Rebecca and I have close friends that we have known since university days. Nancy has always been prolific and insightful in her writings. Monthly emails often contain what I call ‘spiritual gems’. She has a way of capturing Christ in so much of what happens day to day, and then to use that image as a reminder of our need to ‘speak the Gospel to our hearts’ each day.
Let me quote from one of her emails titled: Calling
“Of all the staggering Scriptures, the verse that most staggers me these days is Hebrews 5:7, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” He was heard. Not saved from death, but heard. Isn’t that enough? To be heard by the God of the universe? If it was enough for Christ, how dare it not be enough for me?
At the recent Together for the Gospel conference, we wore these bands:
10,000 people wore the black bands allowing access to the conference. Far fewer people wore the white bands that allowed access to the speakers. How foolish we would have been to have this gift of access and not use it to get notes from and have conversations with the speakers so we could better serve the main participants!
We still have the bands, but we no longer have access to the speakers. I can’t ask John MacArthur what to say to the students about prayer. Chuck can’t ask John Piper about a thorny paragraph he is trying to translate for seminary. But God has given us better-than-white-bands: unlimited access to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16)!
What thirsty person, tongue brittle as a leaf in drought, has access to a fountain of pure water but crawls past it? We have access to the life-giving fount, but pass by it if we skip or skimp on prayer.”
At first I pondered why she gave the subject line as “calling”. Then I realized that our calling is first and foremost to God (read Os Guinness, The Call, on that topic) and our main ‘access’ is by our conversation with the Father.
We might say, in other words, that our calling is to bring the nations of the world before the Father’s throne and plead with Him to work in us and through us that many might come to know the Messiah Jesus.
Thoughts Along The Journey 
Thank you for sharing this, David. Something I have so appreciated in World Team’s ethos is this emphasis that we are firstly called to God the Father Himself and secondly to His mission in the world. Doing flows out of being; you reproduce in kind. These refrains help me to focus on abiding in Christ. The fruit of such abiding is that those whom I disciple and train will imitate what they see in me. Is it fair to state that ministry effectiveness is primarily the overflow of the minister’s union with Christ? —Sean C
Thanks Sean! Our union with Christ is the highest ‘honour’ God could bestow upon us in allowing us to experience all that Christ has accomplished. So it would seem only natural, as you say, that our fruitfulness, our effectiveness flows out of that union … and which draws us to seek to grow deeper in that union as they realize that it ‘is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me’?
Hi David,
Thanks for your recent thoughts.
What do you think about this explanation of Hebrews 5:7:
Kenneth S. Wuest, a well known New Testament Greek scholar writes on Hebrews 5:7: ‘There are two words in Greek which mean ‘from’, ‘apo’ which means ‘from the edge of,’ and ‘ek’ which means ‘out from within.’ The second is used here. The Messiah prayed to be saved out form within death. Had the inspired writer used ‘apo’, he would have reported our Lord as praying to be saved form dying a physical death. At no time in his life did He pray that prayer.’ (Wuest’s Word Studies, Eerdmans Publishing Company, Michigan, 1992, page 101)
The prayer was indeed answered! Jesus was saved out from within death through the resurrection! Hebrews 5:7 refers in particular to the prayers Jesus made while hanging on the cross. For example, his words, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) are the beginning of a petition found in Psalm 22 which ends in thanksgiving for answered prayers!
https://christianityexplained.net/to/muslims/death-resurrection-jesus-explained-muslims/
Blessings,
Adrian
The quote I pulled from my friend’s letter was meant to emphasize the access we have to the Father in prayer. I appreciate you sharing this further thought from Wuest. I’m not sure if his conclusion flows naturally from just the word definition that he gives. That’s always a bit tricky. But his point is well taken. Thanks for opening the discussion a bit larger on Hebrews 5:7!