Jewels From JudySaturday, February 20 2016
Facing Trials? Face Your KING! The Vision This past Sunday, the prayer team was interceding prior to the morning service. The Holy Spirit showed one of the elders many people in the church (globally) who are fighting battles; however, in facing their battles, they had unwittingly turned their backs to God! Reflections: Lift up your heads, O you gates! As a whole, we must stop looking (with our eye and ear gates) to the world and its system to be our safety net, and lift our heads! Our God desires our attention and affection. He wants us to rely on Him and not what help we can get from some program. The government did not die on the cross for my sins or yours. It is by Jesus’ stripes that we are healed and not by our insurance plan. Paul lived in one of the most brutal governments of all time. Remember, on either side of Jesus, two robbers were also crucified. If you saw the movie, Passion of the Christ,1you saw a clear depiction of what public execution looked like in the Roman Empire. Paul wrote Timothy and exhorted him to pray for those in authority. 2 Given the wickedness and corruption throughout the Roman Empire in their day, I ask, what is our excuse for not praying for our government (church, work, community) leaders? We have none because the word of God is clear on the matter. The Bible tells us that Jesus is not slow in His coming, as some think, but the Lord wants none to perish and all to come to repentance.3 The Father of lights wants all to be saved! (Yes, that means your enemies too.) No matter how wicked we think someone is, Jesus shed His prefect, sinless blood for that person – just like He did for you.4 This is why we are admonished in and after the Lord’s prayer to forgive as we have been forgive.5 We want mercy from God – right? Of course we do! Jesus told us that if we are merciful, we shall receive mercy. 6 We all want God to show us mercy, so we have to stop extending our fingeroutward at what all the government is doing wrong (I know they often make it as easy as shooting fish in a barrel), and start obeying the precepts of our Father and King – the King of kings. I hope we pray for our leaders as we would our loved ones. I pray we turn and face Jesus, our King and keep our focus on the One and Only who is our Ever-present-help-in-times-of-trouble! In the Father’s love, 1 Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson 2 1 Timothy 2:1-4 3 2 Peter 3:9 4 Matthew 26:28; Romans 5:6-11; Ephesians 1:7; First Peter 1:18-20 5 Matthew 6:14-15; 18:32-35; Colossians 3:12-14 6 Matthew 5:7 7 Revelation 2:1-7 |
