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In Which Day?

by Jerry Ousley  
7/29/2016 / Christian Living

Little Johnny could not stay out of trouble it seemed. It wasn't that he intentionally did things that made others mad; it was just that whatever he was getting into was so captivating to his young mind that he was drawn to it like a bug to a light. His mother was always correcting him it seemed, "Johnny, now don't get into trouble today. Don't pull Mrs. Smith's cat's tail today and don't catch toads and put them on little girl's shoulders." "But Mom," protested little Johnny, "I just want to pet Mrs. Smith's cat; it's such a pretty cat. But when I come up to it she runs away so I grab her. I can't help it if she's so quick all I can get is a handful of tail. And I just thought those little girls would like toads as much as I did. I wasn't trying to scare them Honest! I just wanted to give them one so they could have as much fun with them hoppers as I do." But under his breath he did give a little chuckle because it was so silly that those girls screamed and ran from a little hopper toad frog.

"Just the same, young man, you watch yourself." Johnny agreed and he tried, he really did. It was Saturday which meant no school that day. It was such a nice day Johnny just couldn't get enough of it. He had become engrossed in building a fort out in the yard and every few minutes he'd get another idea of what tools, toys or dcor he needed, so he'd run inside and up to his room to get the required item. After several trips of running out the back door and letting the screen door slam behind him, his mother had had enough. "Johnny, why must you slam that screen door every few minutes? How do you ever think that you're going to get into Heaven with your attitude, son?" Johnny thought a minute then said, "Well, I'll just keep running in and out slamming the door until Saint Peter says, 'for heaven's sake boy, why don't you get in or get out?!'"

It seems easy enough but getting into Heaven just isn't quite that simple although when we realize the truth about the matter it isn't a hard thing either. We know that all we have to do is to realize that we've been a sinner, ask God to forgive us based on the grace of Jesus Christ and then accept His salvation allowing the Holy Spirit to come into our hearts. From there we begin living each day allowing Him to lead and guide us into truth. It sounds easy enough but often it isn't as easy to do.

Johnny thought that his persistence at slamming Heaven's door would give him the choice to stay in or out. Of course that won't work but then again persistence is a key to asking for those things we need. Jesus was walking with His disciples on their way to the Garden of Gethsemane. The book of John uses several chapters recording His teaching, their conversation and a prayer from Jesus for His disciples while in route to the Garden. In John 16:23-28 we read a part of that instruction in which our Lord was teaching them about approaching God for those things we need. Verses 23-25 say, "And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father." There are some things we need to examine in these verses. We are speaking of asking for something in the Name of Jesus. Some teach that anything we want, if we ask God for it using the phrase, "In Jesus' Name" that we'll get it. That sounds kind of like having a magic lamp from which a Genie pops out every time we rub it waiting to grant us our every wish. But in real life that never happens does it? We ask and what we've asked for never seems to materialize. It has caused many to turn away from following the Lord because it didn't work like they had been taught. And it won't because the teaching is not true; more about this later.

First let's answer the question "In what day?" Jesus told His disciples that this asking the Father would happen in that day. So what day was He talking about? He was talking about the time after His death and resurrection. What He was about to do would break open the barrier between God and man allowing man once again to be able to approach God without a priest or go-between. Up until then they had asked Jesus to go to the Father on their behalf. But Jesus said that in that day the way would be made that we could go to the Father directly. Think of it; we now have the privilege of approaching the throne of God with our requests directly! But there is a right way to do that. If we want our prayers answered there is a key and we'll look at it in the next article.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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