II Thessalonians 1: [11] Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
[12] That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says in chapter 2: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
Jesus says, "The flesh profiteth nothing," meaning all of OUR wisdom and OUR resources aren’t the issue.
You got to start there! You never want to glory in yourself: "It isn’t me; it’s Him."
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life." The need is, "Not I but Christ." You're to constantly be learning this at a different level; that's part of what maturity is all about.
The words on the pages are the Words of the Spirit and when I believe that Word, and put my faith in it, it WORKS; it becomes energizing activity and life.
Paul writes in II Thessalonians 3:1: "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you."
Paul’s saying, "I want the Word of the Lord to be set free; to run without obstacles, without needing to stop and be glorified."
When you glorify something, you demonstrate how valuable it is; how much of a treasure it is. How important it is.
How would you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you demonstrate in your life that you cherish Him—His wisdom, His thinking--more than anybody else?
Pauline prayer is aimed at producing peace and contentment that’s independent of the circumstances of life. Rather than just simply manipulating circumstances, it’s designed to enhance your spiritual perception, and your spiritual character, so that regardless of whom you are, or the circumstances that come upon your life, you’re able to function with stability and contentment; with empowerment and effectiveness.
When Paul talks about power, in the context, it's in the midst of trying, stressful circumstances--persecutions and afflictions--but it's a power that is accessed by faith and what is it that faith is accessing? "The grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ," explained Alex Kurz in his Sunday morning message this week.
You know what the Apostle Paul writes, for example, in Romans 5: [1] Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
[2] By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.Paul never got over the grace of Almighty God. He was changed for life. Grace never dulled his senses. Grace was the fuel, the energy, the oxygen that kept him driven.
"The grace of our God." That has to do with persistent awareness and sense that the undeserved favor, the undeserved goodness--all of the riches of God's goodness were showered on the Apostle Paul.
II Corinthians 12: [9] And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
[10] Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong."I take pleasure." You know why? "That the power of Christ may rest upon me."
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“I don't think Believers appreciate near enough the fact that just by taking God at His Word--truly believing the Bible, dispensationally considered, contains absolutely everything God wants us to know about Him and our relationship to Him--lends real power,” says Richard Jordan. It's internal power that shatters anything the world has to offer.
It's that ability God gives in the inner man, strengthened with might. It's an energy in your inner man to endure. That's spiritual power. There's something about that strength, that power that God gives. No great open physical displays and things that make everybody "ooh" and "ahh," but that "patient continuance in well doing."
He's saying not only can we know something about the breadth, length, depth and height of Jesus Christ's love for us, but we can truly know it and its power to work in us. The power is in the faith in it.
Through knowing the measurements, dimensions and parameters of exactly what God is doing today, there's a maturing of the relationship that is extremely intimate and lends deep, deep communion.
You cannot just know about His tremendous love, but KNOW it, appreciate it, enter into it and find out how it passes knowledge. Just as it is in a momma's touch with a newborn baby, there's a love there and a communication there that passes any ability to understand and explain it.
It's that kind of a bond, that kind of a connection. It's as though it were a mother's touch that reaches down and assuages the hurt and salves the wound and dispels the fear and gives untold strength and stability.
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Paul writes in I Thessalonians 1:5: "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake."
He says in chapter 2: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe."
Jesus says, "The flesh profiteth nothing," meaning all of OUR wisdom and OUR resources aren’t the issue.
You got to start there! You never want to glory in yourself: "It isn’t me; it’s Him."
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life." The need is, "Not I but Christ." You're to constantly be learning this at a different level; that's part of what maturity is all about.
The words on the pages are the Words of the Spirit and when I believe that Word, and put my faith in it, it WORKS; it becomes energizing activity and life.
Paul writes in II Thessalonians 3:1: "Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you."
Paul’s saying, "I want the Word of the Lord to be set free; to run without obstacles, without needing to stop and be glorified."
When you glorify something, you demonstrate how valuable it is; how much of a treasure it is. How important it is.
How would you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ? How do you demonstrate in your life that you cherish Him—His wisdom, His thinking--more than anybody else?
*****
Pauline prayer is the vehicle for the release of the power of God’s Word in the details of life. It’s praying according to the principle of grace: “The only response grace will accept is the response of faith."
We take the truths of God and internalize them through that energizing ministry of God the Holy Spirit—through His enlightening and empowering ministry—and Pauline prayer is the catalyst to accomplish that. That’s why Paul prays so much.
We talk repeatedly about how prayer today focuses on spiritual issues. Our blessings today are "spiritual blessings in heavenly places." God’s blessings to us are designed to enhance our inner man, and good works come from the inner man, they’re motivated from there.
The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3: [16] That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
[18] May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
[19] And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
[20] Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
[21] Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
[17] That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
[18] May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
[19] And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
[20] Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
[21] Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.