Following His Lead

John 5:16-20

The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. (John 5:19)

MANY OF US RUSH INTO PRAYER with a list of requests. We’re pretty clear on what we want God to do but also careful to add “if it’s your will” to the end. But what if our prayers began with a request to know the Father’s will? Before itemizing our requests, what if our conversation with him went deeper to see his intentions for our lives and circumstances, to get a sense of what he is doing, and to partner with him in asking that it be done?

That’s the model Jesus gave us. He said he only did what he saw the Father doing. He went away by himself often to talk with his Father, and he lived with an awareness of how God was working—what his priorities were, and how he wanted to carry them out. We may think such knowledge is unique to the Son of God, the exact image of the Father’s nature—and to a degree, we might be right. But Jesus is also our example, the perfect model of what it means to be a child of God in this world, the template for how to live as someone made in the Father’s image. His redemptive work was unique, but he passed his mission on to his followers and demonstrated the modus operandi we are to follow. When he said he did only what he saw the Father doing, he was giving us a pattern to embrace.

Make that the standard for your entire life, and let it begin in your intercession. Before you spend time asking, spend time listening. Let the Spirit impress on you his intentions. Let him give you vision, insight, wisdom, and the mind of Christ. When you have a sense of that—or even when you think you might have a sense of that but aren’t sure—proceed with your petitions. You will find them taking a new shape, and you will see God’s answers taking shape around you. Let your prayers weave his Kingdom into this world.

{Holy Spirit, sharpen my spiritual senses to be like those of Jesus—to see what the Father is doing, to know his desires, and to pray them and live them well. May your Kingdom come in my life and my world. Amen.