. This brings us to rule number two. Time is a commodity created on earth, but eternity is timeless. Our Lord is not bound to the constraints of time. The present, past and future are the same. This is strange to grasp as humans as we see life as sequential, everything in order, in due time.

God created time for a reason, but He is not bound to time. Even if we haven’t given Him anything in the past, I can give in the future. This is called a vow – to borrow from the future. My past is not good, but my future can be.

We can gain confidence by making vows to the Lord. It might be good to write our vows down so that we do not forget what we have promised to the Lord. Vows are serious, as the Bible says – “Better not to vow than to vow and not pay” – Ecclesiastes 5:5.

We must be careful, but if we can fulfil, we should vow. The Bible encourages us to fulfil our vows;

When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. But if you abstain from vowing, it shall not be sin to you

Deuteronomy 23:21-22

In vows, the Lord glorifies us and we will give thanks to Him. We can give God vows in service, vows in prayer, vows in any way that may glorify the Lord. Whatever we like from the Lord, we can make vows, and He is faithful to repay.

We must be cautious not to vow more than what we can fulfil. Consult your father of confession to ensure these vows are realistic. Some get afraid that they cannot fulfil their vows. The key is in our hands. If your vows are strong and reasonable and you fulfil them, you will never be disappointed. How the Lord works, we never really know.

Success is not a figure, but a relationship with God that guarantees glory in every aspect of your life.

The elderly are not tempted like the young. They are not faced with the same temptations. As St John writes,

I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one

1 John 2:14

Some vows we can consider when we are young –

  • Short and honest confessions. In confession, many people are honest and to the point. Others speak, tell stories, make jokes. These will generally leave feeling like they do not benefit from confession. Of course they did not benefit, for they didn’t confess. You didn’t embarrass yourself, you did not break your heart.
  • Money is another; with any skill we have, we can use this to help others and the profits to give the poor.
  • Pray for one another, use your time in prayer to pray for others.

We have a key to the power of God. He is very real, and encourages making and fulfilling vows. They are Biblical. The risk is that you make a vow and cannot fulfil it. We must always pray for one another, in unity. If you are not affected personally but see others around you struggling, share with them in prayer.

Our confidence is derived from using all our talents for the glory of God. No matter the career, we remain servants of the Lord for eternity.

If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.

John 12:26

Ask In My Name

Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily

Passage John 16:23-33

“Ask in My Name” – a phrase repeated by Christ throughout this passage. This is a promise from our Lord – Christ is saying, “I promise if you ask the Father in My Name, you will receive.”

That’s a very bold promise. This is a huge commitment to make.

“Until now, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” – John 16:24.

What does this actually mean? What are we allowed to ask for? Can I ask for materialistic things, a car, a phone? What is the Lord promising us today?

The four key words He says are, “Ask in My Name.” If we take each of those words individually, we understand His promise.

ASK

He wants us to ask! We shouldn’t assume that He knows what we want already. He knows what we need but He still wants us to ask for it. When we ask for it, we are admitting that we need Him. We ask and when we receive, we are thankful for we know it came from Him. If I don’t ask, I will never realise that He is the source. I will never truly realise that I need Him. The important step that He asks first, is to ask. This is not a burden, but a privilege. We are given the opportunity to ask of God.

I remember a time when one of our students was going through hardship and he came to me and asked me to speak with the Dean of his university to explain his situation. I called the secretary of the dean and she told me I couldn’t speak to him without an appointment. I asked to make an appointment, she came back and told me that he wouldn’t speak with me, but I could write him a letter. I wrote him a letter and never heard back from him. It was unlikely that he even read my letter.

This made me realise that if the Dean of a University was too important that he couldn’t make time to speak to me, let alone read my letter, but where does he stand in comparison to God? Today, Christ is telling us to just come to Him! Come talk to Me, I’m here, I’m ready, you don’t need an appointment. This is our God. He is the King of all kings but He humbles Himself to hear MY prayers. When Christ says, ask, it is an honour, a blessing, a gift, to ask the Creator of the Universe, and we should take full advantage of this.

IN

What are we in? We are in Christ. When we ask, we belong to Christ. When we belong to Him, we stand before the Father, in Christ. Imagine Christ is the One asking, and we are in Him. Could the Father say no to Christ? Never, so we ask IN Christ. When we belong to Him and are a part of Him, there is nothing that we cannot ask of the Father.

MY

My kids have been asking for a Nintendo Switch. I don’t want them to become addicted to games and screens. They beg and plead but I know this is not good for them. I explained to them saying, “I want you to understand that if you ask for something that is good for you, I will always say yes. Ask me for something that is bad for you, I will say no. If you want a book to read, I will go to the bookshop for you right now and get it for you. If you want a soccer ball, that’s good for your fitness, we’ll go get a soccer ball. If you want a new bike, that good for you to exercise, we’ll go get a new bike. Ask me things that are good for you.” Now, they ask according to what is good for them. My will for them, to be good and well-rounded children. God has a will for us, and He wants us to ask according to His will, and not our will.

If I ask God to give me the strength to fight temptation, what will He answer? His answer will be yes, it’s a given. If I ask for peace, His answer will be yes, given. If I ask God for holiness, yes here it is.

We ask according to His Name and according to His will for our lives. When we are in Him, we begin to know His word. When we are in Christ, we know Him, we know His will for us, we know if the answer will be yes or no, this is good for you or this is not good for you.

NAME

The name of Jesus is powerful. In Jewish tradition, the name of somebody held significance. It was not just a nice sounding name. The name held significant meaning, and God changed a person’s name based on significant events. Abram to Abraham. Sarai to Sarah. Jacob to Israel. God has changed people’s name for a reason. The Jews would not refer to God as YHWH. The Hebrew word was too holy to utter, so they used Adonai (which meant Lord). They used this as a substitute. So, we know that just the name of Jesus Christ is powerful.

We say not to use the Lord’s name in vain for it is powerful. There is a beautiful prayer called the Jesus prayer that goes like this, “My Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy upon me a sinner.”

It’s a simple prayer that has come from the repetition. The monks of the early church would repeat this. They called it the Arrow Prayer, because in uttering the name of Jesus Christ, we invoke the power of the name of Jesus Christ to have mercy upon us.

This is a reminder of the gift of asking, anytime, anywhere, anything. All we need to do is to be in Him, to know Him, to belong to Him, to know His will. When we ask in His name, we ask according to His will, and His will becomes ours.