SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/4/2017 8:51 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Speech of Proclamation”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Colossians
4:3-4
Message of the verses: “3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”
I have a prayer list just for the Pastor’s that are in
our church and one of the items that is on it is praying for the proclamation
of our Pastors. “Effectiveness in
Proclamation: Scriptural Example is from
Ephesians 6:19: “and pray on my behalf,
that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known
with boldness the mystery of the gospel.”
I want to pray for our Pastors effectiveness in proclamation.
The following is a quote from John MacArthur, “Now remember, Paul was a prisoner when he wrote that. He didn't say, "Pray...pray for my ankles, they've been rubbed raw. They're bleeding from the shackles." He didn't say, "Pray for my healing." He didn't say, "Pray for my deliverance." He didn't say, "I'm being abused. Pray for my suffering to end." He didn't want prayer for those things, he said, "Pray for my boldness in speaking the Word of God." Chains were incidental, absolutely incidental.” Now this does not mean not to pray for our Pastors when they are sick. Another Scriptural example is Colossians 4:2-4“2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; 4 that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1 “Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord will spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you.” MacArthur writes what this means: “Pray that I’ll have an opportunity to speak. Secondly, when that opportunity presents itself pray that I will speak as I ought to speak. And how I ought to speak is boldly and clearly. And then the third component is when I have spoken in that opportunity boldly and clearly, pray that the Word may spread from there and be glorified. What is that? The right response, that men will honor it, they will glorify it by obeying it. The word ‘spread rapidly’ literally in the Greek is the word to run. It’s a track word. Pray that it will sprint and be honored by everybody who hears it.”
Now the following is a quote from Gardener Spring “"We cannot convert a single soul. We press home the divine commands and they trample upon His authority. We press home His threatenings and they despise His justice. We speak tenderly of His promises, they heed not His faithfulness of His beloved Son and they tread Him under their feet, of His patience and long suffering but their impenitence and obstinacy are proof against them all. We reason and plead with them until the obstacles to their conversions seem to us to rise higher by every effort we make to overcome them. Until finally we sink in dejection and cry out, `What mighty power can break these granite-like hearts, what omnipotent grasp can rescue these perishing men from everlasting burnings?' O you blood-bought churches, your minister’s need your prayers for the exceeding greatness of that power which God worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead," end quote.”
Gardener Spring was a Pastor from New York city who lived there in the 1800’s, I believe that it was the late 1800’s.
With that we will close this SD and pick up more of what is in these verses in our next SD on Colossians chapter four.
6/4/2017 8:58 PM
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