I Yearn For This Day

As far back as I can account for in history, whether documented by books of eye-witnesses, books of oral traditions or books of faith - there has always been strife, struggle and violence.

If you believe in The Fall of Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:12-19), as I do, then the only time there seems to have been true peace was before Pride was found to have developed in him. Ever since that time, Pride has motivated him and many efforts of friction to the point of death throughout space and time. I cannot wait until Christ makes all things new and our motivation, interests, influences and passions will be utterly changed and perfected to Jesus and His views and ways.

One might think that humans would learn the lessons of war, hate, covetousness, unforgiveness and the list is almost endless. The culprit continues to be, at this point, not only Pride but also the Father of Pride and he persists in instigating all the negative attributes that stem from or would be birthed out of Pride in order to destroy God's creation - humanity.

The daily striving to conqueror Pride is real. However, we have a helper through the Holy Spirit because the ultimate victory has been secured by The Prince of Peace, Christ Jesus through His sacrificial death on the cross and victorious resurrection. 

However, the full manifestation of Christ's payment and victory for the believer's salvation and stance over Pride is still future (Revelation 20:7-10; 21:3-4, 25-27; 22:3-5), but it is prophesied and promised. I Yearn For This Day.

What Will He Find You Doing?

To my brothers and sisters in Christ I speak today and ask - upon Christ's return - What will He find you doing? Jesus, in Matthew 24:45-51, speaking of the time upon which He will return, infuses all Christians, especially those charged with delivering the Word of God, with a challenge to live an accountable, faithful service record unto God.

"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

All believers in Christ have been entrusted with The Gospel or Good News of the saving grace of Christ Jesus. If one's conversion or repentance to follow Christ was authentic then naturally one would desire to whole-heartedly express commitment to the Lord through some kind of service. The minimum response by us of just belief does not do justice to the price Jesus paid for our redemption to God. He died for us, we must live for Him and so we have The Great Commission as the next step after becoming a Christian.

1 Peter 3:15 states the idea of being ready to serve God with your testimony at a moments notice but doing it with "gentleness and respect".

"But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,"

The rest of the Christian's life should be found to not only bettering themselves, their blood family, spiritual family and others around them but living the Christ-like lifestyle outlined in the New Testament. We are called to be more than just good people. Salt and light are great analogies to aim for, but Christians are called to be Ambassadors or representatives of Christ.

If someone was in this faith merely for the reward, then he/she should be doing all they could before Christ returns because He is The Lord of All. Jesus is a rewarder of faithfulness also. In Revelation 19:11 Jesus has the title Faithful and True. The Lord is the ultimate example of faithfulness and everything good. So, anything we display back to Him and to the world that showcases God's nature, The Lord will reward that effort.

However, our service should be a joy, not a burden or mere task. Hebrews 12:2 states that "For the joy set before Him, He [Christ] endured the cross,". Growing up I had no desire to rebel against my parents. I felt I had no gain, no wild oat of rebellion I had to sow in my life as a season I must pursue. I always had a sense of wanting to please my parents when they checked up on me, whether I was playing or performing my chores. 

This same mentality I approach with Christ. I desire to worship Him with my life because He first loved me, continues to love me and has a wonderful plan for my future. In addition, I believe if Christians would return to a First Love mentality - a remembrance of Christ's sacrifice, victory and promises every day, then that would go a long way in preparing the correct mindset for wanting to serve The Lord in any capacity.

Accountability is the key word here in describing what the Christian life becomes after believing in the completed work of Christ for our lives. Our service to the King is what should keep us accountable as we watch and wait for His return and hopefully His words of "'Well done good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’" (Matt. 25:21) will ring true.

The believer's lifestyle changes or should change to that of Christ-likeness so that we will please the Lord, so that favor will rest upon our lives and so that we may bless others. Accountability is a mentality governed by action in loving God by loving others and serving God by serving others. Christ himself came to serve and not be served and we should continue His example and represent Him well.

Christ loved me so much that He redeemed me to Himself. Jesus continues to love me today with direction via His Word and inspiration through His Holy Spirit. And the Lord has awesome plans for my future. Why wouldn't I want to be busy about the Lord's work when He returns? So, What Will He Find You Doing?

Emanuel - God With Us And In Us

Do you characterize and treat your body as a house or hotel when considering the Holy Spirit? Are you operating under hotel management, treating the Holy Spirit as a visitor and missing out on so many blessings? Or are you a house, home, and Temple of the Holy Spirit where God is comfortable and can counsel you on a daily basis from His Throne in the Living Room of your heart?

1 Corinthians 6:19 says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?"

We are extremely mobile now-a-days and the Hebrew people were no strangers to mobility either. God’s presence also moved – from tent to tabernacle to temple. The theme of lives in motion is not new. Although God had conditions that had to be met by the Hebrew people for counsel with His Presence (Exodus 25:8-9 and Exodus 26; Exodus 40), the message is that God desired to commune or tabernacle with His people and He did that through the display of His presence wherever they went.

As time passed, the display of God's presence within the community of His people faded. It did not help that God's people kept entering into a cycle of rebellion - repentance - restoration - rebellion again. They asked for kings to rule over them like other nations around them and God granted their request.

However, one of their kings had it on his heart to bring God's presence back into the picture. King David had it on his mind to build a Temple for God in Jerusalem. But, because David was a man who shed so much blood, a man of war, the responsibility for construction of The Temple fell to his son - Solomon.

The difference with Solomon’s temple and all other previous dwellings for God is that now the presence of God is "stationary". Yes, God is everywhere (omni-present). He made all things, is in all things and holds all things together. However, the manifest, counseling presence of God in those days was no longer nomadic, His presence was found in a magnificent Temple.

Fast-forward a few years and we arrive at the point where Christ set the imagery for our bodies as the Temple of God -

"Jesus answered them, 'Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.' They replied, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?' But the temple he had spoken of was his body." (John 2:19-21)

Paul, in his first letter to the believers in Corinth, stressed the importance of viewing your body as the home of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 says,

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

And three chapters later, Paul re-enforces this point when he states in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 -

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Many Christians know this 1 Cor. 6:19 verse and believe in the meaning it conveys. But I am betting that many, like me, read this verse and take in its meaning as head knowledge only. If we all really applied this message and all the implications that are packaged with it, believers in Christ could be more empowered, more filled with the Holy Spirit, more in line with God's will for our lives.

If you read this verse backwards you'll realize that after you have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior you get the benefit of the Holy Spirit moving into your being - hence the "whom you have received from God" and "who is in you" part of the verse. Then you get a very critical question - "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit"?

When Paul wrote these words, he was addressing the believers in the church at Corinth on sexual immorality. However, now-a-days there are a lot more pollutants to our "temple". 

Considering that the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer and makes the Christian body His home after accepting Jesus as LORD, every part of the body that acts as an input (eyes, nose, mouth/tongue, ears) must be guarded with extreme caution. The old adage "garbage in garbage out" comes to mind here. If we truly believe we have the Holy Spirit living within us, then we will want to consult Him about everything that comes into and goes out of the "Temple" or our body.

Instead of viewing or treating our bodies as a hotel for the Holy Spirit to be a visitor or guest that comes and goes, our bodies should be His Temple, the permanent dwelling place of His presence. So, "If you've been dealing with a poor self-image, grab hold of this truth, because this is the greatest self-image booster that exists! Inwardly you are so beautiful and magnificent that Almighty God wanted to live inside you! What kind of home do you think God would require? A shabby shack made of dirt and sticks? No! He has built for Himself a beautiful temple within your heart - and that is who you are right now! Now live like the magnificently decorated cathedral of God's Spirit that you are!" (Renner, Gems, p.116)

However, God’s incredible faithfulness does not give us the license to neglect the upkeep of The Temple or our body. All believers in Christ are Traveling Temples of powerful effect. Like vehicles with features different from each other, but with the same kind of fuel that runs it - so it is with the believer in Christ that all bodies and their gifts are not alike, but the Spirit that controls them is the same (1 Corinthians 12:4-5).

So, we live out of our cars, but as Christians do we live out of our Traveling Temples? Mobile homes and RVs have many features that are utilized every day by their users without a second thought. Are we as Christians consciously utilizing our gifts and talents that have been given with our "new body"? Returning to Moses' relationship with God - Moses cried out a plea to God that I believe all believers in Christ should echo today and throughout eternity -

“If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” (Exodus 33:15-16)

Your car is mobile. Your RV is mobile. And according to Scripture your body is the temple and home of God, mobile, powerful and effective for His kingdom purposes. I encourage you to clean your vehicle/body out, check the God-given features/gifts you possess and answer honestly – who lives and rules within this body, this temple? The best answer is Emmanuel – God With Us And In Us.

The Prayers Of Jesus

Prayer in Gethsemane

Matthew 26:39

Of all people in Scripture to study about a prayer life, Jesus is great to examine. I combed through each Gospel and tried to research when, where and what Jesus prayed. I want to expose you now to my research of The Prayers of Jesus.

The first time prayer is mentioned or associated with Jesus is documented in Matthew when He is found sitting on a mountainside teaching on the subject of prayer. He is giving instructions on how to keep prayer sacred and providing a pattern of prayer to follow commonly referred to as The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15).

I feel confident you have heard of "Saying Grace" as in saying a prayer or blessing over the food before you eat. The next installment of prayer by Jesus in Matthew 14:19 finds a prayer of thanksgiving, during the evening hours, over the coming miraculous meal of the feeding of five thousand with just five loaves of bread and two fish.

Then after the Feeding of Five Thousand and before Jesus Walks on Water, according to Matthew 14:23-24, He "went up on a mountainside by himself and prayed." You will find that mountainsides and lakes are favorite locales by Jesus. The time-frame was afternoon-to-evening because of Matthew 14:23. We do not know for sure what He prayed, it does not say.

On another mountainside, by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus once again gave thanks for another miracle-meal for four thousand - Matthew 15:36.

In Matthew 19:13-15, little children were brought to Jesus for Him to touch and pray, but according to verse 15 He only touched them. There was no prayer or blessing recorded for this event. This might have been an impartation of what the children needed. However, to mention hands and prayer one time and only laying on of hands the next time is very interesting.

After the Passover Meal, Jesus and His Disciples reclined at the table and Jesus gave thanks and blessed the Passover Bread and Wine (Matthew 26:26-27). So there has been a strong theme of thanking and/or blessing of the food several times already via prayer by Jesus. Thanking The Provider must be important.

Somebody needs to inform Jesus that prayer after a big meal is a recipe for a nap, at least for the Disciples. The Gethsemane Prayers in Matthew 26:36:42 display Jesus singled out Peter and two sons of Zebedee to go pray with and watch. During this time with them He shared that "He was overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death!" After going a bit further from the group to pray, Jesus prayed, "let this cup pass from me" or please, Father, let this way not be the way, yet not my will or plan, but yours be accomplished. He prayed this prayer two more times!

On The Cross, Jesus cries out to Father God, "'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?'" This is a crying out to God type of prayer in Matthew 27:46. I am glad my Savior cried out so I could have the privilege of doing the same.
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Mark's donation is very brief. Mark 1:35 says "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." When? "very early in the morning". Where? "a solitary place" outside the house - "Jesus got up, left the house". What did He pray? We don't know for sure.
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Luke followed up right on Mark's heels with Jesus' criteria for prayer. Luke 5:16 - "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." This is not surprising with the masses of people that flocked to Him for all the healings that they needed in their lives.

Another mountainside prayer-time was very special. This time in Luke 6:12 it was an all-nighter and we might be able to take an educated guess at what Jesus prayed about by observing verse 13. The original verse reads - "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God." Well, we know where and when. The next verse says, "When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:" 

Before this night, it seems Jesus had many followers and disciples. During the night, His prayer might have been for direction in selecting the carriers of His message because in the morning Jesus seems to pull from a large group of His disciples those whom He desired to be an intimate group of twelve Apostles.

Here is an interesting observation - Luke 9:28-29 portrays Jesus, Peter, James and John all on the mountain praying when The Transfiguration of Jesus occurred. Here we see that Christ’s glory and Father God’s voice can be heard in prayer.

In Luke 23:34, "Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'" Jesus said these words as He approached death hanging on a cross. Because Jesus administered forgiveness even at the point of dying, we too can give forgiveness at this point in our lives. However, we should not wait this long to forgive and/or receive it, but it is available to give and receive until the curtain falls on this chapter of life, after that there is judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

Another example of Jesus crying out to Father God is found in Luke 23:46. Once again the scene is Jesus on The Cross and it says, "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.'" When? "about the sixth hour" (v.44) According to my sources, "the sixth hour" was always the noon or mid-day hour of the day in Jewish tradition.
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The first time prayer is associated with Jesus in the book of John is John 11:41-42. Here Jesus is in front of the tomb of one He loves dearly, Lazarus (verses 3, 5, 33, 35) four days after His friend died. 

The prayer was first one of thanksgiving – “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me,”. The second part of the prayer justified His request – “I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.’” Then God's power was displayed through the Word of God in flesh as Jesus spoke – “Lazarus, come out!”

John 17 contains the most extensive prayers that I researched Jesus to pray. In the first section, John 17:1-5, Jesus prays for Himself to now be glorified through the obedience that He has displayed to Father God’s plan. "'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you."

Then Jesus Prays for His Disciples in John 17:6-19. Jesus prays for protection twice (verses 11b and 15). Jesus also prays for sanctification of His Disciples by the Truth - Himself, The Word of God (verse 17).

Finally, Jesus prays for all believers in John 17:20-26. He prays, "that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe you have sent me." (verse 21) Jesus prays a second time for "complete unity" (verse 23). Then, Jesus prays, "'Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my Glory'" (verse 24).

In conclusion, while trying to leave the duplication of prayers in other Gospels out of the equation I found it important and refreshing to study and observe when, where, and what my Savior prayed.

I discovered Jesus loved mountainsides as locations to pray. I noticed that when He prayed the time of day ranged from early morning hours all the way through to all hours of the night. This meant to me that there is no set time to pray. However, whenever Jesus could get alone with Father God, He took the opportunity no matter when it was during the day.

I uncovered what Jesus prayed about. He prayed for children, Himself, His disciples, all Believers, and people at Lazarus' tomb. He thanked Father God for food and for hearing Him.

With the children He might as well have prayed, but it is not recorded He did, just that He touched them.

With Himself, Jesus prayed for glorification, "cup" to be passed, and the surrender of His spirit.

With His Disciples, Jesus prayed for protection, sanctification, identification (who are the twelve), and revelation (of who He was).

With all Believers, Jesus prayed for unity, company in heaven, and forgiveness. With the people at Lazarus' tomb, Jesus prayed for the power of God to be displayed for the benefit of the people standing there.

Now, it is our turn. We have awesome men and women of prayer, often called Prayer Warriors/Leaders, in the Body of Christ. We can pull from these resources and learn from them the discipline of a strong and mighty prayer life. Paul was another great person of the faith that had a strong prayer life. This shows in in his writings to the churches. However, let us study and copy as much as possible The Prayers of Jesus.