Matthew 6:10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is a key part of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew six where Jesus is teaching His disciples a wonderful teaching on prayer. Notice the word “your” before the words “kingdom” and “will“. This is a key passage on the spiritual warfare for God’s kingdom and will. God’s kingdom is the place where God is in full control.
Monthly Archives: July 2012
Anxiety vs Good
In this passage one person choose to worry and be anxious, the other to stop and listen to Jesus and what He is speaking. It is hard to stop what we are doing and just listen. Just to stop and listen to Jesus is the good portion that Mary choose.
Luke 10:41-42 but the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
What is Christian Burnout?
We think burnout is what happens to others, but we actually all go through it at some point in our life. Sometimes it manifests itself as just frustration or constantly being tired or run-down.
Burnout happens when we are pulled in directions the Lord is not leading. God only emotionally “funds” the directions He is doing. The other directions and projects are on our energy, and we quickly run out. So find out what He is doing. It’s easy to get or be involved in some work for the Lord that has grown and been blessed by the Lord, but somehow the Lord has moved on or is just not doing it anymore. Yet we contine on and are faithful, yet sometimes we are not sensitive to the Lord’s change in direction.
So we need to learn how to pray “Lord, what are you doing?”, and then be sensitive enough to listen to what He is saying.
Sometimes saying “no” is hard to do. Sometimes we just need to finish something we started even though it may seem difficult.
Acts 16:7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. From Hebrews 12 “…active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us,” Sometimes God is holding back and sometimes He is moving forward, can we listen to what He is saying.
The Holy Spirit Prays in Us with Groanings
Great words from Andrew Murray about working with the Holy Spirit in our prayer time. Let the Holy Spirit be our prayer helper and teacher.
You complain that you do not feel able to pray thus, and ask how you may be fitted to do so. You speak much of the feebleness of your faith in God, and love to souls, and delight in prayer. The man who is to have power in intercession must cease these complaints. He must know that he has A NATURE PERFECTLY ADAPTED TO THE WORK. An apple tree is only expected to bear apples, because it has the apple nature within it. “You are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” The eye was created so see: how beautifully fitted it is for its work! You are created in Christ to pray. It is your very nature as a child of God. The Spirit has been sent into your heart—what to do? To cry Abba Father, to you draw your heart up in child-like prayer. The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be uttered, with a divine power which our mind and feelings cannot understand. Learn, if you would be an intercessor, to give the Holy Spirit much greater honors than is generally done. Believe that He is praying within you, and be strong and of good courage. As you pray, be still before God to believe and to yield to this wonderful power of prayer within you.
These are quotes from The Inner Chamber by Andrew Murray on Moses the man of prayer.
God’s Word as our Daily Bread
Let God’s word be our daily food, let it be our daily bread. The verse is Matthew 4:4. But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ’”.
There is much packed in this verse: life, living, live, bread, food, nourishment, the bread of life, the Word of God, God’s speaking, the Bible, verses in the Bible, the very speaking of God, the words of His mouth and the fresh words coming from God every day. Each item will take a whole blog entry to develop.
The Two Great Prayers in Ephesians
The Two Great Prayers in the book of Ephesians
There are two great prayers in the book of Ephesians that Paul prays.
- Ephesians 1:15-23 – a prayer that God would grant the believers a spirit of wisdom and revelation. This prayer is so we believers could see what God sees. God’s perspective is from heaven and not from earth. From the heavens God sees Christ far above all the crazy stuff (sin) happening on the earth.
- Ephesians 3:14-19 – a prayer for spiritual strength so that Christ could dwell in our hearts through love. This prayer is so that the riches of the vision could be practical in the believers lives. It is Christ living in us that allows the high vision of the book Ephesians to be lived out in us. This practice is described in details in chapters 4 through 6.
Ephesians Overview – Vision and Practice
Quick Overview of Ephesians
The book of Ephesian was written by Paul the apostle. The six chapters can be divided into two parts.
1. Chapter 1-3 Vision as God sees it from the heavens (not from earth)
2. Chapter 4-6 Living the Christian Life – Application and Practice
Top Keywords in Ephesians: Jesus Christ, God, purpose, glory, church, inheritance, economy.
God’s goal for the Church
- Christ has broken down walls between Jews & Gentiles, making peace and removing hostility (2:14ff)
- Jews & Gentiles fellow citizens of heaven & members of household of God (2:19)
- Jews & Gentiles are fellow heirs in Christ (3:6)
- Edify itself in love (4:16)
The Two Great Prayers in Ephesians
- Ephesians 1:15-23 – a prayer that God would grant the believers a spirit of wisdom and revelation (so we believers could see what God sees)
- Ephesians 3:14-19 – a prayer for spiritual strength so that Christ could dwell in our hearts through love (so that the riches of the vision could be practical in the believers lives)
Relationships among Christians in the early Church
- Members together of the family of God (brothers and sisters in Christ)
- Body of Christ
- Marriage being a type of Christ and the Church (chapter 5)
- Faithful service, exemplified by Tychicus (6:21)
- Comfort and encourage one another (6:22)
- Peace between brothers (6:23)
- Recipients of God’s grace (6:24)
- Mutual love resting on their mutual faith
- Top “Church” keywords: church, Body of Christ, family, household, brother, marriage, husband and wife, members,
Who you are in Christ
- Blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ (1:3)
- God has had a plan (purpose) for me since eternity past (1:4)
- Adopted son of God (1:5)
- Accepted in the Beloved (1:6)
- Redeemed from slavery to sin (1:7)
- Forgiven (1:7)
- Recipient of His rich grace (1:7)
- Can understand the mystery of His will (1:9)
- An heir of God (inheritance)
- Sealed in Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, therefore eternally secure (1:14)
- I am the beneficiary of His great power (1:19)
- Because He was raised from dead, I will be too (1:20)
- Made alive together with Christ (2:1; 2:5)
- I am in Christ positionally—security (2:6)
- Saved from wrath of God by grace through faith (2:8)
- Have boldness of access to God with confidence (3:12)
The believer’s mission
- Gospel presentation (bold ambassador for Christ) (6:20)
How you should behave in light of your identity
- I should live to the praise of His glory (1:13)
- Have love for all the saints (1:15)
- I should do the works God has prepared for me to do (2:10)
- Walk worthy of the calling I have in Christ (4:1ff)
- Lowliness
- Gentleness
- Longsuffering
- Bearing with one another in love
- Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace
- Speaking the truth in love (4:15)
- Exercise the spiritual gift God has given me to edify the Church (4:12ff)
- Do my share to help edify the body in love (4:16)
How you become able to live as God wants
- Strengthened with might through His Spirit in inner man (3:16)
- Through Christ dwelling (being at home) in my heart through faith (3:17)
- By being rooted and grounded in love (3:17)
- He does the work according to the power in us (Holy Spirit) (3:20)
- Know God’s Word so I am not tossed about by every wind of doctrine , and subject to the trickery of men (4:13ff)
- Put on whole armor of God (6:10ff) – warfare
- Truth (6:14)
- Practical righteousness (6:14)
- Gospel of peace (6:15)
- Shield of faith (6:16)
- Helmet of salvation (6:17)
- Sword of the Spirit (Word of God) (6:17)
- Praying in the Spirit (6:18)
Prayer – lots is needed
- Praying always in the Spirit (6:18)
- Watchful in prayer (6:18)
- Perseverance in prayer (6:18)
- Make supplications for all saints (6:19)
- Pray for open doors for the gospel (6:19)
- Pray for boldness for those who are ambassadors of Christ (6:20)
Daily Devotions – Prayer
Psalms 109:4 “In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer”. Or some translations have it “but I am a man of prayer”. Too many times we are in a big hurry in our time for daily devotions. We just have so many things to do but no time for God. How can we develop a Spirit of prayer if we do not spend time with God in prayer. How can anything be accomplished without times of solitude and private time. So our time when we have daily devotions is crucial to developing a relationship with God.