Are You Devoted To A Constant Conversation With God?

Are You Devoted To A
Constant Conversation With God?

Good Morning Friends,

Today’s lectionary reading sets the stage for the glory of the Lord to be revealed, not just on the cross but in the birth of the Church Universal. There is suffering and there is prayer in the upper room as well as the memory of it in Jesus’ prayer before the crucifixion. Friends, the context is one of discovery that reinforces our continuing experience of prayer with God until all are saved that God is going to save. And this becomes clear: Our transformation from fear to love though faith requires for us to be with God. Are You Devoted To A
Constant Conversation With God?

Scripture: Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

Acts 1:12-14 (NRSV)

But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.

1 Peter 4:13-16 (NRSV)

After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.

John 17:1-11a (NRSV)

Message: Jesus completed the work assigned to him by the Father so that his followers would know God. The Apostles were consecrated to take this work to the world. They were set apart for a holy purpose but were not removed from the world. So too those who believe today are to be a means of sanctification for the entire world. We are to discover that there is a miracle that lies within each of us that empowers, equips and enables us to receive the power of life…love. In love, we have the power for living, the power to witness, the power to pray and even the power to perform miracles. What it amounts to, when in unity with other lovers, is the power to be like Jesus in this world. Friends, the Holy Spirit gives us capacity individually but more importantly collectively. Indeed, we are to know and to rely on the love God has for us on a personal basis but also communally. We are to witness by and through the power of the Holy Spirit in which we move, live and have our very being. Friends, we need to live in the power of the Spirit here on earth until we get to our heavenly home that Jesus has prepared for us. We need to rejoice because Jesus has interceded for us to protect, sanctify and bring unity to us all through love for each other. In this Spirit the Body of Christ is birthed.

Pray that when we move we move with God. Pray we have the courage to follow the leaning of the Holy Spirit. Pray we thank God for the companions along the way. Pray we move in unity of Spirit. Pray the called-out assembly in this place lives to emulate Him. Pray we learn to love creatively with faith in the power God to do great things in and through us. Pray we have the power to live for Jesus and his glory. Pray we individually and collectively are in the unity of God’s love. Pray we have the power to believe and the power to have faith. Pray we realize the power of the Holy Spirit is for a purpose. Pray we conform to Christ-likeness. Pray we receive the gift of the Father through the Son. Pray we share what we have received in Christian love. Pray that the streams of Holy History converge into one, of Christ transforming every area of human experience washing over and transforming culture in the power, revelation, revival of His presence with us. Pray we remember those who have loved and served to the glory of God. Pray we pray without ceasing. Pray we receive and express love as a way of communicating.

Blessings,

John Lawson