More great action in the first reading from Acts 18. Today we meet a Scripture expert named Apollos. After studying the Scriptures, “he established from the Scriptures that the Christ is Jesus.” He turned out to be another one of those great converts. In the Gospel today from John 16, Jesus tells his disciples, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you…ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete”
We follow this template whenever we pray. We ask the Father in the name of Jesus. And we know that we can ask for anything. ANYTHING! And God will answer our prayers. Not necessarily in the way that we think He should. And sometimes, this can cause people to stop asking; to stop praying. You’ve probably heard it before. “God never answers my prayers! My life is terrible, and He’s not doing anything to help! Who needs God anyway?”
Actually, these are the times when these people need to turn to God even more. I know it can be hard. It kind of goes back to the old axiom…fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. But God never fools us. He always answers our prayers. He just answers them better than we could ever imagine. And even though we may never know exactly how He answered our prayers, at some point we must trust that He knows best. Even if what is best means a bit more pain for us. My guess is that He is just trying to facilitate growth.
Father, we ask you to hear our prayers and answer them in your time, for we make them in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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