SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/15/2019
12:36 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Specific Illustration”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:19-20
Message of the verses: “19 and pray
on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to
make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that
in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”
The verses that we are looking at in
today’s SD are verses that I have on my prayer list that I use for praying for
our Pastors on Saturday each week. I
will quote from that prayer list as we begin looking at these verses:
“4
Effectiveness in Proclamation: Scriptural Example is from Ephesians
6:19: “and pray on my behalf, that
utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with
boldness the mystery of the gospel.” I
want to pray for our Pastors effectiveness in proclamation.
“The following is a quote from John MacArthur, “Now remember, Paul was a
prisoner when he wrote that. He didn't say, "Pray...pray for my ankles,
they've been rubbed raw. They're bleeding from the shackles." He didn't
say, "Pray for my healing." He didn't say, "Pray for my
deliverance." He didn't say, "I'm being abused. Pray for my suffering
to end." He didn't want prayer for those things, he said, "Pray for
my boldness in speaking the Word of God." Chains were incidental, absolutely
incidental.” Now this does not mean not
to pray for our Pastors when they are sick.
Another Scriptural example is Colossians 4:2-4“2 Devote yourselves to
prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the
same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so
that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been
imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray
for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as
it did also with you.” MacArthur
writes: “Pray that I’ll have an
opportunity to speak. Secondly, when
that opportunity presents itself pray that I will speak as I ought to
speak. And how I ought to speak is boldly
and clearly. And then the third
component is when I have spoken in that opportunity boldly and clearly, pray
that the Word may spread from there and be glorified. What is that?
The right response, that men will honor it; they will glorify it by obeying
it. The word ‘spread rapidly’ literally
in the Greek is the word to run. It’s a
track word. Pray that it will sprint and
be honored by everybody who hears it.”There is one more quotation from this prayer list that goes along with this and I will also use it on this SD.
“Now the following is a quote from Gardener Spring “"We cannot convert a single soul. We press home the divine commands and they trample upon His authority. We press home His threatenings and they despise His justice. We speak tenderly of His promises, they heed not His faithfulness of His beloved Son and they tread Him under their feet, of His patience and long suffering but their impenitence and obstinacy are proof against them all. We reason and plead with them until the obstacles to their conversions seem to us to rise higher by every effort we make to overcome them. Until finally we sink in dejection and cry out, `What mighty power can break these granite-like hearts, what omnipotent grasp can rescue these perishing men from everlasting burnings?' O you blood-bought churches, your minister’s need your prayers for the exceeding greatness of that power which God worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead," end quote.”
We can see from this quotation that the most important prayer request that Paul has for himself is that even though he was in prison was that he would still be able to spread the gospel while there. MacArthur adds “When Satan tempted him to keep quiet about Christ, he wanted God’s help to be bold and faithful to proclaim ‘the gospel.’ He wanted help in his own battle against Satan, and he pleaded with his brothers and sisters at Ephesus to pray toward that end.” I think that this shows us exactly what Paul was all about, what was number one in his life and that was preaching the gospel whether in prison or in a church meeting. Paul wanted fellow believers to pray for his victory in the spiritual warfare that this ministry provoked from Satan. Paul confronted the enemy face to face and knew he was not able to win in his own resources. So if Paul needed help outside his human resources that means that I do along with every other believer who has ever lived. God cannot use the self-sufficient person, and the reason is because such a person feels no need for God. It is the believer who is humble who knows his own need and is genuinely poor in spirit whom the Lord can use and can bless. I can see in my quest for humility the reason what the Lord is teaching me about this subject.
It was a few years ago when I studied the epistles of first and second Thessalonians that I became convicted that I needed to pray for our pastors and had the privilege to take time on a Wednesday evening service to share what I had learned and why I would be much more involved in the praying for our pastors. John MacArthur writes “Paul also needed the prayers of fellow believers because he was a leader. Our enemy knows that when he strikes the shepherd, the sheep will scatter (Matt. 26:31), and church leaders—even as the Lord Himself—are Satan’s special targets. The more faithful and fruitful a pastor is, the more his people need to pray for his strength and protection. He is more subject to the devil’s schemes to make him discouraged or self-satisfied, hopeless or superficially optimistic, cowardly or overconfident. Satan uses every situation—favorable or unfavorable, successful or unsuccessful—to try to weaken, distract, and discredit God’s gifted men in their work of ‘equipping of the saints for the work of service’ (Eph. 4:12).
It is believed that Paul wrote the letter to the
Philippians shortly after he wrote the letter to the Ephesians. In that letter is the following quotation
from Phil. 1:12-14 “12 Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have
turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the
cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard
and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord
because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God
without fear.” It is good to know
that the believers that read Paul’s letter to the Ephesians had prayed for Paul
as he asked and that God was blessing his ministry while in prison.
MacArthur
adds “Even when he requested prayer for himself, Paul’s purpose and motive were
selfless—to further the gospel, to encourage other believers, and to glorify
his Lord.”
Let
us now look at verses 21-22 of Ephesians 6 “21 But that you also may know about
my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful
minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you. 22 And I have sent him
to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may
comfort your hearts.”
Paul
wrote this section so that the Ephesians believers would know exactly how to
pray for him and tells them that he would send Tychicus to tell them mover
about Paul’s situation “And I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so
that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.”
Tychicus
who was an Asian was trusted by Paul as he was chosen to be with Paul when they
took the offering to the Jerusalem church as seen in Acts 20:4-6 “4 And he was
accompanied by Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus, and by Aristarchus
and Secundus of the Thessalonians, and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus of
Asia. 5 But these had gone on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas. 6
We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and came to them at
Troas within five days; and there we stayed seven days.”
MacArthur
concludes this sub-section: “In addition
to informing the Ephesian believers, Tychicus, who was commended as a faithful
minister in the Lord, was to encourage them: that he may comfort your
hearts. The letter itself would seem to have
been encouragement enough, but Paul knew that a personal word from someone who
had been with him recently would be an added comfort to their hearts. This man in chains sought to comfort others.”
Lord
willing, we will finish this letter to the Ephesians in our next SD, and then
on Sunday we will begin to look at introductions to the book of Matthew.
My Steps of Faith for Today: A humble
heart is a heart that can be used by the Lord to do what He desires him to do.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from Job 38:2 and 42:7:
Who is this who darkens counsel by words
without knowledge?
(Job. 38:2). My wrath is aroused against you and your
two friends, for you have not spoken of
Me
what is right, as My Servant Job has (Job 42:7).
11/15/2019 1:25 PM
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