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Tag: prayer

Loneliness in the Solitary Confinement || Distanced from Friends
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Story of a man awakened

I’d like to continue from what I told you last time. You need to know what happened after a rude awakening from my dream of when my wife and I were in Eden walking with God as if HE Who Created All was my friend!

You know of course that I awoke to this day and not a time before Abraham and you may have heard or read my story, but I wanted to tell you how I felt at the time.

A Knock at the Door

We lay intertwined embraced in warmth flowing from fingertips to toe. Our paradise shattered as I awoke to a loud knock on the door…

“David! . . . Lend me three loaves!”

Who is this at this late hour, I thought? Then as I recognized my neighbor’s outcry at our door,

“Shaul, is that you?” I inquired.

“Of course it’s me. Who else would it be at this hour?” my neighbor responded as he continued,

“A friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.”

We had just fallen asleep and I retorted,

“Do not bother me. As you can plainly see the door has already been shut and we are all in bed.”

“Come on, David, I have nothing to eat for my friends who have just arrived,” he replied.

“I cannot get up and give you anything,” I again said even though my wife and I were awake by now.

Shaul again began shamelessly knocking at our door as my wife looked toward me with that look.

“Alright, my friend,” I shouted over his knocks as I headed to the door.

“I will give you your bread.”

A Parable of Separation

You know this story.

Perhaps the characters are purely fictional as in most parables; but like many of Jesus’ parables, He probably retold it in many places to different crowds in various ways.
- Can you identify with the family behind locked doors in the darkness, separated from friends and seeking peace?
- Or perhaps you can imagine that you are the friend of Shaul, who has traveled a day’s journey and arrived unexpectedly late.
Your good friend didn’t even know that you were coming to him in person. And all of you were overjoyed for this personal reunion!

Friends — no longer separated by distance.

AND your friend is even willing to go to his friend and neighbor for something to eat while rejoined in communion with each other.

Picture Paradise when Heaven’s Door | of Separation | is Opened

I have just illustrated Jesus’ parable with names of appropriate symbolism as the Lord occasionally does. [i.e. Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham]

שאול
Shaul

Shaul means, “borrowed.” http://blb.sc/000vVY

“Lend me three loaves,” he begs his beloved friend.

דָּוִד

David

David means, “friend” or “beloved.” http://blb.sc/001ccS

“This is my beloved and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.” – Song 5:26b NASB

and behold, a voice out of the heavens said,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
says the LORD, the God of Israel – Gospel of Matthew 3:17

The Gospel of Luke 11:

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…

We know it as:

The Lord’s Prayer

Jesus’ Disciples were already isolated ‘in a certain place.’

No show here for church friends

or ritualized rote of memorized obligation.

Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins…
Gospel of Luke 11:2b-4a NASB

Christ’s application in an isolated place

Jesus, of course, is talking about prayer – petitions of a sinful man to a Father God | separated from man | by holiness.

Here is a man alone secure in his home praying – spirit to Spirit.

Perhaps he does dream of Paradise | personal relationship with the Lord God | as it was in the beginning.

Jesus invites His followers to a place | separated and distanced from others in this world.

The call to prayer is to the Father of His beloved children.

a friend at the door | to a Friend inside

I’ve told you this parable from a perspective of the FRIEND INSIDE.

The Lord Jesus speaks to each SINNER as a friend knocking | adam knocking repeatedly on the DOOR | of Heaven through prayer.

Jesus says of the FRIEND inside who I have just described in this parable:

8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
- You and I are Shaul, the borrower of bread.
- Our Heavenly Father is David | our beloved friend with the bread of Heaven, which He now has given to us after having answered a knock at His door.
It is His story I have just told!

Our beloved Heavenly Father and Friend invites you to share the Bread that came down from Heaven – the Bread of Life, Christ Jesus Who IS the Son and | Door to eternal life.

Jesus answers disciples asking about prayer with a parable of the Father | who once again desires the Personal Face-to-face fellowship of Eden.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you;
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives,
and the one who seeks finds,
and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
The Good News of Luke 11:9-10 NASB | Jesus on prayer to the Father

NEXT: A look at Social Distancing of the Church in a 1st century world of violent upheaval.
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To be continued...
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January 13, 2021
Jesus – The Last Prayers of Gethsemane
“Drink from it, all of you;

for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins…”

After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Matthew 26:27b-28, the words of Christ Jesus to the Apostles; v.30 NASB

Departing for Death

The Lord blessed the Apostles in an upper room of Jerusalem in a High Priestly Prayer, institutes the Last Supper with the Twelve, reveals Judas as the one who will betray Him and finally departs the City of David one last time for Gethsemane with the eleven chosen Apostles.

As we learned previously from John 18 in Jesus Leading Toward Gethsemane, the Gospels provide witness of much detail about this time of Jesus. All of this so far has happened in one day, mostly in the evening and what follows in the darkness of night.

Although we have looked back mostly through John’s eyes, tonight we will fill in some detail from the other Gospels.

Prayer before DEATH~

Can any consequence common to man be any more daunting than facing death?

The Messiah Jesus had known every temptation to men of dust except that which as we flee death denies our mortality.

This night as the Son of Man and His eleven Disciples leave Jerusalem they are all certain that the Lord will be betrayed to death.

Matthew 26:

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:

I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.^[b]

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

Denial of Death’s Near Approach

Matthew, John and the others must have wondered, yet known in their hearts, what Jesus now prophesies. The Messiah must die – the Christ they know may be mortal! (For Jesus has already told them more than once.)

Certainly Jesus is not going to Galilee this night of all nights just two days before the Passover festival. The Disciples would have dismissed it and the ‘after I have risen’ part seemed far into the future.

Peter however, brash leader anointed by Jesus who must later act in absentia for Christ, reacts boldly before all.

Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
Matthew 26:33 CSB

In essence Peter states: “You can count on me!”

Sure, you do that to comfort your friend and so do I.

How do you respond to the questions at death’s door?

Like Peter, would we feign faithfulness to a dying friend we cannot accompany through death’s door?

We all know how it turned out when push came to shove by a charcoal fire a few hours later. Peter slinked away from confession of his love of Jesus while the Lord was accused falsely.

His fellow Apostle, Matthew records that in response to Peter, Jesus prophesies his three denials.

Mark 14:

The first Gospel writer and apostolic scribe, John Mark, later records what may have been Peter’s post-resurrection confession:

31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

Mark adds reactions of the other ten as well:

And they all were saying the same thing also.

Let us not forget our tendency to ‘follow the leader’ when a bold representative speaks of some cause from which we will likely fall away by our faithlessness.
Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com – regarding Peter’s denials of Christ Jesus

Luke 22:

28 “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials…

31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

33 But he said to Him, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

What do you about Jesus?

Is this YOUR witness for Christ Jesus? ” — “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!”

Will you really do it…

Or like Simon Peter, will you shrink back from your defense of the Lord when Jesus is under attack by the world’s accusers?

Jesus’ plea in Prayer

Mark:

32 They came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

Their dear friend who will soon die asks them to be with Him.

Luke:

40 When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

Matthew:
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(who had been to this place with Jesus several times)
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37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed.

Then He said to them,

“My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death…

“… remain here and keep watch with Me.”

39 And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying,

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me…

… yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Luke
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The agony of imminent death!
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43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly:

… and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground…

45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow…

Reaction to sorrow..

STRESS! The terrible personal confrontation of DEATH!

The Lord Jesus reacts to it by praying more intently.

And the Disciples, even His closest three friends on earth?

Well… they failed their dear friend when He desired their understanding and compassion most.

‘The flesh is weak..

Jesus’ Disciples fall into a resigning sleep at the prospect of complete change — the Sacrifice, ending the life of their beloved friend.

Matthew
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& the others, awakened from sleep..
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40 And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,

“So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?
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I must confess: Rare is the hour I do not fall asleep 
while praying for a time.
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The Lord Jesus continues with caution to His friends:

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away again a second time and prayed…

Mark:

39 Again He went away and prayed, saying the same words.

40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.
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Do you know what to say to Jesus when you fail Him in prayer?
My guilt grieves me in my severe shortcomings in prayer.
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41 And He came the third time, and said to them,

“Are you still sleeping and resting?

It is enough; the hour has come…

.. behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

42 Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Luke:

47 While He was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them…

John :

3 Judas then, having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

So Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them,

“Whom do you seek?”

They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

He said to them,

“I am He.”

So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
John 18:6 NASB
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To be continued...
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What to you have to say about Jesus?

Please comment here on what you have to say about prayer.

How can I pray for you, dear friend — beloved brother (or sister) in the Lord?
September 8, 2020
Who Does JESUS Pray For?
Eternal Life, But For Whom?

We have entered the Father’s house of prayer through the sacredness of scripture. And before us in this holy upper room in Jerusalem stands Christ Jesus, arms lifted toward heaven and praying as a High Priest beyond the curtain.

Along with John and the eleven remaining Apostles we hear the Lord’s plea for eternal life – not HIS, but ours. We have seen the Lord’s power before including that to raise the dead, but does Jesus have the power of eternal life at His Command?

The Messiah Jesus, the Anointed One, stands before us praying for eternal life, but for whom?

The Gospel of John 17:

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life…”

We glance at John and the Apostles, fearful in this secluded room not far from where Jerusalem’s powerful seek Jesus’ life and theirs. Jesus intercedes in prayer for His fellow friends of this flesh and blood of mortal life as the Eleven look on.

The Lord has assured eternal life “to all whom You have given Him” and the Apostles know that Jesus means them (and not Judas).

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
John 17:3 KJV

Who do you pray for?

When, like the Apostles facing the crowds of Jerusalem and controversy of Jesus, you FEAR for your mortal life, how comforted are you by hearing someone say, “I will pray for you.”

Yet you know how we cling to this fragile flesh; for what little power we exercise over it. What man born of woman can intercede before God to save us?

At times I suppose you pray for your loved ones as Jesus does here. But with what authority, my fellow sinner, do you pray before the altar of sacrifice?

Who prays for you?

Jesus, the Son of Man and mortal man of flesh facing death, prays for His friends. He prays to our Father God as our intercessor and High Priest.

“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
John 17:6 NASB

7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

Clearly Jesus, as their Most Personal Priest, prays for His Disciples.

I ask on their behalf;
I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours…
Intercessory prayer of Jesus – John 17:9 NASB

But what about the World?

Jesus as High Priest before God the Father prays: “I am not praying for the world…” {CSB}

What does the Lord mean by this?

(For even ‘the world’ of these last days will know the ‘John 3:16‘ assurance.)

“For God did not send the Son into the world ^G2889 to judge the world, ^G2889 but that the world ^G²⁸⁸⁹ might be saved through Him.
John 3:17 KJV with Strong’s link to ‘world’ or ‘kosmos’

THEREFORE, when Jesus states that HE is NOT praying for the world (that He came to save), the Lord confirms that only some will be saved.

But who does Jesus mean?

First in His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays on behalf of the Apostles. Then the Lord adds a notable intercession.

I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. – John 17:9b CSB

Who has the Father given to Jesus who are NOT ‘the world?’

(Could you be one of these in addition to the Apostles?)

NOT for the world…

11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you…

Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
John 17:11b KJV

Why a High Priest?

110:4 נִשְׁבַּ֤ע יְהוָ֨ה וְלֹ֥א יִנָּחֵ֗ם אַתָּֽה־כֹהֵ֥ן לְעֹולָ֑ם עַל־֝דִּבְרָתִ֗י מַלְכִּי־צֶֽדֶק׃

Jesus continues, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name…”

Jesus is the ONLY High Priest to save us completely, the only sinless man who ever walked through life in this world. He IS a Perfect SON OF MAN interceding for God’s chosen ones before the LORD, His Father and ours.

Here our High Priest stands before the Altar of His soon-to-be Perfect Sacrifice already speaking of His Own mortal life in the past tense.

Jesus kept those the Father gave Him.

He kept the disciples not from death of the flesh, but for eternal life. And the Lord kept them, mere mortal men for His continued purpose.

Jesus prays to the Father:

18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

We do NOT need an Apostle, Levite or sinful Saint as a High Priest in succession to a Perfert High Priest! But we do need men and women who do believe and will follow Jesus to take His Gospel into all the world.

We now have a Perfect High Priest praying for us Who IS and was and will be our Savior by grace.

This is Eternal Life for those who believe

20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word.

21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me.

Have you prayed to our beloved High Priest that you might be in Him and also the Father?

… that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:16b, 18 NASB
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To be continued...
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June 30, 2020