privilege Archives – Sonshine's Journal

June 17, 2016

Privilege and Responsibility

hebrews 9 worship god God presented the Tabernacle to be a symbol of His love, His forgiveness but “The Holy Spirit is making clear that the way into the holy place had not yet appeared as long as the old tabernacle was standing.” It was a symbol, a picture of what was to come. The old had regulations and only the High Priest could enter within. But, when Christ uttered those words, “It is finished” He entered the most holy place by his own blood, not the blood of lambs and goats. By doing this He secured our eternal redemption. The curtain that separated and restricted our movement towards God was torn asunder! Now the new has come and with it the freedom to move towards God and enter into the holy of holies. We are encouraged to “confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace” [Heb 4]

However, as with each gift there comes not only privilege but also responsibility: “worship the living God.” As regenerated born again believers we are saved to worship and to serve. Salvation is a freedom from the tyranny of sin, a relationship of faith, obedience and service and it was paid by the precious blood of our Savior.

Consider the privilege which has been bestowed upon you to worship not an unknown god as Paul found in Athens but the living God whose throne is in heaven.

June 1, 2016

Praying Parents

Eph 3 praying parent. What would it be like to have had a praying parent? Imagine the scene of you tip-toeing down the steps in an early morning hour and hearing your parent(s) praying for you. You know eavesdropping is impolite but when you hear your name you stop and listen. What do you hear and how might it change your focus, your day, your thoughts, your responses?

God has given us the privilege of eavesdropping in on the imprisoned Paul’s prayer time as he utters “for this reason, Father, I pray.”

These are clear words that Paul has a passion for the Ephesians, his children in the faith. In eavesdropping we overhear: “I pray that You, Almighty Father would strengthen my precious children in their inner man, [in order that] your beloved Son, Jesus Christ may dwell in the hearts of my children by faith, [in order that] my precious children may be able to comprehend the full scope of your unfathomable love, [in order that] that they might be filled to overflowing with your fullness and your Holy Spirit power. And, Father, I commit them to you trusting that you will do far beyond all I ask or think, for these are your children. Amen. ” [Author’s paraphrase].

If you heard these with your name attached, would your day be different and if so how? How might our family life, our church life not only be sustained but invigorated?

Take time today to ponder, pray and watch for results.

May 16, 2015

The Power of Prayer

One of the subscriptions I get monthly is “Voice of the Martyrs.” It encourages and challenges me to be more Christ-like in a world that seems to have gone astray from the biblical teachings of our Lord. We are being bombarded by the voices of the deceiver seeking to draw us away from the truth of the gospel message. But, in times like this our character is revealed when we are not deceived but remain fixed upon Christ even when persecuted. It is then that we prove more than ever that we are as those who the deceived mockingly call us “the people of the cross.” What they mean as derogatory is really a badge of honor. For that we should be most grateful. They have coined a phrase that we can honor by our lifestyle, our character, our words and actions. However, we who reside in the west are being told we are being persecuted which is far from the truth. It is those that are living in the “east” or “middle east”, or even “far east” who are the ones revealing to us what true persecution is and how we are to respond to it if it should reach our shores. We who are free ought to be praying diligently for those who are experiencing true persecution. When they are asked what can we do for you their immediate reply is this: “pray for us”. Paul shares with us in his letter to the Thessalonians how to actually do this. The following post is what I wrote on this for today’s reading in 2Thessalonians chapter 1. You can read it here along with the other posts I have done: https://www.facebook.com/bible.org My goal is to walk with you day by day encouraging you to be strong no matter what comes your way and to encourage you to pray and pray some more and then pray again for those undergoing persecution.

Here is the Facebook post for today. Come and join us as we walk the pages of the NT, Psalms and Proverbs each day.

“talent is formed in solitude, but character in the storms of life” [Goethe] How true those words are and evidenced as we watch from the sidelines those who are persevering in the midst of affliction. What was true in the time of Paul, in the time of Nazism, and in our present age is this; the arrows of evil seek to divide and conquer but what is meant for evil is used by God to bring about a harvest of new souls. In doing so the character of our brethren’s flourishing transformation not only humbles us but challenges us to join in partnership with them.

We accomplish this through the avenue and the privilege of prayer because it is our spiritual weapon against the powers of darkness. Paul never prayed what one author called “Father Christmas prayers for health, wealth and happiness.” Instead he prayed for these who were facing persecution to faithfully endure under fire so that they may be made worthy of God’s calling. He prayed that they reflect the truth that God who began a good work in them will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. He prayed that the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit would assist them in enduring under pressure. Lastly he prayed that they seek to glorify the name of Jesus. This is how we too can voice our prayers before God for our persecuted brethren.