SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/30/2023 8:48 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1c “The
Principle”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matt. 21:20-22
Message of the verses: “20 Seeing this,
the disciples were amazed and asked, "How did the fig tree wither all
at once?" 21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to
you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to
the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into
the sea,’ it will happen. 22
“And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.’”
Today will be the last day at looking at these very
wonderful verses on prayer. I hope that
all who read them will now better understand more about prayer. I will continue to quote from John MacArthur’s
sermon on these verses.
“And
I’m committed in my own heart to a greater commitment to the life of prayer and
less involvement in trying to think up better ways to do things. And when I see
a problem that I can’t solve, instead of running up the street and trying to
get the next best counselor that I can find in line to help the person, to take
the person to prayer and let God do the things that He wants to do through His
own power. And maybe we’d be a greater help to each other if we spent more time
in prayer than more time in giving advice.
“Verse
22 is a dynamic verse. You ought to put a circle around it in your Bible and
see if it is being applied in your life. I mean when’s the last time you saw
some mountain moved into the sea because you didn’t doubt God but you persisted
in prayer?
“Well,
a very dramatic event. Jesus is the King, and the King does what the King wants
to do because He’s the King. And what He wants to do is show to Israel the
nature of His kingliness, and it isn’t political, and it isn’t social, and it
isn’t military. First of all, it’s spiritual.
“And so, He does what must be done:
He cleanses the temple; He curses the tree. And He says to them, “Your religion
is corrupt, and your nation is corrupt, and they are doomed to judgment. Sad
day. He laid the ax at the root of the tree, and He did it because there was
nothing but leaves, nothing but leaves.
“Somebody
wrote, “Nothing but leaves; the spirit grieves/Over a wasted life/Or sins
committed while conscience slept/Promises made, but never kept/Hatred, battle,
and strife/Nothing but leaves!/Nothing but leaves; no garnered sheaves/Of
life’s fair, ripened grain/Words, idle words, for earnest deeds/We so our seeds
– lo! tares and weeds/We reap, with toil and pain/Nothing but leaves!/Nothing
but leaves; memory weaves/No veil to hide the past/As we retrace our weary
way/Counting each lost and misspent day/We find, sadly, at last/Nothing but
leaves!/And shall we meet the Master so/Bearing our withered leaves?/The Savior
looks for perfect fruit/We stand before Him, humbled, mute/Waiting the words He
breathes/’Nothing but leaves?’”
“I
trust you examine your own heart in that regard. And if you find, in fact, that
you are one of His own, and there is fruit there, may it be that it’s the fruit
of persistent prayer, and that you learn the lesson those disciples needed to
learn, that all the power the Lord had, when He cursed the tree, and more is
available to the one who calls upon Him in faith. And may we go to prayer on
behalf of each other and the purposes of our Lord and His glorious kingdom.
Let’s pray.
“Lord,
if there are some in our fellowship – and we know there are – who have nothing
but leaves, whose lives are devoid of fruit, who shall meet the Master, bearing
their withered leaves while He looks for perfect fruit, and stand before Him
humbled, mute, waiting the words He breathes, “Nothing but leaves?”
“Oh,
God for those we pray; save them. Infuse into the deadness of their life Thy
living power through Christ, that they may bear fruit and not be cut down and
cast into the fire like so many Judas branches.
“And
then, Lord, for those of us who are fruit-bearing Christians, but who have
never really been faithful to persistent prayer and therefore never seeing Your
power the way we could see it, call us, O God, by Your Spirit to a more
faithful prayer life, through greater diligence.
“And
may we not eliminate the power that is ours through prayer by reasoning away
things, by developing a theology which says, “You’re going to do what You’re
doing to do anyway, so why bother?” But, O God, may we leave the resolution of
things that we can’t understand to you. And may we obey what we do here and
understand. And may we pray for mountains to be cast into seas. And may we
accept the fact that all things, whatever we ask believing, we shall receive -
in prayer, we can experience, as we pray in Your name; consistent with Your
will, Your purpose, Your Son and with persistent faith. O God, we pray that You
release Your power in this place, in our lives, in this church and around the
world because we’ve become people of persistent prayer. Work in every heart this
day. We’ll praise you in Christ’s name, amen.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I certainly do not
want to eliminate the power that is mine through prayer, and to be better in my
prayer life.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to move mountains through my prayer
life. I have three people that I am
praying for that the Spirit of God will be working in their lives in order to
bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
6/30/2023 9:05 AM
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