Praying the prayers of Scripture–comfort and strength

I love the blessings of Scripture, whether in the prophetic fashion of Moses (Numbers 6:22-27) or the Spirit-fueled prayers of Paul.  They always point back to God as the original Blesser and the One on whom we are dependent for every good thing. But they do not appear in a vacuum applicable to all the world regardless of belief.  Their contexts often presume submission to God’s revealed truth.

Paul’s prayer for the believers in Thessalonica is no exception:

May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in his special favour gave us everlasting comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say. II Thess.2:16,17

Paul’s blessing is prefaced by instruction about the great deception that will precede Christ’s coming. These believers are already suffering persecution for their faith in Jesus and they’re only too ready for His return. Some have become idle busybodies thinking Jesus’ coming imminent.  Paul writes to steady them and inform them of the events that will precede Christ’s coming so that they will stand firm in what they have believed and continue to speak and act as faithful stewards of God’s grace until He returns.

The comfort he speaks of is not that of a mother cuddling her infant in his fleecy blankie, but a ‘coming alongside’ as Advocate and Intercessor and Helper. It is the same function as that of the promised Spirit:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Jn. 14:16 KJV

This is the Comfort of an all-wise God who comes alongside us to guide us and guard us in all our troubles in order to make us worthy of our high calling. It includes exhortation, entreaty, instruction, admonishment, and beseeching…all those old-fashioned functions of true Love, that do us infinitely more good than a cuddly blankie can.

When Paul prays that they be given strength, he is asking that they be firmly established in what is true, that they be set resolutely in the right direction, that they be planted firmly in what is right.  They don’t need designer ab’s.  They need resolve to hang on to what they’ve been taught already, so that no lie will displace the truth they’ve been given!

And that is my prayer today for myself,  and for fellow pilgrims who suffer and hope and wait for relief, and for wayfarers I notice testing the waters of false teaching…it’s a prayer that God is pleased to answer because of His great love for all the saints!

–LS

 

Have you checked your oil levels lately?

Command the people of Israel to provide you with pure olive oil for the lampstand, so it can be kept burning continually…have the lamps tended continually, from evening until morning, before the LORD. —Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope—Do not quench the Spirit.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption—And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty… Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place–until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!—Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour. 

Lev.24:2,3 NLT; Lk. 12:35-36 ESV; I Thess. 5:19 ESV; Rom. 15:13 ESV; Eph 4:30 ESV; Rom. 8:23-25 ESV; II Pet. 1:16,19 ESV/NLT; Rev 22:20 ESV; Gal 5:25 NIV; Mt.25:13 NET

Keeping the lamp burning is a beautiful picture of the shining hope that is ours through the indwelling Spirit.  As we walk day-by-day with Him He keeps us in hope—pointing us to Jesus, making us aware of sins that dim the flame, and giving us the joy of an assured identity, a steady love, and a sure future.  We are people of hope.  Let’s check our oil levels, trim our wicks and shine! till Jesus comes.

–LS

God’s Way is Perfect!

Then the LORD did exactly what he had promised…It all happened at the time God had said it would…And Sarah declared…“who would have dreamed that I would ever have a baby?”—Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true. 

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. —That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 

God’s way is perfect. All the LORD’s promises prove true.
He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. 

For every one of God’s promises is “Yes” in [Jesus Christ]. Therefore, through him we also say “Amen” to the glory of God. 

Amen!

We wait to see what God will do and HOW?!  We wait, judging Him to be slow about managing our crises…slow about reclaiming the wanderer…slow about making all things right…but His Word assures us (and illustrates repeatedly!!) that God is not slow at all.  His timing is perfect.  His agenda far exceeds our small thinking.  The One who gave us Jesus to meet our deepest needs, will He not perfect everything else that concerns us? We can rest, knowing His ways are the best.

–LS

Amazed–Phillips Craig & Dean

Gen.21:1-2,6-7 NLT; Josh. 21:45 NLT; Eph. 3:20-21 NKJV; I Cor.2:9-10 NLT;
II Sam.22:31 NLT; II Cor.1:20 CSB

First the suffering, then the GLORY

Jesus’ final prayer before His betrayal and arrest is replete with talk of GLORY, but also acknowledgment that before glory comes suffering, because the world we inhabit is hostile to the God we adore.  In being made one with Jesus we are made enemies of the prince of this world.  The very Word that keeps us from falling for Satan’s deceptions puts us at odds with those who have not believed it.  Being discipled ourselves by this Word is  how we bring the Father glory.  Proclaiming what we have learned is bound to bring us trouble, but making it known is God’s way of inviting the world to change its allegiance, believe the good news, and live!   As you set about doing what God has called you to do today, consider these passages.  And take joy in the glory we have yet to fully see!

Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you….I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do, and now glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.  Jn.17:4 ESV

In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. —Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

Heb 2:10 NIV; II Tim.3:12 NKJV; II Tim.4:6-8 ESV;   Rom. 8:16-18 ESV; Rom.10:14 ESV

What do you see?

I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around. —You have eyes—can’t you see? Won’t you ever learn or understand? Are your hearts too hard to take it in? —You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s. —Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly. 

So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now! —For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 

…may [God] give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.

Mk.8:24 NLT; Mk.8:18 NLT; Mk.8:33 NLT; Jn. 7:24 NLT; II Cor. 5:16 NLT; I Cor. 13:12 ESV; I Jn. 3:2 ESV; Eph 1:17-19 ESV


Things are not always what they seem. The blind man knew there was a world out there he could not see. Jesus fixed his vision. The disciples saw a hungry crowd and not nearly enough food to feed them. They were clueless despite having already witnessed Jesus multiplying loaves and fishes to satisfy a multitude of 5,000 people!

How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?

Jesus once again walked them through the process. He took what they had, blessed it and told them to pass it out. They participated in the miracle. They counted the loaves and fishes and leftovers…But just hours later were stressing over having forgotten to pack a lunch.

They had seen but had not comprehended. Yes, they remembered numbers but they didn’t fathom the power of God on tap for their every need.

So Jesus took this physical reality—a forgotten lunch, and turned it into a spiritual object lesson. He wasn’t worried about this trivial forgetfulness to bring bread along, He wanted them to grasp God’s great power and never to forget it. He was shaping men who could see beyond the seen…

And they would learn to see this way, with eyes of faith;  we know this when we watch their lives as recorded in Acts and when we read Peter’s own letter:

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. I Pet.1:8-9 ESV

May God give us eyes to see beyond the physical and to remember what is worth remembering, not just numbers and faces but what God is able to do when we present these to Him!

–LS