A Church with a Heart for our Community

April 11th Thursday

Greetings to you in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ – THE Risen Saviour! Another one of “those” days in the Kingdom…God is good–did I hear an –“all the time!” Okay, let’s try one more time…”God is good!…I mean really good!..-___________________! I trust that your season of Lent has been and adventure and a time of discovering new things…ideas…resources…the importance of ‘others’ in your life. Today I will be praying for you, asking Father to come alongside you to encourage and empower and energize.

I have been doing some reading and preparation for Easter – looking for insights and new approaches. I have been using the Passion Translation and it has an added insight. It says, in the telling of the story from Matthew , Mark, and Luke that when the people put their cloaks on the path in front of the donkey…they also put their prayer shawls on the ground. Now, to me that means that Jesus entered Jerusalem amid the praises and shouts of the people while riding on their prayers.

Oddly enough, when the presence of Jesus comes into our lives – personally and corporately – He does so in a similar manner…through prayer and praise blending together. There is a new song that we have been singing that says: Praise is the highway to the throne of God- Praise is the highway to the heart of God-Praise is the highway to the move of God – Chris Tomlin. Praise and prayer working together. It is only in recent years that I have understood that there are times when ‘praying’ about a situation needs ‘praising’ in the midst of the situation to access the power available from the throne.

I believe that by throwing their prayer shawls on the ground before Jesus was a way of saying that we are placing our ‘old ways’ of doing things at His feet as we experience the reality of His presence. The Word of God says – I am not interested in the external displays of righteousness…I want your heart!. I want your passionate response to life! – all your heart and soul and mind and strength! 

So ride on – King Jesus!  – Be blessed!