Have you prayed for a certain situation and wondered if God heard your prayer?
In 1970, I was 16 years old. One evening I was driving my 1967 Mustang, stopped at a stoplight, a friend driving a 1970 Plymouth Cuda pulled up beside me. As we sat in our cars waiting for the light to turn green, our windows rolled down...we talked about girls, cars and school...in that order (well, very little conversation about school).
Just as the traffic light turned green, my friend in the Cuda yelled..."let's race!"
I realize at 16 years old, my brain was pretty far from making responsible decisions...so I said, "Sure let's race!"
Just about a mile down the road, we passed a police car in a parking lot...just as we hit 80 miles per hour in a 35 MPH speed zone.
As you can guess, my friend and I were pulled over, issued $75 speeding tickets and a speech from the officer about safe driving.
The difficult part of this story is still to come!
Of course I didn't have money to pay the ticket.
I did exactly what many 16-year-old kids would do; I went to my mom for help.
As I told my mom the story of how the police "trapped" me speeding ("forgetting" to mention I was racing)...my mother interrupted and said..."What does this situation have to do with me?"
Well, a few moments into the conversation, my mom fully understood I was sharing this story with her because I needed her help in paying the speeding ticket!
Although my mom pushed back on my story a bit, I had "faith without doubt" she would help.
The conversation found in John Chapter 2 between Jesus and Mary is similar to the conversation between my mom and me except Jesus is saying to his mother..."what does this situation have to do with me?"
Mary, Jesus and his disciples were attending a wedding. A few days into the wedding, the wine was gone. Mary said to Jesus, "They have no more wine."
Jesus said "Woman, 'ti emoi kai sol'? (Greek for "what does this situation have to do with me?)"
Although Jesus pushed back on his mother's request for help, Mary demonstrated "faith without doubt."
Said another way, Mary's answer to the problem at the wedding was simply faith without an ounce of doubt in Jesus.
The manner in which Mary handled this situation is a guide for us today - trust in Jesus.
Or better yet, we should demonstrate "faith without doubt" in Jesus Christ.
Here are a few things Jesus' mother didn't do...
• She didn't tell Jesus how she expected him to fix the problem.
• She didn't give Jesus details related to the seriousness of the problem.
• She didn't give Jesus a timeline on fixing the problem.
• She didn't have an ounce of doubt Jesus would handle the situation and do the right thing.
There are times in our life we do the opposite of Mary.
Sometimes in our prayers to God, we identify our problem, advise God how to fix our problem and describe how we envision the outcome.
In other words, we do everything except what Mary did...demonstrate "faith without doubt."
Could it be, the extent God hears our prayer is measured by the "faith without doubt" we have in Him?
--DENNIS R. HIXSON OF FAYETTEVILLE IS A HUSBAND, FATHER, TEACHER, AUTHOR AND MENTOR. PRESENTLY, HE IS TEACHING AN ADULT BIBLE CLASS AT PRAIRIE GROVE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. SEND COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS TO: [email protected]
Religion on 05/20/2020