Month: April 2021

“Before the World Was”

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, PRAYER3 Comments

“And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself,
with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
John 17:5

This verse from Jesus’ prayer to His Father in John 17 gives only a glimpse of God our Father and His Son together before the creation. We have to study the whole chapter for more details of their union as one. Even so, words, even Jesus’ Words, limit the glory to which He refers.

“Before the world was,” there was only their glory ~ their oneness and their love for each other. They planned to share that glory with those who would be created in their image

It would come through the fulfillment of their covenant of redemption.

“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Jesus speaks of His and the Father’s glory several times during His prayer to the Father in John 17. By the time we get to the end of His prayer, we are caught up in a limited vision of this glory so as to long for the same oneness they had together ~ the oneness He prays for His people. The degrees and the oneness of their glory are to be shared with us in His timing. (We will speak of this later in our study, An Excavation of John 17..) Rejection of God’s Word by our first parents and disobedience to His will removed any possibility of our seeing His glory on this earth.. The truth by which He is bringing us together and sanctifying us in Him now is preparing us for His glory.  

We do not have the tools, nor could we by a lifetime of digging into the Scriptures, know the relationship God, our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ had before they created the world. The glory they had together is unsearchable. In God’s Word, we get only an inkling of what their world was like before they made the lower heavens and the earth. This universe is only a means for us to desire to know who they are and what they can do. We have to continue reading and searching the Book He has given us and pray for spiritual enlightenment of the things He wants us to know.

Moses asked to see His glory in Exodus 33:18.

“And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, Exodus 34:6

“But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.  So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:20-23

His glory is revealed to us through Christ in His mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, abounding goodness and truth. 

The love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father is the essence of their glory which we cannot see with human eyes but will see and know when He comes again to deliver us from the darkness and suffering of this world.

As we continue our study of Jesus’ prayer, He will unearth more of His glory, joy, and love, that we may begin to understand what it means to be “perfect in one” through Christ’s atonement.

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,
 who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame,
and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 
Hebrews 12:2

What was the joy that enabled Him to endure the cross for us. Was it not the anticipation of returning to the oneness of love, joy, and glory with His Father and bringing us to them?

 “But if we hope for what we do not see,
we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
Romans 8:25

Gracious Father, knowing that you have planned all things for your glory, I pray for your Holy Spirit to continue to reveal all you want us to know of you, your glory, and your kingdom. We praise you that you chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before you, in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of your will, to the praise of the glory of Your grace, by which you made us accepted in the Beloved. We praise you for the glimpses of the glory you are revealing through your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.
Fran

The Scriptures MUST be Fulfilled

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD5 Comments

Our pastor’s blessings for the week.

“The Lord has kept his promises, for “the Scripture must be fulfilled.”

He has strengthened us out of Zion, built his church by the Spirit, made his word fruitful and prepared the soil for more growth, beautified the meek with salvation, visited his vine, kept his covenant, defended his dwelling place, and worked gloriously to make the mountain of Messiah’s kingdom the highest in the earth.

As we saw in Luke yesterday, we often cannot see what is right before us — what God has spoken is absolute, trustworthy, and more reliable than anything we see with our eyes.”

Below are links to his Sunday sermon.

Download Audio – link below.

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=418211347243057

The Power of God in His People

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD, PRAYER, Uncategorized7 Comments 
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
 may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation
 in the knowledge of him,
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,
 that you may know what is the hope 
to which he has called you,
what are the riches 
of his glorious inheritance in the saints,” 
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power
toward us who believe,
according to the working of his great might.
which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead 
and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ”
 Ephesians 1:17-18

As with most of Paul’s phrasing in his letters, his prayers are long, also. He desires for the church the same revelation of Christ that has been given to him, and so he speaks of his prayers for them in the first and third chapters of Ephesians.

            He always gives thanks for the believers in the early churches and prays that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory would give them: 

“The spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;”
Ephesians 1:17

Under this one heading, he explains how the Spirit by which the believers have been sealed (1:13) works wisdom and revelation in them. First, he prays that the eyes of understanding be enlightened so that they may know three things about God, the Father. 
            He builds on each one to bring the believer to see Christ in his glory and the church as the fullness of him here on earth. (1:23)

“The eyes of your hearts enlightened that ye may know (these things)”

1.  the hope to which He has called you.
2.  the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
3.  the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe

1. The hope to which He has called you.       
Paul has written earlier in this chapter of the dispensation of the fullness of time (1:10) when God shall gather together in one all things in Christ, “having chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (1:4). As new Christians, they were still learning what it meant to be adopted into God’s family (1:5). They did not yet know the wonder and glory of this supernatural birth through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They needed to know and grow in their new birth.

2. The riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.   
This adoption (1:5) that Paul speaks of, brings with it an eternal inheritance. As a recipient, he knows the riches of the glory that God the Father gives to His children. He has experienced this inheritance already. He has spoken of this inheritance in verses eleven and fourteen and is praying that they experience more and more the riches of this spiritual inheritance that they received when they heard the word of truth, and trusted in Christ. They needed to understand this inheritance that begins here in their own life.

3.  The immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe.
Now comes the crescendo of Paul’s prayer as he is explaining how revelation, faith and believing, the calling, and the inheritance, are by the greatness of God’s mighty power. This power he explains, ~ “that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.” Verse 20.

  
It is a lengthy explanation that spreads over two chapters.  Paul’s prayer begins in verse fifteen to the end of the chapter, without a period.  
            The same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at His right hand is the mighty power that quickens the sinner who is dead in trespasses and sin (2:1, 5). This is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward those who believe, our eyes enlightened by this power for salvation. 

Paul could have inserted a parenthesis in verses twenty to twenty-three in which the roles and purpose of Christ and the church are revealed, but it all fits together. It is a matter of wisdom and revelation, and requires study and meditation, for believers to understand how we are related to Christ and the church; and how we get there. 
            Christ having been raised and seated at the Father’s right hand, is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Verses 21-23         
            The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, is the only one who can reveal Himself to us. He does this when he opens our eyes to see his Son, head over all things, and given to the church. His body of believers that He brings to life by the power of His Holy Spirit continues to experience His filling, the inheritance in the saints.

Dear Father, thank you for this prayer that you inspired Paul to write, not just to the early churches, but also for us. We pray this prayer for your people everywhere, that we will experience this filling, and together, this fullness of Christ. Pour out your Spirit upon us for new revelation, for we shall never have all the wisdom and knowledge here on this earth. Prepare us for your glory. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

(Excerpt from PRAYERS That Bring the House Down)

Mind Control

On By francesrogersIn GOD'S GLORY, GOD'S GRACE, GOD'S WORD8 Comments

Humankind seems to be the only creature with the ability to think for himself – but are we in control of our thinking? 

The serpent in the Garden of Eden did not tempt the other animals. Then again, he was not a serpent, per se, but possessed by the spirit of the enemy of God – a fallen angel who wanted to be God.

The animals had an inherited mindset from God. Made in God’s image, the man was to receive by His Spirit at all times direction from God for all we needed and respond in a loving relationship to Him.

The enemy wanted to be in control and have this attention and glory for himself. 
His disguise and deception obtained the control he wanted over our first parents. 

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Gen. 3:6

When they took the bait, the spirit of oppression and deception became the spirit of every human being who would be born on earth. They saw their nakedness, their vulnerability to their world, and the need for covering.

Their minds had been ravished and overcome by a foreign spirit.

Unless we know the antidote and receive the Spirit of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, we have no control over our thoughts, words, or actions.

What we feed our thoughts controls us. And we encourage the spirit of oppression by what we see and hear.

2020 and now 2021 is proof that whatever we hear and read governs our lives. The enemy works through every source of sight and sound and continues to destroy people’s lives.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. 1 John 5:19

Without understanding how we think, we are unable to realize our condition. The world lives in fear and oblivion to how the enemy has a stronghold on our minds and lives.

This spirit lies dormant even in the best of God’s people and can easily be aroused and raise its ugly head whenever it is threatened. We must recognize the difference and use God’s Word to counteract our thoughts against others.

We will remain immobilized until we take God’s Word in hand, open it, read it, pray for His Holy Spirit to inoculate us with its truths, meditate on it, memorize and make it our food and drink.

We must take it to bed with us, wake up with it, love it, and make it the focus of our lives and teach our children how to think and use God’s Word as a defence against the world’s thinking.

Brainwashing is nothing new. We are brainwashed from the moment we take our first breath on this earth. Our minds are programmed to cry out for everything we want and taught how to acquire it, even if by deception or force.

If we do not submit our minds to God’s control, we remain under the control of the enemy.

Our only hope for a reversal for this nation and the world is through God’s Word and Spirit.

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb. 4:12

Dear Father in heaven, in a season when your people used to gather to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are seeing a culture dead and buried under the hand of the enemy. Give life and raise your people by your Holy Spirit. Put your Word into the hands, minds, and hearts of your children that we may again proclaim the power of a resurrected Savior and Lord. Enable us to go forward in the battle against the enemy of our souls. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.