Today we are going to ponder a subject that is dear to my heart. I received an email from a lady names Slyvia Gunter. She was talking about the way the world is going now, but the actual prayers and Bible Study was written long ago.
We can’t change the world, but we CAN invite God to change us and as we change, others around us will also change.
This is from her email:
As we have watched the events of the past weeks unfold we can almost hear the hearts of many crying out for deep and systematic change that will get at the root of the issues.
It is a principle we see in Scripture. In Romans 11:16, Paul says, “If the root is holy, so are the branches.”
Dodi Note: But conversely if the root is not holy (one definition of holy is set apart, in this case set apart unto God), then the root sends unholiness up to the branches.
Doesn’t that remind you of the verse in Hebrews 12:15 which says, “see to it that NO root of BITTERNESS spring up by which many are defiled. The actual official quote is: See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
This passage is talking about discipline. Remember? God is love. God is caring. God is compassionate. But God also disciplines those he loves. Those of us who are his true children.
Shall we take a side trip and visit Romans 12?
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Dodi Note: Ok, we are being reminded that we are to do what?
LAY ASIDE every weight…and sin….and then run with endurance the race set before us…does that include past sorrow? Pain? Wounding? All those “hurts and wounds of the past?
And HOW are supposed to do that? We look to Jesus. We take our focus off our problems and we intentionally choose to focus on Jesus?
WHY? Because he is our role model. Jesus is the founder and perfector (one who teaches us via HS how to have true faith, even when things are not going well) of our faith.
WHAT did Jesus do? He ENDURED the cross…the shame…he also another place tells us “had no place to lay his head” meaning did not own a home even.
WHY did JESUS, who is God, do that? He did it for the JOY set before Him.
Do you know who that joy was at least in part? It was YOU and ME and our salvation/adoption as sons and daughters.
LIKE WOW? Right?
Romans 12 continues:
Do Not Grow Weary
3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Dodi Note: Oh my? But a good “oh my” verse 6 says: For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.
Dodi Note: Do you know how the medical people fix a disjointed, our of joint bone? They SNAP it back into place. And it hurts. But leaving it out of joint, or lame, will cause much more lasting pain.
Now we are given some instructions and the context for our earlier verse:
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;
16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
Dodi Note: I will never forget when I realized that unless I was willing to give my bitterness to God and invite Him to touch, heal and restore my heart, I was defiling not only others but also myself.
This verse/passage also reminds us that we are to live at peace with everyone.
That kind of includes not taking offense, especially in chat where there are no non-verbal clues to help us understand and also language nuances which vary even among native English speakers.
The other reference Slyvia gave was from Matthew 15:13 and goes right along with discipline.
Jesus said, “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots (Matthew 15:13).”
Dodi Note: Remember the fig tree? Jesus walked pass that thing expecting to be able to gather a fig, but the tree had bad roots and had not produced fruit.
So…what happened to the fig tree?
It is a great story in Matthew 21 which until I understood, troubled me.
Jesus is making his Triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. The day some churches remember as Palm Sunday.
Then he cleanses the Temple in really the only time we see him kind of angry.
He was upset because: He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Some “churches” are kind of a sort of money changers today aren’t they?
Then in verses 18-22 :
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
It always seemed out of character. But now I see the cursing of the fig tree as more of a pulling up of a bad tree that would not bear fruit.
That sort of fig tree is supposed to bear fruit at the time the leaves were as they were. That fig tree had no fruit. It was NOT doing what a fig tree was supposed to do.
Kind of reminds me of that age old discussion about faith vs fruit as evidence of Salvation. The place in James 2:18 where it says: But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
If/when/because we are Born Again, which is solely by faith in Jesus as Lord, we WILL begin to produce “works”.
The works do not save but they are evidence (in my understanding) of a true saving faith.
Sort of like the fig tree bearing figs in the proper season.
Slyvia goes on:
Amos 2:9 says that God destroyed the fruit of the enemy of His people and the roots below.
We cannot achieve this in our own strength and efforts. (Referring to us having good roots which are holy/set apart for God, which in turn changes our actions, how we feel about others and even ourselves.
Our Heavenly Father’s strength can destroy every evil root.
Dodi Note: That is GOOD news. Let’s see what the author says. I really liked her reminder.
But God doesn’t just pull up the evil roots.
He gives us the Root, Jesus. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus says, “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”
Our role is to start with our own hearts. Asking God to search us and pull out any evil roots we have allowed to grow.
Letting God do a deep work in each of us.
Then ask the Root of David, the Bright and Morning Star, to fill us with Himself, so that through prayer and obedience, we can replace the evil roots (foundations) with holy roots that will produce fruit.
Dodi Note: When I read this, I loved the reminder.
When we are born again our very nature changes. Jesus himself, via the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us.
We HAVE all we NEED to live the life God has called, and given us to live. Circumstances however difficult or joyful do not change the fact that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and we can learn to trust, lean and rely on His provision in EVERY moment. All the moments of our lives are held in his tender care.
Some of you will remember and see how this ties in to the past lessons where we pondered “Contentment”.
God wants the body of Christ to stand against separations energized by Satan, whether those are on a national scale or the separation that has formed in our personal relationships.
Dodi Note: And aren’t we getting a lot of practice and a lot of invitations to prayer? During this season in all our countries. Also in chat rooms.
In Matthew 12:25 Jesus said that every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
Christ brought down the wall of hostility between God and man, Jew and Gentile, black and white, east and west, male and female, young and old, so that in Him we can all be “built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit (Ephesians 2:10-22).”
Dodi Note: The devil, just pure loves to divide and separate us from one another. It is the bait of Satan and I believe Eye has a recorded series which explains this.
God commands us to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace and, as much as possible, to live at peace with all men (Ephesians 4:3, Rom. 12:18).
Let’s see the actual verses in context.
Ephesians 4:1-6 4 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Romans 12:18 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
God warns us not to regard anyone after the flesh but to walk in the ministry of reconciliation that God has given to us (2 Corinthians 5:16, 18).
Dodi Note: This means rather that look at or judge another person( all of whom were created by God in His own image to do the works He had prepared ahead of time for us to walk in), we try to learn to see past their external appearance and even the choices they may have made in order to “see” them as His Image bearers who need healing.
“Image Bearers” is based on Genesis 1:26, KJV: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
Let’s read
2 Corinthians 5:14-21
14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.
Dodi Note: In part this reminds me, we look past a person’s actions to their heart. There is not, I have never met an angry, mean, unkind person, who does not have a HUGE wound which they need God to heal.
Continuing in 2 Corinthians:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Next week we are going to look at some prayers and the verses surrounding them.
I think we have enough to ponder and perhaps take with us for tonight.