We’ve come to the end of A Summer of Sacred Space, working our way through 28 of the 70 devotions in the book titled Sacred Space: A Little Book of Encouragement.
The three chapters we looked at this week created an apt wrap-up for our time together.
Chapter 11: Can I Trust God to Hear Me?
Luke 11:5-13
Jesus tells this parable about a man going to his neighbor in the middle of the night to borrow bread to feed a friend who showed up unexpectedly. The reluctant neighbor acquiesces to the man’s request not because they are friends, but because the man with the need was relentless in asking.
The point of the parable is boldness in prayer: Ask and it will be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open. But God the Father doesn’t answer our prayers because of our persistence, He answers the same way a father does his child when they say they are hungry. he gives them something good to eat.
Then Jesus says: How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! God always gives what’s best and we should not let anything keep us from asking. No request or perceived need is too large or too small. Father God hears us and is never bothered by our boldness.
There is hope in this parable. Hope of being heard and cared for by the One who answers all our prayers in the best possible way. His children are empowered by the Holy Spirit to pray with confidence and expectation of good. Amen.
Chapter 36: Doubting with the Best of Them
Matthew 11:2-11
These verses tell us about John the Baptizer’s questioning of Jesus’s identity. John found himself in prison because of his godly integrity — he offended the king. So John sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus: Are you the one? Or are we to wait for another?
Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell John what they had seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor get some good news!
At the heart of the message seems to be a call for John to take his eyes off of himself and his own expectations of what God came to do: Open your eyes to see what is happening and hear the echo of what the prophets foretold about Messiah’s coming.
Perhaps in our times of doubt we too need to take our eyes off of our own woes and unmet expectations and ask God to show us what He is doing and open our ears to hear the good news He’s bringing.
Doubt is a difficult place to be, but there is comfort in seeing and hearing how Jesus responded to John’s doubt. We can boldly go to Him in the same way.
Chapter 14: Do I Really Want to be Healed?
John 5:1-16
Here we read the story of the man who was ill for thirty-eight years and Jesus’s encounter with Him at the pool of Bethesda. The man sat on a mat among countless other diseased people waiting for the healing waters to stir. waiting for a chance to be healed. Jesus asked the man: Do you want to be made well? The man answered: Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool… others step ahead of me. Not really an answer to the question, just a list of excuses for why he hadn’t been healed.
Jesus then said to the man: Take up your mat and walk. At once the man was made well, he took up his mat, and did just what Jesus said, he walked.
This happened on a Sabbath day. And there were religious leaders around who saw the man walking with the mat and asked why he was breaking the ‘law’ of the Sabbath (but what they called ‘law’ was really a man-made tradition). The man told the story of his healing and when he did discover the name of the one who healed him he reported back to the religious authorities: Jesus made me well. The religious leaders then set their sights on persecuting Jesus. Healing on the Sabbath was against their law.
From a religious perspective it seems that rules become more important than people — spiritual invalids are easier to control than those walking in the freedom of Christ.
And then there is the man who sat in his dis-ease for thirty eight years, and his encounter with Jesus healed him. Have you had an encounter with Him yet still make excuses for not walking the walk He calls you too?
Do you want to be healed? Or do you find comfort in the rules because dealing with spirit-filled people is messy and outside your control? Or perhaps you’re comfortable with your excuses? is sitting less risky than walking?
Seeing Jesus for the truth of who He is reveals the truth of who we are.
Looking back over the three, we see a common thread of prayer. All prayer is simply conversation with God. In the Scripture passages this week we saw three different aspects of what happens when we enter sacred space to spend time with Jesus who brings us into the the Father’s presence by way of the Holy Spirit.
We can come with our doubts and He’ll redirect our sight to what He is doing. He reveals where our expectations have us looking in the wrong direction.
We can come to Him any time of day or night. He encourages persistence in prayer — never do we need to put off asking. Our heavenly Father wants to give us what we need — He wants us to see our true need for the Holy Spirit as the bread of life.
And sometimes, just sitting in sacred space being present to Him in our brokenness, Jesus will begin the conversation: Do you want to be well? We then see a way, where before we saw no way.
Prayer in sacred space changes the way we see. God redirects our focus to the things that really matter and opens our eyes to what we didn’t see before.
Creating and pursuing God intentionally and regularly brings us closer to Him and His vision for our lives.
An intimate connection between the ancient way of prayer in that silent, sacred space and the different form of prayer in free flowing conversation that followed.
Winn Collier, A Burning in My Bones
This quote comes from the authorized biography of Eugene Peterson and describes the way Peterson learned to be in community with others: sharing silence. being in prayer. practicing presence. all in the company of God. It is a picture to help us connect with God — Father, Son, Spirit — in community. A practice that can work its way into our relationships and gatherings with others.
Silence. Prayer. Presence.
May the Lord call you deeper into sacred space with Him and transform you and the way you relate to those He brings into your life.
Carol & Stacy
In August, we will be taking a break from leading our regular Tuesday and Wednesday groups, but one of our sweet sisters will be guest teaching the Wednesday noon gathering. As a suitable follow up for Sacred Space, we’ll work our way through the study Pray: Cultivating a Passionate Practice of Prayer from The Daily Grace Co. No pre-work needed for our first gathering and books are available for purchase at the shop.
We hope you’ll join us for this six-week study.
Pray
Wednesdays at Noon
Beginning August 2
Feature Image Photo by Randy Fath on Unsplash
Unraveled Love 
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