30 Day to pray for your husband

When people pray, God listens and works miracles. Praying for your husband does not mean to ask God to fix the little (and even big) things that bug you. Praying for your husband is simply laying his needs and your marriage at His feet and allowing Him to transform your marriage into what God intended it to be.
Take the challenge with us. It is NEVER too late to start. Whether you have been married one day or 50 years, start praying today.

You can find this challenge here.  Reviveourhearts.com has many other great resources as well.

"An excellent wife who can find?

She is far more precious than jewels 

The heart of her husband trusts in her,

and he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good, and not harm,

all the days of her life."

Proverbs 31:10-12 (emphasis mine)

The main focus for this week's prayers is your husband relationship with God. Whether your husband is a believer or not, he is a child of God. He may follow God wholeheartedly or reject Him completely. Regardless of the situation, praying for a right relationship with God is crucial. Not just that but praying for your husband will also ensure that your relationship with God is on track as well.

So join us in this challenge and do let us know if we can pray for you.

Do you love the little children?

 I saw a little girl today. She was about two, and like many two-year-olds she was happy and bubbly and uninhibited. She smiled and I couldn't help but smile in return. She was so beautiful, and I was struck by how precious all little children are.  What person doesn't love a child? Their cuteness draws us to them, makes us want to protect and help them. We feel a deep societal need to protect them. We are angry with people who harm them or fail to properly nurture them. We make all kinds of laws to protect them, to make sure that they are not allowed to encounter any unnecessary dangers so that they can grow up and reach their full potentials.

But as I watched this little girl today, I began to wonder what happens. It seems that at some point they lose the cuteness, and we lose interest in protecting them. Look at the adults around you. How many of them do you love? How many do you feel a need to nurture and protect? How many of them annoy you? Do you talk about them behind their backs? Complain about all the annoying things they do? Do you steal from them, lie to them, curse them, yell at them or insult them? What would you say to someone who treated a child in the way you treat them? They were once cute, lovable little babies. They were innocent souls in need of protection.

I guess we failed to adequately protect them, because as they grew, they were exposed to all the excesses and sins of society. They were corrupted. They became… like us. But somewhere deep inside is still that small child, that innocent soul looking for love and affirmation and encouragement. Are they getting it?

When God looks down on us I believe that he sees the little babies hidden inside. He loves us and nurtures us just like babies. Sometimes his love hurts. Just like when we give our children immunizations, discipline them for doing wrong or tell them no in regard to something they want but which might harm them.

But always God loves us, no matter what we do. Just like we love our children no matter what they do. The greatest command is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and the second is to love your neighbor as yourself, to treat others the way you want them to treat you. Is there a little child hidden inside you, longing for love?

I’d like to challenge you to take a new outlook. Instead of looking at people and seeing them as they are now, try to picture them as the cute little babies that they once were; the toddlers running around; the little girl or boy proudly bringing home a painting from school, even though it just looks like a blob. Try to love them with the unconditional love that we shower on our children, the love we ourselves desire. Admire them, encourage them, engage them, uplift them. And pray for them. Pray that they will become the perfect souls that God created them to be.

Are you putting God first?

If you could ask him for anything, what would you ask of God? Solomon was given this chance, and he asked for wisdom to rule God’s people. God commended him and gave him not only that but honor (fame) and riches as well. But Solomon disappointed God.

In Deuteronomy 17:14-17 God gave the kings of Israel some rules. They were not to collect horses or to return to Egypt for horses. They were not to collect wives.  And they were not to collect riches. But Solomon had thousands of horses, and he imported them from Egypt. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. And he definitely had riches. It was the wives, especially, that were Solomon’s undoing. They led him into idol worship. But without the riches and honor he could never have gotten all the wives. In the end, God said he would tear the kingdom from Solomon because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness. Yet because of God’s promise to David, he would not do it in Solomon’s lifetime, but his son’s. Solomon’s response? He tried to kill the one to whom God said he would give the kingdom. Wow, Solomon! What happened to the humility shown in 1 King 3?

David, in contrast to Solomon, asked one thing of God - to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, to gaze upon his beauty and seek him in his temple. Solomon asked a noble thing. He was concerned about God’s people and he wanted to be a good ruler, to fulfill his duty in the best way possible. But his focus was on earthly things. David had his eyes on the eternal. He had his priorities right and he was commended as a man after God’s own heart. And his faithfulness affected his descendants as well as himself. The greatest command is to love God. The second is to love people. Our love for and service to people flows out of our love for God. Without the first, the second will inevitably go astray. Solomon’s concern for God’s people is commendable, but he forgot to put God first.

So my question for you is, Are you putting God first? Do you make time for Him? Or do you let the things of the world pull your attention away? If you are not putting God first, all your works are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

If you’d like to check this with the Bible, here are some references:
1 Kings 3 (Solomon’s petition)
Deut 17:14-17 (God’s command to kings)
1 Kings 4:21-28, 2 Chronicles 9:13-28, 1 Kings 11 (Solomon’s riches and God’s anger)
Psalm 27:4 (David’s prayer)
Matt 22:36-40 (Greatest & second command)
Acts 13:22 (David is a man after God’s heart)
Ecclesiastes (Everything under the sun is meaningless)

Believe and Pray

I've been reading 2 Chronicles during my Quiet Times. I always love reading the histories of the kings. They absolutely fascinate me. One thing I find intriguing is the epitaph that each king is given. Often, there is a king who lived most of his life well, but toward the end of his life he messed up and turned away from God. Yet his epitaph will say something to the effect that he "did right in the sight of The Lord" - sometimes despite having ended his life in rebellion to God.

Manasseh, however, is a king whose story is rather the opposite. People often cite Hezekiah (Manasseh father) as an example that we should trust God's will in things and not ask him to change anything. They say that God intended Hezekiah to die, but he begged for longer life and his wish was granted. But the result was that his son Manasseh was born, a king who "made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel." Manasseh is remembered as the worst king Judah ever had. So people say that Hezekiah should not have had his extra 15 years. And if you only read the story in 2 Kings there does seem to be truth in that. Yet that is not the end of Manasseh's story, although you have to go to 2 Chronicles to get "the rest of the story" as Paul Harvey would say. In fact, Manasseh was taken captive by the king of Assyria, and in his imprisonment he turned to God. He was later released and sent back to rule over Judah again. The fact that the Assyrian king let him go is in itself is amazing. What is even more amazing is that Manasseh destroyed all the idols he had built and ordered the Israelites to worship the true God and forsake idols. Can we say witness? Manasseh may have led the people to sin, but they didn't exactly go kicking and screaming. They were followers. They followed their king into sin, and they followed him back out of it.

And that still isn't the end of Manasseh's story. His son, Amon, reigned after him. Amon was evil, and God only saw fit to let him reign two years before he died at the tender age of 24. But his son, Josiah, (Manasseh's grandson, who would never have been born if Manasseh had never been born) was perhaps the greatest king Judah ever had, next to David. He brought a great revival to Judah and to Israel as well!

So I say pray on, ladies. If God tells you something you don't like, don't be afraid to ask him to change it. Even Jesus asked God to change something he didn't like! Just make sure your heart is in neutral when it comes to the answer. Ultimately, God is in control and will grant or deny as he sees fit. We have to trust him either way, knowing he knows "the rest of the story".

(These stories start in 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 29 if you're interested in reading them yourselves.)

Praise Challenge

They say that the best way to learn something is to teach it. I cannot argue with this as I have learned the most about the things that I have set out to teach. My experience as prayer coordinator has been no different. One thing I'm discovering is that God desires our praise, and we are nearest to Him when we praise Him. I've spent quite a bit of time praising God over the last few months, and the more I do, the more I reap the benefits and the stronger my desire to praise Him becomes.

Genesis tells us that  God created mankind in His own image. It also tells us that He created man first and then woman. Of course, we are both in His image. We each represent different aspects of His character. But He did create males first. And He represents himself as a male - God the Father, not God the Mother. When He sent the savior, He sent a man, not a woman. Not to say that female characteristics are not important to God. The feminine qualities of tenderness, love and mercy are clearly displayed in the Bible in many places, and Jesus compares himself to a mother hen protecting her chicks in his love for Jerusalem, for example. But clearly God puts prominence on the male aspect of himself.

Anyone who has ever read anything about marriage has no doubt come across a list of the primary desires of a man. At or near the top of the list is always a desire for respect. Men want to feel successful and be praised for their accomplishments. Even little things make them happy. I recently told my husband that the two scarves he got me for Christmas are now my favorites (and I have a LOT of scarves). That was probably obvious by how much I have been wearing them, but he liked hearing it. It was a small endeavor, but he was successful in it and that made him feel good.

God doesn't need us to tell Him that he is successful - He already knows that He is perfect and perfectly successful. But He desires it. Hearing the praise of His people makes God feel good, just like hearing the praise of his wife makes a husband feel good. And God reflects the pleasure He feels in our praise back into ourselves. I simply cannot describe the joy I feel when I manage to make that connection to God through praise. And it makes me desire all the more to please Him. It fills me with a hunger to spend more time with Him, because of the pleasure I receive in His presence.

So here's my challenge to you. For the next week (or, if you're really daring, the next month) spend at least fifteen minutes a day just praising God.

Read Psalms of praise to Him, pick some songs that praise Him (make sure they're ones focused on praising God/Jesus, rather than how God makes us feel).

Really focus on God and let him know how much He means to you and acknowledge His greatness. See if it doesn't make a difference in your life!

1 Samuel 2:1-10
1 Chronicles 16:8-36; 29:10-19
Psalms 8, 19, 24, 25, 29, 33, 47, 65, 77, 92, 93, 96-100, 104-107, 111, 113, 117, 119, 134-136, 146-150
Isaiah 12:1-6, 52:7-10
Luke 1:46-55, 1:67-79
Revelation 4:8-11, 5:9-14, 7:10-12, 19:1-7

Hopefully that is enough to get you started!

In Chains and Singing

Acts 16:19-28

    When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
     The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

    Have you ever wondered how Paul and Silas could sing hymns while imprisoned? And what was it about their prayer and songs that kept all the other prisoners from leaving? Whatever these men had, it was better to the prisoners than their freedom! Do you understand the power of this statement? This is not jail in America, with social time in the courtyard, guaranteed meals, latrines in every cell, TV, visits from friends and family and even school available to those who seek it. This is Roman imprisonment.
    The prison in which Paul and Silas were being kept was probably underground, perhaps dug out of rock. Often, the only entrance to such a prison was a hole the size of a manhole, through which both prisoners and guards were lowered. Any light came from a torch or oil lamp making the air smoky. No lights were allowed at night, so you were in pitch darkness. But there were worse things than the darkness. Food rations were half that of a slave ration; not truly enough to maintain life. Friends or family could bring you provisions...if they were allowed and were willing to brave being lowered through that manhole, to be lifted out at the guards' whim. And if they were willing to risk being associated with someone accused of whatever crime you were charged with. Most prisoners were whipped or beaten before being lowered in. Do you think their wounds were dressed? Bloody and in pain, they were manacled and left to suffer. There were no baths or potty breaks, not even chamber pots provided. Rats abounded; there were no beds or blankets, just chains. Prisoners often committed suicide, if they didn't die from the conditions and if they could find the means. Their bodies were piled in a corner to be lifted out later. By the way, female prisoners were dumped into the same prison as the males. No separate facilities here. And prison guards were usually the poorest of soldiers. I doubt they had much love for the prisoners whose crimes had forced them into this terrible place. Do you think they were pleasant to their charges?
    Prison for the Romans was not a punishment as it is today, but a place where you awaited trial or punishment. Punishment, when it came, could be enslavement. It could be a lifetime of working in rock quarries, or perhaps in mines, where you would never again see the light of day. Or maybe you would be made a galley slave, where you lived and slept on a bench, rowing a Roman galley until you died. If your crime was particularly bad your punishment would be death by crucifixion, arguably the most painful way to die. But before you received one of these punishments, you had to have a trial. And your trial came whenever they felt like getting around to it. If they did.
    So what was it about Paul and Silas that kept the prisoners, whose chains had been loosed, from running, attempting, at least, to escape this torture and the punishment that awaited them? What strange inner strength gave Paul and Silas the ability to endure this treatment and rather than cursing the all-powerful God, the worship of whom had landed them here, sing hymns of praise and pray to Him? What do you think you would do if thrown into such a prison for a crime you did not commit? Or even if you were thrown into a modern-day American prison? Could you praise God for allowing you to be falsely accused and unjustly condemned? Honestly, I don’t know what I would do. I think it’s impossible for anyone to say until they are in such a situation. But I believe I have had a taste of the joy that caused Paul and Silas to rise above their circumstances and focus on the eternal rather than the temporal.

    What about you? Have you ever tasted of the joy of the Spirit? I’m not talking about the simple pleasure that we often derive during worship time in church. Or the joy you might feel in the midst of good fellowship. Those are nice, but they generally fade as soon as the music dies or the fellowship ends. I’m talking about a deep inner peace, contentment and fulfillment that causes you to hunger and thirst for more. An addiction that drives you to seek the inducing drug, inciting you to go to extreme measures to get another hit. No drunkenness of wine can compare to the glory of this high. Like a lover’s caress, it’s locked in your memory so that you find yourself returning to it again and again, longing for the next embrace, wondering when it will come, how you can hasten it. Because if we allow him to, God will romance us. He created us with a desire for romance, and He is the best lover Harlequin ever imagined. This, I believe, is what Paul and Silas felt. This is what radiated from them, infecting the other prisoners with a passion to experience what they saw in these two men.
    Would you like a taste of what Paul and Silas had? It’s possible, you know. All you have to do is spend time with Jesus. He loves you. He desires you. Just you. Coming to him openly, unabashedly, wholeheartedly. It isn’t easy, of course. It’s difficult to have that with a flesh and blood person we can see and touch. To develop such intimacy with the Christ will take some effort. But if you try, I guarantee you will never look back. And you will not fail. “You will seek me and find me if you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13)
    “So how do I begin?” You ask. I cannot give you a fail-safe formula for developing intimacy with the lover of your soul. But I can tell you this: when a woman sees a man she desires, she rearranges her schedule to make time to be with him. She sets up a date, puts him on her calendar, and makes sure she is available when he comes for her. So do that now. If you desire Jesus, look at your schedule; figure out where you can fit him in. He keeps his calendar open for you all the time. He’ll meet morning, noon or night. Whenever it’s convenient for you. Give him an hour to start. An hour would be a pretty short date with a desirable man. Does Jesus deserve at least that? A lunch date? Just a quick break from work to get to know him a little better, to find out if he’s as desirable on the inside as he is on the outside?
    I know the holidays are a busy time, but truly, that is why we need, all the more, to spend time with our Lord. Martin Luther once said, “I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer.” I’m no Martin Luther, but if a man like him needed much time in prayer, who am I to think I can get along without it? So I challenge you this holiday season, if you have never spent a full hour in prayer, to set aside one hour once a week, at a minimum to spend time in prayer. Plan it like you would a date. Get child care if you need to. But make it a priority. I guarantee that you will be glad you did it.

    Are you wondering how you could possibly spend an hour in prayer? I’ll share a plan that has helped me. Spend five minutes praying in each of the following areas. Set a timer if you need to, but don’t feel like you have to be bound by it if you do. Don't feel confined by the order, either. Let the Spirit lead you.

• Waiting on God. You can put this after praise or before. It is a time to be silent before the Lord and wait for him to come to you. It is also a time to prepare your heart to meet with the maker of the universe, the Holy God.

• Praise. The more time I spend in praise, the more joy-filled I find myself to be. If you struggle with praise, here are some psalms you could use:

Psalms 8, 9, 24, 29, 33, 47, 50, 65, 66, 76, 92, 93, 95-99, 104, 111, 113, 139, 147-150

• Confession. Examine yourself. Think about your day, or week. Look for sins in your life and talk to God about them. Open your heart to him and let him show you things you may not have already seen.

• Prayer for the world. This may involve some preparation work as you look into what events in the world need praying over. It could include things like praying for persecuted Christians, for the poor, the disadvantaged, for ministries like World Vision, YWAM and Wycliffe. It could be praying for the Syrian refugees or the people in the Philippines who are so greatly affected by the recent storm. Open yourself up and let God lead you in this.

• Intercession. This is prayer for people you know. People at church, friends, neighbors, your country and city, etc. Again, you may want to prepare by having a list. Once you start writing things down you may feel five minutes is not nearly enough time. Remember, it is not our many words but the simple act of lifting a thing up to God. The Spirit prays for us, too!

• Petition. This is a time of prayer for personal needs and family. Resist the urge to tell God what he should do. Rather, lift people up. Here is an excellent list of the prayers of Paul, arranged topically. http://www.regent.edu/lib/research/divinity/divinity-paul.pdf

• Thanksgiving. If you’re going through a tough time right now, this may seem difficult. If so, think of anything good in your life. Do you have a vehicle that works? Clothes to wear? A house? A beloved pet? Food? Health? Even partial health? Do your eyes, ears, nose, mouth and nerves work? Do you have two arms, two legs? There are many who do not have these things. Learn to appreciate the things you do not lack.

• Singing. Take some time to sing a song of praise to God, or listen to one if you don’t like to sing. It is a wonderful way to lift up praise to him.

• Read the scriptures. Just a chapter or two. Whatever you can read in five minutes.

• Meditate on what you have just read. Does it talk about a sin you should avoid? Does it give you an example to follow? Does it speak of a command or promise God gives us? What lesson can you take away from it.

• Listen to God. What does he have to say to you. This is one of the most difficult things to do.  Simply sitting silent, waiting to hear from God. Maybe he will speak, maybe not. You will never know if you don’t stop to listen, though.

• End your time with more praise. Praising and glorifying God is, after all, what we were created for. And it is where we are closest to him.

If you commit yourself to God and give him this time, I promise that you will find yourself wondering where the hour went and wishing you could spend more time with the Lord. And you will begin to taste that joy and glory that made Paul and Silas sing in prison.

Jesus' Farewell in John 15-16-17

"Rise let us go from here"...... are the words Jesus spoke at the end of John 14. 

Rise....

Rise, do not let the world drag you down....

let us go from here......

Remember friends, this world is not our own......

 I am the True Vine

 God's vineyard is a common Old Testament imagery for Israel. Read through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Psalm and Ezekiel and you will find countless mention of the vineyard.

  I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.

He dug it up and cleared it of stones
    and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
    and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
    but it yielded only bad fruit.

Isaiah 5:1-2

 God carefully cultivated His vineyard and in due time expected good fruits from it. Prophets after prophets warned the people of Israel about the impending doom of the fall and captivity. Israel was already captive of its own desires and selfish ambition and turned a deaf ear to the warnings. God's hand of protection was removed from them.

"I am the true vine and my father is the vinedresser." John 15:1

John here is not suggesting a replacement theology. WE are not the new vine, WE are not the new Israel.

JESUS IS THE NEW VINE.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the good fruits the vine will bear.

 What does this mean for us? Does it mean that we are good to go once we are "Christians"? In God's economy there is no fire insurance.

Jesus cam so that the Father may be glorified. We have a choice to to go along with the plan and glorify God through Jesus or be thrown into the fire.....

I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life...

NOBODY comes to the Father but through me.

 Can grape grow and live outside of the vine?
If we are the grapes we can only live if still attached to the vine.

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." John 15:7

Ladies, we have been faithful in reading and studying the word and I encourage you to on going. Never give up. The stakes are too high!

Any gardener knows that for a plant to flourish you have to prune it. I learned this year that in order for tomatoes to redden faster you need to prune all the leaves around the fruit.

 Pruning will be a constant in your Christian walk. It is necessary for growth and to produce better fruits.
Is it worth it?

 YES YES YES

 "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." John 15:14-15

Jesus calls us friends.

Friends

Can you wrap your mind around this? The God who created everything calls us friends. Do not let this thought just pass by. Let this dwell in you. Let this be a constant light throughout the day.

The vine metaphor is one of a very close-knit relationship God has restored with us through his son. A very intimate relationship that will grow if we stick through the process.

Love is the glue that holds it all together.

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."  John 15:13

Spoken hours before being arrested...beaten...crucified.....

Here is where so much does not compute with me.

Jesus loves me
I love Jesus
We are one.

He died for each and every one of us and yet the world hates him.
When we choose to be of this world and live in this world and enjoy this world, we hate him.

I would NEVER say that I hate Jesus, yet I live in this world and I am attracted by many things in this world.

Life with Jesus seems too hard and costly at times. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 4:9-13

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment. (Emphasis mine)

 We like to be popular and being a follower of Jesus is rarely popular. We raise children in opposite world, our marriages are in opposite world. Opposite, old fashioned, archaic......

Those choices do not make us popular but the truth is that once you know, you can never go back. Once you have tasted from the bread of life and drank from the living water you can never go back. This process takes time but it is well worth it. After all your life depends on it.

John 17 is Jesus' farewell. It is also called the High Priestly Prayer. It can be divided in three parts:

• verses 1 through 8 Jesus prays for himself
• verses 9 through 19 Jesus prays for his disciples
• verses 20 through 26 Jesus is praying for you

You

Underline this passage, highlight it, write it down on a notecard.

Jesus is praying for you.

Meditate on this today, tomorrow.
 Make this prayer personal and insert your name where indicated

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for [insert your name] who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May [insert your name] also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given [insert your name] the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved [insert your name] even as you have loved me.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and [insert your name] know that you have sent me. I have made you known to [insert your name], and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in [insert your name] and that I myself may be in [insert your name].”

John Week 11 Homework Copy 2

Prayer help: Be a committed Disciple

Jesus had four levels of followers. 

The first stage is the “COME AND SEE” phase. In the beginning of his ministry, people were told to come and see Jesus. John The Baptist proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”. When asked where he was staying, Jesus told some men, “Come, and you will see.” Philip told Nathanael to “Come and see” this good man who came from Nazareth. (John 1:29,35,39,46)  The woman at the well said to the people of her town, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:29)

    I would liken this to a person who has witnessed Christ working in someone else’s life. Perhaps they grew up going to church, have a Christian friend, or watched a Billy Graham crusade on TV… something has introduced them to the existence of Christ, but as yet they know little about him and do not know him personally at all. Nevertheless, they are curious and want to know more.

    Once a person has seen Christ, he invites them to FOLLOW him. (John 1:43, Matt4:18-22) Having already seen something of what Jesus was about, some men wanted to know more, so when he called they dropped everything to follow him. There is a huge step that takes place here, from just knowing about Christ, listening to his words, to actually going along with him. Notice that for these men it meant a sacrifice. They left their nets, their boats, their parents and at least in Peter’s case a wife. This is a shift from a superficial belief to a sacrificial commitment.

    Despite the sacrifice involved, though, this is still not a full committal to Christ, but rather a learning phase. The disciples went with Jesus, they spent time with him, they listened to his message and learned what he was about. But there comes a time in every believer’s life that s/he must fully commit to BE WITH Christ. Many of the people who followed Jesus early in his ministry were really just after a free ride.

We see this especially in John 6 where Jesus feeds the five thousand and they are reluctant to let him get away. They say that Moses provided Manna, and they want a similar sign from Jesus. But he rebukes them as working for food that spoils. He then tells them that he is the Bread of Life, that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood. Many are offended by this and leave off following him. John tells us here that many disciples left Jesus. These were not the enthralled “come and see” onlookers, but people who had left things behind to follow him. Yet when he asked too much of them, they left.

After this exodus, Jesus asks the 12 if they will leave him as well. But Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” So there is a recognition among these believers that Jesus offers us something more than the temporal, and that it is worth seeking, worth any sacrifice.
   
Interestingly, even now there is a follower left who is not fully committed to Jesus. Christ proclaims, “Have I not chosen you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70)   
  

 There is a shift here in the teaching of Christ to a focus on his deity and his work on the cross. His “I AM” statements are begun. There is a great deal of controversy over his claims. And he talks more and more of his coming death and resurrection. As the fated day approaches, Jesus has some intimate time with the apostles. It is here that we see the final phase of following Jesus. He challenges the 12 to “ABIDE IN ME”. Jesus is the vine, his followers are the branches. Their very sustenance and life are to come from him. Without him, they will dry up and be burned. (John 15) The believer who makes it this far is fully committed, engaged and willing to endure anything for the sake of the savior. (John 16:33) They are no longer of the world but they have a mission IN the world, that of spreading the gospel. (John 17:14,18-26; 20:31)

    Where are you in this journey?

Are you the curious onlooker?

The interested follower who sees the gift and wants a free ride?

God, give me this; Lord bless me in that?

Have you become the committed believer who is learning everything you can, enduring ridicule and trial for his sake?

Or have you reached the level of committed disciple, abiding in Jesus, seeking to imitate him and MAKE disciples as he commanded in Matthew 28:19-20?

 
Note: I feel obligated to give credit where credit is due. The idea for this outline came to me as I perused the contents of a book I found on Amazon called The Complete Book of Discipleship : On Being and Making Followers of Christ by Bill Hull. I have not read the book, so I have no idea what Mr. Hull says about the four phases (Come and See, Come and Follow Me, Come and Be with Me, Remain in Me) but I give credit lest someone accuse me of plagiarism.

Glorify God

Please take the time to take a short survey:

1. The purpose of my life is:

a. To be happy
b. To raise a family
 c. To do something important and lasting
 d. To glorify God 

2. The purpose of my marriage is:

 a. To make me happy and fulfilled
 b. To have someone to take care of and love me
c. To have a family and raise children
 d. To reflect and glorify God 

3. The purpose of raising children is:

a. To give me someone to love
 b. For my parents to get back at me for everything I did to them growing up
c. To bring up happy, well-adjusted adults
d. To raise up more people for the kingdom so that they can glorify God 

 4. The purpose of my work is:

a. To make lots of money
 b. To give me fulfillment
 c. To get me out of the house
 d. To give me a venue to glorify God 

5. The purpose of my worship is:

a. To fill me and make me feel good
 b. To use my gifts in the church body
 c. To get me into heaven
d. To glorify God

 6. The purpose of my rest/free time is:

 a. To have fun because I work so hard all the time
b. To watch my favorite TV shows and keep up on all my social media
c. To refresh me
d. To renew my strength so that I can more effectively glorify God. 

7. The purpose of my prayer is:

a. To get things I want from God
b. To be a good Christian
c. To prove how righteous and holy I am
d. To assist in the works of God and so bring glory to Him 

Have you ever given much thought to your purpose in life? 

To the purpose behind the things you do?

 I speak for myself, but I know that what I say is true for many (dare I say all?) of us. I get caught up in this life a lot. My kids have needs, and it’s my job to fulfill them - food, clothing, help with school, etc. My husband has needs, too - sex, food, affection, a sounding board… Then there are the endless chores, errands, bills, all those things that go along with my role as a wife, mother and keeper of the home. And I don’t even have a paying job. I can’t imagine trying to manage that along with all the other stuff I do. My hat is off to all you working women out there. But it’s easy, in the midst of our busy schedules, to forget that there is a purpose behind all that we do. 

This life is not the end. It’s just a beginning. This is the womb of eternity. Just like a baby passing out of its mother into her presence, we will pass from this life into God’s presence. A baby has nine months in its mother’s belly, but that is less than 1/100th of its life. Compared to eternity… well, compared to eternity, this life is not even worth speaking of. Except that what we do here determines what our life in the presence of the Lord will be. (Mt 25:14-30) This life is the only chance we have to save up for our retirement. My husband and I have spent 18 years investing little in our retirement portfolio, thinking all along, “We’ll do it later, when our finances are a little better.” But our finances are not getting any better. The older we get, the more there seems to be to spend our money on. Many people are like that in their Spiritual lives. They keep thinking, “I’ll do it later, when I have more time.” But like the rich man in Lk 12:13-21, our life could be demanded of us this very day.

Will you have treasure in heaven if you are called today?

 I’m supposed to be coming up with prayer helps for you. This may not seem very helpful in learning to pray. But this is what God has laid on my heart. All the prayer helps in the world will not help you if you are not motivated to pray. So I pray that you will read this and meditate on the verses here. When all is said and done, nothing on this earth matters. It will all pass away. But the treasures we have laid up in heaven will last for eternity.

“You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:2b-3) 

Ask today for that which glorifies God, and see what He will do in your life. 

•  Is 43:7 “…everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” 

 

• 1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 

•  1 Peter 4:10-11 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

•  John 15:8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. 

• Philippians 1:9-11 And this is my prayer:that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. 

•  1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 

• John 14:13 Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

All scripture quotes are from the NASB.

Call on Him

Week 7: Thy Kingdom Come

Who ascend to the hill of the Lord?

Psalm 24:3-4

Who shall dwell in the hill of the Lord?

Psalm 15:1

Thoughts to ponder

 

Goats are very intelligent animals. They can be trained to pull carts and walk on leads. Goats are also known to test their fences and escape.

Sheep are related to goats but they have a flocking behavior. Not only do they stick together but they also follow their leader to greener pastures.

On the day of judgement Jesus will separate the goats and the sheep. 

Read Matthew 25:31-46

Are you a goat or a sheep?

Do you test your fences and escape to greener pastures or do you follow your leader's call to the right pasture?

Is God welcome in your home and in your heart? Do you flock near Him?

Action Steps

"For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him." 2 Chronicles 16:9

Consider the story of Manasseh.

Read 2 Chronicles 33:1-20

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people but they paid no attention.

Pray and ask God to reveal to you the times when you did not pay attention.

The king of Assyria captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze.

What bondage are you in? Are you aware of that bondage? Pray that God will show you your areas of bondage.

Manasseh prayed to God and God was moved. Then he knew that the Lord was God.

Do know that you know that you know that the Lord IS God? 

The voice in the wilderness is still crying "repent for the kingdom is near."

Prayer

If you have never accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior but have felt the calling, run back to your shepherd and accept him in your heart.

 Maybe you have been a Christian for a while but have wondered away from the flock tempted by the "freedom" that others seem to enjoy. Repent and return to your shepherd. He will keep you safe and lead you in the best pastures for you.

"When you get up in the morning, there is a presence and you do not feel it. There is a light and you do not see it. You get up in the morning and there is a voice but you cannot hear it."  

Tozer, "And he dwelt among us"

Pray for His Kingdom to come, right here, right now in your heart that you may feel, see and hear.

Memorize Psalm 139:23-24

 

Persecuted but not crushed

Act IV
Final scene
setting: Galilee, mountaintop
the disciples, Jesus

Jesus enters....

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Curtain. Lights out.

Those are the last recorded words of Jesus while he was still on the earth. His final command. Make disciples. Share my love. Otherwise known as the Great Commission.

But he never promised that it would be easy. On the contrary he warned us about persecution and opposition.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:11-12

Recent statements by the Pentagon have raised some eyebrows in the Christian community. Statement such as “Religious proselytizing is not permitted within the Department of Defense. Court-martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis and it would be inappropriate to speculate on the outcome in specific cases.”
The definition of proselytizing, according to Webster Dictionary is “to recruit or convert especially to a new faith, institution, or cause”. The definition of evangelizing , according to Webster dictionary is “to preach the gospel to; to convert to Christianity”. It is a very fine line between the two and it would appear that Christian rights are being attacked.

What are we, Christians, to do? 

Rejoice! Yes rejoice!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” James 1:2-3
We are to evangelize following Jesus’ commands and when face with this kind of situation he commanded us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

Friends I urge you to pray and love on those who are attacking the basic right of sharing your faith. More things will be done for the Kingdom if we follow his commands. Let us not respond with harsh words but with love. Let us not point the finger and belittle those who do not believe but pray for them.

Let’s forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).

National Day of Prayer

Take a stand today and pray.

Pray for our nation.

Pray for our families.

Pray for our children.

Pray for our soldiers.

Let's all set aside this day to pray and draw close to God.

Let us diminish and let Him increase.