Praying with John

 3 John 1:1. The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2. Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.

John starts this letter to his dear friend Gaius in such a neat way..."Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy..." How is that for a great greeting?! How many friends do you have that are praying for your enjoyment - and well-being?

Speaking of 'well-being,' there is an inference here in this opening sentence of John's prayer for Gaius. It is contained in that little 'even as' clause: "even as your soul is getting along well."  

"…getting along well"?

Getting along well with whom or with what? Well, it’s probably not a ‘with what’ so I better consider the ‘with whom.’

These ‘little’ John’s – First and Second John (in differentiation from the Gospel of John) have led up to this summation in Third John 1:1.

‘Getting along’ is a principal theme on these ‘little' John’s. If you need a refresher, it doesn't take but just a few minutes to glance through First and Second John. He's pretty straight-forward about our relationships in the Body of Christ. He addresses being in 'fellowship' and he's not talking about glad-handing and back-slapping. He talks about loving one another and walking in love.

He boils it down to this, if we say we love God but don't love our brother, the love of God isn't in us. That's pretty simple.

I hear from time to time, "Well, I love him (or her) but I sure don't like him." Interesting concept of love/like...how does that work? We should be able to evaluate our relationships horizontally with our relationship vertically. A comparison might go something like this: "I love God but when He doesn't come through for me I don't like Him..." I don't think I would say that out loud, probably shouldn't even think it...better get over it. But we feel that way in spite of knowing better.

As a general rule-of-thumb we don't get along with someone because they aren't 'coming through' for us. They don't meet our level of expectations. They 'cross' or disagree with us. Or, "it's just a personality thing..." Oh yes...(sigh).

If we are not ‘getting along’ then our prayers are hindered. As unfair as that concept may seem, it is scripture.

It's no wonder we prefer to play our little word games - like 'loving' someone but not 'liking' them. If we can fool God into thinking that we really are 'lovely' people then maybe He will give us whatever our 'wants' are today. HELLO...God is not a moron, but lots of His children are. Meanwhile our soul suffers and 'all' does NOT go well...refer back to Third John 1:2 "Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well."