Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
I brought glory to you here on earth by doing everything you told me to…
I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being one, as we are—
I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.
John 17: 4, 22-23 (TLB)
It’s another good morning to start off by reading this prayer of Jesus. He, of course is praying to His Father. It is not a prayer of agony like the prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Instead, it is a prayer about His relationship with His Father, and a request that the Father would grant to His followers the same kind of unity that He and the Father have—a unity based upon love. He prayed that in everything He did and as His work was coming to conclusion on earth that His Father would be glorified through it. In this prayer, and throughout every moment of His life, He knew that the Father loved Him and was always glad to hear His voice calling out to Him.
What about you? What do you suppose God thinks when you call out to Him? I mean when He hears your voice—in prayer—calling heavenward, what does He think and feel? Does He run for cover thinking “Oh, not again!”, or does He smile excitedly and lean toward you waiting for that first word to hit his ear? What do you think?
Jesus’ prayer above seems to make it clear—He’s really excited you called.
We all know people who look at life through rose-colored glasses. Everything is exciting to them. Everything is positive. They bring a child-like passion to everything. And it’s often infectious.
Nathan and I have a friend like that—Micheal Flaherty. Micheal has spoken at a couple of our Impact for Living Men’s conferences. Micheal is the CEO and co-founder of Walden Media Movie Productions. Walden Media has produced such wonderfully uplifting movies as: The Chronicles of Narnia movie series, Bridge to Terabithia, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, Amazing Grace, Won’t Back Down, The Water Horse, Ramona and Beezus, I Am David, Holes, Charlotte’s Web, Nim’s Island and many, many others.
Micheal, as the studio head for Walden Media, hangs around with a lot of celebrity types and movie industry folks of every kind, folks with tremendous influence in that world and incredibly busy schedules. And on any given week you will find Micheal flying back and forth from coast to coast from meeting to meeting, putting together the next project and picture that will make a difference in the world. That’s how he sees his life—getting a chance to do great stuff that has a positive impact on others.
And yet whenever Nathan calls him, or I call him—it’s as if he can’t believe how blessed he is that we would take the time out of our busy schedules to spend time talking with him.
“What a blessing that you called!
I can’t believe you have the time to talk with me!”
Or, he’ll catch his breath and exclaim in total surprise—
“I can’t believe you asked me to be a speaker at your Impact for Living conference! Wait until I tell my children!”
But here’s what’s neat to know about that example of our friend. Here’s what Micheal’s example demonstrates to be an absolute truth for our lives—that is how God is with us. He is ecstatic when we reach out to Him in prayer, or when we raise our heads heavenward simply wondering what He is thinking at the moment about whatever is going on in our lives.
The angels might even hear Him say—
“Hey everybody, Scott is calling Me; he wants to talk with Me!”
“Look, you guys, David is praying right now, wanting to check in with Me, again about that matter he’s trying to figure out. It’s always so great to hear from him!”
“There’s Billy calling again. I love it when he calls.”
Here’s what we need to remember every morning, afternoon, evening and as we go to bed at night and wake up first thing in the morning—God loves us that much. He is passionate about us. It’s an almost a child-like passion—He gets so excited when we reach out to Him. It’s just like Micheal excitement when we call him.
Christ left us with all the hope and love that God gave Him. Christ asked that God would draw near to us just as God drew near to Him. And Christ made that possible for us and allowed us to stand in the presence of the Holy God—forgiven—when He hung on the cross for us.
He did that so that the God who created us, who loves us and sent His Son for us, can have a moment-by-moment relationship with us! Read what Jesus said above again in the last verse—“so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me.”
Why not regularly and more often, take a moment and some extra time every day, to check in with the God who loves you as much as He loves His Son Jesus. Why not take a moment, or two, to pray to Him, and thank Him for His Son. Why not take a moment to ask Him to help you with a decision which is before you, or a matter you need wisdom with and help to get through.
And then listen closely to what I guarantee you will hear Him say—
“What a blessing for me that you called!”
That’s a pretty neat God who loves us and who is waiting for us to call!
His passion for us is real, endless and eternal. He loves us and wants to spend every minute with us!
He loves you as He loves His Son! Amazing!
Give Him a call.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2014. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
