There are two instances in Matthew where the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign. These are found in Matt 12 and Matt 16.

Matthew 12:38-40 (NASB)
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet;
40 for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Matthew 16:1-4 (NASB)
1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.
2 But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
3 “And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?
4 “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

If I’m really honest with myself and God, I often pray my petitions for myself and others wishing that God will perform a miracle in order for me to have a sign that will increase my faith.

Jesus tells us that He has already given us the only sign that we will ever need. His resurrection is the only miracle that is required to have faith in Him. His death paid the price to cover my sins, so that I can be His child and commune with Him through prayer.

And so, I can pray confidently, without a need for another sign or a miracle. I can pray always seeking His will alone, not mine. I can pray earnestly as David did in Psalm 19.

Psalm 19:14 (NASB)
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Always praying for the glory of God,

It has been said that Francis of Assisi would often spend an hour or two in prayer on the top of Mount Averno. During that time he would spend it in silent praise, while the only word being uttered was “God” periodically. He understood the importance of praise.

Jesus gave us that as the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. When we praise Him we are recognizing the renown that He deserves. In fact, if that is all we did from now to the end of time, we would still not describe all that He is due.

Since God’s church is His creation and it is the bride of Christ, when we praise Him, we acknowledge the importance of the Church.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:”Prayer does not mean simply to pour out one’s heart. It means rather to find the way to God and to speak with him, whether the heart is full or empty. No man can do that by himself. For that he needs Jesus Christ.”

“When our will wholeheartedly enters into the prayer of Christ, then we pray correctly. Only in Jesus Christ are we able to pray, and with him we also know that we shall be heard.”

According to Bonhoeffer, Jesus is integral to our prayer life. It is only when we surrender to the Son and allow Him to bring us to the throne room, can we truly be in communion with God.

And so, we must learn to pray, it is not something that we automatically know how to do. Thankfully, God has given us prayers in scripture. Bonhoeffer called the Psalms the prayer book of the Bible and they are the key to learning how to pray. Luther felt that the Psalms penetrates the Lord’s Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer penetrates the Psalms. So much so that by praying both we can bring them into perfect harmony.

I often find that as I read and pray through a Psalm, it doesn’t always reflect my need at the time. Maybe that is because I am more focused on me than I am on what Christ wants to communicate to me and through me.

If you haven’t done this before or for some time, pick a few Psalms this week and pray through them and see what God has to reveal to you.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Here are some thoughts about the communion service. In the church today, most Christians participate in communion during Sunday worship as something that all Christians should do, but many don’t benefit from what Christ intended us to experience. Even in the reformed tradition, which broke from the Catholic Church idea of transubstantiation (the elements actually turn into the body and blood of Christ), there was significant disagreement by the early church leaders in what happens when we take the elements during the Eucharist.

Luther believed that during communion we experience the real presence of Christ.

Zwingli believed that the elements were simply symbols or a sign, in which we memorialize Christ’s death. We use these symbols to remember, often called the Memorial view.

Calvin believed that we can experience the spiritual presence of Christ during communion. He said that is as if we are transported to heaven and can be brought closer to Christ by the taking of the elements.

C.S. Lewis, after becoming a Christian, viewed the taking of communion with a special reverence and would take communion as often as it was offered.

Lewis described this moment as one in which the other world–the one where Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty– is so close that it’s like the hand from “the other country” reaches through and touches our hearts and our minds.

C.S. Lewis also wisely noted that “The command [of Jesus] after all, was ‘Take and eat,’ NOT take and understand.’”

The Westminster Confession, which is the doctrinal statement that the PCA church adheres to, says this: “Worthy receivers, physically partaking of the visible substances of this sacrament, do then also by faith actually and in fact, but not physically or bodily spiritually receive and feed on Christ crucified and on all the benefits of his death. The body and blood of Christ are not then bodily or physically in, with, or under the bread and wine; but they are actually spiritually present to the faith of believers in the administration of this sacrament, just as the bread and wine are physically present.

Even though we may not fully understand this sacrament commanded by Jesus, we do know that if we come to a communion service with our hearts turned toward and tuned to the Holy Spirit, it becomes a meal like no other. Because Christ asks us to do this often in remembrance of Him, it must be because this simple act of obedience brings us closer to Jesus.

Always praying for the glory of God,