REC 100 Days Prayer Meeting Day 84 - When you are not willing to surrender to God ...

         

Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace and feel His presence. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Sing a song to praise God (you are welcome to use "Father, I adore you" which I have been singing every morning for the past 20 years or your own choice to praise God)

          Father, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

          Jesus, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

          Spirit, I adore You, lay my life before You, how I love You.

      

Confession and Repentance (Subjective Shifting Devotion Method https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/08/count-down-5-subject-shifting-devotion.html

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to shine on you that you are able to discover your sins and be willing to repent:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God and having Jesus as my Lord. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sins to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gifts to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

3.  John Stott's daily prayer of Christlikeness (Christopher J.H. Wright, Cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017, 13)

(Please click this link to see how God used John Stott to change my life:https://bishopsilas.blogspot.com/2009/07/

           "Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in your presence and please you more and more.

             Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow you.

             Holy Spirit, I pray that this day you will fill me with yourself and cause your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control."

    

    The link to today's Time with Abba passages:   http://api.pastoralcareschool.org/twa/

    Time with Abba passages: (Psalm 10:1-10, Genesis 32:13-34:31; Matthew 11:7-30; Proverbs 3:19-20)

    Today's key passages:

    Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

     Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?      

                        Psalm 10:1

     24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.”

But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 The man asked him, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.”

But he replied, “Why do you ask my name?” Then he blessed him there.

                  Genesis 32:24-29

20 Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.24 But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”       

                   Matthew 11:20-24

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage we have just read. Offer this time to Jesus as you listen to him. 

   

     My Listening

    The topic I received from Jesus is: When you are not willing to surrender to God ...

     Lots of people like Matthew 11:28
       “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. "

      But, for many who love this golden verse (including me sometimes), the real situation is like today's Psalm 10:1
         
          Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
          Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

     Why?

      The answer may be in today's Genesis 32:24-28!

      Many times people really think that Jacob won, but according to Jacob in Genesis 32:30 it may not be that!

    So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”

    Jacob told us that the one who wrestled with him was God. The concept of Old Testament is that no one can see face to face with God. Jacob knew that he did not die was impossible. He did not say that he won over God but that God gave him a way out!

          

      Oh! Human beings are so fragile! It's like what Jesus describes in Matthew 11:28 that many people do not have "rest", a rest in their souls and that is because they are not willing to experience "God with me", "Emmanuel"!

     Why we can't get to God, why can't we go to seek God? Instead, we are being made "no rest" by many things we have been seeking.

     Psalm 10:4 says "In his pride the wicked man does not seek him;
    in all his thoughts there is no room for God."

     Wow! "No room for God", all the slots in our soul have been eaten by many things!

      Look at how restless Jacob was? 

      How can human beings win over God? Impossible! Jacob wrestled with God for the whole night and he was not willing to surrender!

      God gave Jacob a new name "Israel". 

       Genesis 32:28

         

           Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”

     Is that the history of all Israelites?! Wrestling with God and was not willing to surrender, not willing to repent!

     Is that what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 11:20-24:

       

       
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum are the towns in which most of Jesus' miracles had been performed, the towns that Jesus had been wrestling with for many years. But, those Israelites were like the Father of Israel Jacob, did not want to surrender, did not repent! 

    We can see how merciful God is because when God gave Jacob a teaching of becoming a cripple, He continued to love him and guided him!

    How about you? What are those things that you have been wrestling with God for years, those things God wants you to do and you do not do, those things God commends you not to do and you do? What are those things that you are not willing to surrender?

   May we pray for our church on the 84th  day of our 100 days Prayer Meeting now:

 

Dear Lord Jesus,

Help me to be very sure that I am willing to surrender to you.  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

      Reflect on these questions:

     1. What inspiration have you received from today's catch and what have you heard from Jesus now?

      

      2.  What is your next step to be more closer to Jesus?

    

      Family Corner:

     Find an opportunity to share with your family the importance of today's message. 

     

Please click this link for the video version of this blog: 

    https://youtu.be/tjgevLwxUr4 

     To know, learn and practice the method of Time with Abba, please click this link: https://www.pastoralcareschool.org