House of prayer (part 2)

Jerusalem was abuzz with news of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into town.  The next day Jesus shows, in dramatic fashion, that the nation’s idea of being religious was in need of reform:

Mark 11:15-17 They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the complex.

Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?

Note that when Jesus was correcting the people, He referred them back to God’s Word.  In this case, Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah.  The people present, especially the priests and scribes, would have instantly recognized Jesus’ reference:

Isaiah 56:1-3,6-7 This is what the Lord says: Preserve justice and do what is right, for My salvation is coming soon, and My righteousness will be revealed.  Happy is the man who does this, anyone who maintains this, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.  No foreigner who has converted to the Lord should say, “The Lord will exclude me from His people”…

…And the foreigners who convert to the Lord, minister to Him, love the Lord’s name, and are His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it, and who hold firmly to My covenant – I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.  Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

God’s plan for His temple was to include those from other nations.  Foreigners who submitted to the Lord didn’t need to worry about being excluded from fellowship with God just because they weren’t Jewish.  Instead, God makes this incredible promise to them:

I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer.

God assures the believing foreigners that He will personally lead them to His temple, accept them and their sacrifices, and include them in the worship given by His chosen people, Israel.  This was a huge blessing for God to give to those born outside of His covenant with Israel.  As a result of this promise, there were many believing foreigners in Jerusalem at Passover.

With the religious economy the Jewish leaders had instituted within the temple complex, they were hindering the foreign believers from participating in worship at God’s house of prayer.  The Jewish leaders were standing in the way of God’s promise to foreigners – no wonder Jesus was flipping tables and chairs!

In our own church gatherings, do our religious activities point others toward God…or do we hinder others from meeting with God? 

If a foreigner came to us, would they recognize our church gatherings as God’s house of prayer, or something else?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

House of prayer (part 1)

It was time for the Passover celebration, and Jews from all over the world were in Jerusalem.  For those coming from out of town, they would not have brought the appropriate sacrificial animal with them on their journey.  Additionally, they would not have had the local money used to pay the required half-shekel temple tax.  As such, these items needed to be purchased.

While space for the housing, inspecting, and purchasing of the animals was necessary – a prescribed sacrifice was a spotless lamb, or two pigeons if you were poor – it seems that Israel’s leaders had decided to accommodate the large crowds by moving the commerce area into the temple complex.

Unknown to everyone, this Passover week was different from any previous celebrations.  Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem had just occurred.  And one of the first things He does when He gets to town is visit the temple.

Mark 11:15-16 They came to Jerusalem, and He went into the temple complex and began to throw out those buying and selling in the temple.  He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves, and would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple complex.

Notice that Jesus was throwing out both the buyers and the sellers.  Jesus wasn’t condemning what they were doing – but it was their choice of location that betrayed their attitude toward God.

Jesus’ house-cleaning was symbolic of the restoration needed in their relationship with God.  Commerce and facilitating religious activities had taken the place of what was supposed to be the true aim of the temple location – the meeting with and worship of Almighty God.

After clearing some space, Jesus had everyone’s attention:

Mark 11:17 Then He began to teach them: “Is it not written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?  But you have made it a den of thieves!” 

Jesus’ question cuts to the heart of the matter – Do you remember why you are here at the temple?

We could ask ourselves some similar questions:

·        What do our activities within our church buildings say about our attitude toward God?  Are we there to worship?  Are we there to pray? 
·        Do we come to church on Sunday expecting to meet with God and offer him praise…or do we go expecting to meet with friends and hope that we can get something useful out of the message?

These are tough questions, but ones that need answered.  Perhaps it’s time to do some house-cleaning within ourselves.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Humble prayers

The contents of our prayers to God reveal a lot – especially about how we view ourselves in relation to God.

Luke 18:9-14 [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:

“Two men went up to the temple complex to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.  The Pharisee took his stand and was praying like this: ‘God, I thank You that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, turn Your wrath from me – a sinner!’

I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other; because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The prayers of both men revealed their basis for relationship with God.  Everything the Pharisee said was true – he wasn’t committing the sins that he saw others do, and he gave a fraction of his life and money to God.  However, he expected God to accept him based upon these “good” things, based upon his terms.

On the other hand, the tax collector’s prayer was simple and direct.  When he said God, turn Your wrath from me, the phrase could also be translated as God, be propitious.  The word propitious isn’t used much anymore, but in this context the tax collector is asking God: May Your wrath be appeased and turned aside by the sacrifice.  The tax collector was looking to God to determine if his relationship was acceptable.

These conflicting ideas for the basis of our relationship with God go back a long way…so far, in fact, that we find them in Cain and Abel. 

Genesis 4:3-7 In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord.  And Abel also presented an offering – some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.  The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering.  Cain was furious, and he was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious?  And why are you downcast?  If you do right, won’t you be accepted?  But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Cain knew how to “do right” and approach the Lord in manner He required – with a blood sacrifice, not with Cain’s best work.  However, Cain wanted to approach God on his own terms…and his offering was rejected.  Similarly, the Pharisee went home without being justified because he wanted God to accept him for the good deeds he had done, rather than asking God to accept a substitutionary sacrifice.

The hearts of the men in Jesus’ parable were revealed in what they prayed.  One was self-focused, the other was God-focused.  One exalted himself and would eventually be humbled, either by correction or rejection from God.  The other humbled himself and would eventually be exalted, because of his relationship with God.

Let us also, then, pray humble prayers…because we know that Jesus’ blood sacrifice on the cross is the basis of our relationship with God, not anything we have done or will do.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Misquoting Jesus (part 2)

Jesus is giving His disciples some instructions on how to pursue reconciliation when they have been wronged by a fellow believer.

Matthew 18:15-17 “If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother.  But if he won’t listen, take one or two more with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.  If he pays no attention to them, tell the church.  But if he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever and a tax collector to you.

For these future church-leaders, a situation like this – where it may be necessary to excommunicate someone from their assembly – would be quite difficult.  Knowing this, Jesus encourages them that God would be supporting them through that difficult process:

Matthew 18:18 I assure you: Whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven.

Based upon the word Whatever, this verse has been misquoted many times.  People have prayed that God will bind or loose literally whatever good or bad thing they happen to bring up at the moment…whether it be “binding” Satan, “binding” a marriage, “loosing” God’s will in their life.  However, it is a very dangerous practice to rip a verse out of context and then miss-apply what Jesus was actually talking about. 

When I take my sons to an ice cream shop, I tell them that they can have whatever ice cream they want.  They understand that my use of the term “whatever” is limited by their current context of where they are.  I am not giving them permission to have “whatever” ice cream they want, whenever they feel like having it.  Even on this smaller scale…if either of my boys get into the ice cream at home at 3:00am, claiming that I gave them permission to do so when I previously said they could have “whatever” ice cream they wanted…there would be consequences to them taking my directions out of context and over-stepping their authority.

In verse 18, Jesus is telling the disciples that God has their back when they, as church-leaders, make decisions that permit or remove fellowship with a fellow believer who refuses to repent of their sin.  As if that idea wasn’t mind-blowing enough, Jesus goes one step further:

Matthew 18:19-20 Again I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them.

Within the context of this teaching, namely what to do if your brother sins against you, who are the two of you on earth agree[ing] in prayer?  Who are the two or three gathered together?

Clearly, they are the two or three witnesses that come to the offending brother long before the matter is turned over to the church leadership.  This, too, is a sensitive situation.  Their job is to ensure that every fact may be established, so that any accusation of sin is an accurate one.  Jesus expects these two or three to gather ahead of time to pray about the upcoming discussion, that they have reviewed the facts and agree on the potential courses of action, depending upon the response of the brother committing sin against another believer.  

Jesus is promising here that My Father in heaven will be with them as they navigate the discussion, just like He will back up the church leaders in their fellowship decisions. 

Even in the messy parts of life – and dealing with a situation where we have been wrong by a fellow believer is one of the messier situations we encounter – from these verses, we find that we have Jesus’ word that God the Father and Jesus Himself are with us as we seek the reconciliation of the relationship. 

That promise is more fantastic than how we have previously miss-applied these verses.  And much more practical too.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Misquoting Jesus (part 1)

We Christians get into habits rather easily, especially when it comes to how we pray.  How many of these common phrases or requests do you recognize?

·        “Binding” the Devil, “binding” poverty, or “loosing” a person from demonic oppression
·        “Agreeing” with one another in prayer
·        Reminding God that “where two or three are gathered,” He’s supposed to show up

When we look up the individual Scripture references supporting all three of these common prayer statements…would it surprise you to learn they all originate from just one of Christ’s teachings?

Reading those verses in context, we find that we’re not quoting Scripture like we thought we were, either.

Jesus was instructing His disciples on God’s desire to seek those who have wandered from their relationship with God, and how they should also desire to see reconciliation.  The next part of his teaching focused on how they were to handle when a fellow disciple sins against them.  Jesus then finished by explaining to the disciples the importance of forgiveness in their relationships with each other.  The verses we are interested in come from the middle section – what to do when another follower of Christ wrongs you.

Matthew 18:15-17 “If you brother sins against you, go and rebuke him in private.  If he listens to you, you have won your brother.  But if he won’t listen, take one or two more with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.  If he pays no attention to them, tell the church.  But if he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever and a tax collector to you. 

The aim throughout this process is reconciliation, just like God the Father is seeking reconciliation with those who have wronged Him.  Jesus is giving His disciples a plan to follow so the offense can be appropriately handled and, hopefully, corrected. However, when a fellow believer obstinately refuses to listen to correction, there are specific steps that Jesus says are to be taken. 

The disciples would have been familiar with the Old Testament concept of two or three witnesses being required to verify an accusation in legal setting.  Jesus now brings this practice into civil matters between believers.  These steps, however, would not be easy ones.  In fact, going through with the discipline Jesus prescribes would potentially be very messy. 

Sensing the disciples’ rising anxiety, Jesus calmed their fears by telling them:

Matthew 18:18 I assure you: Whatever you bind on earth is already bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth is already loosed in heaven. 

So in the context of this discipline, what is Jesus referring to with the terms binding and loosing?

Our first observation is that whatever binding and loosing refer to, it is clearly something that has more than just a local impact – whichever one happens on earth, it also happens in heaven. 

Our second observation is that Jesus is giving this direction to His disciples, those who would one day be leaders in the church.  These are the leaders that would have been presented with the situation of the offending brother after the two or three witnesses were unable to convince him of his error.  At this point, reconciliation has not been achieved, and the matter is now up for the church leaders to consider and hand out a verdict.  According to Jesus, this verdict could go as far as the excommunication of the offender.

With these two observations, the idea behind binding and loosing becomes much clearer.  What the disciples decide to permit or reject in this setting has consequences greater than their immediate assembly.  Jesus is assuring them that if and when they hand out punishment against the offender, God himself will back them up by permitting or rejecting the believer’s fellowship with Him.

Breathe for moment – I’m not suggesting that the offending brother can lose their salvation.  From the Scriptures (e.g. – John 10:27-30), we know that’s not possible to lose eternal salvation because our salvation relies entirely on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, and not anything we do or don’t do. 

However, a constant theme of all New Testament writers is that our choices have eternal significance and consequences.  If I create such a great offense against my fellow believer, and I obstinately refuse to acknowledge my error and repent, and the situation escalates all the way to a congregational-level problem where the church leaders deem it necessary to remove me from the congregation…if that situation occurs, wouldn’t you expect that God also has a strong opinion about my chosen course of action as well?

Binding and loosing, then, is the authority given to church leaders to decide matters of fellowship among their flock.  This is a huge deal and a large responsibility within a difficult situation, and Jesus is promising them that God will support them in their decision.

So a proper application of Matthew 18:15-18 would be to pray for reconciliation with your brother or sister in Christ.  We should also pray for our church leaders to use their God-given authority carefully and wisely. 

But let’s not misquote Jesus.  Based on verse 18, we – as individuals – have no authority to bind or loose anything.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Unfulfilled promises (part 2)

After being asked when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus informed His disciples that life would go on for some time before days of the Son of Man would arrive.  He used several examples of what life would be like in the meantime, with an emphasis on the suddenness of the Son of Man’s arrival:

Luke 17:26-30 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man: people went on eating, drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day Noah boarded the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

It will be the same as it was in the days of Lot: people went on eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building.  But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.  It will be like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

The Jews were anticipating the Kingdom of God within their lifetime.  Jesus knew that this new information would be disappointing for his disciples to hear.

Luke 18:1 He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged.

After telling the disciples the parable, Jesus concluded with a couple of questions:

Luke 18:7-8 “Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He delay to help them?  I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. 

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on earth?”

When Jesus returns, will He find those that are expectantly praying and living in preparation for His arrival?  Since Jesus pointed out that His return will come suddenly, are we preparing ourselves for the possibility that our generation will be the one He returns to?

Our instructions for preparation are the same that Jesus gave to His disciples – that no matter how normal, mundane, or disheartening the circumstances around us become, we need to pray always and not become discouraged.  God will follow through on His promises…but do our choices show that we believe Him when He says that Christ will return?

Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on earth?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Unfulfilled promises (part 1)

Since Jesus was constantly teaching about the kingdom of God, people in his audience were naturally curious as to when the kingdom was going to be established.

Luke 17:20-21 Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God will come, He answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with something observable; no one will say ‘Look here!’ or ‘There!’  For you see, the kingdom of God is among you.”

Jesus then turned to his disciples to give them additional details, but he did not specifically give a start date for the kingdom.  Instead, Jesus told them that life would go on for a while, and when everything seemed to be ‘normal’ for quite some time, then the kingdom would arrive.

This answer would have both disappointed and discouraged His disciples.  The Jews were looking forward to a Messiah that would liberate them from Roman rule and immediately setup the long-awaiting kingdom of God.  Continued waiting or an apparent delay to the kingdom was not what they were looking for.  Recognizing this, Jesus continued:

Luke 18:1-8 He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged:

“There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect man.  And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’  For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming’”

Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says.  Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night?  Will He delay to help them?  I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. 

Typical modern-day teaching from this parable tends to focus on the persistence of the widow and then uses her badgering as evidence that we should likewise wear God out with our requests.  However, that aspect of the story is not Jesus’ focal point.

The main idea of the parable is given in verse 1:

Luke 18:1 He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged

So, what discouragement does Jesus want them to avoid?

Within the parable, we see that the widow is seeking justice from her adversary – just like the nation of Israel was seeking justice and relief from their Roman oppressors.  The Old Testament was full of prophecies where God tells Israel that they will one day shake off their oppressors and the kingdom of God would be established; however, those predictions had not yet come true.

This type of parable uses a lesser-to-greater argument.  Jesus’ point is this – if the lesser, unjust judge gives justice to those who ask, how much more reliable will the greater, just God in heaven be to give the justice that He promised?

With this parable, Jesus is encouraging His disciples to continue to seek God in prayer and to continue to expect that He will fulfill His promise of justice for the nation.  Even when their circumstances seem to indicate that God has forgotten them – Jesus is reminding them that all God’s prophecies are reliable, and that they should not give up talking to God about any of His promises.

That’s something we can rely on as well.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Praying to the Lord of the Harvest

Later on in his ministry, Jesus would send heralds ahead of Him to prepare the town for His teaching.  Whether the townspeople accepted the heralds or not, their message was to be the same: The kingdom of God has come near you.  The goal of this preparation work was very similar to John the Baptist’s mission to prepare hearts and minds for when the Messiah would arrive.

Jesus gave these followers specific instructions on how to carry out their portion of His ministry.  We’re going to focus in on just one part of the instructions they received.

Luke 10:1-2 After this, the Lord appointed 70 others, and He sent them ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where He Himself was about to go.  He told them: “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.  Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

Harvest time was always a joyous time in Jewish society.  Much work needed to be done, but the benefits were well worth the effort.  Hearts were ready to receive the good news of the Messiah’s arrival, but someone had to get the word out to them.  Those who were willing to spread the message had a significantly large task ahead of them.  In comparison to the task at hand, there were too few workers.

Jesus’ first direction to the 70 was to pray that God would send out even more workers to help spread the good news of Jesus’ arrival, to bring in the abundant harvest of those who would respond and belong to God.  The 70 were going to need all the help they could get!

Jesus’ directions to the 70 heralds was very similar to what He has previously taught to the 12 disciples.  While journeying through Samaria, Jesus spoke to a woman at Jacob’s well and told her that He was the Messiah.  She immediately ran back to her village to tell others.  While she was gone, the disciples urged Jesus to eat…but as the Samaritans made their way toward Jesus and His disciples, He used their arrival as a teaching moment:

John 4:34-35 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” Jesus told them.  “Don’t you say, ‘There are still four more months, then comes the harvest’?  Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest.”

Our application is to do the same – open our eyes, see their need, and participate in the harvest.  There is more work to be done than we can handle on our own.  So ask God to send out even more workers…the benefits of this work is worth it because this harvest is of eternal value.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Consulting the Father

Early on in His ministry, Jesus was teaching around the Galilee area.  He healed diseases and deformities, forgave sins, cast out demons, corrected the teachers of the law, and preached in the synagogues.  Throughout the towns in the region, Jesus’ actions led to a large number of people following him around.  Some traveled from across the nation see Him.  Their social backgrounds varied significantly, from the high-society Pharisees to the bottom-rung tax collectors.  Many were just curious to hear Him speak, others desired to be his disciples – a word which means to be a learner or a pupil.  These people wanted to absorb everything they could from Jesus.  The best news was that anyone could choose to be a learner…Jesus taught anyone who had “ears to hear”, anyone who was willing to listen.

However, for Jesus to be effective in His ministry both before and after His death, He needed to get specific with a chosen few.  Jesus would personally pour into and develop the ones who would eventually be entrusted to carry the gospel message to the rest of the world.  This was a monumental choice, a decision that would affect people throughout history. 

If we needed to make that large of a decision, how would we approach it?  Make a list of pros and cons for each person?  Disqualify some based on the length of time spent following Jesus?  Make a test for them to take?  Ask for resumes?  Hire a consultant?

Take a look at Jesus’ approach:

Luke 6:12-13 During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God.  When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose 12 of them – He also named them apostles.

Jesus spent all night consulting with the Father.  While we don’t know the specific content or wording Jesus used while talking with the Father, Jesus certainly spent more than just a minute or two asking God for “guidance” and then going on with His own decision-making steps.  The Father was an intimate part of the entire process.  In one of Jesus’ last earthly prayers, He said to the Father:

John 17:6 I have revealed Your name to the men You gave Me from the world.  They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

During Jesus’ all-night prayer session, the Father revealed to Him which 12 from the mass of disciples were going to be Jesus’ apostles.  These 12 were still disciples – they were still learners – but now they would carry the distinction of being apostles, which means they were specifically identified as a delegate or messenger.  These were the ones Jesus would purposely develop so they would eventually act as His primary representatives.

I’ve pulled few all-nighters in my life – for conversation with others, writing papers, or working on projects…but I’ve never stayed up all night to consult with God.  Looking back into my own history, perhaps the direction I needed for some of the “big” decisions in life would have been clearer if I had consulted with God by more than a cursory prayer. 

Over and over in Jesus’ life, we see that His time with the Father kept him connected and on target with His given ministry.  Jesus did the Father’s Will because He spent significant time with the Father and trusted the Father’s decisions.  We would be wise to invest a similar emphasis in face-time with the Father before making decisions in our personal lives and our God-given ministries that will affect the generations to come.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Prayerful preparation

When the disciples were unable to cast out a demon (even though they had done so on previous occasions), Jesus was able to step in and heal the afflicted boy.  Later on, Jesus addressed the source of their ineffectiveness.

Mark 9:28-29 After He went into a house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”  And He told them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

There was always something that bothered me about the whole scene, because prior to casting out the demon…Jesus didn’t pray.

An account of this situation is given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke; however, each retelling of the events say nothing about Jesus praying prior to rebuking the demon and ordering it to come out of the boy.  In the several stories recounted in the gospels, Jesus would give thanks to God or look to Heaven before performing a miracle…but in this instance, when He says that casting out the demon requires prayer – there is no record of a prayer being offered.

This situation has left me puzzled for a while.  After making as many observations as I could, interpreting the text as well as I could, and then even thinking about the apparent contradiction for some length of time…I was still stuck.  It’s at times like these (only after exhausting our own personal abilities), that it is acceptable to consult a commentary.

Several commentators didn’t address my question – you’ll find that some writers don’t want to talk about the difficult or potentially controversial passages.  However, the few commentators that I did find willing to discuss the passage made an interesting point, that perhaps I’m thinking to narrowly when it comes to Christ’s prescription of prayer in order for the disciples to cast out the demon.

Since Jesus didn’t pray before commanding the demon to leave the boy, prayer is evidently not a one-time evocation of God’s power and authority.  Jesus’ own prayer life modeled one of complete dependency on the Father.  This incident would have been a powerful lesson for the disciples, teaching them that they would need to constantly rely on God in order to achieve any mission He would give them.  This type of reliance would be both evidenced by and maintained by their prayer time with the Father.

The same rings true for us as well.  When we maintain our reliance on the Father is when we are able to achieve the mission He’s given us.  When we are challenged, there will be no need to invoke God’s authority by making a loud, thunderous prayer, rather we will already be prepared to act because we know the One we’re relying on.

Keep Pressing,
Ken