LEARNING FROM THE PRAYERS OF JESUS

What can we learn from the prayers that Jesus prayed?
 The prayers Jesus prayed give us insight into His nature, His heart, and His mission on earth. The prayers of Jesus also inform and encourage us in our own prayer lives. Far more important than where He prayed, when He prayed, and in what position He prayed is the fact that He prayed. The theme of His prayers is instructive for all of us.

Prayer was an integral part of Jesus’ time on earth, and He prayed regularly: “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:16). If the Son incarnate found it necessary to commune with the Father frequently, how much more do we need to do so? Jesus faced persecution, trials, heartache, and physical suffering. Without regular and continual access to the throne of God, He would surely have found those events unbearable. In the same way, Christians must never neglect to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

What is often called “The Lord’s Prayer” is actually a teaching tool of Christ as part of His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:9–13). In this model prayer, Jesus teaches us to approach God as “our Father”; to hallow God’s name; to pray for God’s will; and to ask for daily provision, forgiveness, and spiritual protection.

In addition to His regular times of prayer, Jesus prayed at some important events in His life: He prayed at His baptism (Luke 3:21–22); before feeding the 5,000 (Luke 9:16) and the 4,000 (Matthew 15:36); and at the moment of His transfiguration (Luke 9:29). Before Jesus chose His twelve disciples, He “spent the night praying to God” on a mountainside (Luke 6:12).

Jesus prayed at the return of the 72 disciples: “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do’” (Luke 10:21).

Jesus prayed at Lazarus’ tomb. As they rolled away the stone from His friend’s tomb, “Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me’” (John 11:41–42). This is a good example of prayer prayed in the hearing of others for the sake of the hearers.

In Jerusalem the week of His arrest, Jesus predicted His soon-to-come death. As He spoke of His coming sacrifice, Jesus prayed a very short prayer: “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:28). In response to Jesus’ prayer, a voice from heaven said, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” Spending a last few minutes with His disciples on the night of His arrest, Jesus prayed an extended prayer known today as His “high priestly prayer” (John 17) on behalf of His own, those given to Him by the Father (verse 6). In this prayer, Jesus is the Intercessor for His children (cf. Hebrews 7:25). He prays “not . . . for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours” (verse 9). He prays that they would have His joy (verse 13) and that God would keep them from the evil one (verse 15). He prays for His own to be sanctified by the truth, which is the Word of God (verse 17), and to be unified in that truth (verses 21–23). In the John 17 prayer, Jesus looks to the future and includes all those who would ever believe in Him (verse 20). 

Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His arrest (Matthew 26:36–46). He had asked His disciples to pray with Him, but they fell asleep instead. Jesus’ agonized prayer in the garden is a model of submission and sacrifice: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (verse 39). Three times Jesus prayed this.

Jesus even prayed from the cross, in the midst of His agony. His first prayer echoes Psalm 22:1 and expresses His deep distress: “About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?’ (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”) (Matthew 27:46). Jesus also prayed for the forgiveness of those who were torturing Him to death: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). In His final breath, Jesus continued to express His faith in God: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Several themes are apparent in Jesus’ prayers. One is the giving of thanks to the Father. Praise was a regular part of Jesus’ prayers. Another theme is His communion with the Father; His relationship with His heavenly Father naturally resulted in His desire to spend time communicating with Him. The third theme in Jesus’ prayers is His submission to the Father. Our Lord’s prayers were always in accordance with God’s will.

Just as Jesus gave thanks, we should in all things pray with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6–7). As God’s adopted children, we should naturally desire to talk to God (Ephesians 3:12). And in everything we should seek the Lord’s will above our own. Jesus prayed in a variety of settings, public and private. He prayed in times of joy and times of sorrow. He prayed for Himself, and He prayed for others. He prayed to express thanks, to petition for needs, and to commune with His Father. Jesus set the example of how we should trust God, submit to God, and seek fellowship with God.

To this day, Jesus continues to pray for His own from His exalted position in heaven at the right hand of God. Scripture says He makes intercession for those who belong to Him (Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1). It is significant that, at Jesus’ ascension, He was taken away from His disciples into heaven “while he was blessing them” (Luke 24:51). That blessing has never stopped. Jesus will continue to bless those who come to God through faith in Christ until He comes again.
Recommended Resources: Prayer, The Great Adventure by David Jeremiah and Logos Bible Software.

MAN'S MORTALITY

From a sermon on man’s mortality by Saint Cyprian, bishop

Let us banish the fear of death and think of the eternal life that follows it

Our obligation is to do God’s will, and not our own. We must remember this if the prayer that our Lord commanded us to say daily is to have any meaning on our lips. How unreasonable it is to pray that God’s will be done, and then not promptly obey it when he calls us from this world! Instead we struggle and resist like self-willed slaves and are brought into the Lord’s presence with sorrow and lamentation, not freely consenting to our departure, but constrained by necessity. And yet we expect to be rewarded with heavenly honors by him to whom we come against our will! Why then do we pray for the kingdom of heaven to come if this earthly bondage pleases us? What is the point of praying so often for its early arrival if we would rather serve the devil here than reign with Christ.

The world hates Christians, so why give your love to it instead of following Christ, who loves you and has redeemed you? John is most urgent in his epistle when he tells us not to love the world by yielding to sensual desires. Never give your love to the world, he warns, or to anything in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. All that the world offers is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and earthly ambition. The world and its allurements will pass away, but the man who has done the will of God shall live for ever. Our part, my dear brothers, is to be single-minded, firm in faith, and steadfast in courage, ready for God’s will, whatever it may be. Banish the fear of death and think of the eternal life that follows it. That will show people that we really live our faith.

We ought never to forget, beloved, that we have renounced the world. We are living here now as aliens and only for a time. When the day of our homecoming puts an end to our exile, frees us from the bonds of the world, and restores us to paradise and to a kingdom, we should welcome it. What man, stationed in a foreign land, would not want to return to his own country as soon as possible? Well, we look upon paradise as our country, and a great crowd of our loved ones awaits us there, a countless throng of parents, brothers and children longs for us to join them. Assured though they are of their own salvation, they are still concerned about ours. What joy both for them and for us to see one another and embrace! O the delight of that heavenly kingdom where there is no fear of death! O the supreme and endless bliss of everlasting life!

There, is the glorious band of apostles, there the exultant assembly of prophets, there the innumerable host of martyrs, crowned for their glorious victory in combat and in death. There in triumph are the virgins who subdued their passions by the strength of continence. There the merciful are rewarded, those who fulfilled the demands of justice by providing for the poor. In obedience to the Lord’s command, they turned their earthly patrimony into heavenly treasure.

My dear brothers, let all our longing be to join them as soon as we may. May God see our desire, may Christ see this resolve that springs from faith, for he will give the rewards of his love more abundantly to those who have longed for him more fervently.

ADVENT

ADVENT

Advent and Christmastide have a warmth and beauty all of their own. The drama set before us in the liturgy is the greatest story ever told: the virginal conception, the speechlessness of Zechariah, the birth of John the Baptist, the shepherds in the field, the three wise men, the escape to Egypt, the slaughter of the innocents, the prophets Simeon and Anna, and the profound proclamations of the Benedictus and Magnificat. The whole story is ever new and fresh – as fresh as the Babe on whom it is centred.

What made our earliest childhood Christmases so special was the sense of expectation and anticipation that began when the calendar switched to the 12^th month and built up slowly and surely over the coming weeks until the festal day itself. There were many signs that drew us on this time-journey: the Christmas trees piled up on in the markets, even overflowing the pavements, the fairy lights in shop windows, the toy shops displays, tiny tin pot kiosks touting “Xmas Cakes”, the coming of the school holidays, the sending and receiving of cards, the smells and baking of cakes, puddings, and roasts, the ever imaginative designing of cribs, the Christmas-eve confession and so much more. And now-a-days the festive season sales of “up to 50% discount (‘conditions apply’)!” Every sense was stimulated in some way and we all carry with us sights, smells and sounds that remind us of those hearty Christmases.

The season of Advent parallels this anticipation in liturgical terms. The beauty and holiness of the season is captured eloquently by Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Some say that ever ‘gainst that season comes, wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrated, the bird of dawning singeth all night long; and then, they say, no spirit dare stir abroad: the nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, no fairy takes, nor witch has power to charm; so hallowed and so gracious is the time.”

Once again, we have entered a hallowed and sacred time. Has the season become so secularised that we have lost sight of what the Catechism of the Catholic tells us? “When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Saviour’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming” (no. 524). The Sundays of Advent, together with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, are designed to help us reflect on the coming of Christ into our world, on his continuous coming into our lives every day and on his final coming when we look forward to sharing his life in glory.  We will prefer to let the accidental trash of life be consumed by suffering in order that his glory may come out clean in everything we do.

It makes great sense to stay watchful and alert, not allowing ourselves to feel that we live in a settled situation, but, rather, to read the signs of the times, make use of the opportunities, and place our talents for the building of the “new earth and new heaven.” For sure, life has a frenetic pace about it, and Christmas seems to highlight this more than any other time of the year.

We are either preparing to meet Jesus Christ or we are not – there is no middle path.  Our faith enables us to believe that his day is this day, this very hour, for the Lord keeps coming – in the sacraments, surely, but also in people, in our daily tasks, in the challenges of today’s world. In his 1^st. letter to the Thessalonians, St. Paul emphasises the point – “stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to…stand with confidence before the Son of Man.” It is a confidence that comes from following Christ’s example of prayer and active good living.

BAPTISM, IMPORTANCE OF

Importance of Christian Baptism
 Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Just before His ascension, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify that the church is responsible to teach Jesus’ word, make disciples, and baptize those disciples. These things are to be done everywhere (“all nations”) until “the very end of the age.” So, if for no other reason, baptism has importance because Jesus commanded it.

Baptism was practiced before the founding of the church. The Jews of ancient times would baptize proselytes to signify the converts’ “cleansed” nature. John the Baptist used baptism to prepare the way of the Lord, requiring everyone, not just Gentiles, to be baptized because everyone needs repentance. However, John’s baptism, signifying repentance, is not the same as Christian baptism, as seen in Acts 18:24–26 and 19:1–7. Christian baptism has a deeper significance.

Baptism is to be done in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit—this is what makes it “Christian” baptism. It is through this ordinance that a person is admitted into the fellowship of the church. When we are saved, we are “baptized” by the Spirit into the Body of Christ, which is the church. First Corinthians 12:13 says, “We were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” Baptism by water is a “reenactment” of the baptism by the Spirit.

Christian baptism is the means by which a person makes a public profession of faith and discipleship. In the waters of baptism, a person says, wordlessly, “I confess faith in Christ; Jesus has cleansed my soul from sin, and I now have a new life of sanctification.”

Christian baptism illustrates, in dramatic style, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. At the same time, it also illustrates our death to sin and new life in Christ. As the sinner confesses the Lord Jesus, he dies to sin (Romans 6:11) and is raised to a brand-new life (Colossians 2:12). Being submerged in the water represents death to sin, and emerging from the water represents the cleansed, holy life that follows salvation. Romans 6:4 puts it this way: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Very simply, baptism is an outward testimony of the inward change in a believer’s life. Christian baptism is an act of obedience to the Lord after salvation; although baptism is closely associated with salvation, it is not a requirement to be saved. The Bible shows in many places that the order of events is 1) a person believes in the Lord Jesus and 2) he is baptized. This sequence is seen in Acts 2:41, “Those who accepted [Peter’s] message were baptized” (see also Acts 16:14–15).

A new believer in Jesus Christ should desire to be baptized as soon as possible. In Acts 8 Philip speaks “the good news about Jesus” to the Ethiopian eunuch, and, “as they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?’” (verses 35–36). Right away, they stopped the chariot, and Philip baptized the man.

Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Everywhere the gospel is preached, people are to be baptized.

".....NOR THE SON" (Mt. 24, 36)

                                       ……..nor the Son” (Mt. 24, 36)

II. “As to the end of the world, do not enquire when it will come, for it is not a question fit to be asked, for of that day, and that hour, knoweth no man; it is a thing at a great distance; the exact time is fixed in the counsel of God, but is not revealed by any word of God, either to men on earth, or to angels in heaven; the angels shall have timely notice to prepare to attend in that day, and it shall be published, when it comes to the children of men, with sound of trumpet; but, at present, men and angels are kept in the dark concerning the precise time of it, that they may both attend to their proper services in the present day.” But it follows,neither the Son; but is there any thing which the Son is ignorant of? We read indeed of a book which was sealed, till the Lamb opened the seals; but did not he know what was in it, before the seals were opened? Was not he privy to the writing of it? There were those in the primitive times, who taught from this text, that there were some things that Christ, as man, was ignorant of; and from these were called Agnoetae; they said, “It was no more absurd to say so, than to say that his human soul suffered grief and fear;” and many of the orthodox fathers approved of this. Some would evade it, by saying that Christ spoke this in a way of prudential economy, to divert the disciples from further enquiry: but to this one of the ancients answers, It is not fit to speak too nicely in this matter—ou dei pany akribologein, so Leontius in Dr. Hammond, “It is certain (says Archbishop Tillotson) that Christ, as God, could not be ignorant of any thing; but the divine wisdom which dwelt in our Saviour, did communicate itself to his human soul, according to the divine pleasure, so that his human nature might sometimes not know some things; therefore Christ is said to grow in wisdom (Luke 2:52), which he could not be said to do, if the human nature of Christ did necessarily know all things by virtue of its union with the divinity.” Dr. Lightfoot explains it thus; Christ calls himself the Son, as Messiah. Now the Messiah, as such, was the father’s servant (Isa. 42:1), sent and deputed by him, and as such a one he refers himself often to his Father’s will and command, and owns he did nothing of himself(John 5:19); in like manner he might be said to know nothing of himself. The revelation of Jesus Christ was what God gave unto him, Rev. 1:1. He thinks, therefore, that we are to distinguish between those excellencies and perfections of his, which resulted from the personal union between the divine and human nature, and those which flowed from the anointing of the Spirit; from the former flowed the infinite dignity of his perfect freedom from all sin; but from the latter flowed his power of working miracles, and his foreknowledge of things to come. What therefore (saith he) was to be revealed by him to his church, he was pleased to take, not from the union of the human nature with the divine, but from the revelation of the Spirit, by which he yet knew not this, but the Father only knows it; that is, God only, the Deity; for (as Archbishop Tillotson explains it) it is not used here personally, in distinction from the Son and the Holy Ghost, but as the Father is,Fons et Principium Deitatis—The Fountain of Deity.

PETS IN HEAVEN

PETS IN HEAVEN ?

The Bible does not give any explicit teaching on whether pets/animals have “souls” or whether pets/animals will be in heaven. However, we can use general biblical principles to develop some clarity on the subject. The Bible states that both man (Genesis 2:7) and animals (Genesis 1:30; 6:17; 7:15, 22) have the “breath of life”; that is, both man and animals are living beings. The primary difference between human beings and animals is that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27), while animals are not. Being made in the image and likeness of God means that human beings are like God, capable of spirituality, with mind, emotion, and will, and they have a part of their being that continues after death. If pets/animals do have a “soul” or immaterial aspect, it must therefore be of a different and lesser “quality.” This difference possibly means that pet/animal “souls” do not continue in existence after death.

Another factor to consider regarding whether pets will be heaven is that animals are a part of God’s creative process in Genesis. God created the animals and said they were good (Genesis 1:25). Therefore, there is no reason why there could not be pets / animals on the new earth (Revelation 21:1). There will most definitely be animals during the millennial kingdom (Isaiah 11:6; 65:25). It is impossible to say definitively whether some of these animals might be the pets we had while here on earth. We do know that God is just and that when we get to heaven we will find ourselves in complete agreement with His decision on this issue, whatever it may be.