Wednesday, October 29, 2008

My Meditation

10:55 PM by Christi Bowman

I am meditating on Luke 11:2-13. I continually go back and re read it. I can't quit thinking about it. I look up the original Greek words, and what Jesus is alluding to is astonishing.

Luke 2:2-4 is the Lord's prayer, and I am tending to focus on verses 2 & 3 of it:

2.Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3.Give us day by day our daily bread.

Jesus is telling us to ask that God's Kingdom be realized on earth as it is in heaven. He wants us to be PROactive about His kingdom. He is AGAINST Christians sitting around and waiting to die to be apart of it. He also wants us to ask to be provided for as we help to bring about the realization of God's kingdom. He tells us how to ask is in verses 5-13:

5And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

I have been looking up some of the original Greek words in Strong's dictionary :

Ask: aiteo: beg, call for, crave, desire, require.
receiveth: lambano: get hold of
seek: zeteo: to worship God
findeth: heu risko: obtain, perceive, see
knock: krouo: rap
opened: anoigo: to open up
importunity:anaideia: impudence - cocky boldness
offensively bold
not showing due respect

When Jesus says ask, the word He uses implies begging and craving. Once we realize that the power Jesus embodied on earth, as the Son of God, can be ours we are to beg for and require it. Once we realize that in us heaven can be realized and where we are the Kingdom can be we are to desire and crave that like nothing else. When we "ask" like THAT, we are promised that we will "receive" or get a hold of it.

We are to seek Heaven on earth and the word Jesus uses implies worship. When we are truly worshiping God ( not a three song church service) we are seeking Heaven on earth, and when we seek we are promised that we will "find" or perceive Heaven.

We are to knock and the Greek word implies incessant rapping. We all know how annoying incessant rapping at our door sounds like. We are to annoy God with our incessant rapping at His door. Do we do this? If we do His door will open, and that implies that heaven will be opened up to us.

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

Importunity is impudence and when I looked up impudence I found these definitions: cocky boldness, offensively bold, not showing due respect.

Our Bible's say that He will not give us heaven on earth or our daily bread just because we are His friends. He tells us that heaven will be realized in us and we will daily be provided for when we ask with cockiness, when we are offensively bold, and when we ask without the respect that is due Him.

And what will be given us after we beg, worship, and incessantly rap with offensive boldness...The Holy Spirit. He is our prize. He will help us realize that heaven is in us, He will help the Jesus in us come to power, and He will daily provide for us!!

how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The Holy Spirit is NOT minor and I am beginning to HATE when people refer to the Holy Spirit and His gifts as "minoring on the minors"...it is offensive! He is as major as it gets!

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