The Ultimate Decision
August 5, 2014
I love getting back to basics or simplifying things. Today, we make things too complicated. This past weekend I had the joy of meeting a friend from Prep School. I had not seen him in 40 years but it was as if we had never stopped meeting. He had told me of an interesting thing that the Headmaster of the school did. Each evening after dinner all the teachers would gather over at the Headmasters house for coffee. I thought they went to drink but no it was just coffee. If you had to teach me all day I would drive you to drink. But during this coffee time he would mingle with all the teachers and get to know what was going on with all the students. The reason he did this was that he did not like formal meetings.
In our world of texting and e mails we have lost the art of real communication. Looking at someone as they talk you can tell more from body language and voice inflection than you can from a lot of other cues. Have you ever received an e mail that was short and too the point and then you thought that person was mad at you? It just so happened they were going into a meeting - should have had coffee.
My point is that if we are not careful then we will lose the very fabric of who we are in cyberspace. Words will become more important than emotions. Words will take the place of spending time in the presence of another. As I was asking the Lord what to write to you this morning He instead asked me this question. “Who do you pray to”? Now I thought that was odd so I started reading my Bible instead. Have you ever had a word from God and then went the other way. I think there was a man named Jonah that did that:)
My back has been so bad lately that I have to think of when I am going to walk someplace. I see the surgeon next week so pray that they can get me in soon. Then I thought about my back and wondered why I could not heal myself. I have tried but then I remember what the apostle Paul said “
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
If anyone could heal themselves it would have been Paul but God WOLD NOT heal this thorn. Then I look at another passage:
John 5:5-9a "A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your pallet and walk.”Immediately the man became well, and picked up his pallet and began to walk.”
Did you notice that Jesus did not ask this man about if he had the faith to be healed? No, Jesus had compassion on Him and he healed this man. IF, and I say IF God wants to heal you He will little faith or not. There are some denominations that say your faith is weak if you cannot heal yourself or be healed.Then there are some churches that say if you do not speak in Tongues then you are not saved so people invent ways of speaking in another language to fit in. May we all fall on our knees and ask forgiveness for putting a huge yoke on our fellow brethren. It is Jesus Christ on the cross, killed for our sins and risen again BY THE POWER OF GOD to defat death and for all those who believe will have eternal life.
From the above passages I hope you can see that God’s will is God’s will. He will do whatever He desires. Prayer does bring up before Him the desire of our heart but then it is God’s perfect plan for us whether He will heal us. So when we pray we should now be praying to God IN THE NAME of Jesus.
In the old Testament you had to go through a Priest for forgiveness of sins by many offerings. BUT the second when Christ gave up His spirit to God then the curtain in the temple was torn in two.
Mark 15:37,38 “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”.
This meant that now we do not have to go to the priest any longer to have him ask for forgiveness of our sins and we can can now speak to God directly because of Jesus.
So to simplify all this we can now pray to God, the Alpha and Omega, the creator and sustainer of the entire universe and the One who redeemed us through His Son Christ. When I pray I usually envision Jesus. But this morning God showed me that I could speak to Him directly. It gave so much more power to my prayer. The Trinity, the Father, God who is Spirit form, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit who lives inside of all believers all act as One but God the Father is the head. Even Jesus said
John 5:19 “Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; he can do only what he sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."
Why do you think Jesus prayed so much? It was because He was totally dependent on His Father. If Jesus needed to be relying upon God then so do we. But now we can do this In the name of Jesus. There have been some moments that I have felt led to just lay prostrate on the floor in full obedience to God. I saw my need and I saw my position. Even though God loved me this next statement is one we need to take to heart,
God is not man. He never will be. In order to have a strong faith we first of all need to have a healthy fear of God as an act of reverence. We have made so many parts of our society politically correct that we have then taken God out of most parts of our society. No matter what the world does by it’s rules and regulations let us be a remnant that will not change even to death. God is first, last and all in all. He will not be mocked and we had better come back to Him with a repentant fearful and loving heart being totally dependent on Him. Fearful is the same as undying respect. God gave His ONLY Son to save you so that is how much He loves you.
“Lord please help us learn how to pray to You today. Help us to see You in our prayers and to envision Your power, mercy and love. Help us to trust in Your divine will for our life and for us to never put You second. Help us to train our minds to constantly think about You God and to not be distracted by any thing or things that the world has to offer. Please God help us to pray”. Amen
Come to God today in the name of Jesus. Come to God the Father and finally rest in His loving arms. NOTHING will sperate you from the love of God and you CANNOT be snatched away from Him.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT.
Brad
www.theultimatedecision.com
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