The Great Gospel of John
Volume 9
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
The Lord in Galilee
- Chapter 87 -
Practicing faith and trust.
Then some of My disciples said: "Lord, all this would be fine if men in this world would not be exposed to temptations to commit sin. A person, in a weak moment, will easily commit one or the other sin, and then his trust and faith will already be weakened by that, and even if he repents from the sin he committed and if he completely compensated for the possible damage he caused, then there is still a certain shyness in his soul so that he will not dare to turn to You in full faith compared to if he had not sinned.
2
Then what should such person do in order to pray to You in such a manner that he can completely believe that You will answer him?"
3
I said: "Such a person should know that I firstly am not a wrathful or revengeful God, but a patient and loving, meek God, as was already said through the mouth of the prophets, and as I am now calling to all sinners: 'Come all to Me, you who are tired and burdened with sins, for I want to comfort you all.'
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And secondly, men should always practice true prayer and persevere in it, because a right and firm trust will, through the right practice, be men's property, by which a disciple comes to mastership, no matter in what field.
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Someone who is well provided with all goods of this Earth will easily forget true and faithful praying. But when he is in need, then he will start to seek help from God through praying, but he feels too little trust in himself that God will answer him, and this is clearly because of a lack of practice in the living, full trust in God.
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And in what better way can a person strengthen his trust in God than through practicing, namely through unceasingly praying and asking? Of what the unceasing prayers and asking mainly consist I have made clear to you before."
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Now the disciples looked at one another, and Andreas said: "Lord, I still remember very well the image that You showed us on a similar occasion in which there was a beggar who knocked somewhere shamelessly at a door during the night and to whom the lord of the house in the middle of the night gave finally some bread out of the window anyway, more to get rid of any further lamenting and begging than out of true mercy.
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I have often thought about it myself concerning this somehow strange image, but I still could not reconcile it with Your highest love and mercy. But now it becomes clear to me, now that You have talked about the unceasing praying and asking, and also about the practice of faith and trust in You.
9
With the asking for bread during the night You certainly meant the practice of faith and trust in You, while with the initially somewhat deaf lord of the house You have represented Yourself, and with the beggar, us people, and You have shown that we should not cease to pray and to ask, also if You do not answer us immediately.
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You Yourself want it so, that through our unceasing praying and asking we really should become troublesome to You before You will hear us, because through that, You want that our trust in You will be increasingly exercised, by which we finally can become so strong that we can reach our own day of life, which is Your Kingdom in ourselves. Then in this, we ourselves, in the heart of our soul, will carry every help and power as Your children in Your Spirit and will, and we will not have to trouble You any further with begging in the night of our life. Because now, man seeks help in the weakness of his night of life, but once he himself has become strong and mighty, then he will be able to help himself. Lord, did I understand, according to the truth, the image that You gave before?"