praying with holy hands lifted up

This morning I woke up with this thought :

 TAKE PRAYERS SERIOUSLY!!!

What does it mean to take something seriously? I thought that Paul describes it very well in

 1 Timothy 4:

• devote yourself to it
• do not neglect it
• be diligent in it
• give yourself wholly to it
• preserve in it

 

As I looked into the chapter 2 of 1 Timothy, there I saw this verse "I want ...... everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing". I left a space for putting our names in it :)

 

The Lord Jesus wants me to lift up my holy hands in prayer!

 

The question is for what purpose do I need to lift up the hands?

 

Scripturally, we see that the men of God and Jesus Himself practiced it. Moses in Exodus 17, David in Psalms 119:48, Psalm 28:2, Psalm 134:2, Psalm 141:2, Psalm 63:4,  David's son Solomon in 1 Kings 8: 22, 38, 54, Nehemiah in 8:6, Jesus in Luke 24:50 and others.

 

We also see that the Lord lifts up His hand for the purpose of swearing. Something that will not be altered or changed. (Ezekiel 36:7, 44:12)

 

Lifting hands as a display of victory (Micah 5:9, Exodus 17:11)

 

Lifting hands/wings for the sake of being risen from the ground (Ezekiel 10:16,19, Luke 24:50)

 

 

Let's continue to seek out the meaning and significance of lifting holy hands to the Lord in prayer.

 

God is the dwelling place

 Psalm 90:1

 "Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations."

Prayer, Word and Praise are the crucial components of God's dwelling with us.

Isaiah 56:7 "For My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations"
John 1:14 "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us."
Psalm 84:4 "Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising You."

Also, God desires and chooses to dwell in us.

2Corinthians 6:16 "For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people."

However, there is a reality of being driven from the dwelling place. Think of Adam and Eve, Cain, Babylonian exile, etc. It is caused by our sins and a lack of repentance. I found that not only being driven from the dwelling place implies loosing the communion with God's presence, but also there comes a curse.
 Look: Genesis 3:17-24, Genesis 4:10-16, Jeremiah 25
 THANKS TO JESUS FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE ON OUR BEHALF!!! THROUGH THE FOGIVENESS OF OUR SINS IN JESUS NAME, WE ARE RECONCILED INTO THE FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD AND ULTIMATELY TO OUR DWELLING PLACE WITH GOD!

GREED

   Reading through Ephesians 5:3-7 allowed me to see how God views greed. It is equally bad as sexual immoraltiy, impurities and idolatry. WOW. The Word says, "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people.... For of this you can be sure: no immoral, impure or greedy person- such a man is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient."

Lately, I have been acting greedy. Receiving a financial support from parents, I withheld the tithe from it (cause I thought to save for the deposit and rent). Also, seeing how much stuff we had donated to our baby, I wished another dresser to put those things in. It may looked like a fine desire, but overall I was driven by greed, to have more.

So, I repented to the Lord and in my spirit I felt freedom, Suddenly, the spiritual language flowed through me and songs of praise.

Thanks be to God for His Wor d and the Holy Spirit who can discern our inner thoughts, desires and conditions of hearts.

 

Here are some more scriptures to cleanse my soul from GREED. I believe greed is the blockage for seeking the LORD. The reason is that last night the Holy Spirit encouraged our hearts to seek the Lord, but I found it hard today until I dealt with greed.

Here is the word from Psalm 10:2-4 "In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts of the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

 

Jeremiah 6:13 "From the least to the greatest, alla re greedy for gain"

others verses self

It is a great joy to write in this blog. Because God's Spirit is teaching us His Word and wants us to grow and live by it. The recent overall theme that I have been led to was to loving others. I have been reading few books that speak about a lifestyle that focuses on others, rather on ourselves.

So for this message, I would like to start with this beautiful scripture that comes from Romans 2:6-10

"God 'will give to each person according to what he has done.' To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile."
 

As you see, there are two groups: one that does good to others and the other is self-seeking. WOW!!! I liked that it mentions about Jews and Gentiles, because so-called titles do not matter so much. For us, those who became Christians, the choice between two groups is still there. Are you going to be doers of good, like loving and serving others or we will continue with a wordly attitude of being self-seekers?

As I mentioned before, several books that I came across are "The dangerous act of loving your neighbor" by Mark Labberton, "The Externally Focused Life" by Rich Rusaw and Eric Swanson, and "101 ways to reach your community" by Steve Sjogren. These books point and teach us to the lifestyle of serving, loving, meeting the needs of others. In other words, they explain practically to us, "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR" or "LOVE ONE ANOTHER".

reflection on James

  I've read two chapters of the book of James. If to summarize the overall theme, it would be PRACTICE AND DO!!!!! James encourages the believers to mature, by being doers of God's word, His commands.

"the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may become mature and complete..." (James 1:3-4).
     Perseverence here seems to me something that takes time and effort. The doing part of our faith requires perseverance.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it- he will be blessed in what he does." (James 1:22-25)
      We decieve ourselves if only aquire the mental knowledge of God's word. The Word has power to change us, but unless we practice that truth, we will not be changed. Are we willing to be doers of God's words? There is an underlined notion that doing is not one day event, it is something that becomes habitual, becomes part of our lives on daily basis. I mean it is good to start with small, but  keep at it.

"faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17) He says it later again, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead" (James 2:26)
Faith without dead is not just unattractive, it is not alive!

"Faith without deeds is useless" (James 2:20)
Not productive

"You see that his (Abraham) faith and his actions were working together and his faith was made complete by what he did." (James 2:22)
We become complete and mature by what we practice!!!!

Glory of God

What is the Glory of God?
What brings glory to God?
What does the glory of the Lord look like?

I believe that the glory of God is the very face of the Father.

Anything that we do according to the will of the Father brings Him glory.

According to Exodus 24:17, "To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain".

 

Moses asked God, "Now show me Your glory." (Exodus 33:18).

 

The Lord replies, "I will cause all My goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim My name, the Lrod, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But, you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live." (Exodus 33:19-20).

 

 In addition, the Lord adds, "There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen." (Exodus 33:21-22).

 

Twice, we see that God restrains to show His face in response to seeing His glory.

 

Not only the glory of the Lord is a visible manifestation of God, it is tangible. Exodus 40:35, "Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."