But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!- Mark 10:24

When we trust in anything but God, we’re on shaky ground- especially when we trust in money. Take a minute to examine your heart and turn your trust towards God.

Scripture 1 comes from the Parable of the Sower (a parable about hearing the Word of the Kingdom):

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that hearth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.- Matthew 13:22

According to Jesus in this parable, there are 2 things that can choke the Word that is trying to grow (like a seed) in a person’s heart:

-cares about the world

-deceitfulness of riches

We can easily be snookered into worrying about life and expenses. We can start to believe that if we had just a little more money, we could relax and be happy. It never happens- something always comes up that requires even more money… This is the deceitfulness of riches.

On the other hand, Jesus told about the person who had a listening/receiving heart, who was blessed by God:

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and undertandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. -Matthew 22:23

Experiment:

Try asking God to make you to be good soil!

The New Year is a great time to begin to pray for personal revival. Simply ask God to “revive you again”. Take this scripture to Him and ask it as a gift for yourself.

Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? -Psalm 85:6

God puts a lot of stock in words.

Of course, the words He values most highly are His own words.

When He set out to create the world, you know what he used? His Words!

Look at this:

Genesis 1:1-3

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light…

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him (the Word-Jesus); and without him (the Word-Jesus) was not anything made that was made. (Theologically complicated, but true. God’s Word that created stuff, is Jesus Himself.)

How about this one? Peter talks about folks who are willingly ignorant that God created the world with his Word:

II Peter 3:5

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water.

What if we truly understood the power of God’s Word? What if we prayed and read our Bibles with the understanding of God’s powerful and creative Word?

I would challenge you to take a few days, reading your Bible and praying at the same time for God to reveal to you the creative power of the Words He has given you.

Paul felt it important to teach Timothy about prayer.

He told Timothy who to pray for and the types of prayer they needed.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

For kings, and all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.- I Timothy 2:1,2

Paul wanted Timothy to pray for:

1. Kings

2. All that are in authority

Who are the kings we pray for today?

1. Our president

2. Leaders of other countries as God brings them to mind (our country’s friends AND our country’s enemies)

How do we pray for them?

1. Supplication- ask God specifically for something you or others need from them (for instance, wisdom on ruling the country well, good decisions about the war or education policy)

2. Intercession- ask God specifically for things these leaders need (for instance, to walk with God, to know Christ, to live righteously, good health)

3. Give thanks for them and what they do- (whether or not you like a leader, we are to give thanks for them)

4. That they may lead our country and world in a way that we could live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

How can you incorporate Paul’s prayer list into your life?

The tough thing about Scripture is that it doesn’t have Vicki 1:1 for me to turn so that I can find out exactly what God is saying to me. I would love to have some direct written guidance: “Thus saith the Lord: Vicki, thou shalt take the car in for major repairs and not just trade it in for a newer car.”

Oh well.

However, God does actually make His will very clear. Here it is:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5: 16-18 NIV biblegateway.com.

Here it is again:

It is God’s will for me to:

1) Rejoice always

2) Pray continually

3) Give thanks in all circumstances

I can at least work on fulfilling His will for me as stated here. Sooner or later, as I do that, perhaps the car repair question will clear up…

How do you seek God’s will?

Jude 24-25

²⁴Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,

²⁵To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

I love these verses!

The word that keeps snagging my attention is majesty.

I looked it up in the lexicon to see what it means:

Majesty is the Greek word megalosyne. Megalosyne means “magesty”.

Pretty straight forward.

So, when we pray Jude 24-25 and offer up majesty to God- maybe we should think about this:

God, King of the Universe, adopted us as His heirs.

We have been made His children.

Therefore, we are of the noblesse.

If we are nobility, maybe we need some nobility training.

Here is another scripture (shared by our pastor today) that sheds more light:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 1 Peter 2:9 (biblegateway.com)

We are:

Chosen

Royal

Holy

There it is again. Royalty.

We are royalty. A royal person carries him/herself with majesty.

Imagine yourself as majestic. Shoulders back, head up, dignity, bestowing grace and mercy on others.

How lovely.

If we go about majestically bestowing grace and mercy on others, daily we can offer service up to God in thanksgiving for what He has given us.

What a prayer:

Father in Heaven, thank you for making me Your child. Thank you that you made me one of Your Royal Priesthood. The acts of grace You have given me strength to do today, I offer up to you in gratitude.

Did your mom ever wash your mouth out with soap? I know I had a few mouthwashes when I was growing up. I learned the hard way not to sass or to use foul language.

Fortunately for us all, God doesn’t resort to bars of soap, but “washes us with the water of his word” (look at Ephesians 5:26).

However, He DOES take words very seriously. Look at what He says about the things our tongues produce:

James 3:3-6

³ We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. ⁴ And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. ⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. (New Living Translation, biblegateway.com)

In other words, we can make ALL kinds of trouble with our tongues. Duh. We all know that from experience.

So, here is an idea. Ask God to help bring His cleansing Word over your mouth, over your speech.

Mediate on these verses, (Tillmanized King James Version):

Proverbs 15:2,4

The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly. The curative tongue is a tree of life.

Try praying this prayer:

“God, please help me guard my tongue. Please cleanse my speech. Help me to use knowledge rightly and have words that bring healing and life.”

^39-40Leaving there, he went, as he so often did, to Mount Olives. The disciples followed him. When they arrived at the place, he said, “Pray that you don’t give in to temptation.”

^41-44He pulled away from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed, “Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?” At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face.

^45-46He got up from prayer, went back to the disciples and found them asleep, drugged by grief. He said, “What business do you have sleeping? Get up. Pray so you won’t give in to temptation.”

We know from other places in the Bible, that Jesus knew the rest of His story. He knew He would die for our sins and that He had a resurrection and return to His Father to look forward to. However, that did not make it one bit easier. How would you like to be tortured, humiliated, crucified and spiritually bear all the sin of mankind? Ugh.

So, what did Jesus do?

He prayed. Not a good religious prayer: “I thank Thee, God, for this great opportunity, etc”.

No, instead, He shared with God that He really didn’t want to do this. But He would do God’s will no matter what. He got some relief from an angel then prayed even harder.

It was honest prayer. Messy prayer. Surrendered prayer. Then he joined his friends who had fallen asleep despite His request that they pray.

Jesus left His disciples with a command right there: Get up. Pray so you won’t give in to temptation.

Have you despised the next thing you had to do: were scared, stressed, agonized? Got anything like that coming up? How has prayer helped?

Luke 22 tells the story of the Last Supper. Jesus and his disciples were having one last meal together- and it was an important one, the Passover.

While they shared bread and wine, He told His friends that those things were His body and the blood of the new covenant that he was making.

His friends knew the significance of the Passover; it was a remembrance of God’s deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Now Jesus was giving them symbols of our deliverance through Him from slavery of sin.

Within moments of this awesome, historic moment, the disciples had embroiled themselves in an argument over who would be the greatest. Jesus chides them and points out that serving is more important than leading.

Then he looks straight at Peter and says (thanks The Message Bible and biblegateway.com):

^31-32“Simon, stay on your toes. Satan has tried his best to separate all of you from me, like chaff from wheat. Simon, I’ve prayed for you in particular that you not give in or give out. When you have come through the time of testing, turn to your companions and give them a fresh start.”

Jesus was worried about all his friends, especially Peter (and as you know, He was spot on- Peter denied him soon afterwards).

What did Jesus do when He worried about Peter? He prayed.

If Jesus prayed for His friend when He saw trouble coming, do you think it would be a good idea to pray for our friends? How do you pray for those you love?