The Heart of Prayer
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Jesus became poor though He was very rich.
Jesus became poor.
Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia:
that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality.
The riches of their liberality- single, not having an ulterior or double motive. Simplicity, purity, sincerity, faithfulness, plenitude
Imagine living a life without having ulterior or double motives. In the sense of you have nothing to hide.
You find your sufficiency in the plenitude of Christ. In the riches of Christ.
During Pauls second missionary Journey he went to the Macedonia, and he planted church’s in Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea.
He preached the gospel and founded churches there.
But the converted believers in these church suffered for there faith.
For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
This church not only believed in Christ but also sufferedd for His sake.
This is where I believe the American church and the church of Phillipi part ways.
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
Coupled with the word there would be afflictions that await. Coupled with the purpose of God there would be trails that await.
But yet the joy of The Holy Spirit is there.
The trials in this life are guaranteed but the Joy of The Holy Spirit isn’t.
The joy of The Holy Spirit comes when we are participates in the call that God has given us.
But they remained steadfast
for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,
And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
Though they where under great suffering they even gave material support to Paul.
Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.
Though these churches had many reasons to complain, there poverty, being under persecution. Instead of complaining they leaned into Christ.
Out of their poverty they made others rich.
Though they had nothing, they possessed everything that really matters (6:10).
Like Paul, the Macedonian churches had learned that God’s grace is sufficient to take their weaknesses and through them to display God’s power.
Do we live as if Gods grace is sufficient.
For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.
The Macedonians pleaded for the privilege of sharing.
Imagine pleading to give out of your poverty.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.
Through our poverty through out spiritual bankruptcy we become rich.
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
The need for repentance is highlighted in Jesus’ earliest preaching:
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
Repentance is rooted in the human consciousness of sin, an awareness of falling short of a standard, relational brokenness and alienation, and fear of judgment.
We all have this human consciousness that makes us aware if theres some kind of violation of Gods laws in our hearts.
As much as we try to suppress it as much as we try to run from it. We all have a human consciousness and a awareness so sin.
Its intriguing that this is built into the Christian experience.
Because we are made in the image of God, and we are meant for fellowship with God.
If we are disobedient to God theres this need for repentance.
Image if we have this need but theres no God to meet that need.
Gen 3.
Jewish tradition shows a lifelong struggle between the yetzer ha tov (good impulse) and the yetzer ha ra (evil impulse; compare Gen 4:7; Rom 7:22–23).
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
David would not have been a man after God’s own heart, if he had not been a man of prayer.
He was a master in the sacred art of supplication.
And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’
David prayed often!
Whether he was rejoicing, grieving, facing enemies, celebrating victories, or repenting of sin, David consistently turned to the Lord in prayer.
Hear a just cause, O Lord, Attend to my cry; Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.
Three times in this verse David ask for God to hear him.
Hear a just cause
Attend to my cry
Give ear to my prayer.
When your soul is oppressed you can feel like you voice will be drowned.
When no one is hearing you and you have a troubled heart. You could indeed pray this way. Making sure God hears me.
Hear
Let my vindication come from Your presence; Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.
