JIMMETS - THE VOID & JESUS’ PRAYER

Time with Jesus - Wed. 21 November 2012

Hi all,

Today we have 2 Jimmets to look at. The void looks at the space in our hearts that only Jesus can fill. Before we come to Him it’s an empty ache. The second Jimmet is about the Lord’s High Priestly prayer. If it were possible to summarise His prayer with one word, (it’s not) that word would be “unity”.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give		Time with Jesus – Wednesday, 21 November 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	JIMMETS - THE VOID & JESUS’ PRAYER
There are not many occasions when men have heard the audible voice of God the Father. One occasion was at the time of Jesus’ baptism. It was an extraordinary occasion told vividly by Matthew. John didn’t want to do it. He felt that Jesus should baptise him. But Jesus insisted. He was very aware of Biblical types and shadows. He was also very aware of what the future held for Him. He would die on the cross for humanity. 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.2 Cor. 5:21 NLT He would die a sinner’s death. He also knew that through baptism a sinner would be returned to life, a new person. Baptism in the New Testament was a death to sin and a resurrection to new life. It follows that for Him to be restored to life by His Father and the Holy Spirit, He needed to be baptised. He lived a sinless life and as such had no need to be baptised. But the one who was made sin for us, needed baptism to be resurrected. So He started His ministry with baptism. He was fulfilling all righteousness. He now had the “right” to be raised from the dead! So perhaps we can say His baptism was a preparation for His death on the cross. Before He died a sinner’s death, He had already made provision for His cleansing in the waters of baptism and subsequent resurrection! Brilliant! Planned in advance by His Father, anticipating what would happen three and a half years later. Satan couldn’t say He had no “right” to be resurrected. It happened before He began His ministry. The Father rightly said, “This is My Beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased!” The Father could say this of His Son and the one raised from the dead! Before we committed our lives to Jesus Christ, there was something inside us that was searching for God. It has been described as a “God sized” space only He can fill. Augustine of Hippo in his famous “Confessions” wrote "You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You." The Jimmet, “The Void” speaks of this. One of the few prayers of Jesus we have is written in John 17. This for me is really “The Lord’s Prayer”. I believe this took place in the Courtyard of the temple. I say this because it is sometimes called the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus. Within the precincts of the temple would be the “appropriate” place for our great High Priest to pray for His followers throughout the generations. His discourse about the vine, (John 15) suggests He was at the very gates of the temple. From here He would go on the Gethsemane. What better place for Him to pray? The courtyard of His Father’s house. The temple in which the High Priest would pray! It makes sense to me that He would step into the courtyard. His prayer is recorded for us in John 17. Poignant and unforgettable! Jim & Phyllida Strickland			13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, Colossians 1:13 TNIV 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matthew 3:17 ESV 1 "Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 42:1 NASB 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:18 TNIV 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10 ESV 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 1 John 4:16 ESV 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. 23 I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me. John 17:22-23 GW 1 What marvellous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it--we're called children of God! That's who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or takes us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he's up to. 1 John 3:1 MSG	The Void There was a time when I was in the dark, Far away from God and from His Son. But deep down within me was a spark Planted there when first I was begun. What it was, I really didn’t know. Something like a vacuum we can’t fill. A hole that ever bigger seemed to grow An emptiness which I remember still! I did my very best to fill that void, With the “trappings” this world could provide. All this made me more and more annoyed. Nothing changed the emptiness inside. Then I gave the Lord my heart and soul. He has filled that gap and made me whole. Jim Strickland  21 Nov 2012 Jesus’ Prayer The prayer of Jesus Christ our Sovereign Lord Written for us in John seventeen; Reading it, we should be overawed; By the prospects Jesus had foreseen. Kneeling in the Temple’s outer court, Our High Priest was pouring out His love. In a way it was the last report, He would give His Father High above. What a prayer! That all of us would be, One with Him in Spirit soul and mind, One with Him in perfect unity, One in purpose; One with all mankind! One with Father; One with Christ His Son; One in all intentions; truly one! Jim Strickland  21 Nov 2012