January 12, 2014

Have You Begged Jesus To Stay? 

Luke 24: 28 - 33a

Luke

By the time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey, Jesus would have gone on, but they begged him to stay the night with them, since it was getting late.  So he went home with them.  As they sat down to eat, he took a small loaf of bread, asked God's blessing on it, broke it, then gave it to them.  Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.  And at that moment he disappeared!

They said to each other, "Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"  And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem, where the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus were gathered.   

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Thoughts....

Have you ever begged Jesus to stay?  Have you ever even asked him into your life?  Have you made him LORD of your life, if you have asked him to be your Savior?

In Mark 8:31-28 we read, 'Then Jesus began to tell them that he, the Son of Man, would suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the leaders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law.  He would be killed, and three days later he would rise again.  As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and told him he shouldn't say things like that."

Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan!  You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."

Then he called his disciples and the crowds to come over and listen.  "If any of you wants to be my follower, " he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.  If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it.  But if you give you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life.  And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?  Is anything worth more than your soul?  If a person is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in the glory of my Father with the holy angels."'

Although Jesus' two disciples on the way to Emmaus did not know who the man was who admonished them, queried them giving facts, and quoted Scripture....about himself....they begged him to stay with them.  Scriptures say it was because it was getting late.  Was it getting late in the day, or late in their lives?  Were they hungry to learn more for their salvation walk from him ?  Is it late in your life, or early still?  Does it matter?  Are you hungry to learn more about a walk, a journey, a choice, that could grant you forgiveness of sins and offer you life everlasting?  And bring you an abundance of joy 'down in your heart'?

Are people in your life attempting to quash Jesus, his works, actions?  Will you say to them, as Jesus said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan!  You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God's."?  Isn't this essentially what Jesus implied when speaking with the two on the road to Emmaus?  He was trying to tell them to stop looking at things from human mindset and start seeing things from God's.  The two disciples/followers found it hard to correlate what they had learned from Jesus when he was alive to the reality of his death.  They found it hard to believe all that the prophets had written in Scriptures, the prophecy, that his time of glory was 'now'.   Do you find it hard to believe, too?

'As they sat down to eat, he took a small loaf of bread, asked God's blessing on it, broke it, then gave it to them.'  When was the last time you broke bread with Jesus?  FOR Jesus?  The Lord's Supper/Communion (when you 'come into union' with the Lord), is paramount for a person to 'be still and know' that he IS Lord, and to better hear his voice.  It brings one back into focus of WHO is right, not 'what' is right.  It takes one away from oneself and reminds one of who he [Jesus] is, that he is, and how wonderful he is.  And it gives one an opportunity to renew one's relationship with those who should really matter in one's life....God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.  God gave life and forgives sins.  Jesus overcame death in resurrection offering eternal life.  Holy Spirit teaches and guides the way to an abundant life.  The Lord's Supper/Communion reminds THEM whom you seek, whom you believe in, whom you follow, whom you choose to live with in life and for life.  Be reminded of what Jesus said in John 15 about being cut off from the branch.  Without him we are nothing....burned up....useless in the Kingdom....thrown away.

'Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him.'  Have your eyes been opened today?  Again?  Will you ask Jesus into your life today?  Will you renew your relationship with him, if you've been walking a different or altered path? 

Do you want Jesus to disappear out of your life?  Will you beg him to stay?  Will you ask him into your life, if you have not already done so?   How can you KEEP him in your life?  Have a RELATIONSHIP with those who REALLY matter:  God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.  Put God, Jesus, Holy Spirit FIRST in your life.  Break bread with them.  OBEY God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.  READ the New Testament to KNOW the Trinity:  God, Jesus, Holy Spirit.  Read it to know how to live your life....then put into ACTion what you learn. 

When the two disciples/followers had heard everything Jesus had to say and they realized who he was, he left them.  They said, "Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?"  Folks, your hearts can feel strangely warm, too, as he talks to you and explains the Scriptures to you....IF you 'bother to' listen.  IF you 'bother to' follow him.  IF you 'bother to' allow him into your life AND make him LORD of your life. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, IF you are obeying the Trinity, you won't need to BEG Jesus to stay.  He'll want to, because he will see where your heart is....and there....is where your treasure....God, Jesus and Holy Spirit....'should' be. 

Within an hour, YOU will be back on the road....like the two disciples/followers....to life...everlasting! 

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 Let Us Pray

God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, thank you for bringing truth into my life, that I might learn and grow.  I want you to be by my side on the journey of life, Jesus.  God, please forgive me of my sins.  Jesus, please come into my life....be my Savior and Lord.  Holy Spirit, please continue to teach me all I need to know so I never lose any of you on the journey for life....everlasting.  Help me be a better person and live a better life.  Help me share with others, who you are, that you are, and how wonderful you are.  God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, grant me, and my family, the blessings, please, of a new....born again....life with you.  Help us step into this new/renewed life you give us, so we can be in a better position to share all we can about you, to best share your love and gifts with others.  I pray you will find myself and my family closer to your hearts, God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, and, that we will not have to beg to keep you closer to ours.  I am grateful that you forgive sins....mine most especially.  I am grateful for your healing grace, your mercy, your love.  Please accept my love.  Thank you.  I praise you and adore you.  Alleluia!  Amen.   

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Let us hear from Paul as he prays:  

When I think of the wisdom and scope of God's plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through his Holy Spirit.  And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him.  May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it.  Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Now glory be to God!  By his mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.  May he be given glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages.  Amen.  Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT         

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Scroll down to read Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving...'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'.

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Definition of a Christian:  Anyone who believes in God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, and accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Regardless of church name or religious affiliation. 

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    One last thing....

 Jesus' Prayer of Thanksgiving

'The Unforced Rhythms of Grace'

"Abruptly Jesus broke into prayer:  "Thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.  You've concealed your ways from sophisticates and know-it-alls, but spelled them out clearly to ordinary people.  Yes, Father, that's the way you like to work."

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly.  "The Father has given me all these things to do and say.  This is a unique Father - Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge.  No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does.  But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen."

"Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you'll recover your life.  I'll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn how to live freely and lightly.

   Matthew 11:  25-30

  The Message

And the people said,

"Amen."

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I now write most prayers in the position of ' I ' (first person) because most people are sitting at their computer alone, not in groups, and it allows those reading and praying to personalize the prayer as coming from them going to God.  Variations may appear on holidays when families may wish to use the prayer provided.  I encourage you to pray your own prayers as well.

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  Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996.  Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189.  All rights reserved.

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NOTE:  I said it long ago, but let me say it again.  If you are wanting to lead a group, start a church, or are confined in an institution, or live in a country where the Gospel is not preached, and you don't know what to say or how to say it, and yet feel led to share, teach, or preach, besides just reading straight out of the Bible and sharing what God puts on your heart, please feel free to share any or all of what I've written, if it will help you, as long as you include where it comes from, due to copyright laws.  Jesus gave God's love and healing freely, as well as his message.  Our responsibility is to get the Word out to those who need to hear it.  If what I've written....by the power and direction of the Holy Spirit....or what he has said through me....has helped you, it may help others that you know.  You are welcome to share it.  God calls all of us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world.  Please share it with the fullness of love that God, Jesus, Holy Spirit....and I....have given it.  Amen!

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