PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Romans 11:1–10 (NIV)
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”
And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
CONSIDER THIS
Growing up I always thought of Jesus as a Christian. I think I thought this so much I didn’t even recognize he was a Jew. In fact, I thought of Christianity as a completely new thing. It just felt to me like Jesus and grace were a massive left turn from the Old Testament. Christianity was the new thing. After all, the story is in the “New Testament,” right?To him be the glory forever! Amen.
THE PRAYER
Abba Father! How we thank you for Jesus, who was and is and is to come; the image of the invisible God and the firstborn over all creation. Thank you that he is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. I confess I have often seen Jesus as a divine plot device. Thank you for opening my eyes to begin to fathom that he is the whole story. For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.THE QUESTION
Have you, like me, thought of Christianity as a left turn from Judaism? How about Paul’s “conversion” as an exceptional moment rather than as the intended norm?THE HYMN
Today we will sing the old chorus, “Jesus, Name above all Names.” Lyrics below.Beautiful Saviour, Glorious Lord Emmanuel, God is with us Blessed Redeemer, Living Word Jesus, name above all names Beautiful Saviour, Glorious Lord Emmanuel, God is with us Blessed Redeemer, Living Word
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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4 Responses
How very true, that most of us were raised to think of Christianity as a totally new religion in contrast to Judaism. Us vs them, right? Yet when I read and studied the Bible as “The Story”, it became very clear to me that the Church in reality is the faithful remnant of Abraham’s descendants, with us faithful Gentiles grafted in. I believe that fact was blurred sometime after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, as the Church became more Gentle in its composition. And yes, as Jesus himself claimed to be the fulfillment of the Mosaic law, so too, is the union of God’s original covenant people with us who are brought in to a this new covenant relationship through the shed blood of Christ Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s overall plan for humanity.
Amen.
Colossians 1:15-17
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
John 1:1-4
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Hebrews 1:1-3
1 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Jesus is the beginning before the beginning and the end before the end.
Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Staying 💪’n Christ
Paul went from spiritual stupor to a super relationship with Jesus!
Wake up, sleeper, from your spiritual stupor. Step out of the shadows and let the living Jesus shine on you. Continually soak up His radiance.
Stupor toward God and toward your conscience (unawareness, insensitivity, and unresponsiveness) is sneaky. It makes the living, resurrected Jesus seem like a mere myth, an ancient historical figure, or a being confined to Heaven.
Don’t settle for stupor. God created you to have a super relationship with Him. Religion, without the active and direct presence, reality, and Headship of the risen Jesus, subtly produces a dazed state of spiritual stupor — “a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.”
The living Jesus turned Paul’s stupor into vibrant awareness of His presence and power! If you will continually open your heart to the risen Jesus and begin to daily read the Bible like an intimate love letter written from God to you personally (instead of like a college textbook) Christ’s supernatural presence will banish your stupor with His glorious light.
The Bible is an alarm. It’s a super stupor detector that will wake you up to the supernatural reality of Jesus, if you will humbly listen to it.
Here are some signs of being in a spiritual stupor.
* Most of the time Jesus is off of your radar.
* You rarely if ever read the Bible and when you do you quickly tire of it.
* God seems more like a distant theory than a present reality to you.
* You feel like attending church is all the spirituality that you need.
* People who live like Jesus is alive and present throughout the day annoy you.
* You seldom notice your conscience and when you do you mostly resist it.
* You enjoy entertainment that is contrary to God’s values and principles.
* You think that you’re a good person and that everything’s alright between you and God.
For me, one the “new” thing God did through His Son was to clarify beyond doubt the significant difference between “Believe and Behave” and “Behold and Become.”