SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/7/2017
11:04 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “Because
They Were Given to Him from the Father”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:8-10
Message of the
verses: “9 "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; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours
are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.”
Now we have been talking about the fact that the
disciples belonged to the Father as He had chosen them before the world began,
and the Father was going to give them to the Son as a love gift. We have also mentioned that this is true of
all genuine believers, not just the disciples, but the disciples is what the
Lord is praying to the Father about at this time. This then would be the second reason that the
Father would answer the prayer of Jesus on behalf of the disciples because they
were given to Him as a gift from the Father.
Jesus knew this as being true and yet we see that even though He knows
this He prays about it, which is a good example for us to follow in our prayer
life. I may have mentioned that in the
MacArthur devotional Bible that I am following this year, which actually goes
through the New Testament two times in a year along with going through the book
of Psalms two times in a year and the Old Testament one time in a year. Each month there is a different theme to
follow and this month’s theme is prayer.
The disciples prayer along with Daniel’s prayer in Daniel chapter nine
are the two Scripture texts that are followed, beginning with the one in
Daniel. Daniel knew that God was going
to answer his prayer that He return Israel to their land after 70 years of
captivity as he read it in two different places in the book of Jeremiah, and yet
he prayed about it anyhow. This goes
along with what we are learning in this prayer that Jesus is praying as He knew
that the Father was going to answer it, and yet He prays for things in the
prayer like what we are looking at today anyway. Think about the truth that one day the Lord
Jesus Christ will return to planet earth to set up His kingdom, and even though
we know this is going to happen we should pray about it as both Jesus and
Daniel prayed for things they knew would take place. The same is true with the Rapture of the
church, as we are to be praying that the Lord come and take His church from
planet earth. There is even a parable
given to illustrate that we as believers should be praying for the return of
the Lord Jesus Christ and this parable is found in the 18th chapter
of the book of Luke. The parable of the
unjust judge is found here. However we
have to go back to the last section of the 17th chapter of Luke to
see that Jesus was talking about the second coming, and right after that He
gives this parable of the unjust judge.
The meaning of this parable is that we should pray for the return of the
Lord. John MacArthur writes the
following from his book on parables:
“The point of this parable
is clearly stated at the very start: ‘to
show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart’ (Luke 18:1
NASB). But the point Jesus makes is
especially about a particular kind of praying.
“Bear in mind the
context. This parable is a postscript to
the prophetic discourse at the end of Luke 17.
The theme of that passage is
horrific judgment, ‘just as it happened in the days of Noah…the same as
happened in the days of Lot’ (vv. 26, 28 NASB).
Christ will come again with a vengeance.
His appearing will create death and devastation. ‘Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that
with it He should strike the nations.
And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God’ (Rev. 19:15). Verse 19 says the kings of the earth and their
armies will be gathered together to make war against Christ at His return. This will be the final war for all humanity—the
battle of Armageddon. Christ will
destroy all His enemies, ‘and all the birds [will be] filled with their flesh’
(v. 21). That, of course, is precisely
the scene referred to at the end of Luke 17:37: ‘Where the body is, there also
the vultures will be gathered’ (NASB).
“The parable of the unjust
judge follows immediately. The chapter
break does not signify any change of scene or audience. The parable is told while the theme of Jesus’
second coming (with all the apocalyptic imagery of bodies and vultures) is
still on the minds of the listeners. The
point Jesus is making is that while His disciples await His return—especially
as the world seems to grow more wicked and more doomworthly—He wants His elect
to keep praying and not lose heart. So
this is a call to eschatological prayer.
It’s an encouragement to pray that the Lord will come, and to pray for
the strength to endure to the end. The
gist of the exhortation is summarized nicely in the words of Luke 21:36 ‘Watch
therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these
things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.’”
I
think that this quote is enough, even though there is more to it, but the point
that I am making is that we are to pray about things in the Word of God that we
know are to come about. If you take the
time to read Daniel 9:1-19 you will see a master in intercessory prayer.
To
tell you the truth I did not plan on doing all of this quoting and talking
about praying like I did, but in retrospect I think that is worthwhile and I am
happy that I did it.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Egypt” (Exodus 7:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “Name the harlot who lived in
Jericho?”
Answer in our next SD.
3/7/2017 12:04 PM
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