Meet Jesus: Near At Hand Matthew 4:17

March 30, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4: 17: From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Meeting Jesus is so easy. He is near at hand. When Jesus declares the kingdom, it is His kingdom. Access to Him and all He is is as close as your hand. Your hand is attached. His kingdom is attached. Access to Him is attached to you. He is not a distant God. He is an ever-present, ever-available King. Turn around. He is near at hand.

Jesus is near at hand in us to others. Brad was talking to his friend at work. For many months this friend had been disconnected from fellowship in a congregation. Sure, they went to church. Sure, they talked to other Christians. But they really were not in fellowship. They were not in real communion heart to heart with other Christians. Brad challenged the friend. Brad encouraged them to reconnect with some kingdom friends. Brad was being Jesus, declaring the love of the kingdom.

ACT! What could be keeping you from meeting with Jesus? Turn away from it. Turn to Him. He is exactly at hand.

PRAY! Father, I turn from my way to Jesus’ kingdom. I turn from my thoughts to Jesus’ kingdom. I turn from my ideas to Jesus’ kingdom. Let Him be near at hand to me. Work in me to remove any block to receiving Jesus’ kingdom near at hand.

I loved this perspective on another blog….

http://fungirlslivebetter.wordpress.com/2013/03/30/is-god-really-dead/

Meet Jesus: Great Light Matthew 4:14

March 29, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4: 14: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15: The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16: The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

Too many times in life we live in the shadow and region of death. Darkness surrounds us in our minds in hearts. Meeting with Jesus means meeting with light. His light dispels the shadows and puts us in a bright place.

When Jesus is on the scene, there is a springing up of light. That is active. That is powerful. Darkness causes us to sit and be inactive. Jesus springs with activity and light to get us back into motion. Death is brown. It is the refraction of light that lets us see color. His light brings back color.

The prayers of the saints for each other are wonderful. Struggling with many trials can get old and cold. When another saint sees and takes prayerful action, it is a blessing. It brings light to a dark situation. That happened to me recently. As I worked through many items for others, other saints prayed for me. The light of that prayer sustained me so I could sustain others in their hard moments. It all works together.

ACT! Describe a place of hurt and pain to Jesus. Imagine what it would be like in that spot with bright, brilliant light shining all over and colorful plants growing all around.

PRAY! Father, there are areas of my life that need light. I have given up on anything other than death and despair in that room of my heart. Give me the courage to let Jesus meet me in that room. Surely, He will bring light and color back to my darkness.

Meet Jesus: Served Matthew 4:9

March 29, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:9: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10: Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11: Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Angels minister to Jesus, and so should we minister to Jesus with our worship. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he talks of a reasonable or rational service and worship done with presenting our bodies as living sacrifices. This is our pleasure and our part. Our worship of Jesus is to serve Him, to present ourselves totally to His selection for our life. Satan had it backwards. He forgot who was to serve whom.

Josue was determined to follow God this day. Lately, he had been wandering from his relationship with Christ. Over and over events just did not seem to go his way. Something he had read before was now stirring in him. There was something about praising God in everything. He was ready to try it. He was ready to try anything that would restore the warmth of the love of Jesus back in him. As he lifted his voice in the quiet of his room late that night, something broke. He began to weep. He began to praise God out loud. He began to know again the reassurance of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

ACT! Where does Jesus need your active worship? Take action this week on worshipping with real action where He needs you to serve another in the kingdom.

PRAY! Father, Jesus is the center of my worshipful services. Help me connect with the right actions for which You created me. I was created in Jesus for good works of worship done unto You. Enable me, Father, to find those works for which You created me and act on them.

Meet Jesus: Double Jeopardy Matthew 4:8

March 28, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

Willingly, Jesus goes with the Devil to a high mountain. This is the second time. Here is Jesus isolated away from everyone except the Devil. He is willingly taken into a place of testing and trial. Going once was enough. Now, He goes with this pure evil creature a second time. It is isolation. He is one on one with the strength of evil.

The Devil has no authority over Jesus. This is a choice of Jesus, Himself. He is proving to us and to the Devil and to the entire world that will read this for centuries, that He is able to resist evil to the uttermost on behalf of mankind. Amazing!

There are times God asks us to go the extra mile into exhaustion. Think of how exhausting it must have been to put up with pure evil stretching against you. There are times He asks us to do that. We want to rest. We want to quit for a season. We want to lay down and cry in our pity. God calls us to continue. God calls us to do it again. Jesus gave the example to follow.

It was late for Michael. Three times this week, he had stayed up late. Each time a friend called and wanted to talk. Then he would pray for an hour or more after the phone call. The alarm in the morning was barely enough to cause him to wake. He wondered how long he could keep doing this. Wouldn’t that friend get to a point of surrender to Christ soon? Must he talk to him every night? He knew that was God’s plan. He knew it was the right thing to do. He knew he was the one person between Jack and a decision for Christ. How long?

Meet Jesus: Taken Matthew 4:5

March 26, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

The fact that Jesus would allow himself to be taken anywhere by the devil astounds me. What was going through His mind at those moments? Here he was, led by His own Holy Spirit, to spend time with evil. Here he was entering the beginning of His public ministry dealing with a defeatist devil. Our present thinkers tell us to feel good and be happy and then minister. Our present ideologies point to pleasure as the entry to ministry. Jesus allowed himself to be taken into the presence of evil itself. This was His entry point into public ministry. He allowed testing. He presented himself for inspection. He was taken.

Pushed to the max, Jim was about to pop. This was supposed to be his year to get the big promotion. It began with pain. Employees were livid with some decisions he had made. Every emotion in him was twisted. He had worked night and day and given himself totally on behalf of these. They turned on him. The year before, he had handled the torrents of accusations from a disturbed man. The threats had been against these very employees that now turned on him. For defending them, he now stood their accusations of being unfair and inequitable. Was this how to start his big year?

He resigned himself to stand through the accusations. He remembered that the name, Satan, really meant Accuser. He remembered, Jesus had stood testing before His big year. Surely, he could allow the Healer to live in and through him in this critical time. “Father, forgive them”, he whispered, “They don’t know what they are doing.”

ACT! Testing is never fun. When God has something big, He can allow life and, yes, even the devil a place to sort out our intentions and grace living. Is there a place of testing in your life? Is God preparing you, stabilizing you for the next big thing? Submit to the test. Let it prove you out. Don’t fight. Let God fight for you. Take time to pray Psalm 35 and see what happens.

PRAY! Father, I am not my own defense. When life and the enemy rise against me as a flood, You be the boat of my salvation. Carry me away from that which is too strong for me. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies. Cause in me conviction to repent of those weaknesses in me that could have led to this situation. Cause holiness to well up in me. Cause me to crucify any flesh that needs changed. Let these troubles be a directional that causes me to become closer to You in thought and word and deed. Cause me to be more like You than ever before. Then, in the next big thing, I will be able. I will be founded. I will be strengthened to do that to which You have called me. I surrender myself to be taken.

Meet Jesus: The Word Matthew 4:3

March 26, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. :4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

As Jesus answered, He simultaneously declared His existence. Meeting Jesus means meeting the very living expression of God’s word. John tells us “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” It is not the bread of this world that meets our need, but the living bread of life, Jesus that will give us strength in the deserts of life.

Words are important to growth. So many times how we present a word or phrase to someone else means everything in the world for the next step in our relationship. A friend struggled with a key relationship. There was just an accusatory bend to every conversation with a new friend. After looking for solutions and probing for what was wrong, we were surprised. It seems in the first meeting with the other person, this friend acted before he spoke. The speaking was important to the other person. They had harbored an offense from the first action wanting words to come first. Getting through that misunderstanding was tough and touchy, but they are doing better. It has taken words to find the problem and begin healing it. Words count. The word of Jesus in us can heal.

ACT! Are you dry and hungry in an area? Spend time talking to Jesus about it today. He is the bread, the word of God that brings strength.

PRAY! Father, bring the bread of life, Jesus, into my dryness, into my hunger. Apply the word of life, Jesus, to my need that I might stay strong in Your strength, not my own.

Meet Jesus: Human Matthew 4:2

March 25, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 4: 2: And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

There is a fallacy in meeting Jesus that bears great correction. At times we approach Him as if He had some special advantage while He lived in that body born of Mary. Jesus was fully human. He got really hungry. He dealt with conflicting emotions. He lived as a human equipped with the Spirit of God even as He asks us to live.

In being human, Jesus sanctified humanity. He made it okay to be fully human. He made it a good thing to be all the human we could be, to live up to our human potential – with God. Remember, while being fully human, He was fully God. Our task is to work on being fully human, with God.

Being fully human, for us means being full of mistakes. Being fully human, means being able to correct those mistakes. Today I had a great opportunity to change my mistakes. A co-worker was upset with me about my actions. I had presumed what I did was okay with him instead of asking. It was okay. If I asked. Not asking was presumptive. It was inconsiderate. By repenting and asking, my mistake was changed to okay. He gave me that grace. It was good. Jesus helped me be human.

ACT! Think of your most human moment this week. Thank God for making you a human.

PRAY! Father, thanks for making me a human like Jesus. It must be really special to you, this human thing. You sent Your own Son to be one, just to make it special. Wow! I really don’t deserve it, but I really appreciate it. Thanks.

Meet Jesus : Pleasing God Matthew 3:17

March 22, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

When we connect with Jesus we connect with pleasing God. Jesus pleases the Father. When we are with Him, we are pleasing the Father. That is important. So often in life, we want to please our Father. When you meet with Jesus, you are in the environment of pleasing Him. You can’t miss pleasing Him.

Pleasing God may mean doing tough work. While working through some conflict mediation, we came to the point of closing in prayer. It had been a tough night. Everyone had spent emotional energy to embrace peace. It was the right thing to do. It is greatly pleasing to God to do everything that leads to peace and building each other. That does not make it easy. But it is pleasing. The scripture came to mind as we prayed from Zephaniah 3. God joys over us with singing. That word joy means to jump up and dance and pirouette. What a picture of God singing and jumping and spinning over us with joy! Doing the hard thing is pleasing to Him.

ACT! Take one item you are unsure about in your relationship with God. Examine it. Is Jesus involved in it? If you were doing it or being involved in it would you invite Jesus to be a part?

PRAY! Father, help me to please You. Help me to meet with Jesus when I plan an activity. I can always be sure it will be pleasing to You when I meet with Him to do it. Help me keep that focus, Father.

Meet Jesus: Humility Matthew 3:13

March 21, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 3: 13: Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

Here is the Son of God, God in the flesh, submitting Himself to the gift and calling of another. In most of our world, this is almost unthinkable. The Master goes to the servant to be enabled for ministry. It is so backward to our ego mindset that it almost hurts. When you meet with Jesus, you will be asked to find Him in others and lay down ego.

There is nothing like being misunderstood to humble us. Reading through a memo written by another staffer, I started to get upset. It was evident that he really did not understand the conversation the day before. How could he so misunderstand me? Before I did something stupid, I opened the memo that had been sent by me after the conversation. Taking a slow and deliberate look, it was easy to see how he was interpreting as my meaning. He was simply walking out his understanding. Humbled, I deleted my first response and crafted one more suitable and understanding to correct the confusion.

ACT! Think of a friend who has a gift you need. Get with them and let them pray for you.

PRAY! Whoops! Father sometimes I miss it and mess it. Sometimes You have sent Jesus to me in a wrapper that I did not receive. Sometimes the unlikely has had the incredible for my life. Help me find the some-times and receive from the gift of others in Him.

If we can pray for you regarding anything in your life, please let us know. Our greatest blessing is to bless others in prayer. www.prayermetro.com Phil

Meet Jesus: Fire Baptizer Matthew 3:11

March 21, 2013 by Phil Larson

Matthew 3:11: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Be ready for change when you meet Jesus. John gets us focused in our preparation. Meeting Jesus can make you different from the inside out. He brings the Holy Spirit and fire to pour over you and change you. Think of it this way. It is like having chemical fire on the inside (the Holy Spirit) and liquid fire on the outside. However, the real you is strengthened not burned. The stuff that is between you and Him will be cleansed.

Conflict is one of those baptizers in the Holy Spirit. We want to avoid it, yet it is the right thing. God used conflict to cause us to dig deeper into understanding of relationships and life. The deeper we dig, the stronger we become. In talking to a leader, it struck me to provoke him that leaders love resolving conflict. They don’t love the conflict or the anger and frustration that may accompany it. They do love the process of resolution and the end result. Through conflict we are baptized in Holy Spirit fire. He strengthens our resolve and our ability to move ahead. He causes us to face hard items that need to be removed. It is one way He baptizes us with fire.

ACT! Pick an item that needs to be burned away in your life. Put it in front of Him for handling.

PRAY! Father, I am not afraid of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. I await continually meeting with Jesus to be continually cleansed. Let Your faithful and just character enter into my life as I confess my sin before You. Forgive me and cleanse me from all ways that are unlike You.

If we can pray for you regarding anything in your life, please let us know. Our greatest blessing is to bless others in prayer. www.prayermetro.com Phil