Paul's Prayers And The Year 2002
In Ephesians 2, Paul writes that the Gentiles had "no
hope, and [were] without God in the
world" (Eph. 2:12), and that it was the Jews who had "the
covenants of promise" (v. 12). But
then he goes on to tell how Christ reconciled the two into one
body, having "broken down the
middle wall of partition between us" (Eph. 2:14-15). Now,
the gospel was the means by which
all could come to God through Christ and become members of the
household of God. Natural birth
is a type of what Paul is speaking of; a baby is born through
blood and is born into a family.
This is typical of being spiritually born through the shed blood
of Christ into the family of
God. Some today believe that Christians and Jews are to be united
without the Jews believing
the gospel. That's impossible. Though naturally born as Jews,
they must also be spiritually
born into God's household.
Some also believe that uniting all things spiritual without
regard for what God has spelled
out in His word is the only way to peace, as long as one believes
in a "Jesus" of some sort or
other. There are any number of these imaginative, deceptive beliefs
or theories found in the
world today. But Paul prayed that the Church would have
Eph 1:17 . . . the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is
the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the
working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality,
and power, and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world,
but also in that which is to
come:
In contrast to the hope presented in God's call to the Church,
many voices in the world also
call for peace and unity. While the Church understands that the
problem in the world is just
plain old sin, the world does not have that understanding. Even
if it did, it doesn't know how
to rid itself of sin and its effects. The world's hope lies in
the human family uniting in the
effort to get rid of the evil, and then all will be good and
peace will come. The hope is for
a Golden Age on earth, which in the world's understanding of
things, is an inheritance well
worth working towards. We are familiar with the song, "We
Are The World, We Are The Children"
which points to a human family hoping for unity and peace through
its power to deliver itself
from evil.
All of this finds its source in the frustrations and imaginations
and human effort of men
apart from God's word. But to the Christian, God says that through
the cross, we have been
transferred from the household of humanity into the household
of God. It is the same as saying
we are in the world but not of it, not of its frustrations, imaginations
and initiatives. It
is inevitable that conflict has to eventually rise against the
Christian, because the world
calls the Christian to return to its household and its efforts
while the Christian calls the
world to repent of its sin and come into the household of God.
Paul places the gospel at the center of becoming a part of
the household of God through
Christ, while the world places anything it darn well pleases
at the center of its call to
unity. I believe that what Paul is aiming at in the above verses
is this: that through wisdom
and revelation, the Church would know not only that God brought
them to the place of salvation
through the power of Christ's crucifixion, but also that by the
resurrection power of Christ,
He has the undisputed power to bring the whole household of God
into His presence in glory in
Christ. Whether one is to be a part of that gathering at the
end is determined by whether or
not one's faith is based on Christ as presented in Scripture.
Salvation is individual, but it
places the believer into something - the household of God with
Christ as its preeminent Head.
Without this faith, one is excluded from that household. In spite
of the controversy and
bickering and arguments that water down the gospel of forebearing
grace, its just that simple.
Paul told the Ephesians that his call was to make known the
mystery of God to all, that
through the wisdom of the cross, salvation was now available
to both Jew and Gentile. Paul
prayed that the Church would have a deep realization of not only
God's wisdom, but the love
radiating through that wisdom,
Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom
the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would
grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit
in the inner man; 17 That
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted
and grounded in love, 18 May
be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and
length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge,
that ye might be filled with all
the fulness of God. 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21
Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
This is a good prayer for the year 2002. As the ears are tempted
to bend towards the many
voices calling for the unity of the human family, the members
of the household of faith need
to "be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man" because the clamoring of these
other voices can drain the soul. We are called in these times
to maintain our faith that
Christ is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the
power that worketh in us" (v. 20). In 2001, we realized
a little more that true Christianity
is not considered a friend by the world, and in 2002, such Scripture
should encourage us all
to:
1. Hold fast to our faith within the household of God 2. Know
who we are in Christ 3. Look to
the Lord for increased strength to persevere 4. Realize more
fully the preciousness of our
hope 5. Realize more deeply how crucial is the sharing of the
gospel
Paul also prayed a prayer in Colossians that shows the consistency
in his hopes and desires in
service to the Lord Jesus towards the Church:
Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it,
do not cease to pray for you, and
to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding;
Notice that wisdom must be complemented by spiritual understanding,
which is what the world
lacks. The world has a lot of wisdom and at times does pretty
good for itself, but it lacks
the ability to apply its wisdom according to the spiritual understanding
that only God can
give. It doesn't understand that its goal to bring final peace
to the earth by the riddance of
evil is unreachable. Why? Because it doesn't understand that
the foundation of all evil is
sin, and sin can only be dealt with through understanding and
yielding oneself to the wisdom
of God manifested in Christ crucified. God's will is for all
men to accept Christ that none
perish. His will is for each member of the world's household
to repent of its sin and become
members of His household. IF that were to happen with all men,
humanity's household would
disappear! But Scripture says that not all will love the truth
so as to be saved, and so Paul
prays that the Church would not "be not moved away from
the hope of the gospel." God's
household will be saved from God's wrath; it will be gathered,
it will be glorified, it will
reign on earth under Christ:
Col 1:10 . . . might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 Strengthened
with all might, according to
his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness; 12 Giving thanks
unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in
light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every
creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him, and for him:
17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have
the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should
all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood
of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by
him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in
your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In
the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable
in his sight: 23 If ye continue
in the faith grounded and settled, and BE NOT MOVED AWAY FROM
THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, which ye have heard, and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made
a minister;
These prayers of Paul would be good prayers for us to read
and meditate on during the coming
year because the world is not going to stop what it is doing.
Neither is the apostate church.
The Church's greatest protection is understanding Christ, God's
plan in Christ and who it is
in Christ, both individually and corporately. Why? Because it's
inevitable that the world and
the wandering Church will continue to wrongly redefine these
at deeper levels in 2002. I
believe some of us need to take time to refresh ourselves in
these simple truths related in
God's word, because through the confusion, divisions, "new"
revelations, redefinitions,
bickerings, additions to or subtractions from God's word, worldliness,
"newly revealed"
agendas - need I go on? - the SIMPLICITY of the Gospel of God
has been watered-down, covered
up, and redefined to the point that it does not seem to be SIMPLE
anymore. The simplicity of
it is this:
1. Christ came 2. Christ died 3. Christ rose 4. Christ sent
the Holy Spirit to indwell all who
believe so God can gather a people for his coming kingdom 5.
All who believe are of the
household of God, to be matured by the Holy Spirit through the
word 5. The members of God's
household are to expose the lies and share the gospel so new
members can do the same 6. God's
household is to love the truth, and love the promise of His coming
7. Their expectancy is
Christ's coming back to bring about a united people living in
peace under His headship in
God's then-manifested Kingdom
The world and apostate Christianity have perverted the simplicity
of God's message to the
world. I don't mean perverted it a little, I mean, they have
P-E-R-V-E-R-T-E-D IT! They have
complicated it! That is why Paul's prayers are such good examples
of how I believe we should
pray in 2002 so we:
1. Know Him better 2. Know who we are in Him and what is our
hope and inheritance in Him 3.
Know our hope and inheritance are fulfilled and given ONLY when
He returns in glory and power
If we pray in this way, God will answer, for when we ask according
to His will, we know he
hears us and gives us our heart's desire.
I believe being refreshed in God's simple plan should be a
priority this year, sharing it
wherever we can, even in materials which expose the lies and
deceits flooding the Church
today. To sum it all up,
2 Cor 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve through his subtlety,
so your minds should be corrupted from THE SIMPLICITY THAT IS
IN CHRIST. 4 For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or
if ye receive another spirit,
which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear
with him.
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