Growing and Witnessing

What is the proper posture of prayer? Humility. The parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee illustrates this point beautifully. Humble prayer is the result of a living faith. 

The thief on the cross pled for Jesus to give him mercy as he died. His simple prayer is instructive to us. It tells us that God always hears the prayers of sinners. It also tells us that our hope rests in the mercy and grace of God through faith in Christ.

Jonah prayed a masterful prayer in the midst of his distress while in the belly of the fish. His prayer reminds us that we can pray at anytime and from anywhere. It also reminds us that we should view our circumstances as the vehicle through which our sovereign God is saving us. Finally, it reminds us that we should always thank God for his constant presence and salvation in our lives.

Daniel taught us how to pray a prayer of confession when he recorded his own prayer to the Lord on behalf of the Judeans. He acknowledged sin, accepted responsibility, pled for God's mercy, and relied upon God's mercy for hope. We should do the same. 

Stephen prayed a most remarkable prayer at the moment of his death. He submissively asked God to receive his spirit after his body had been killed by the angry mob's stones. Then, he prayed for his persecutors compassionately asking God not to hold their sins against them. 

Hannah's prayed a raw prayer before God as she expressed her pain before God in his grace. There is much we can learn from her as she boldly came before the throne of God. 

Paul prayed for the Ephesians and we can learn a lot from him about how to pray for other people. We thank God for them, ask Him to give them a spirit of knowledge and wisdom, and that He enlighten the eyes of their hearts.

King Hezekiah and Judah faced certain destruction at the hand of the Assyrians, but God delivered them. Hezekiah sought the Lord, laid his burden before Him, boldly asked Him to act on Judah's behalf, and rested in the fact that God does all things for His glory and the good of His people. 

Are you thirsty for something more than what this world has to offer? if so, find it in Jesus, the living water.

Mary pondered these things about Jesus in her heart. Do we? 

The Lord Jesus Christ is our eternal king of creation. We find joy in Christ as our king. He is the one in whom we find joy through submitting to him. 

Jesus is our great heigh priest and we find peace with God in Him. May we know that peace as we trust him for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus is the great prophet for the people of God. He reveals the will of God for our salvation and edification through his Word and Spirit. We find our hope in his Word as it confirms to us the reality of God's fulfillment of his promises.  

We are to give God thanks always. We are to give him thanks with our whole hearts. We are to praise him for being himself. 

The author of Hebrews concludes chapter 10 by giving us instructions for how we are to live as members of the new covenant community of faith -- the Church. We are to draw near to God, hold fast to our confession, stir one another up to love God and serve Him, stop sinning deliberately, and strive to be the best followers of Christ we can be. 

Jesus cleanses our consciences by his grace. We can change our behaviors, our morality, our expressions, our traditions to cleanse our lives from our sin and its effects. We cannot, however, cleanse our consciences or get rid of our guilt and shame. Jesus alone can do that through His precious blood which was shed for us.

James warns his readers not to be friends with the world. Rather, we are to to be friends with God and devote ourselves to him in faith. 

Jesus taught his disciples to be discerning as they evaluated the actions, behaviors, and morality of others. We are to be wise and willing to challenge one another to bring our lives into submission to the Judge of the world in loving obedience to our Heavenly Father. 

The author of Hebrews tells us why the new covenant in Jesus is better than the old one. He argues that the blessings of the new covenant are enough to keep us focused on Christ and faithful to the end. The last thing the author wants is for his readers not to make it to their end of their lives in faith. Thankfully, Jesus seals us in his grace. 

Jesus addressed the issue of anxiety with his disciples in the sermon the mount. He diagnosed the causes of anxiety in Matthew 6:19-24 and offered a prescription for anxiety through faith in Matthew 6:25-34. 

The Author of Hebrews challenges us to answer a most important question: Will you take the new way to God that Jesus provides or will you continue to do it man's way? Only the path that goes through Jesus will lead us to eternal access with God. 

Jesus taught his disciples to pray when he gave them the Lord's Prayer. This model prayer teaches us how to address our Father in Heaven and how we are to prioritize the prayers we pray. 

Showing partiality within the church is a sin. It requires us to make value judgments regarding others on the basis of external or economical or other worldly standards. 

Who is this Melchizedek guy? Great question. The author of Hebrews answers by telling us that he is the king of righteousness and the king of Salam. He is an eternal priest with no beginning and no end. He is important because He is the forerunner of Jesus and the linchpin for understanding that Jesus's covenant is greater than Moses's.

Jesus tells us that our righteousness, which we receive through faith in Christ should be displayed through acts of sacrifice, self-discipline, and self-denial.