Fear, Exhaustion, Prayer, Fasting - Being Human 4
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
There are other posts by other believing authors I am reading that come from the Scriptures and the heart and lives of those who wrote them. Today so far (a Wednesday when I wrote this part) there are three I've read so far and each is very different, but of the same goal, the same purpose, "to know Christ Jesus, and to make Him known". The last I read pointed out this very fact, that God has through His Holy Spirit has given a diversity of gifts each for it's own purpose, a purpose that could be akin to every part of a mechanical clock running, none more important, yet every part needed. What is seen to the one beholding the clock only the face and hands are important, but for accuracy and certainty every part of the myriad of parts behind the face has its necessary purpose.
As I write I know sometimes I can sound like a textbook, but I can assure you my friends each word I write represents something deep inside that the Holy Spirit knows I need, sometimes desperate work on that I might grow in Him, that I might be conformed to the image of His Son.
We might think that for thirty years the life Jesus had was not very complicated. Oh yes, there was that relocation to Egypt while other children His age (2 years) were being slaughtered by Herod... because of Him. Then the relocation back to Judea, but no, still a complicated situation so they return to the backwards town of Nazareth, after all, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And then there was that issue just before He became a teenager that He stayed in Jerusalem in the temple which threw His parents into a three day panick not knowing where He was. But other than those things in His very formative years as a child nothing worth noting
Life started getting complicated for Him when His time of ministry began. The more simplified His message, His truth, the friction came from those who thought they had a major hold of the truth... even over truth. And even Jesus had to caution His disciples about doing the same.
And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy Name, and we forbade him, because he followeth thee not with us. Then Jesus said unto him, Forbid ye him not: for he that is not against us, is with us.
Luke 9:49-50 GNV
(See also Mark 9:38-40). Oh to know what the Holy Spirit is working on in my life to change is not the same that He is working in another's heart for their change.
And not long after that time Jesus is teaching at a feast time and the Jews, the leaders wondered how Jesus vould be teaching the way He does when He hadn't learned (from them, and their schools).
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of my self. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousnes is in him.
John 7:16-18 GNV
How important it is for me as I write my meditations to know these are things God is speaking to me about in my life. If He chooses to use them to work in another's life it is Him and not I doing it. Such a challenge because like any writer I let others see glimpses of me, but with the heart's prayer and desire that like myself others will be seeking in their own life to know what is from God and what isn't.
Though it is not stated here about the time Jesus spent in prayer communing with His Father it should be obvious that only in time spent with His Father did He learn all that He was teaching (He even says this later on - John 8:38). Again, all this searching to find where Jesus specifically taught on prayer and fasting, where He received strength to be fully man yet be without sin, is all part of the same. We read later quite awhile after Jesus went back to heaven:
And fashion not yourselves like unto this world, but be ye changed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God is.
Romans 12:2 GNV
God's true Word changes the mind. God's true Word teaches us doctrine. God's true Word gives us strength to overcome. All of it works together in very different areas of our lives. We are literally being changed, our minds renewed as we spend time communing with God the Father. It isn't enough to read it, study it, make it known to others, it is so that it affects our mind, affects our lives so like Jesus it can be said, "what He began to DO, and to TEACH." (Acts 1:1)
It is after that time of teaching, then sending out the seventy that at their return we see Jesus praying, a prayer, a powerful prayer of thanksgiving.
That same hour rejoiced Jesus in the spirit, and said, I confess into thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding, and hast revealed them to babes: even so, Father, because it so pleased thee. All things are given me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father: neither who the Father is, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
Luke 10:21-22 GNV
As I look at what God had me write, my meditations this post, and I am amazed. Many writers "plan" and write. Because it is my meditations I realize who knows where it might be headed. It is this that makes me think of Mary at the birth of Christ. Why did we have to travel all this way nine months pregnant, there was no decent place to give birth, let alone just have a nice bed for the night. And then not long after giving birth where did all these shepherds come from who piled in here, and then left almost as fast telling everyone about my baby. Certainly she had more thoughts, but "Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart". This post I had no idea what I would read, see, or find as I seek to learn of Jesus, prayer, fasting, and all the inconveniences of life that often bring us to the same, and at no particular time, in no particular order. Even so Lord, take this meditation and may I continue meditating on all You have given.