Joyful Obedience

Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Deut. 28:47

I wrote last week, willingness is as important to the Lord as obedience because it speaks to the motivation of our hearts.

If God, and He is, is at work in us both to will and do of His good pleasure, you can see why Paul continued his thought in Philippians chapter 2 for us to do all things without murmuring and complaining.

Joyful obedience is more than simple obedience.  We can all be ‘made’ to obey by sheer force or manipulation, but when it comes to our Father, true obedience must be like Second Corinthians chapter nine, it must be freely and cheerfully given. Is it enough in the sight of God to simply do or must we as our verse says today do it with joyfulness and gladness of heart?  The blessing lies in the cheerful obedience freely given.

I don’t think there can be joy until we believe what is set before us is good.

And we know that for those who love God all things works together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28.

Deuteronomy contains these admonitions ~

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. “ Deut. 10:12-13

“And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, too fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.” Deut. 6:24

Always hidden with the instruction for obedience is the phrase “for our good’.  Where there is no understanding, we cannot be like Jesus who for the joy set before him endured the cross.

From Psalm 40:7-8, we find the prophetic scripture referencing, Jesus which is rehearsed again in Hebrews chapter 10.

“In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted but you have given me an open ear.  Burnt offering and sin offering you hav not required.  Then I said, Behold I have come in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my God, you law is within my heart.”

The Hebrew word for obedience literally means ‘to hear’.  Obedience begins with our hearing.  Discipline is the school of obedience.  Jesus had to learn obedience by the things he suffered and we must too.  It is the willingness to endure hardness, spirit, soul and body, that teaches us.  It is our willing and cheerful heart that yields a ‘prompt to do it’  action and it is in serving the Lord with joyfulness and gladness of heart that yields the blessings.   

Don’T call them unclean

And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 
Acts 10:15  

I’ve written about this before but just because we read the scripture once doesn’t mean we have learned it. 

You will recognize this word from the time Peter has had his vision of the unclean animals descending in a sheet and the voice instructing him to rise, kill and eat.  We read this from the book of Acts chapter ten verses nine through sixteen. Peter’s response to the instruction was, ’No Lord, I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean’ and this occurred three times leaving Peter puzzled. 

The New Living translation tells us Peter was ‘very perplexed’.  The Amplified Translation adds ‘completely at a loss’.  The King James Version uses ‘doubted in himself’.   The HELPS WORD STUDY gives us the understanding of the Greek word used to describe Peter’s condition.

1280 diaporéō (from 1223/diá "thoroughly," which intensifies 639/aporéō, "no way out") – properly, totally perplexed because having no solution ("no way out").

1280/diaporeō ("deeply perplexed") refers to "one who goes through the whole list of possible ways, and finds no way out. Hence, 'to be in perplexity'" (WS, 174).

As an intensified form of 639/aporéō ("perplexed"), 1280 (diaporéō) means "thoroughly without an explanation for something, or way of coping with it" – "thoroughly at a loss" (WS, 234) and utterly perplexed (with great misgivings).

The opportunities we face with others methods and means can tempt us to cry unclean in the face of what we don’t understand.  Peters vision was directly contrary to Jewish law yet God showed him that he should not call any man impure or unclean.  Our natural divisions that occur within denominations and teachings can lead to this very dynamic.  Our responsibility is to always be mindful there is only one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 

How much new we are facing in these day.  New days holding new ways.  Practically speaking it is because there is a great shift that has occurred in generational transference.  Our culture today finds itself being expressed in Daniel 12:4 ‘…..  many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.’

We have an abundance of knowledge and information at our fingertips increasing exponentially in this last hour we are living through. The church is challenged to be as a wise master builder drawing out from its treasures, both old and new, to build His Kingdom. 

Understanding the times, discerning the methods God desires us to use can be a daunting task for those leading.  Like Peter, the shift demanded brings much consternation if we try to reason out the words as opposed to hearing and obeying.  

Peters religion forbade this version of ‘rise, kill and eat’.  Yet this command gave entrance into a household that brought salvation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in a construct that astounded him.  
 

Every new wineskin must be pliable to hold the new ways God desires to work through.  Please note it is the old wineskins refusal to be re-purposed that makes it dry, brittle and cracked. 

May we be found supple, pliable, amenable putty in our masters hand; willing to yield to his creative process as He works in us all both to will and do of His good pleasure.  

The Glorified Christ

And in the midst of the lamp stands one like the son of man….

Revelation 1:12

Unlike any person John had seen or known, ‘one like the son of man’ revealed himself on the isle of Patmos.  He ‘was clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.  The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.  His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword and his face was like the sun shinning in full strength. When I (John) saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.’

The book of Revelation shows us a very different picture of Jesus as the son of man. In Revelation it’s written, one ‘like the son of man’.  As the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, Jesus is now the exalted one Daniel has prophesied, ruling and reigning at the Fathers right hand.  The glory Jesus sought in his prayer from John 17 has now been placed upon him.  What was sown perishable has been raised imperishable.  What was sown in dishonour is raised in glory.  What was sown in weakness was raised in power.  A natural body, raised a spiritual body. I can only imagine.

Jesus as the glorified Christ now identifies himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the morning star and the living One.  The one who died, and behold is alive forevermore holding the Keys of death and HADES.  Again, the fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy.

As we beheld his glory upon earth (John 1:14) so too we have opportunity now to behold his glory.  Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up with his train filling the temple.  Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration were witnesses to the Lord’s transformation ‘his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light.’

Paul met him on the Damascus road and was blinded by His light.  We see, some years later, Paul caught up to the third heaven, seeing and hearing things that he was not allowed to speak.  Here we have John’s testimony from the book of Revelation.   All these moments were transforming in the individual lives of these men.

John, on the isle of Patmos, in the book of Revelation, was ‘in the spirit on the Lords day’ and was to ‘write what you see in a book…’  From chapter four of Revelation, we see John instructed to ‘come up here’  to see things that will take place. While we can’t make an experience like this happen, we are all invited to come and behold Him.  Allowing the written word to show us ‘as He is,’ and will be in the age to come, we can now see him as he is.

While I have never personally experienced a visible encounter with the Lord, I can say, we all have opportunity to behold him with unveiled faces and be transformed through His glorious revealing.   While we may see in a mirror dimly now, we do have the promise of a then, face to face, knowing Him fully.

This Apostle, John, who was privileged to know him on earth as a man, and to see Him as the glorified Christ, wrote in his first letter to the church ~

Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

1 John 3:2.   

Until then… all of heaven now exalts and honours Jesus.  Until then..we on earth

are to join with the heavenly hosts, the created beings, the elders and worship (in the fullness of that word) the one who alone is worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.  Jesus, one like the son of man, glorified, seated at the right hand of our Father and soon coming King.

Son of Man. 2

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7: 13-14

There are so many descriptives of Jesus that we should all hold in our understanding. The logical place to continue our search of Jesus’ as “the son of man” would be in his identity as the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world, as unveiled in the book of Revelation.  As the heavenly Type required for Atonement at Passover, in the shadow of the law, Jesus became sin’s once and for all offering. Following his death, we now come to the glory of his resurrection as the Son of Man with the achieved and universally acknowledged right and power to rule..

Allow me to quote the following from J. Armitage Robinson commentary on the Book of Ephesians regarding the glory of Jesus’ resurrection

“ Henceforth, he (referring to the Apostle Paul) says, ‘now, we know man after the flesh; yay, if we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now, henceforth know we him (so) no more'.  The death, the resurrection, the ascension, these are to him the important moments of the life of Christ; they are the ladder that leads upwards from Christ after the flesh to Christ in the heavenly sphere, the exalted, the glorified, the reigning, Christ yet to be manifested as the consummation of the purpose of God.”

You will remember we began with Jesus asking Peter ‘who do you say I am?’  And Peters answer, ‘you are the Christ, the son of the Living God.’  It is in understanding Jesus as a man, Jesus as The Man, the perfect man that

God intended to rule and reign, who now is, that brings us into our greatest victories.

Jesus’ own testimonies tell us how he continues as the Son of Man in heaven ~

“But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

Luke 22:69.

Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Matthew 26:64

Now we are gleaning from Him the understanding of how to live, as Him, on the earth and how to overcome, through Him, as the exalted one seated NOW in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named not only in this age (here and now) but also in the one to come (His return).

After Jesus’ resurrection, we find he was physically unrecognizable as the Jesus the disciples had known.  While he continues in a bodily form, this form is so transformed by glory that he was only recognized through the spiritual dynamic of ‘hearts burning within’ and ‘ eyes opened’  that  bore witness to the truth this was indeed their risen Saviour.

We find the man Daniel described above as “given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Jesus is seated in the heavenlies, in the Kingdom of God where his rule and authority reign supreme in divine order and willing submission.  We pray for that Kingdom and that reign, to be manifested that way, here on earth and it begins in knowing Jesus.

Son of Man

 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel 7: 13-14

Scholars note ‘Son of man’ is simply a periphrastic term for “human, and the term is used for Jesus or by Jesus,  88 times in the New Testament.  As the Son of Man he is also referred to as the Son of David twelve times in the NT.  Beginning in Matthew chapter one, we find written ‘the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham…..’  to establish Jesus as the prophetic fulfillment given to King David;  I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2 Samuel 7:12-13

Jesus becoming fully man, born of a virgin, is an essential Christian Doctrine.

Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all because all sinned…..for if because of one man’s trespass (Adam) death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and  the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.   Romans 5:12,17.

There needed to be a man who could meet the same temptations in this world and overcome every fleshly desire.  One who loved righteousness, hated wickedness and delighted to do the will of the Father, as a man, in order to restore God’s order.

Our entire redemption lies in the work He accomplished, as the Son of man. Jesus had to become a man, tempted in every way that we are so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest after his resurrection.  He had to be touched with every feeling of mans infirmity to identify with him as a man of flesh and blood.  It was as the son of man Jesus was rejected, betrayed and suffered and condemned to death.

It was as the son of man that Jesus fulfilled his purpose on the earth.  As the law required the animal sacrifice to atone for man’s sin there had to be an offering to pay the price for man’s redemption.  This man, Jesus became flesh to die and destroy the works of the devil and through his death deliver those who all their lifetime were subject to death.

God’s design for Jesus was unto an eternal purpose.  Not only has Jesus, the Son of man, redeemed man, but as a man he showed us how (and has given his disciples the ability) to live as he lived while we have opportunity on the earth.    

His work on earth is finished.  He has done his part and left His church to carry on the greater works because he has gone to His Father.

And the Son of Man returns….next week.

Who do you say I am?

And he (Jesus) asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Mark 8:29

Jesus began this conversation with his disciples, asking the question, “ ‘Who do men say I am?’ They replied, ‘John the Baptist, others say, Elijah, and others, one of the prophets.’  And he asked them, ‘But who do you say I am?’ “

Peter is the one who responds,  ‘‘You are the Christ’’.  From Matthews Gospel, Peter says, ''You are the Christ, the son of the living God’’.

How did he know this? As jews, Peter and the other disciples were looking for the coming Messiah and would have known the scriptures pointing to His coming.  Matthews gospel takes great pains to show the prophetic fulfillment of Jesus’ works.

And yet, with all this knowledge, the thing that strikes me is that Jesus said this understanding was revealed to Him by the Father, not flesh and blood. Once again, we find that while signs can be a testimony, the ultimate awareness of knowledge and understanding is birthed by the work of our Father.  It is a spiritual working.

No man can come to Him unless he is called.  We have not chosen Him, he has chosen us.  Lest you think I believe in some type of exclusivity, the bible assures us that this gospel message is unto all and God is not willing for any man to perish.  There is some point in a life (many points, for He never tires of drawing men to Jesus) the Spirit wooing and convicting a heart.  They will be without excuse if and in the rejection.

So this question, ‘Who do you say I am’  becomes foundational to every individual.  Jesus is the entry way to the Father.  He is called ‘the door’.  He is called ‘the way’. He is ‘the truth’ and he is ‘the life.’  All these words define and express His heart and purpose.  Without understanding each and every one of these aspects, we miss out on whatever that aspect provides.

The bible reveals Jesus with a variety of names.  There are the metaphorical names (e.g., the Vine, the Door, the Way, the Bread of life), His personal name (Jesus), and then the various titles (e.g., Good Shepherd, Christ, Son of God, Son of Man).

I would like to take the next few weeks to examine the value of all that His name encompasses and trust the Holy Spirit to fill us with an increased wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Let us begin with his birth name. Jesus, the name above every name.  The name every knee will bow to and every tongue will confess. The very name, chosen by the Father and given to Mary by the angel Gabriel, Luke 1:31, and to Joseph in a dream; "She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins". Matthew 1:21.

[Yəhôšuaʿ (Joshua, Hebrew: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ), including Yahweh/Yehowah saves, (is) salvation, (is) a saving-cry, (is) a cry-for-saving, (is) a cry-for-help, (is) my help].

All who call upon this name shall be saved.  Jesus comes first to us as the Saviour of our lives and brings us into the family of God.   His very body and blood are the redeeming sacrifice that provides eternal life for all who chose to call upon the name.

Hebrews 13:6, reminds us the Lord is our Helper or “Boethos”.

From Helps Word Study in the Discovery Bible we learn this Greek word means:

a helper, bringing the right aid in time, i.e. meeting an urgent, real need.  See 997 (boēthéō). 998/boēthnos (literally, "one who runs to help") refers to someone quickly responding with no unnecessary delays, supplying aid where there is intense distress.

998 (boēthnos) only occurs in Heb 13:6 to give exactly the assistance just when we need – in just the right way, at just the right time!

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10

The assurance of God’s heart for salvation resides in the name of Jesus. In the knowing, it gives us a place of rest.  He is Jesus, the Saviour; the name we call for all we need.

So that

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction……SO THAT we may be able ble to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

HELPS WORD STUDIES ON MERCIES -

3628 oiktirmós – properly, compassion (pity), i.e. deep feeling about someone's difficulty or misfortune (TDNT, 1:159).

3628 /oiktirmós ("visceral compassions") is used of the deep feelings God has for all of us, and powerfully shows and shares in those following Him.

COMFORT -

Cognate: 3874 paráklēsis – properly, a call (urging), done by someone "close beside," i.e. a personal exhortation that delivers the "evidence that stands up in God's court."

[3874 (paráklēsis) is cognate with 3875 /paráklētos ("legal advocate") and thus has legal overtones.]

3874 (paráklēsis) is an "intimate call" that someone personally gives to deliver God's verdict, i.e. "the close-call" that reveals how the Lord weighs in the relevant facts (evidence). 3874 /paráklēsis ("holy urging") is used of the Lord directly motivating and inspiring believers to carry out His plan, delivering His particular message to someone else. The core-meaning of 3874 /paráklēsis ("personal urging") is shaped by the individual context, so it can refer to: exhortation, warning, encouragement (comfort), etc.

Knowing and understanding the very nature of our Father is the one thing that leads us into life.  We live our lives meeting opportunities to learn who He is through all the circumstances and challenges we encounter. This is SO THAT we may be that same, sweet fragrance of life to others.

Mercy is seen when God gives to us something we do not deserve. While God sits as the righteous judge his desire is to give mercy.  Jesus was the provision of God in his righteous judgment to give mankind mercy.  We owed a debt we could not pay and Jesus has made the way for us to now draw near.   God dispenses judgment from a mercy seat, desiring mercy above judgment.  The Bible tells us God is rich in mercy and that mercy is new to us every day. This is the heart of God and it is this motivation that extends to us the comfort we need in all our afflictions.

Jesus said if I don’t go I can’t send another comforter, helper, who will abide with us forever, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.  It is this descriptive of the Holy Spirit that we find all that is given to us by Him.  The God of all comfort brings to us through the Comforter all we have need to comfort us in all our afflictions.

He helps us SO THAT….what we have seen and learned, received from Him can be given to others in their afflictions.

This very nature of the Father is to be ours.  Extending mercy that exalts above judgment, we are to be touched with the feelings of others infirmities.   When we are moved with compassion, we extend a hand to comfort others in their time of need.

Freely, we have received His mercy, freely we give.  May this day afford us new opportunities, to see and receive, spend and be spent, all for His glory.

'A little'

Proverbs 24 NIV

30 ~ I went past the field of a sluggard,

past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;

31~ thorns had come up everywhere,

the ground was covered with weeds,

and the stone wall was in ruins.

32 ~ I applied my heart to what I observed

and learned a lesson from what I saw:

33 ~ A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the hands to rest—

34 ~ and poverty will come on you like a thief

and scarcity like an armed man.

There is something seductive about summer. Wherever your summer occurs, for most, it is the time to relax and recover from what has been a very busy work season.  Whether it’s job or schooling, summer promises escape from the routines of life.  However, our proverbs today remind us of the dangers of ‘a little sleep’, a ‘little slumber’, ‘a little folding of the hands to rest’.

As this proverb is true naturally it also carries many spiritual implications. Our spiritual disciplines are the very things that tend our lives.  They are the true foods that feed and water, giving true rest and refreshment.  Without attending to them, poverty and scarcity do come.  Believing that one day won’t hurt can turn into a week of snacking on all the wrong things and you begin a deficit in your spirit.  Your appetites begin to change.

The Apostle Paul spoke about the disciplines he exercised in his life so that he would not be a castaway.  Spiritual dullness is something we all must guard ourselves against; especially in these last days that hold the last hour.  Jesus warns about last day’s loveless, deceived believers.

Deception is the greatest wile of the darkness.  Where we lay aside our disciplines, we lay aside our armour.  This helmet of salvation that shields our mind, this breastplate of righteousness may not be put on as we allow ourselves to entertain the ‘not too bads’ of the world.  The sword of the Sprit, which is the word of God, ceases to be the tool that divides reason and right. Our feet begin to carry a message other than the gospel.   These are realities that we must guard against.  Attendance to the word, spirit and presence must always hold the priority in our day.

Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus - awake sleeper!  Be the light you are created to be.  Don’t allow the lazy hazy days of summer lull you into dullness of heart, mind and body.  Jesus’ message to the church in Sardis from the book of Revelation is a strong rebuke to how easy it is to fall into an appearance of spirituality.  A reputation for being alive does not necessarily mean we are alive.

These days, dullness cannot be afforded by any believer who desires to endure to the end.  The pressures of darkness grow greater and stronger and the light God desires to increase within us individually, and thus corporately, as His body, can only come as our lives stay vitally united to the one, who is our life.

We have only one great commandment (Matthew 22:37) that demands all of us, being all in, at all times.

We can not allow ourselves to cast off what gives us life for any reason in any season.

Beware the lull that pulls into dullness.

I’ve said before my husband, David, has some great insights and I’ve added his below because they highlight my word today!

“Reading again, from 1Thess. 3 about love ‘increasing and abounding’ reminds me that quantity and quality of love is never static. If love can increase and abound, and it can, then it can decrease and diminish, and it does.

The memory of having loved is not love itself any more than a Stop sign is a stop. It’s just a sign, a mark, of something that once happened here.

Memories can be good things, but if a relationship is not on-going and nurtured, it dies leaving only memories in it’s wake. Memories can be good reminders, even encouragement to move ahead, but they are not love itself. They can also be tomb stones, ‘here lies, what (who) I once loved.’

As Paul prayed, I too pray, that your love will grow, and as that chapter further says, God himself will make you to increase and abound in love. This is not a ‘try harder’ and ‘work more’ thought. It’s a reminder that the author of love is always working to purify and stretch your heart and soul into a more perfect grasp of Him and what love truly is.”

What is Man

What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him?

Ps. 8:4

God is all sufficient in Himself.  There is nothing we can add to God that makes God anything more than He already is. God does not actually ‘need’ anything.  So I asked, like the Psalmist did in Psalm 8 after he reflects on the wonder and majesty of God;  what is man that you are mindful of Him, the Son of man that you care for Him?  He answers, purpose.

 Colossians 1: 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

He destined us in love[ a] to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.  Ephesians 1:5 RSV

The Psalmist went on to write in verses five through eight

you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honour .

You have have given him dominion of the works of your hands;

you have put all things under his feet…..

O Lord our Lord how majestic is your name.”

Creating for purpose is something very different than creating from need.  We all live within our own personal framework of need.  Our relationship with God is based upon needs.  We are only complete in Him and sufficient only because of His sufficiency.  We have been created to need Him, abide in Him, and serve His purposes.

If I live from creative purpose, I am able to join with the Apostle Paul declaring I am not my own.  I am His workmanship created in Christ Jesus, ordained for good works.

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Philippians 2:13

It is within this created purpose that God has crowned man with glory and honour and given him dominion over the works of His hands and put all things under his feet. It was this way from the beginning of mans creation seen in Genesis one.  And again, from Hebrews chapter two with the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

Understanding we have been created for His purpose, His use, and enabled by His glory, honour and authority to do His works on this earth, we become a people motivated by purpose rather than need.

There was no need Jesus met that He was not able to overcome in purpose. All of His activity moved in purpose towards God’s created design.

Jesus was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  Purpose.

For this purpose was the Son of God manifest…. Purpose.

When we don’t understand purpose we misuse the created.

When we don’t understand purpose we spend and are spent in vain.

God has placed much value upon man and the work he has been created to do here on earth.  Mindful and caring of this creation He works all things in our lives unto His purpose and will.   We have the joy of being able to say, I was simply a servant doing my duty and, hopefully, enter into the joy of the Lord.

On another thought- perhaps this is why joy is lacking in so many - we are outside our created purpose? But we can write about that another time.

Ask the Father

“At that time you will ask me no questions.  I most solemnly say to you, the Father will give to you, as bearers of my name, whatever you ask him for. Up to this time you have not asked for anything, as bearers of my name, but now you must keep on asking and you will receive that your cup of joy May be full to the brim. 
               John 16:23-24 Williams Translation

We hold this gospel message with Jesus as our sacrifice for sin and the redemption given by his cross.  Jesus lived to show us our Father in heaven.  He lived to display the very nature and love the Father holds for mankind.  While Jesus’ earthly focus was towards a specific people, his salvation is unto all who believe in His name.  

Our personal belief upon his work and name gives us entrance into the family of God. Almighty God now becomes Our Father. 

Romans 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
    received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God….
    
Lately, I have been writing about prayer, and since all prayer is communication, I want to consider with you Jesus’ phrase, “you shall ask me nothing”.  Jesus has been telling them things they do not understand and then points them to the future ~  the ‘at that time’ phase where his disciples ‘will ask him no more questions’. I find that an interesting declaration. There’s a relationship change. Almost all of their heavenly walk had been either originating from or oriented towards Jesus. This is not a subtle statement. It reveals an entirely new door required for them to enter in going forward, they will “ask him no more questions”. 

‘At that time’ has become today’s reality.  Jesus has made the way for us to have fellowship with our Father by the Holy Spirit just as he had.  Jesus has finished his work, ascended to the right hand of the Father and established us as joint heirs with him. Now, in this time, we are directed to ‘ask the Father’.  

Can you imagine how this statement would impact them. Already facing challenges in understanding everything he says, he now tells them he is leaving.  He will give them the Spirit who will reveal to them all things that are his and any questions they have - ask dad. No dis-respect intended, nor implication that Jesus won’t talk to us, but rather our need to understand the greater dynamics of heavenly roles, and the place Jesus now operates from. 

‘Now’ the Spirit of truth has given to teach his disciples all things. Questions, centering around the activity of Jesus as “bearers of his name”, are now directed to our Father. We are both invited into and told of a new sphere of life, just as he had, in the Father. 

Fellowship has been enlarged, entrance granted to be with the Father, through Jesus Christ and by and in the Spirit.  The mystery of God, the wisdom of God has been destined for our glory according to 1 Cor 2:7, receiving this wisdom by His Spirit that we may understand what God has freely given us…verse 12. 

‘…God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.  1 Cor 2:10

One of the things I enjoy about the Williams translations is the attention he has given to verb sense.  Did you notice in this portion of our scripture today, Jesus said to “keep on asking”.  Which of course makes me think of Matthew 7:7. We are not to be those who do not know, but rather in our need or desire to know, we continue to seek and ask of the Father to fill us with all wisdom and spiritual understanding that we might do the greater works assigned. 

So Jesus has left us with this great promise from John’s gospel.  There is knowledge and wisdom we need and must hold for the hour we live in. Jesus wants our joy to be full and I’m mindful of how much fuller my joy is when I do ask and receive. 

Unhindered prayers

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honour to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.  1 Peter 3:7. ESV

Peter in our verse today is specifically addressing the marriage relationship between  husband and wife. We learn from this epistle that we not only can hinder our prayers, but how we hinder them.

The ‘live with understanding’ Peter wants held is the knowledge concerning roles established by God’s order.  

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. 1 Corinthians 11:3

Peter does not specifically explain why the vessel is weaker but most commentaries agree it is likely physical capacity.  While we understand physical limitations, we realize today that this is not always the case. Some women are in fact stronger than some men.

To understand ‘weaker’ from our verse is to see that God has placed the role of a wife under the authority of her husband and to understand the vulnerable position submission requires.  With that admonition comes the need for honour to be given.

Malachi chapter two gives us another insight into hindered prayers within marriage.  ‘Dealing treacherously with the wife of your youth’ is something God views as faithlessness.  God is a God of covenant and does not alter what has come from His lips; and because of the faithlessness of the vow, God says he ‘does not regard the offering’ from the hands of the unfaithful husband. Malachi 2:13-16. This would then be  hindered prayer.

To live as the weaker vessel requires a foundation of love and trust in order to live in agreement. You know this, but for clarity, the husband, as head, is not a dominating, controlling force but rather one who leads, as Christ does his church. Submission can never be demanded or forced.  By virtue of what submission is, a willing compliance for the greater purpose of unity, it must be freely given.   

Submission is first seen in our relationship to the Lord and then practiced and learned within marriage, family and church by submitting one to another.

Always remain mindful that first and foremost as believers, each individual, male or female, is His.  We are all inheritors of His grace. “I am what I am by the grace of God’.  His grace has made us and set us in our roles.  He decrees we are fearfully and wonderfully made with much value and honour bestowed upon every part.

Paul writes in his letter to the church at Corinth, this admonition to honour weaker vessels in the body of Christ.  From 1 Corinthians 12:22–25; he requires a greater honour given to the weaker parts, noting that all those parts that seem weaker are necessary.  ESV says they are ‘indispensable parts’.

Let’s look at this word hindered from HELPS Word-studies and bring this into a broader picture from marriage to include the knowledge and honour of weaker vessels within His body.

Hinder ~ 1465 egkóptō (from 1722 /en, "in" and 2875 /kóptō, "cut") – properly, cut into (like blocking off a road); hinder (A-S) by "introducing an obstacle that stands sharply in the way of a moving object" (Souter); (figuratively) sharply impede, by cutting off what is desired or needed; to block (hinder)

With Ephesians chapter five telling us marriage holds the mystery of Christ and His church, we can glean within our marriage relationships an understanding of how Jesus views and cares for His church.  By washing and cleansing, nurturing and cherishing, Jesus works to keep His bride without spot, wrinkle or blemish.

Such righteous and loving leadership always promotes a willing yieldedness (submission) and a place of agreement.  The seed bed for unhindered prayers.

As it is seen in the natural marriage relationship, so it should be seen within the body of His church.   Honour and willing submission must be practiced for the sake of unity and agreement as we offer up, as righteous men and women, fervent and effectual (unhindered) prayers.

Because you didn’t ask

You have not because you ask not ~

James 4: 2

I want us all to understand prayer is not a formula, but simply conversation with our Father.

Whether we realize it or not, our lives as sincere believers are in an ongoing state of prayer without ceasing.  We are in constant communication over all details transpiring throughout our day. The why, the how, which way, what’s the right way, are all questions brought before Him as we navigate our day.  Whether we come to Him isolated in a prayer closet, join corporate prayer meetings, or engage while we are busy with doings, all methods are prayer, a conversation with our Father.

Jesus said, pray to the Father in His name.  Jesus is the one who has made the way for us to come into His family and address Him as Father.  As our Father, we hold him in a place of reverence and honour.  A privilege to call Him Father, a responsibility to honor Him as Almighty God.

Jesus set before His disciples the invitation to ask. We looked at Mark 11:24 last week, let us consider these today ~

• Mt.7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; …

• John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

• John 16:16 And I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will remain--so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

• John 15:7,16 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

• John 16:23.26 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you…

We learn from Jesus that asking is absolutely necessary.   While He knows what we have need of before we ask, Matthew 6:8, He still sets before us the direction to ask.  This shows we have an absolute dependence on Him as provider for all things.  We are looking to none other for our help.  Give us this day our daily bread is the ask that says, I need you!

Jesus is found before the blind man in Mark 10.  He has stopped and asked “What will you that I should do for you?”

Andrew Murray points out in his book ‘With Christ in the School of Prayer’  that there must be a will for a thing not simply a wish to have it.  He writes, “the will rules the whole heart and life. If I really will to have something that is within my reach, I do not rest until I have it.  When Jesus asks us, what will you? He asks whether it is our intention to get what we ask for at any price, however great the sacrifice.  Do we really will to have it…. Such a will is not at variance with our dependence on God and on submission to Him.  Rather, it is the true submission that honours Christ.  It is only when the child has yielded his own will in entire surrender to the Father that he receives from the Father the liberty and power to will what he desires.”

Andrew Murray went on to point out that it is simply slothful to not take the trouble to search out His will, or when found, the struggle to claim it in faith.  He notes true humility is always accompanied by strong faith and leads us to the place of assurance that we are not asking amiss in order to consume it upon our own lusts, but confident we have asked according to his will and it shall be done unto us.  James 4:2-3; John 15:7.

Lord, teach us to pray!

Believing Prayer

 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received  it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

This past week David and I engaged in an event requiring ongoing and extensive prayer for another.  As I was talking through the specific needs one morning with David, he made this comment, “I am not just praying, I am believing”.   

I was impacted once again to make sure that in times of prayer we aren’t simply found mouthing words, or even quoting what ‘the word’ says but that there is the conscious reality of believing what is being asked.

In this season where God is working to restore hearts (read, trusting God, once again) through this place of fellowship in times of worship and prayer; it is not simply a call to worship and prayer, but a call to return to Him, believing that He is and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Andrew Murray wrote in his book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, ‘Before the Lord with silence in your soul, ask…’

• What is really my desire?

• Do I desire it in faith, expecting to receive an answer?

• Am I ready to present it to the Father and leave it there?

• Is there agreement between God and me that I will get an answer?

If we are not careful the worship and prayer can become a religious duty like so many others that lead to a tradition and become a form of godliness without the power. Worship and prayer must touch our hearts!  God demands from each of us the faith that acknowledges He is God and there is no other before Him.  Thus He says, without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Prayer has a two edged sword, dividing soul and spirit. There is the processing of the unbelief that is held in my heart.  The word divides the soul (our mind, will, emotions) and what is carried in my heart.  Lord I believe, help my unbelief can only be resolved through the attention I give to the renewing of mind and the condition of heart.

On a side note ~ I’ve been studying the worship of God, from John 4, in spirit and in truth.  Noting from Thessalonians without a love for truth we are given over to delusion and destroyed.  If, and it is, Gods word is truth, if Jesus, and He is, the way and the truth.. these must be held and nurtured daily.  Turned away from looking at the perfect law of liberty and beholding Him, we begin to become dull, dull of hearing and that is a slippery slope.

So, prayer, not just prayer but believing prayer, must begin with the knowledge that what we ask is right before the Father.  We know what we want, but we must take the time to consider what the Father is working in and through these moments of our lives and come into agreement with Him.

In every situation there is the trying of our faith.  We are being tested and Peter wrote that in this place of believing we are to add certain qualities to our faith, 1 Peter 2: 5-8, noting that when these are possessed we are neither ineffective or unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Presumption, self willed words, are iniquities that our Father will not answer.  Thank God!

A prayer prayed believing doesn’t grow weary in the wait but is strengthened through our thanksgiving that we have committed this to our Father and we rest believing He is at work.   

This is the work that you must do, believe…..John 6:28.

Lord, teach us to pray!

Understanding

“Hear then the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. Matthew 13:18-19

People are hearing and the word is sown in the heart YET the word is snatched away because of the lack of understanding. Understanding then becomes key to the seed being fruitful.

Without burdening you about things you already know, let me remind you that every seed needs water and care to grow up.  As we are called the planting of the Lord, we find we are washed by the water of the word.  We are pruned in order to bear more fruit and exhorted to tend the garden of our hearts.  This simply sets the standard for healthy growth in all things; condition of soil, water and care.

Follow this process with me as we evaluate the gardens of our hearts.  Every word sown paints a picture for us.  We carry a hopeful expectation of this word bearing fruit.  At some point, for every person, life does not equate to the expectation, and as Jesus goes on to explain, because this seed has not developed a root system strong enough to sustain it, the word is snatched away.

Let’s exam this word ‘understanding’. From Helps Word Study ~

4920 syníēmi (from 4862 /sýn, "together with" and hiēmi, "put, send") – properly, put together, i.e. join facts (ideas) into a comprehensive (inter-locking) whole; synthesize.

4920 /syníēmi ("put facts together") means to arrive at a summary or final understanding (complete with life-applications).

Accordingly, 4920 (syníēmi) is closely connected with discerning and doing "the preferred-will of God" (2307 /thélēma).

Eph 5:17: "So then do not be foolish (878 /áphrōn), but understand (4920 /syníēmi) what the preferred-will (2307 /thélēma) of the Lord is.”

If our understanding is framed through our own human weakness of self and pride, we shape the word to exalt us.  If our understanding is shaped by His purpose for the vessel then there is a sustaining life flow within the root system.  Consider Jesus’ life during ministry.  The circumstances he met never moved Him from purpose.  He met nothing that brought him confusion.  Tempted yes, but without sin and always moving forward into the purposes of God.

Confusion resides in the lack of understanding which is challenged when hope is deferred.

Jesus, from the three different gospels, highlights these points -

From Luke, Jesus said to his disciples - it has been given to you to know the secrets of the Kingdom.

From Matthew’s gospel we are told that the disciples ears and eyes are blessed.

From Marks gospel he says, if you don’t understand this one parable how can you understand any others?

The hearing is the invite into conversation with the Father to understand, to ask and receive, to knock and have it opened, to seek and find.

The Holy Spirit , the revealer of the heart and mind of God, the one who takes the words of Jesus and teaches us, imparts wisdom and understanding but these must be mined out.   These truths are described as secrets and mysteries, not to be withheld, but to be discovered by those who earnestly desire the knowledge of God to do His work.

Proverbs 2: 1-6 NET.. if you receive my words and store up my commands inside yourself by making your ear attentive to wisdom and by turning your heart to understanding…. Then you will understand… for the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

Understanding is the beginning of this teaching from Jesus on the power of the seed.

Conversation

“Come let us reason together”

Isaiah 1:18

When I was in Rome in April, I had the opportunity to look at Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel and consider not just the art, but the belief system of the man who did it.   In the painting showing the finger of God reaching down to man, we find man’s response almost complacent in his attempt to connect to God, yet from Gods side, we see His intentional reach towards man.

This made me think of so many Bible references where God did the initiating in the relationship.  God comes towards man over and over and as we learn from the Apostle John; God’s motivated by his divine love for mankind,  I’m always mindful that he is unwilling for any to perish.  It is from this foundation that we experience the ongoing work of His Spirit into the hearts of mankind, both sinner and saint.

From the Bible we see God reaching towards people initiating conversation.  He is sovereign in his design and purposes for his workmanship.  We are sovereign in our response.

In a recent book by, Maeve Louise Heaney, “Suspended God”  she notes we find God reaching out in various circumstances, engaging us through questions.  She notes such questions as;

* Where are you. Genesis 3:8

* What do you see. Jeremiah 1:10

* Who do you say I am. Matthew 16:15

* What do you want me to do for you.  Luke 18:41

* Do you love me.  John 21:15-17

As I pondered these, I don’t know that I always recognized this questioning as a work of God.  Certainly not ones that prodded me to examination, answers and ultimately spiritual growth and development.

We can examine so many different conversations God initiated throughout the Bible and we can glean from them, but, it is those personal private ones that encourage us to reflect and engage.  I suppose confusion, doubt and our questions are all part of His process and one He is never offended over.  Come let us reason together is His invite and desire to bring us to this place of having faith in God.

A god who often provokes questions and offers opportunity for conversation about life, desires for us to discover and learn Him in the process.  This is eternal life that we may know Him and His son Jesus Christ.

Conversation opens the door of discovery in every relationship.

The purpose of the parables

The purpose of parables

Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Matthew 13:10-11

There are mysteries of the Kingdom that the Father has given us to understand but they require hungry hearts and ears to hear them. We are to be partakers of the wisdom that God holds for every season of life.

I want you to note, with emphasis here, Jesus says to YOU it has been given to know.  It is the will of God for you and I to possess the secrets needed to successfully navigate His Kingdom.

Jesus told Peter, after he’d declared the revelation of Jesus being the Christ and the son of the Living God, he would build his church upon this revelation and the gates of hell would not prevail.  Then Jesus said, “ I will give you the the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, Matthew 16:18-19. What if these keys were the secrets; the revelation that unlocks the successful operation of extending the Kingdom of God?

‘I will give’ is future tense.  We learn from Acts chapter one that after Jesus’ resurrection he appears to his disciples for forty days speaking to them concerning the Kingdom of Heaven.  I believe it was during these forty days that the wisdom, understanding and  counsel came to them. Then on the day of Pentecost the power of the Holy Spirit was poured out enabling them to be witnesses to these new truths and to exercise the authority committed to them to administrate the Kingdom of heaven upon the earth.

Jesus speaks of the binding and loosing authority given, and if you research the Greek on this you will find this works when we bind and lose that which has already been bound and loosed in heaven.

We pray for the kingdom of God to come on earth and his will to be done as it is in heaven, both indicating our need for divine alignment with the Father.

As the church we must demonstrate the power and authority given us in the name of Jesus.  I remember being taught when we were first born again that our prayers were to begin by seeking the will of our Father.  It is this confidence of hearing and knowing; revelation if you will, that gives the assurance that our words are His.  His words in my mouth carry the same power and authority because He has already decreed and released them out of His mouth.  I am just the vessel He has chosen to speak through.

Every parable Jesus taught holds a key, a secret about His kingdom. It becomes our privilege and honour to mine them out and find the treasures within.

Ask of Me

 Ask rain from the Lord, in the season of the spring rain, from the Lord who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.

Zechariah 10:1

As I studied this morning, I landed on this arresting scripture from Zechariah. I believe it is something that God is continuing to work within His people.  Ask from the Hebrew is ‘to inquire of the Lord’.  There is a very present need that Zechariah is addressing and this scripture holds promise for an answer.

From Zechariah's word, we find in verse 2 the “trouble” that has been in their midst that has withheld the rain.   “For the household gods utter nonsense and the diviners see lies, they tell false dreams and give empty consolation therefore the people wander like sheep, they are afflicted for the lack of a shepherd.”

Zechariah says these things and we now understand there is a need for repentance. From Deuteronomy chapter eleven we find Mose’s instructions to keep the commandments of the Lord. Moses highlights in verse 17 to take care so their hearts are not deceived and they turn aside and serve and worship other Gods. Doing so would kindle the anger of the Lord against them and He would shut up the heavens and there would be no rain. Exactly the case Zechariah addresses.

In First Kings chapter 8, as Solomon dedicates the temple of God, he prays from verse thirty five saying, “when heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance.”

So then asking for the rain here gives us awareness that there is a need for returning and repentance.

• Hosea 10:12  Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

We are to ask for rain from the Lord. We look to no other for this blessing.  We hold this assurance that with right alignment to Him, in the right season, which is always sovereign in God, He will give showers of rain to everyone.

Jesus told his disciples, John 14: 13-14, if you ask anything in My name, I will do it that the Father may be glorified in the Son, meaning we are only asking what Jesus is asking…..seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness assures us of ongoing, proper alignment with His will and way and He receives all the glory.

• Isaiah 44: 3. For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

Zechariah’s words remind us today to ask, from the Lord, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ and desires for us to live in this rich heritage He has provided for us.  Let us not grow complacent in seeking God for the fullness of His blessings through any doubt or unbelief.  Let us be mindful that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and ASK!

Righteousness and Justice

Seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?  For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”

Genesis 18:19

At this stage of life, David and I spend much time considering the impact we can have on future generations.  From today’s verses we learn Abraham was chosen by God to ultimately become the Father of many nations.  Through Abraham, all the families of the earth were to be blessed. The order seems reversed here, with ‘nations’ being mentioned in verse 18 and ‘families’ in verse 19 but I don’t think it an accident.  Everyone intuitively realizes ‘families’ must exist before ‘nations’ so we’re going to look at this verse from family, back to nations, and ask what the key thought really is here.

In a nutshell, it’s because God knew Abraham would command his household after his own personal values and practices. That’s the essence of fatherhood, whether intended or not, we produce after our own kind, sharing our values and beliefs, often in an unspoken way.  Perhaps in this sense, a parent’s real spirituality is contagious. Who we are gets passed down to the children.

Usually, when we think of Abraham, we usually skip right to the crisis point of his adventure with God and dwell on his offering up of Isaac and the faith implications for us, so clearly celebrated in Romans chapter 4.  Today we want to look at a different thought. Today we want to explore what came before that extremely precious act of worship.

Verse 19 links Abraham being chosen with the obligation “to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice.”  We often think we’ve carried out our parental duties by taking our children to church with us as if something spiritually magical happened because of being there. As important as church attendance is, the church or the school, can’t take the place of the family in training our next generations.

That experience is a very intimate and painstaking passing on of values and beliefs.  In other words, as verse 19 stated, it’s in the commanding and the doing that those lessons are taught. Commanding, like teaching, takes words. You could say that this was very authoritative instruction. And here it was very specific instruction.

The command - was first to do righteousness. You might read the above and think it as only Abraham’s righteousness that was required, not anyone else’s. But, if that were so, a family could never become a nation. Nation building takes time and it takes more than one teacher of righteousness. It requires many teachers, teaching many pupils, the right way of living and from there passing on the wisdom to do justice in the inevitable face of confusion and adversity. There’s a lot of wisdom required here. A lot of hands on training and explanations.

Could it be, that some of societies errors and problems that seem to not have an easy answer are rooted in our own failures to live and pass on the ways of righteousness and justice in a form that allowed our children to become learners of God beyond our own experiences?  Maybe some of the blessings we seem to have missed are because we have yet to live up to that worthy place where God can say of us ‘ I know….that, he or she, will command their children and household AFTER them to do righteousness and justice.’

Entering into

 And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him  And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Luke 22:39-40

Helps Word Studies  ~ ‘enter into’ 

1525 eisérxomai (from 1519/eis, "into, unto" and 2064/érxomai, "come") – properly, come into, go (enter) into; (figuratively) to "enter into" for an important purpose – for believers experiencing the result of the Lord's eternal blessing.

As an intensified form of 2064 (érxomai),1525/eisérxomai ("going into for a purpose/result") focuses on the outgrowth (purpose, effects) of the entering – i.e. emphasizing where this naturally leads. 1525 (eisérxomai) characteristically underlines the deep personal involvement (self-interest) of the "entering into."  This stresses the purpose (result) of the "entering into (unto)," forcefully extending to what naturally proceeds from it.]

You would think, as we noted last week, the disciples knowing Jesus prayer for their faith to not fail, would be sufficient to keep them from entering into the temptation.  Yet, we see that while God is Sovereign, He has limited himself to man’s free will and that free will needs to submit to Gods instructions. 

We know Peter entered into the temptation and learn there was a part Peter had to play through prayer.  While it’s an encouraging thing to know Jesus is praying for us, it does not eliminate our responsibilities to obey His directives.   We understand Peter’s engagement to pray would have kept him from entering into the temptation.  We know they all left Jesus and we know they all later chose to follow Peter when he returned to fishing. 

From the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus told his disciples it wasn’t the external that defiled people but the things within them.  It is with this understanding that we guard our hearts and perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. 

Jesus tells us that in this world we will always have temptation.  It is something we cannot avoid or escape.  What we can do is overcome it. John 16:33. 

By choosing what we allow ourselves to lean into we find either the grace that is so abundant in these moments or we simply do what Peter did, lean into the temptation. 

The Apostle Paul wrote of the circumstances experienced in Asia, so utterly burdened beyond strength that they despaired of life itself, feeling they had received the sentence of death.  Paul said it was to make them rely not on themselves but on God who raises the dead.  This reliance  leans into the grace He provides and can always be seen through obedience. 

There are just no short cuts in this life God has called us into.  It is a daily pursuit ‘into’ righteousness, right thinking, right doing, right being, that enables us to join with Jesus and in the moments of our temptation, knowing we can be of good cheer through any and all momentary light afflictions, for He has overcome the world.  This becomes our victory, for as He is so are we in this world and the victory that overcomes is the faith we hold as we remain in(to) Him. 

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He has risen indeed

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HE IS RISEN

HE HAS RISEN INDEED!

This resurrection Sunday fills us with much hope as our hearts focus on the sacrificial life and love Jesus has given to us.  As we spent our time in Rome these past days, we’ve had many opportunities to reflect upon the sacrifice of so many lives laid down, the price others have paid for us, to hold these great and precious promises, that we might be a partakers of His life and nature. How great is our God!

As Jesus prepared to face the cross, he has a moment with Peter to prepare himself for his days ahead ~

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.  And when you have returned again, strengthen your brothers.  

Luke 22:32

Here’s a few things to note from our verse today ~ 

• Demanded from Helps Word Studies ~ 1809 eksaitéomai (from 1537 /ek, "completely out from," intensifying 154 /aitéō, "ask") – properly, to request a full "handing over" (a complete "take-over"). 1809 /eksaitéomai ("totally hand over") only occurs in Lk 22:31. Here Satan requests Peter be completely removed out of God's hands – and be put totally in his power. 

• “You” is plural in the sense of “all of you”

• More important to Jesus than the test is our faith expressed by not failing through it.  This is apparent through his prayer.  Jesus told his disciples to be of good cheer, He had overcome the world.  John 16:33 and 1 John 5:4 reminds everyone that he who is begotten of God does overcome the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

• Can you imagine with me, the surrounding incident of the disciples contending over ‘who is greatest’ and then hearing Jesus say, “you will all deny me.”?       

• “And when you have returned”.  Jesus prays and stands, knowing Peters outcome.  

Jesus is the one who is touched with the feelings of our weaknesses.  Our comfort is knowing that because he has risen, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, he continues His watch as the Great Shepherd of the Sheep.  

So many reasons to give thanks and celebrate the resurrection and the life He both is, and gives.  

As we conclude our time in Rome, Blessings of Resurrection to each of you this Easter!

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