July 18, 2021
Morning Service

As normal, I have been in prayer about today’s service since Greg and Jerry had told me they would be out of town this week. My regular actions about things concerning the Lord’s work is to approach them with deep sincerity and in faith that God will provide what is needed, no matter if it is a bible study, a visit to a friend, a message for the church, or a personal witness. I put my trust in the Lord for whatever situation involving the Good News of Jesus, so that I will speak confidently and boldly with calm assurance the words He will give to me. This has never failed me and I will continue this as a humble request to God for the fulfillment of the duty as He sees fit. So this week, when I still did not have the message God wanted me to share, I have to say I was beginning to become concerned I had waited too long before preparing. Then on Thursday afternoon, I had been reading a passage in Luke and the message was right in front of me of what to share with the church. The message is simply, ask God for what you need in an unselfish manner and you will receive whatever you ask.

 

Luke 11:9  "So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 

Luke 11:10  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 

 

This was the passage that opened my eyes to see through my own prayers, that God always delivers! I thought my diligent service in prayer and meditation was leaving me with no reply from God about what the message should be and this was the message all along. It was the proverbial, cannot see the forest for the trees. I struggle at times seeing what is right in front of my eyes, my mind does not comprehend the easier things very well. I used to tell my friends, I am the kind of man that will be trying to remove a ¼ inch hex-head screw and I prepared for the task by first finding the ¼ socket and then gathering the correct socket adapter to be able to use a ¾ inch breaker bar with a three foot cheater bar to get the needed torque to loosen the screw. Now this is a bit over-exaggerated, but it explains how I complicate a very simple objective. Jesus had just finished talking with the disciples about how to pray, because they asked Jesus to teach them. They approached Jesus when had just ceased praying and asked Him to teach them as John taught his disciples. Jesus then gave them the direction of what we call, “The Lord’s Prayer”.

 

Luke 11:5  And He said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; 

Luke 11:6  for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; 

Luke 11:7  and he will answer from within and say, 'Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you'? 

Luke 11:8  I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 

 

Now when a person first reads this passage, you would naturally reason that we should harass the Lord with our prayers to get what we need, but this is not the case at all. Here is another good example of why it is important to read all of the scripture, so that we have the instruction in its entirety and not taken out of context. Jesus follows up with the verses 9 and 10 about asking=receiving, seeking=finding, and knocking=the door will be opened! Our Lord then puts some clarity on the meaning of persistence in asking and clarity of the father mentioned in the verses 5-8.

 

Luke 11:11  If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 

Luke 11:12  Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 

Luke 11:13  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" 

 

Jesus first says to His disciples, if a son asks for bread from any father among you and here put the emphasis on the earthly fathers. We as parents would not give our children stones when they ask for bread, nor would we give them a snake when they ask for fish. And certainly if they needed an egg, a scorpion would not come close to fulfilling the need. So Jesus put it plainly and says if we who are evil (and we are, we are not Holy as our Lord is), know how to give appropriate according to what is being asked of us, how much more abundant will our Heavenly Father give to the Holy Spirit in those who ask of Him?! When Jesus paid the price for our souls, by the blood spilled on Calvary, He purchased us believers with His blood. Blood is the only way and vessel of atonement for sins, even in the Old Testament, the blood sacrifices were what was necessary to atone for the Hebrew children’s sin. Adding to this, it was not just the blood of an animal, it was an animal without blemish and of the purest breed and stock. This is exactly what God did for us when He sent His only Son to be the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus was always in tune with the will of His Father in Heaven and the life of Jesus was led on this earth to show us the proper way to conduct ourselves, living our life for Jesus and sacrificing our self will to Him and our Father in Heaven. Isaiah prophesied about Christ Jesus and how He would be born of a virgin and an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit and to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel told Joseph to call his son born of Mary by the name of Jesus for He would save His people from their sins. The name of our Savior is Emanuel, which means “God with us” and this was done to fulfill the word of God spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Now when Jesus had lived His life and fulfilled His Father’s will in Heaven, He would send a Helper, the Comforter or Holy Spirit to those who believed in Him.

 

John 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 

John 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 

 

So we as believers in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we have the Holy Spirit abiding in us and always with us as the Word says. Our Lord will then give to us with the Holy Spirit in us what we ask in Jesus name. Now it is pertinent that we ask of our Lord things which glorify Him and not ourselves and our selfish needs, we are the evil ones that God speaks of and left to our works, deeds, and thoughts, we would surely perish. But our Heavenly Father created a New Covenant through Jesus so that we do not have to die in our sins, but by believing in our hearts and confessing with our mouths, we can be saved by the blood of Jesus spilled for our sins. This is yet another reason why the communion service is so very important in our walk with Christ, He tells us to do this in remembrance of Him and to do it in a worthy manner. We are not told to take the communion when we are worthy, because we are not worthy to take the communion, but to do it in a worthy manner. Communion is a very reverent time to remember what Christ did on our behalf, we should be honoring God during this time and put aside the worldly troubles and focus on Jesus. Think of this, when we pray to God we are talking to him and asking of Him to help us and praising His Name for the works He has done for us. Everyone who claims to be a Christian knows that God already is aware of our needs and desires for healing and spiritual growth, but His word tells us to ask! Ask of God in prayer and leave the need in God’s Hands to answer as He sees fit and according to His will and then, whatever the result of God’s actions, it will be for our good even if we do not know how that answer is right. We must trust God for the higher ways He has and to understand the lesser ways we have. Humbling ourselves before the Lord is paramount in our walk, we must acknowledge we are very weak in the flesh, but the Spirit is strong! This is why God made the plan of salvation to include the Comforter or Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us for the daily help we need. Our Lord knows and holds our future, when we place our faith in God through His Son Jesus, we will one day be joint heirs in Heaven. Then we will no longer be living by faith, but by sight in Heaven and anything we suffer in this world will be meaningless and will seem as though our whole life was a vapor just as said by James in the bible.

James 4:14  whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 

 

Father, I pray we humble ourselves before You and we acknowledge Your Holiness and divine power throughout our lives and trusting in Your goodness to keep and hold us to the day of Your appearing. Give us this day, our Daily Bread -Amen