What If???

Eph 3:14-21 “Praying Parents”

What would it be like to have had a praying parent? Imagine the scene of you tip-toeing down the steps in an early morning hour and hearing your parent(s) praying for you. You know eavesdropping is impolite but when you hear your name you stop and listen. What do you hear and how might it change your focus, your day, your thoughts, your responses?

God has given us the privilege of eavesdropping in on the imprisoned Paul’s prayer time as he utters “for this reason, Father, I pray.”

These are clear words that Paul has a passion for the Ephesians, his children in the faith. In eavesdropping we overhear: “I pray that You, Almighty Father would strengthen my precious children in their inner man, [in order that] your beloved Son, Jesus Christ may dwell in the hearts of my children by faith, [in order that] my precious children may be able to comprehend the full scope of your unfathomable love, [in order that] that they might be filled to overflowing with your fullness and your Holy Spirit power. And, Father, I commit them to you trusting that you will do far beyond all I ask or think, for these are your children. Amen. ” [Author’s paraphrase]. 

If you heard these with your name attached, would your day be different and if so how? How might our family life, our church life not only be sustained but invigorated?

Take time today to ponder, pray and watch for results.

Having a Holy Boldness

Satan is sly, clever and a twister of lies for he is a murderer and the father of lies. It sounds good to say Jesus was a good man. He was that but more importantly he was and is the very divine Son of God. Satan's desire is to confuse and conflict truth with half truths or even lies or false assumptions. The disciples struggled with the reasons of the beggar's blindness.  They asked: is this man blind because of his sin or his parent’s sin and that is the way of the enemy as he seeks either confuse or conceal truth. Jesus corrects that assumption by saying it was so that and upon the evidence of the healing removes the false assumptions and replaces them with truth so that the listeners may be without excuse. 

The Neighbors: You can’t be who you say you are for I remember who you were and you are not the same person, so I deny that you are you.  Remember Peter’s words: 1Pe 4:4 So they are astonished when you do not rush with them into the same flood of wickedness, and they vilify you.

 

The Parents:  After questioning him the religious experts call for his parents who refuse to acknowledge the Healer out of fear of being removed from the synagogue.  Again we remember Prov 29:25 “the fear of man is a snare.” 

The Religious Leaders claim to follow Moses but fail to say they follow God when they claim that Jesus does not observe the Sabbath. Remember the words of Jesus: “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.[Mk 2]  Also they claim and yet are confounded with the evidence presented to them in the healing of the beggar: “We know that God has spoken to Moses! We do not know where this man comes from!”

The Man testifies: “This is a remarkable thing, that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see!  We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is devout and does his will, God listens to him. Never before has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see.”

Precious Friend, many may see the change in you but are either unwilling to accept it or to believe it. But, if you are like the blind man who has met the Divine Healer, continue to have a holy boldness like the blind man and fall and worship the Divine Son of God!

Heart X-Ray

Jesus saw and then acted. He saw the crowds and went up the mountain, sat down and began to teach. No one had a Bible, no one had their laptop or their iPad to take notes. All they had were their ears and eyes, a mind to take in the teaching and they would then be expected to act upon that teaching. Today we carry our electronics with us to worship, we mull over passages, look up cross references but do we take time to really listen? Over and over through Matthew we will come across this phrase: “he who has ears better listen.” So how are your listening skills today?

Jesus began by saying “Blessed are.. followed by.. then you are.” It is because of this transformation we  become His followers and can share these truths with others. That is the measure of being a disciple of Christ. Jesus also said: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.’  If we want to be a true disciple we must look inwardly to our heart and then observe our actions. Matt Skinner wrote: Jesus “greater point is that righteousness encompasses the focus and state of mind that motivates and sustains one’s actions.” Perhaps that is why Jesus said “be careful” in how you reveal your inner righteousness because the world is watching.  We ask: What do they see? What do they hear? What do they then surmise? The better question is what does God see, what does God hear, what then does God know about our heart?

The Eye: Window to the Heart

It is often said that our eyes are the window to our heart. Jesus remarked about this: Mk 7:20-23 “For from within, out of the human heart, come evil thoughts….” But, when Jesus enters our heart our eyes are enlightened to know spiritual wisdom and revelation (Eph 1:18). We are now cleansed and we can reveal Jesus’ love through our eyes to others. Today in Prov 21 we read about our heart as well as our eyes. In scripture the eye is referred to as the lamp of our body; we might say that our eyes reveal what our life is within. 

As you read Prov 21, look at the different people that the writer exposes. Take some principles from this chapter and turn them into questions. Example: 21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. 21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin. Thus you can ask: Am I demonstrating righteousness and justice? Is my attitude haughty and proud? 

Although the writer pinpoints women two times, the principle can be carried over for all family members. To that end, ask: Am I being contentious or calm and easy going? Would my family rather live on a rooftop or in the house with me? Am I quarrelsome or seeking peaceful solutions? Is my mouth guarded so that only those words that come forth are pleasing and honoring to the Lord? 

Prov 21:31 points out that although a horse is prepared for the day of battle, the victory is from the Lord. Ask: When I am successful, am I giving the Lord praise or taking it as my own accomplishment?

Check your eyes and your heart today and ask: What is my eye/heart revealing to God, to myself and to others? Pick a verse from this chapter to guide you through this day.

“The Secret Disciple”

Have you ever wondered what a secret disciple looks, thinks, and acts like? Meet such a man and his friend who “because of the fear of the Jews” had a choice: will they remain a secret disciple or one that will stand out from the shadows and reveal their heart and beliefs.

Put yourself into the place of this man, a member of the elite of the elite, schooled in the Torah, a wealthy landowner but an outsider in Jerusalem,  one who  was earnestly looking for the kingdom of God. Yet for all of that he was a secret disciple due to his fear of the leaders in the Sanhedrin (see John 12: 42-43) and in particular Caiaphas. In the heat of the moment he and his friend refused to consent to the death sentence that Caiaphas had sought. This was his first but not the last time he will stand for his convictions because it was just not the right thing to do. Why? Because in his heart he just “knew” that he “knew” that this man was indeed the Son of God. Perhaps it was when Jesus was asked that very question that his heart was quickened.  As he sat and listened to the false witnesses he cringed and in his heart he rebelled but the 68 others who joined Caiaphas were stronger than the voice of himself and his friend. But…

After the crucifixion this man gathered courage and boldly went to the Roman Governor and begged that he might have the body of this Jesus. The Romans had a rule that these that were crucified were to be left to the birds, no family burials, no burials in the pauper’s grave. Perhaps Pilate saw in the eyes of this man a heart that he had not seen in the eyes of the other religious leaders. He saw compassion and because he had been manipulated by Caiaphas and the others he chose to see a way to humiliate them as they had done to him. Thus Pilate, seeking corroboration from the Centurion on duty, was once again amazed that death had come so quickly and gave the order to release the body to this disciple. And where were the followers of this Messiah? They, unlike this man, were fearfully secluded themselves. They the public followers now became the secret followers. They did not go and seek the body of Jesus so that the words of the prophet Isaiah may be fulfilled: 53:9 “They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb,”

And so this secret disciple and his friend purchased linen and 75 pounds of spices and wrapped the body and lovingly placed it in the tomb. You won’t read about his deed in the Jerusalem Times and in fact Caiaphas was probably so incensed at this that he put aside his Sabbath rules and sought that this the tomb be sealed with the Roman seal. We never hear of this man or his friend from this point on but their legacy remains strong and firm. Who are these men we read about in Mark 15 and 16?  Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. 

What can we learn from this? We will find secret disciples in the most unlikely places, God can and will use them to fulfill His will and scripture that the others may be without excuse when they meet God. Sometimes they are those who are surrounded by mystery as Joseph of Arimathea was. Check a map. Where is Arimathea? Not to be found. Sometimes they, like us, progress one step at a time to come to the point that there is no turning back. Joseph and Nicodemus lived out the verse of being unashamed when the right time came. Secret disciples often have much to lose yet they choose to step out of the shadows into the light for others to see their heart. Their legacy shows that even in the worst of times they are the ones that will rise up and call evil evil not by words but by actions. 

Are you a secret disciple? Are you fearful of those who are in authority over you? Take heart from these two men. If they could come and talk to you they would say that being a secret disciple is not what Jesus would want ...Instead they would give you this verse out of 2Tim to encourage you: "1:7 For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control." Go forth and be used of the Lord this day.