The Prayer of Jesus

Recently I was reading John 17, which I absolutely love. This is the real “Lord’s Prayer” as opposed to the model prayer which Jesus taught His disciples (Matt. 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4). Jesus’ prayer in John 17 can be divided into three parts—Jesus’ prayer for Himself in verses 1-5; His prayer for His disciples in verses 6-19 and His prayer for future believers in verses 20-26.

In verses 17-19, Jesus is praying about the disciples and speaks of sanctification. "Sanctify them (the disciples) by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth."

John MacArthur's commentary (The MacArthur Daily Bible) on the verse 17 says sanctification means the setting apart for a particular use or purpose. Jesus was set apart—He was in the world but not of the world. And if the disciples hadn’t realized it before, they would learn quickly following the death and resurrection of Christ that they were in the world but not of the world too. They would learn the world hated them just as it had hated Jesus.

Believers learn through the process of sanctification that we are in the world but not of the world—Jesus says we are set apart by the truth of the word of God. The apostle John would write in chapter 20, verse 31, “but these (words) are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” Yes, set apart because of grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Of course, I love the verses in John 17 where Jesus is praying about me—verses 20-26. Just think, all those many years ago, Jesus prayed about me—and not only me but also about all future New Testament believers. He prayed, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word (the disciples—re-read John 20:31 above); that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have love Me."

Wow; perfect unity with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and other true believers. Now that makes my heart sing with joy! And I sincerely pray that it makes your heart sing too!

King Jesus

“And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:16, NKJV

This morning I was reading in the book of 2 Samuel 7. If you are a Bible scholar, (I am not), you should automatically think, “Davidic Covenant”. The Davidic Covenant is God’s irrevocable promise, (all God’s promises, are, of course, irrevocable!) that a king from the line of David would rule forever. This king, King Jesus, would later be described by the prophet Isaiah in these way:

For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on His shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7, HCSB

Reading this makes my heart jump within me! Can you imagine how David must have felt when Nathan, the prophet revealed to him the Lord’s words? He was excited; he was humbled; he was awed; and he was thankful. 2 Samuel 7:18-28, NKJV, tells us that “King David went in and sat before the Lord” to pray.

David begins by saying, “Who am I, O Lord my God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far?” What humility! David recognizes that man is not able to make such promises, only God, who is Sovereign, can make such promises. Further, David recognizes the blessings of God in the revelation, itself, of the promises.

Then the praises begin! “You are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, nor is there any God besides You.” “You redeemed for Yourself”, Israel, for “Your very own people forever” to show Your “great and awesome deeds.” “So let Your name be magnified forever.” “O Lord God, You are God and Your words are true”.

What a wonderful passage and the blessing revealed is beyond comprehension—King Jesus! “For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16, HCSB

Do you know Him? If not, do not delay…He’s waiting for you, right now. EVERYONE (that includes you) “who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God bless!

Spiritual Fitness

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God,” Romans 12:2, HCSB.

Our bodies are designed for activity—physically and mentally. Activity keeps the cob-webs at bay and helps us function more efficiently and effectively. Activity is to our bodies and minds what lubricant is to machinery.

An article entitled, “Why is Exercise Important”, on www.healthdiscovery.net, states if we don’t use our bodies, our muscles become weak and flabby, our heart and lungs won’t function efficiently and our joints will become stiff and more prone to injury. An April 25, 2012 article from www.sciencedaily.com, “Protecting Your Brain: ‘Use It or Lose It’, says “those who are more mentally active or maintain an active cognitive lifestyle throughout their lives are at lower risk” for dementia.

If activity is of such great importance for the fitness of the body and brain, which have a limited lifespan, then how much greater should be the attention given to the spiritual fitness and well-being of the Christian life when the consideration of time is eternity. What activities can we as Christians, undertake for spiritual fitness?

Certainly, without daily prayer it would be impossible to be spiritually fit. Paul admonished the Thessalonians, “Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, HCSB.

Through prayer we commune with God; through prayer we offer praise, adoration, and worship to our Lord; we thank Him for our many blessings; we make our requests known to Him; and through prayer we confess and repent of wrongdoing, (Matthew 6:12). Dr. Charles Stanley has written, “Salvation makes a way for us to enter God’s presence, while regular confession and repentance keep the pathway well maintained and free of obstruction.”

“If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. However, God has listened; He has paid attention to the sound of my prayer. May God be praised! He has not turned away my prayer or turned His faithful love from me,” Psalm 66:18-20, HCSB. Daily prayer is certainly necessary for spiritual fitness and our daily walk of faith.

Another essential in pursuit of God and a life of spiritual fitness is reading the Bible daily. God’s Word enables us to face the difficulties of life; it is our firm foundation in all circumstances. Through the Scripture we learn about the character of God, His will, His way, His promises—through study and application of Biblical truths we gain spiritual maturity; godly wisdom, and spiritual discernment.

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping Your word. I have sought You with all my heart; don’t let me wander from Your commands. I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. LORD, may You be praised; teach me Your statutes,” Psalm 119:9-12, HCSB.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work,” 2 Timothy 3:16-17, HCSB.

Also crucial to spiritual fitness is fellowship with other believers. “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near,” Hebrews 10:24-25, HCSB.

Through unity with other believers we find support, friendship, encouragement, and love; through fellowship with others we discover opportunities to share, serve, mentor, and minister to others. We also have the opportunity to be ministered to and the opportunity to learn from other believers.

While I believe the above are absolute necessities to spiritual fitness, it is certainly not an exhaustive list. Each of us has certain things we do regularly to maintain spiritual vitality. My own routine each morning is to pray, read my Bible, and then walk while listening to contemporary Christian music. I value this time in the mornings alone with God; just praising and worshiping Him. It sets the tone for my entire day.

I’d love to hear what you do for spiritual fitness. Please share with me your favorite activities for staying in good shape spiritually.

God Bless!

The Duck Test

You may be asking yourself, “What is the duck test?” Well, the duck test is an inductive reasoning assessment that goes like this: If you see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then the bird must be a duck.

Unfortunately, the duck test is not completely accurate. As you well know, hypocrisy runs rampant in our society. We see it in the spin of the news media; we see it in the faux promises of politicians; we see it in job-seekers embellishing their resumes—I’ll stop here because giving you a comprehensive list of examples would take too long. For the sake of brevity, I’ll simply give you the definition of hypocrisy, (please forgive me for insulting your intelligence).

From the internet web-site http://www.dictionary.com, hypocrisy is defined as a pretense of having a virtuous character, moral or religious beliefs or principles, etc., that one does not really possess; or a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude.

No surprises there and it is also no surprise that Jesus preached against hypocrisy during His ministry on earth; the Pharisees being particular targets. Just one example of this is found in Matthew 23:17, HCSB, where Jesus says, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity.”

People appearing to be what they are not.

The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 is another example of people appearing to be what they are not. The five wise virgins not only looked the part, they were also prepared. The foolish virgins also looked the part; in fact, they looked exactly like the wise virgins; however, when it came time to meet the groom they were not only unprepared, but it was also discovered they were not even known by the groom—they were imposters!

In Mark 11:12-14, Jesus cursed the barren fig tree for not providing what its appearance promised—fruit. Since the tree was already full of leaves, Jesus went to see, “if perhaps He would find something on it”, (Mark 11:13). Finding no fruit, He cursed the tree.

Jesus says we are recognized by our fruit. In John 15:5-8, He tells us if we remain in Him and Him in us, we will produce “much” fruit and that the Father is glorified by this. Furthermore, by this we are proved to be His disciples…not imposters, but true Disciples of Christ!

As Christians we should daily invite the Lord to examine our hearts and motives to see if there is any offensive way within us, (Psalm 139:23-24). For you can be sure others are watching us to see if we are truly what we appear to be; if we are truly what we profess to be. In other words, if you say you are a duck; then be a duck and don’t get caught acting like a goose! After all, we are ambassadors of Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:20.

“Make Your ways known to me, LORD; teach me Your paths. Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation”. Psalm 25:4-5, HCSB

Precious Lord,

You see our hearts, You know our motives; give us clean hands and a pure heart to know and walk in Your ways, to obey You—quickly, sweetly, and completely; to worship and glorify You, and to serve You always; in Jesus’ name. Amen.

God bless!

Keep Your House Clean

“You must not harbor hatred against your brother... Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh. Leviticus 19:17-18, HCSB

Recently I read a blog post by Max Lucado about hoarders. He spoke of how hoarders save everything. He then went on to compare these hoarders with those that “collect” hard feelings toward others in their heart. This struck a chord with me, because at one time, I too, was a “collector” of harsh feelings toward others in my own heart. I allowed this to happen even though I am a Christian and have been for many years.

I hope you are horrified and appalled by that statement; in fact, this is the point where, if you were driving, you would see barricades, flashing red and yellow lights and signs reading, “Caution” and “Danger”. Or perhaps, a little less dramatically, you may ask yourself, “Do I have this problem?”

If you’ve ever watched the reality shows on television about hoarders, you may have noticed they usually refer to themselves as collectors. The title of collector seems an innocuous one; yet these people “collect” to their detriment. In extreme cases their very lives are in danger and in all cases their lives would benefit from a good cleansing; an extracting from the filth, rot, and decay that surrounds them.

The same may be said of those who collect hard feelings—they refuse to let go of past hurts and wrongs until, before they know it, they find themselves in need of a good cleansing. Upon careful examination of their hearts they find they are living with rot and decay; they discover themselves in the midst of the foul refuse that accumulates when harsh feelings are left to sit, soak, and stew until every part of their life has been permeated.

Think of it like this—when you hold something close to your heart and you nurture it, that thing is going to grow. It will grow, whether it is good or it bad, because you have sheltered it; you’ve feed it; and you’ve protected it. How could it not grow?

Just as hoarders need help to clean their homes; those who hoard the hurts of the past need Christ to cleanse their hearts. Just as when we first came to Christ, we must come to Him with genuine, sincere confession and repentance asking for forgiveness. We must also forgive others so that we may receive the forgiveness we so desperately need ourselves.

Jesus said, “So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift,” Matthew 5:23-24, HCSB, and in the model prayer, Jesus taught, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”, Matthew 6:12, HCSB.

As Christians, we need to make a habit of asking God to reveal hidden areas of sin in our lives, and then confessing, repenting, and receiving forgiveness for those sins. Then within the grace, mercy, and transforming power of the Holy Spirit we are enabled to love others as Christ loves us—with a pure heart—sacrificially and selflessly.

With a call to holy living, the Apostle Peter puts it like this: “By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God,” 1 Peter 1:22-23, HCSB.

Amen and God bless!

A Note of Confession: After I had written this but before it had been posted I had an argument with my brother for which I had to confess and repent. I tell you this to say this one thing…I am an ordinary woman with an ordinary life, but I write because I am compelled to share with you what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me of our great, awesome, and extraordinary God! As repeated so many times in the Bible, “The LORD is good and His mercy endures forever.” This is true for ordinary me…and it can be true for you too…just by inviting Christ into your heart…please do so today.

Living in a State of Grace

For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and there was a fire inside the cloud by night, visible to the entire house of Israel throughout all the stages of their journey. Exodus 40:38, HCSB

I presently work in a volunteer position in which I believe God has called me. Last night, as I was thinking about a training session I’m to be involved in later today, I suddenly began to feel overwhelmed by it all and my brain was screaming, “What were you thinking?”

Fortunately, the Holy Spirit quickly stepped in with the answer, “Kaye, you knew all along you could not do this on your own. But you knew that I would be with you; leading, guiding, speaking; working the will of the Father through you. That’s what faith is about. Lean on Me; depend on Me; trust in Me; I will not disappoint; I will carry you through.”

Sweet relief; sweet peace! As I read my Bible this morning, I was reminded the Lord promises to dwell among His people. When the children of Israel were traveling in the wilderness, God promised He would dwell among them, Exodus 29:45-46. Thousands of years later, Jesus reaffirms the promise in Matthew 28:20, HCSB, “And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We can also live in the knowledge God never changes. The prophet Samuel, speaking to Saul, tells him: “…the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not man who changes his mind,” I Samuel 15:29, HCSB. Furthermore, God, Himself, speaking to the prophet Malachi, says: “I, Yahweh, have not changed,” Malachi 3:6a, HCSB.

Though the Devil tries to deceive us with doubt, fear, and lies we have the assurance of God’s Word which says, He will not leave us and He does not change! I don’t know about you but that fills my heart with peace and gladness!

No doubt, concern Timothy might experience moments of doubt and fear in his ministry, the Apostle Paul, reminds Timothy, we are not to be afraid, but we are to exercise the spiritual gifts God bestows upon each of us as believers. Paul reminds Timothy, “For God has not given us a spirit of fearfulness, but one of power, love, and sound judgment,” 2 Timothy 1:7, HCSB.

Because of God’s great love for us, we live constantly in a state of grace. As believers justified through the blood of Christ, let us live passionately for Him, knowing the Holy Spirit, resides within us, shaping us into the likeness of our precious Savior. As followers of Christ, fear and doubt have no place in our lives. Let us live intentionally for Him, waiting expectantly on Him, knowing He will bring to completion the good work He began in each of us, Philippians 1:6. Amen!

God Bless!

Be Nice To You Friens

 Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8, NASB

I went to a retreat this weekend and received a book on leadership written by Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller entitled, “The Secret”. I enjoyed the book very much and without giving away everything the book has to say I can tell you the big secret is that we lead others best through serving them. Or as my two-year-old granddaughter aptly puts it, “Be nice to you friens”. Yes, be nice; genuinely nice; be kind; be considerate; be compassionate.

Or better yet, love one another, just as Jesus commanded us to do. Jesus, the ultimate example of the servant leader said that we are to love others as He first loved us. In fact, not only are we to love our friends, but we are to love our enemies as well, Matthew 5:44; and because of this love we have for one another, people will know we are disciples of Jesus, John 13: 34-35.

Surely we would all agree service to others would be easier with love in our hearts. But how do we obtain the kind of love that helps us to love our enemies and pray for those who would spitefully use us? Honestly, it can be difficult to love others in general; but to love our enemies seems…unrealistic.

Is it unrealistic? Dare I say, impossible? Both these answers are completely accurate without the love of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit abiding within us. Jeremiah 17:9 calls the heart deceitful above all else and even incurable.

However, Jeremiah continues by crying out to the Lord, saying, “Heal me LORD and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved,” verse 14, HCSB. Jeremiah knew what the heart of man was capable of without God, but he was also keenly aware of the healing power of the Almighty.

Yes, it is God who enables us to love one another, 1 Thessalonians 4:9. It is through obedience to Christ we can sincerely love our brothers earnestly from a pure heart, 1 Peter 1:22. The Apostle John tells us, “love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God,” 1 John 4:7, and “If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us,” 1 John 4:12, HCSB.

It is through the Lord that our faith flourishes and that our love for one another increases, 2 Thessalonians 1:3. It is through the strength of Christ we can do all things, Philippians 4:13; through Christ we are able to become servant-leaders; we are able to “be nice to you friens” and love our enemies. Praise God we have the assurance that, “with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” Matthew 19:26.

Amen and God bless!

p.s. My granddaughter, Claire, also says, “Don’t bite you friens,” which aligns very nicely with the “Be nice to you friens” rule.