Jesus Prayed

Thistlebend Quiet eMoment

by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Luke 9:18-22 ESV

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone,
the disciples were with him.
And he asked them,”Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah,
and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
____________________________________

Before Jesus asked the disciples,
“Who do the crowds say that I am?”
He was praying.

All throughout the Gospels we see Jesus
taking time with His Father in prayer…
going away to a desolate place,
or up on a mountain, lifting His eyes to His Father,
or going to a certain place.

One commentator on Luke says:
“Prior to major events in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus’
identity, character, and purpose are revealed,
we see Jesus take time in prayer with His Father.”

Jesus was praying at His baptism and then
the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness
for 40 days and 40 nights to fast and pray
before He began His earthly ministry.

Jesus went up on the mountain
and spent the entire night in prayer
before He appointed the apostles.

We can trace His faithfulness in prayer and His communion with
His Father as He appoints, tends, and shepherds His flock of 12.
After the feeding of the five thousand and while the disciples
were out at sea in the midst of a storm
Jesus was up on the mountain in prayer throughout the night.

And now as Jesus prepares to tell them that He is the Christ,
the Lamb of God, the One who is going
to lay down His life for them, He prays.

TAKING THE TRUTH TO HEART

I see a picture of a shepherd that deeply and dearly loves His
sheep and labors diligently and fervently for them in prayer.
He loves them as His own children.

Praying that they would fully comprehend that
He was truly sent from the Father.

Praying that they would know that He was the Christ,
the Promised One sent from God.

Praying that they would understand Him and His purpose.

Praying that they would truly have faith to see
that no matter what came their way
they had no reason to fear.

Praying that they would remember
what they had been taught in the Scriptures
and see Him more and more for who He is
and be willing to die to self and live for Him.

Even in His prayer life,
Jesus was truly the Servant of the Lord
that Isaiah had prophesied He would be.

Isaiah 50:4-6
4 The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.

AND BRINGING IT TO LIFE

Chose one truth from today and apply it to your heart.
Take it with you throughout the day.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, thank you for interceding for us at all times.
We need your prayers that we would see you
for who you are and what you have done.

Help us to pray for those
whom you have given to us to love and care for
so that we can love them and pray for them
as you love and pray for us.

In His hands for His glory,

Laurie

_______________________________

/by

Two Principles that Must Never Be Separated

by Laurie Aker

First,God is intimately acquainted with us in every way: “For you formed my inward parts” ([Psalm 139] v.13). And second, God is absolutely sovereign over everything that happens to us: “…in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” (v.16). If we focus on God’s intimate acquaintance with us, but forget or ignore the concept of His sovereignty, we end up with a God who cares deeply about us, but is not able to ultimately control destiny for our good. Many of us may lean this way when trouble, hardship, or illness strikes. On the other hand, if we emphasize God’s sovereignty without remembering that He loves us, our times of pain and difficulty will be quite terrifying: “God ordained this for me! How awful!” The idea of an absolutely sovereign God will not be a comfort to us, but rather a terror, in the pain of life unless we also believe that He is a loving God who has ordained difficulties for us. When we acknowledge both God’s sovereignty and His great interest in us and concern for us, we can rest in the worst hardship, knowing that even though God Himself has determined that this awful thing should befall us, He has lovingly ordained it for our good. Perhaps a concrete example of this perspective might drive this home: Many Christians will get to heaven and say, “Lord you bitterly afflicted me in life with cancer,” and then incredibly go on to exclaim, “but thank you, thank you, Lord! How kind you were to me and how awesome are your deeds!”

____________________

This blog post is an excerpt from the Thistlebend Discipleship Study Falling in Love Again with Your Lord available here.

/by

Do You Need Rest?

Thistlebend Quiet eMoment

by Laurie Aker

Focus Scripture: Luke 9:10-17 ESV

10 On their return
the apostles told him all that they had done.
And he took them and withdrew apart
to a town called Bethsaida.
11 When the crowds learned it, they followed him,
and he welcomed them
and spoke to them of the kingdom of God
and cured those who had need of healing.
12 Now the day began to wear away,
and the twelve came and said to him,
“Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages
and countryside to find lodging and get provisions,
for we are here in a desolate place.”
13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish–
unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.”
14 For there were about five thousand men.
And he said to his disciples,
“Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”
15 And they did so, and had them all sit down.
16 And taking the five loaves and the two fish,
he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them.
Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples
to set before the crowd.
17 And they all ate and were satisfied.
And what was left over was picked up,
twelve baskets of broken pieces.
____________________________________

Do you need rest?
Do you feel the need to take time away?
Perhaps you feel as though you can’t
even take the time to rest
because there is too much to do,
too many responsibilities,
too many pressing concerns.

Where do you take your rest?
What do you do to rest?

TAKING THE TRUTH TO HEART

Take a moment to think about what
you like to do to rest.

We think of Jesus as the Son of God,
our Prophet, Priest, and King,
our Lord, and our Savior.
But we may forget that He is also
our Living Water, the Bread of Life, and our Rest.

We can think of our quiet time in the morning
as a “task” we need to accomplish.
Going before the Lord in prayer can seem
like hard work and discipline.
The effort that seems to be required to read our Bible,
the faith we need to muster to go to the Lord in prayer,
and the battle that rages as we seek to
resist the things the flesh desires,
all seem to be too much work in order to find rest.

But Jesus truly is our All in all.

He is the way, the truth, and the life,
and He is our food, our sustenance,
our strength, our power, our hope.
And He is our rest.

He is all we need.

Matthew Henry writes:
“…but food, for all those that by faith apply themselves to him;
he not only heals them that need healing, cures the diseases of the soul,
but feeds them too that need feeding, supports the spiritual life,
relieves the necessities of it, and satisfies the desires of it.”

Jesus truly is our All in all.

Psalm 73:25-26
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

AND BRINGING IT TO LIFE

Chose one truth from today and apply it to your heart.
Take it with you throughout the day.

PRAYER

Lord, may I turn to you to be my everything.
May I not overlook you.
Please be my portion, my everything, my All.

O Lord, I need you.
Even to show me the way.

In His hands for His glory,
Laurie
_______________________________

/by