abide in Him and ask

For a couple of weeks I was physically drained, emotionally burdened and spiritually restless. I felt like that smartphone that never got fully charged - just having burst of charging periods allowing me to cruise and do my tasks at sixty percent and never a hundred.

I attended a talk last Monday sponsored by the community I'm in. It was about God's love. I (or at least tried to) memorized a recommended passage for personal reflection that night. I didn't really get much from it as I remember sleeping halfway before I could commit the whole text to memory.

As I woke up the next morning, I recalled and felt the baggage I was carrying from the previous weeks. I prayed. I just wanted peace. Peace to dedicate more of my time in prayer with Him. Peace to be able to balance and focus my energy on giving my best on the things that needed to be done. I recalled the passage I was memorizing the night before and mustered as much of the text I could remember:

If you abide in me and my words abide in you, 

ask whatever you will, and it shall be given to you.

John 15:7

The message was as clear as it could be. My soul was then at peace.

Coming from the talk that Monday night, it was said that sometimes, like kids, we might think of God as Santa - your Christmas wish is granted if you've been a good boy. After what happened to me that morning where I found peace as I asked for it, I tried to reconcile how this was any different. Why do we continue to ask for things from him anyway? Wouldn't it be somehow still like that kid waiting for Santa to grant him his wish? Besides, ask and you shall receive, right?

The difference is in the underlying reason on why we ask for things. We are like the kid if we only think of God as the provider who gives us whatever we need whenever we need them. While it is somehow still true, the moment we rely on God as the source of all things changes things. Most importantly, the reason of being able to serve and glorify Him more through the things we wish to accomplish sets things differently. It does not anymore becomes a one-way street of receiving but a two-way highway of giving back to Him as well.

When we realize that everything, including our lives is a gift, we realize that what we can truly just do is be grateful and beg for the grace and gifts to be able to use them effectively in glorifying and spreading His name.

By this the Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, 
and so prove to be my disciples.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you;
abide in my love.

John 15:8-9

P.S. The community I'm in is Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon (Servants of the Lord) - Makati branch. We just kicked off the Christian Life Series for single young professionals this Monday  in the area of Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.