SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/2/2019
9:51 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Spirit’s Power”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
3:14-16
Message of the verses: “14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with
power through His Spirit in the inner man,”
We
ended our last SD by talking about it not being totally necessary to get on
your knees in order to pray to the Lord, and stated that there were also
reasons why we should do this, and so we will look at this as we begin our SD
for today.
Why
would we want to “bow your knees” to the Father in order to pray? “In the Scripture bowing the knees signifies
several things that may have prompted Paul to mention that position here. First, it represents an attitude of
submission, or recognition that one is in the presences of someone who is of
much higher rank, dignity, and authority.
After proclaiming the Lord as ‘the rock of our salvation,…a great God,
and a great King above all gods,’ and as the Creator of all the earth, the
psalmist says, ‘Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord
our Maker’ (Ps. 95:1-6).”
2/2/2019 11:31 AM
I
tried to look up the word “bow” as to how many times it is used in the Bible
and I found 95 times it was used, but the problem is that many times it was
talking about the rainbow. God was
appalled and heartbroken over hearing of the intermarriage of the Israelites to
their foreign neighbors as seen in the book of Ezra and we read in 9:5-6 the
following “5 But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my
robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the LORD my
God; 6 and I said, "O my God, I am
ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities
have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens.” I
wonder how many people have become this upset over their sins or the sins of
the nation that they live in. I believe
that all believers should be like Ezra in our country as we look at the
continued mass murders of unborn children, and it is getting worse every
day. Let us look at another verse “Now
when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his
roof chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he continued kneeling
on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he
had been doing previously (Daniel 6:10).”
This verse is speaking of what Daniel did even though he knew that he
could be signing his death warrant if he bowed his knees to pray to God. One more from Acts 20:36 “When he had said
these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.” This was when Paul was to leave Ephesus for
the last time as he was on his way to Jerusalem where he would be arrested and
put in jail.
John
MacArthur writes “As he prayed for the Ephesians while writing this letter to
them, the apostle felt led to ‘bow’ [his] ‘knees before the Father’ on their
behalf, not because that position or any other is especially sacred, but
because it spontaneously reflected his reverence for God’s glory in the midst
of his passionate prayer.”
Verse that goes along with yesterday’s
quote: “You will keep Him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3).”
2/2/2019 11:49 AM
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