JustJeff

The whole of verse 1 Cor 11:26 proclaims that our fequent celebration of His Last Supper will be a constant reminder of His passion, of our freedom from the death of sin and of our great expectation, that He will return someday and take us from this vile place, in which we are but pilgrims and sojourners. As a proclamation, it is for who ever is present to receive the message. It is of great importance because, in reality, it proclaims the basis of our faith and when changed or corrupted so too will be our faith.

Based upon his relationship with Adonai, Hezeikah rightly asked for a healing. As a man who upheld the Torah and lived to please God he would have expected mercy from a friend he knew well, as all should who live for Yahweh, according to His will. Without holiness no man will see God and the just live by faith. Holiness and righteousness are the only way to approach a holy God. John 9:31; "Now we know that God heareth not sinners."

As was pointed out, Judah was about to be sieged by a great and powerful enemy and Hezekiah may very well have known of the value of a strong leader at such a dreadful time. The faith that he had brought to the kingdom would only be as strong as he could show. It would then seem that Hezekiah recognized this. Hezekiah was a direct descendant of king David and surely he would have known of Yahweh's covenant to David wherein his lineage would rule and lead to the birth of the Messiah. If Hezekiah had died at the time foretold he would have died without seed and the covenant could not be kept.

If we were to dare forget the Lord's sacrifice we would just as easily forget that we have been set free from the bondage of sin. Should we not remember Jesus crucified we could not consider His glorious resurrection and might readily lose our hope. Without hope our faith is vain. Christianity becomes an empty vessel, equal to that of any man made religion. We, as individuals, would return to the old person, seeking the cares and riches of this world, for therein would our hope lie.

In both instances, Hezekiah's prayer and the Lord's prayer, we see an immediate acknowledgment and submission to God's position as the only true and living God, ruler and creator of everything. Our faith is only as great as to the degree that we are able to accept this position. A response by Adonai is as certain as our belief that our prayer is in His will and acceptable by Him.

The celebration of Passover is to be mindful of the events that lead to Israel's freedom from bondage. It must be repeated so that Yahweh's people never forget the horror of slavery and the joy of freedom. One should be especially keen to remember that bondage is death and that the shed blood of the lamb saved from death. Forgetting the Exodus that El Shaddai had lead them through would result in the return of His people to bondage, as would be the case today if we were to forget our "Exodus" from the bondage of sin, the Passover that we celebrate when we take communion and it's elements.

Hezekiah acknowledges that it is Yahweh who has been attacked by the enemy and that it is Yahweh who must deal with the attack. By spreading the document before God Hezekiah is giving the situation to Adonai to handle. The principle is that we must realize that it is the Lord who should care for our situations and not we ourselves as we are His, bought with a price. In everything that we do, and in every situation that we encounter, it is imperative that we go through Jesus, by the Holy Spirit to the Father for guidance, direction, protection and victory if we are to expect a successful outcome. If we should be negligent in this duty we will be doomed to fail.

I would believe that the Lord's Supper would be mundane and repetitious if done too frequently, for anyone who is not properly taught the deep meaning of this great event. It is the responsibility of the church and it's elders to make absolutely certain that the flock is taught the significance of the communion, Jesus' command to us about keeping it and the great and immediate reward that one receives when it is done in accordance with His will. The Lord wants His sacrifice and what it means to our faith to be ever present in our minds, bodies and souls, thus are we required to celebrate the Lord's Supper continually and genuinely. I am equally convinced that Jesus gave us the communion as a means of fellowship and spiritual growth to help to fashion His body as a unit. All of us as one in Him.

The name of your ministry; "Joyful Heart", should be the attitude that we bring to the table when we praise Him and it is the way we should feel when we give. If we give by necessity, as well as praise, then our efforts are empty, vain. Should we reflect any possessiveness in our worship we are not in Yahweh's will, as all of our thoughts should be of giving to others what we have freely received. Our possessions are not our own. We are stewards and Adonai expects us to be just, to give as we can, to those who have not. This only serves to fortify what I do, as my life is hid with Christ. Everything that I have, especially myself, is His. Whatever I hold, I will give if He so intructs me.

Frankly, at this time in my walk, the most important part of partaking of the Lord's Supper is the unity. I find that within the body of Christ we are often times going through so many different stages of growth that we have a great tendency to strive against one another, quarrel, debate, nitpick, etc. During this time of communion it is but a moment, albeit and everlasting moment, when we come together as one with our Savior. We put aside all of our differences, our flesh, and remember together, the hope that makes us His body. The Holy Spirit that joins us forever together guiding us along the way. The ultimate sacrifice that He made, to free us all from the body of sin. It is a time of complete surrender, together, to the memory of His passion as love for each other through Jesus Christ abounds.

The Lord says "take" which reminds me that He took upon Him the sins of the world, and made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father. He told His disciples to "divide' the cup amongst themselves which keeps me mindful of the Roman soldiers as they parted His garments while He suffered for me. He "broke" the bread which cause me to gaze upon His form on the cross, broken, battered and bloodied, in order that His shed blood would be the atonement acceptable to our Father necessary to redeem us. He says "do" this in remembrance of me, which should give us a vision of His passion, each and every time that we take communion, breaking us, humbling us and bringing us to Him, as one.

As we humble ourselves before Yahweh in prayer we must ask for forgiveness from our sins, honoring His glory, power and praising Him for His grace. The example is found in Matt 6:13b; "for Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." So many hymns. I think of "Holy,Holy,Holy, Power In The Blood, Farther Along, To God Be The Glory" to name a few.

I have experienced the Lord's Supper as taken by different denominations and have seen where this highly spiritual event is reduced to nothing more than a ritual. People perform their duty, akin to throwing coins in the collection plate. The significance and emotion of the sacrament is never attained and one is left as empty and unfilled as when they began. This is clearly the result of symbolism. If balance is a harmonious proportion it would be my thought that this could only occur if the significance of communion was agreed to by all the participants. That is, that the Lord Jesus left us this service of Him, for Him and by Him and should be executed in a manner befitting the sacrifice given with all honor, reverence and humility. Let the Spirit have control and the emotions flow.

God inhabits the praises of His people. By praising Him we are fulfilling our creation purpose thereby exalting Yahweh. How can we NOT exalt our Creator? He is the giver of everything that is good. He is our Savior. He is the Holy One. He is love. This could go on and on. Shame to those who do not exalt I AM! When we lift Him up He lifts us up. In Him our joy is restored. He puts us on a higher plain. Our relationship with Him is made full when our praises are given to our Lord and King. It shows our love and humility toward Him, our complete submission to His will.

As a minister to the homeless I see Christians from every sect and have come to respect each individuals understanding of the scriptures as they were taught. At the same time, we partake of the Lord's Supper as we understand,hoping that they can experience His presence by the fellowship of the event. It is exactly what we feel as we memorialize Him by the taking of His body (the bread) and the drinking of His blood (the wine). He commanded us to do this in remembrance of Him, His death and resurrection, His life and purpose as well. Communion should not be only for a deep, personal reunion with our Savior but, it should too be a time of intimate fellowship with one another,celebrating the Lord Jesus together and remembering His great sacrifice to set us free, a time of unity and of love.

Our praise in prayer is our personal devotion to Him, the God of our salvation. In offering our praises to Him we are acknowledging Adonai as our life, our being, by whom we exist. This is the reason for our creation and a blessing to Yahweh when we let Him see and hear our adoration. We have a free will, and as humans God wants us to come to Him of our own choosing. This is His desire for a relationship with Him not only as His children, but as friends. When we pray without praising Yeshua we are selfish and insincere. How can you not honor the King who will grant your desires and still expect His favor?

The broken spirit and heart is one that is totally repentant, fully acknowleging our transgression(s) against Adonai, totally helpless in His presence and fully fearful of the consequences of our disobedience. This is the essential ingredient to Yahweh hearing our prayer because it is only then that we are pouring out our souls to Him, in complete honesty, full of faith in His compassion and mercy. This sacrifice is the offering of ourself; mind, body and soul to Yahweh. We are giving ourselves over to Him for His pleasure and during this time of complete repentence we are a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him! Thank you Jesus. As usual, pride keeps us high and lifted up, unable to see or accept our faults. For this sin many will not be acceptable of the Lord.

Yes, it is possible to have a pure heart and God does this by wiping away all of our sins, never to charge us again. For our part we must be truthful with ourselves and Yahweh meaning we must openly confess our sins, repent and mean it.

In no way does David minimize his sins nor does he try to maximize them. He is straight forward and as open and honest as he can be. Effective prayer demands this state of mind to petition the Holy One, who is a discerner of our hearts and intents. There is no way that we can be humble in His presence if we cannot be honest about our sin and He certainly will not pardon if we are not unerringly accurate in the sincereity of our request.

To ask Adonai for pardon from a sin you have the faith to know that you have transgressed against Him. When you are so troubled as to beg for His forgiveness you display the belief that He will do so. This faith comes from hearing the word of God, knowing the word of God and, the experience of seeing faith in action through life's trials and tribulations, which is how this faith is gained.

Abraham shows persistence by continuing to entreat the Lord as the Lord accepts his requests, until ultimately, Abraham attains what he seeks, the desire of his heart. Presistant prayer is the ultimate trial of one's faith, continuing for as long as necessary until you attain a breakthrough, that certainty in your spirit wherein you know that Jesus has received your prayer, that it aligns with His word and results will be forthcoming, as He wills. Yes, I have had breakthroughs and about the only thing I can say is that the release and relief that I received is such a concentrated outpouring of love from the Father that it causes one to quiver to the very essence of our being. Words, like trying to explain how the Holy Spirit feels inside, are not sufficient for me. I simply don't have the vocabulary to express the joy that I feel when the times occur.

I do believe that Abraham's boldness was pleasing to God and I think this way because Yahweh considered Abraham a righteous man and His friend. How else should friends communicate to one another, other than in a frank and open manner? Along a similar thought line, Adonai wants His believers to speak with Him, to open up the desires of our hearts freely to Him with complete expectation that He will receive and move on our prayers. To give Him our assurance that as our Heavenly Father, we are completely dependent upon Him, in all things. Thus we honor Him, reverence Him and worship Him. This is His delight.

Abraham's statements, preceding his bold demands, all concluded that he was a mere mortal, flawed and fearful of the High and Lofty One. As God's friend Abraham was well acquainted with the limitations as to the liberties one is able to take with the Creator. When we are alligned with Yahweh's character and nature it is necessary for us to come boldly to His throne with our petitions, humbly remembering that it is He who has given us this great freedom and, His friendship. We too must also consider that we are always just one sin away from His wrath.

Here it is, Easter Sunday and I'm pondering as to the basis of Abraham's argument as to why God should spare Sodom. Thinking about our Savior, who gave His own blood that I might live and who I was which was saved by Him illustrates Abraham's knowledge of a just God, the One who would have no person to perish, at the cost of only one righteous man to ask of Him. A God who watches a world that is worse than Sodom and patiently waits for the one last person to be saved, the character of righteous God, Yahweh.

God is moved by our compassion. He may have determined a great punishment for a sinful person, a great retribution for a lustful nation but through the prayers of His saints He can change His heart to offer redemption to the sinner. He can bring rain to a dry and weary land because our compassions aligns with His love. God's will is that all would come to the full knowledge of the truth, and that none would perish. To that end He has established boundries, between the cover of His Holy Word. Outside of that, His will is immutable.