Dave's Diary

Prayer

Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer:

Almighty God, Your Word directs me in Your Kingdom way of life. Please send the Holy Spirit to inspire my mind to understand Your Word, my heart to accept its truth, and my will to obey it. Amen.

Briefly prepare your heart in silence, and ask the Holy Spirit to awaken your sense of anticipation that God is about to speak to you through His Word.

Reading

Matthew 18:19-20

¹⁹ ‘Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.’

Taking these verses out of context is so tempting to do, because we so badly want this to be a blanket promise. If it were, then it would mean that if we only muster up enough faith and get another Christian to “agree with us” us about what we want God to do for us, we can ask for absolutely anything our self-centred hearts desire, and God will be bound to do it for us. Like magic!

Except, that would not be true to the context of these verses; and it would be unfaithful to the overall teaching of Scripture on prayer; and it would also be completely unrealistic, in the light of every single Christian’s experiences of multiple unanswered prayers.

In his commentary on Matthew, John Macarthur puts it very strongly:

“To interpret this verse as promising believers a blank check (sic) for anything they might agree to ask God for, not only does not fit the context … but does violence to the rest of Scripture. Such an interpretation is tantamount to magic, in which God is automatically bound to grant the most foolish or sinful request, simply because two of His children conspire to ask Him for it. The idea flies in the face of God’s sovereignty and completely undercuts the countless scriptural commands for believers’ obedient submission to His will.”

Read in their full context, these verses are sandwiched between the passage about doing everything in our power to reach out and work for reconciliation with fellow Christians who have wronged us (v.15-18), and Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness towards a fellow Christian (v.21ff). So these verses are actually a promise from Jesus that if we and the person (or people) who help us to reach out to our estranged brother- or sister-in-Christ will collaborate with Him (through prayer for that reconciliation to come), He will be with us in our efforts (in our midst), and He will make a way for it to come to pass.

In other words, Jesus commands us never, ever to give up praying for the wisdom and guidance to bring about reconciliation between us and someone who has become estranged from us. We are called to plead with Jesus to make a way and show us how to be part of the solution.

Contemplation

Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.

As a disciple of Jesus Christ:

• I will never give up on a fellow believer who has sinned against me.
• I will pray for us to be restored to one another, even after all other efforts fail, and,
• I will enlist another one or two believers to pray with me, in agreement (and in confidence and humility) for that reconciliation to happen.

Heavenly Father, please fill me with Your heart of love towards those who have sinned against me. Give me the grace to pursue them with Your love, and never to give up Amen.