The Prayer Matrix

Image from: http://www.catch22.net/software/matrix-screensaverFor some time now I’ve been praying about and grappling with the deeper meaning behind Jesus’ miracles. Of course there’s the obvious: Jesus heals. But I just knew there was a deeper application to His miracles since that’s the way God works. Nothing is ever wasted. There are obvious surface meanings but there’s always MORE.

I had realized Jesus was showing the scribes, Pharisees and other religious leaders that they were blind to the true things of God, that He could open their ears to hear, could even wake them from being dead to the truth of God.

This morning, however, things slipped into turbo.

God showed me we spend so much time praying for the world to be healed from blindness, for those captive to addictions or even demonic oppression/possession to be freed, for people to step into true life through Christ. But Jesus’ miracles have a much more personal application.

Rather than pointing the finger OUT, I need to point IN. I am blind. I am deaf. I am paralyzed, demon oppressed and dead.

I have no real clue what Jesus life, death, burial & resurrection have cost and what He has accomplished.

Jesus said, “It is finished.” He didn’t say, “So it begins.” His sacrifice was complete. When He walked out of that grave, this world’s evil system was defeated. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and he meant, “It’s here.” The Kingdom of Heaven is not meat and drink but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of Heaven is eternal, and will never tarnish, fade or be destroyed. The world we see around us and even our bodies are dying all the time.

The closest analogy I can find for what I’m grappling with is the Matrix. We’re blind to the fact what we see as “real” is really just an illusion. We’re living in the wrong reality. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, but we keep reaching for what’s not real because we can’t see what’s real. We can’t see it because we’re blind. I’m blind. The Kingdom of Heaven/God’s very real presence is living inside me but I keep listening to the wrong frequency. I can’t hear what’s real because I’m deaf. The world around me flashes and entices and woos me and I reach for it to fulfill rather than for what’s real. If I could see through God’s eyes and hear with His ears and understand with His mind, I would see what I’m reaching for is, in reality, already dead. But I’m dead to His reality. I’m buried under this world’s illusion.

But there’s hope in the realization. At least I know what to ask for.

Dear Lord, please open my eyes. Please open my ears. Please bring me to life. Please loosen my tongue to speak what’s true and eternal. Please teach me to live in what Jesus died and rose from the grave to accomplish.

“It is finished.”

Jesus spoke Truth. God, give me ears to hear, eyes to see and a heart full of faith to Live in Your reality.