I Have Prayed for You Today

  

Today's passage:  John 17:13-26

Jesus was, and IS, our high priest. He is the One who stands in the gap between us and the Father. Cleansing and perfecting us that we might be holy in His sight and not consumed  with judgment because of our sinful ways.  In today's passage, Jesus is fulfilling His call, in the most glorious, poignant way possible.  As He prepares to die for the world, He prays for His disciples.  His precious, chosen ones.  Then He prays for those who will believe because of them.  That is you and me!!!  Jesus prayed for us, while we were yet unborn.  And He continues to make intercession for us today, at the right hand of Father God.

13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.

Jesus was aware that His death was near.  He would bear the weight of the world's sins upon His shoulders.    But because He was leaving, He chose to offer this prayer in their hearing, that they would have a full measure of joy within them.  In His hour of great distress, your joy was His concern.

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

Jesus knew.  Oh, how He knew!  That as His children, we would not fit in.  We would not be at home in this world.  He knew that the world would oppose us,  reject us, and try to destroy us.  Because we are His.  Because we are not of this world.  His prayer was not that you would fit in, but that while you remain, you will be protected. Protected from the evil one. Satan himself.  Protected from the spirit of Antichrist that is rampant in this world.   For this, He prayed for you.

 17 Sanctifyb them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus prayed that you would be cleansed, made righteous and set apart by the truth of His word.  He prayed that you would come to perfection in Him.  Jesus acknowledged that He is sending you forth, into the world, with His gospel message.  For you He sanctified himself, that you may be sanctified.  Without Him, you had no hope of  holiness.  But in Him, "...you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus."

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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 that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 "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.
25 "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Jesus' desire for us, the body of Christ ,for you as a member individually, is to be one in the Lord.  To be one in the body of Christ.  He offers you the same unique relationship that He shares  with the Father.  Oneness.  Oneness in heart, in  purpose, in calling, in  love.  His glory is manifest in you, child of God, as you dwell in unity with fellow believers.

Jesus prayed that you would be with Him.  Where He is.  He longs to have to you restored to Him in heaven, once your mission is complete.  But until then, you have a work to do.  A work that brings Him glory.

Recently, a wonderful friend of mine, felt the need to introduce me to a special friend  of hers.  She felt that God had a purpose in our meeting.  She knew  her. She knew me.  And somehow, she knew that we needed to know each other.  In the same way, Jesus knows the Father.  So intimately.  He also knows you.  Every complexity of your personality and character.  And in that knowing, He wants you to know the Father.  I was received by my friend's friend because of the relationship that they walked in.  I was received in the name of  my friend.  Received.  You are received in the Name of Jesus.  The Name that is above every Name.

Today, O Lord, my prayer is for every reader.  Help them to be keenly aware of your desire for them.  Help them to sense a connection to the Father, through You.  Help them to fulfill the purpose You have left for them and appointed them to do.  Grant them a unified heart with Your will, Your purpose and Your holiness.  Help them to forgive their grievances within the body of Christ.  Just as they are forgiven by You.  Glorify Yourself in them today.  Fill them with truth, glory and might, that they may perceive and walk in all that You have purchased for them. In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sky Note

"For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. (Rom. 8:14)

This weekend my friend, Angie, and I took a road trip to the Gulf Breeze, FL, area.  It was a clear, beautiful day.  The kind of day that makes you glad to live near water!    As we drove along, talking about the Lord, we passed over a bridge.  The water absolutely sparkled and glittered like thousands of tiny diamonds upon the water's surface.  We  marveled at the beauty while talking about how to discern God's will for our lives.  His direction.  How do we know?  About that time I noted, "It's a beautiful day.  The only cloud in the sky is caused by an airplane."  Suddenly, my friend exclaimed- "That's words!"  Incredible!  The plane was spelling out a circular message, complete with an American flag.  Talk about the writing on the walls! 

I was so busy looking at the small picture, I  totally missed the big picture!  By the time I realized there was a message, the clouds were already disintegrating, spreading and bleeding together. The moment gone.  Evaporated.  And I had missed the message.  Thankfully, as we reached our destination, the plane appeared again.  And this time we were ready!  Ready to decode the message.

I  wonder how many times I am too distracted to get the message the Lord is giving me.  Perhaps He is writing it on the walls (Dan. 5) - or in the sky- plain as day.  But I  am not looking up.  Discerning His will is probably not as hard as we make it.  I think the answer is found more in childlike faith than in expecting obvious signs.  The gentle nudge.  The subtle knowing.  The unease.  All these are ways that the Lord directs our path.  The Good Shepherd, herding us in the right direction.  Cutting us off when we head off on the wrong path.  That is His gentle nurture.  His thoughtful protection. 

Christians seem to veer off in either one ditch or the other.  We either go our own way, uncaring of what the Lord wants for our life...or we park on the other shoulder of the road, afraid to do anything unless we can "hear from God."  I think the balance is somewhere in the middle.  Starting down a direction, but always with an ear to the Father to hear if He would change our course.  Willing to walk and take initiative, but also willing to stop if the Lord bids us to "Halt!"

The Bible clarifies, "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God."(Rom. 8:14)  Good children.  Good sheep.  Follow.  They are led, they go as they are bid.  They do not second guess.  They do not run ahead or lag behind.  They keep in pace with the shepherd.  They trust.

Dear Lord, help me to be led by Your Spirit.  Attune my ears to hear your voice.  Open my eyes to see Your direction, Your sign.  Grant me a tender and receptive heart that hears Your faintest warning.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

 

Would You Extinguish Your Flame?

Don't put out the fire!
 

 

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire."  (I. Thess. 5:19)

 

As a child, my Dad would often grill steak for us.  At one point, all he had was a small piece of grate-like metal with short legs attached.  As a welder, I believe it was something he fashioned himself. With it, he could simply place charcoal on the ground underneath,  and grill steak anywhere we camped or even at home. 

One particular Sunday I recall, he grilled steaks for lunch.  Afterward, we decided to take a family "Sunday afternoon drive."  So he went outside, poured water on the charcoal, dug a trench around it and filled it with water.  After enjoying a drive through many miles of sand hills, local ponds, and less traveled roads, we returned home.  Imagine our horror as we passed a field attached to our home and it was ablaze with fire!

We quickly rushed home to discover that somehow the fire had remained kindled, and in fact, jumped over a trench of water to set scores of acres on  fire.  Miraculously, there was a path about a foot wide, all around our home, that never caught on fire.   But fields, pastures, and untamed woods were on fire as far as the eye could see!

I remember as  a child trying to help beat out the fire with burlap sacks. We dumped buckets of water.  We sprayed with hoses, all to the end of trying to avoid catching anyone's home on fire.  At one point, I was stranded in the middle of a patch of un-kindled land, with fire all around me.

Eventually the volunteer fire department arrived, and the flames were finally contained. Thankfully, no lives  or homes were lost that day.

It is amazing, that despite my Dad's efforts to quench the fire, that some remained active and jumped to find dry ground. 

In the Old Testament, worshipers of God, would make burned offerings to the Lord for many reasons.  Fire was essential to their worship.  In the New Testament, we the believers, are to offer ourselves as a sacrifice or instrument of worship.  Not literally, but figuratively.  We should  make ourselves  available  for the Holy Spirit, the Fire of God, to kindle upon us. We are to be "on fire" for the Lord. We are to be zealous.  Spirit-filled.  Passionate.  Powerful.  Anointed.

The best fires occur on nice, dry, wood.  Once it is doused with water, you get more smoke than fire.  How many times do we, as children of God, throw water on the fire of God?  Every time we choose not to obey, we quench the fire.  Every time we resist the leading of the Holy Spirit, we put out the flame.  Every time we are too distracted to hear His voice, we quench that fire.

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire" sounds to me more like an imperative, or command, than a suggestion!  We are NOT  to do it!  Are there things, habits, people, or ideas in your live that snuff out the flame of God?  Repent!  Turn back! 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship."  (Romans 12:1)

True and proper worship! King James version calls it "your reasonable service."    It is true.  Proper.  And reasonable to expect that Christians will make  themselves a living sacrifice on which the fire of God can kindle and fan a flame... bright enough to light up our homes, communities and world for Jesus!  What is putting your fire out?

Dear Lord, forgive me for allowing other things to snuff out Your fire in my life.  Help me to be a sacrifice ready for the fire of the Holy Spirit to kindle upon.  In Jesus' Name. Amen.

The Final Choice

"Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?" You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding "?" Isa. 29:15-16 (NIV)

It is a top news headline- Brittany Maynard (Diaz) chose to end her life this weekend in Oregon, under the "Death with Dignity Act."  Maynard, a terminally ill patient with an inoperable brain tumor, decided  that the death that would come to her via her illness, was too dreadful to contemplate or endure.  Because of this decision, she, her family, and husband relocated to Oregon where the law permits terminally ill patients, who are in their right mind, to obtain a lethal dose of Barbiturates and other medications to shorten their dying.

When I first read the article about her in "People" magazine, and later through numerous internet articles, my heart was gripped with anguish for this beautiful 29-year-old newlywed.  Previously a school teacher planning to start a family, Maynard was diagnosed January 1st, after headaches became unbearable.  When she had exhausted all of the options she wanted to employ, she made the difficult choice to end it all.  This thrust her in the unexpected role of beautiful spokeswoman for the "right to die" movement. 

Where do you fall in that argument?  Is that a choice you believe you would make?  Is that a choice you could live with a loved one making?  Can we even know what we would do in such a situation?

I honestly am not interested in engaging in a political debate.  To me, this is a spiritual issue.  Although it is not popular these days to state this, there truly are moral absolutes.  I fondly call them "The Bible".  It is filled with "do's and don'ts."  But not to the end of religion.  Rather, to the end of relationship.  God loves us so much that He tells us what we must do to walk in fellowship with Him and what we must avoid to maintain that intimacy.

To me, Brittany Maynard's tragedy is even greater than whether or not suicide is a sin.  It goes back to "square one".  The Lordship issue.  Is there a God?  Is it alright with Him if we choose to terminate a life because it is not convenient?  Because it is painful?   Because birth is not desirable or the expiration date is too close at hand? 

I believe with all my heart that there is a God.  One God. That He is the Creator of every living person and that as the Creator, He alone has the right to begin or end a life.  But what has "gutted" me about this situation is that Maynard apparently did not feel she had access to grace and mercy to endure the hard times.  She seemingly did not know that there was more to life than what we experience in this world.  And that is imminently sad to me.  If I did not believe in a loving Creator-God, then perhaps such a decision would feel right to me as well.

She is gone.  Whether or not you, or I, believe she made the right choice, she has eternally cast her lot.  I do not condemn her.  I feel for her.  My heart breaks for the grief-stricken family.  It is hard to understand why people have to endure such hardship and pain in this life.  There are times, that we all wish we could hit the "escape" switch- should one truly exist.  But if we sincerely believe God is the author of life, then He alone gets to sign off at the conclusion of our story, "The End."

I am also concerned for the ripple effect this can ultimately cause.  Whether or not you believe a person has the right to make a choice to end their life.  Whether alone or  with doctor-assisted suicide, we must realize that once this gate is open, the fall-out will be farther reaching than we imagine. 

People hurt.  They face real, messy, complicated choices.  Choices that weigh heavily on the mind.  Choices that have lifelong (to eternal) consequences. Many of these choices are unavoidable.  But is living or dying really a choice, we, as mere humans, make? 

Some people consider it a negative to have a God who call the shots.  But I, for one, am grateful that He is seated on the throne over my life.  I don't have to be.  I don't have to know everything.  I just know that He loves me.  He wants what  is best for me and He has the power to give me grace to walk through anything He does not deliver me from.

And in Him, I have HOPE!  Hope of help.  Hope of healing.  Hope of eternity in heaven with Him, where there will be no more pain, death, or suffering.

Dear God, I pray today for those grappling with the Lordship issue.  I pray for those who have not yet chosen to give their life to you.  I pray for those who are bearing the unbelievable strain of making horrible choices within the confines of their own knowledge or understanding.  And Lord, I pray for the precious family of Brittany Maynard Diaz.  Please, Lord, comfort them and carry them through their grief, and help us to show them Your love.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.