Psalm 28:6-7 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Blessed Be The Lord! For He Has Heard the voice of my pleas for Mercy. The Lord Is my Strength And my Shield; In Him my Heart Trusts, And I am Helped; my Heart Exults, And With my Song I Give Thanks To Him."....
PJP2 THANKS TEXT 160320 - John 12:20-26 (ESV/emphasis added/jaj)...."Now among those who went up to Worship at The Feast were some Greeks. So these Greeks came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. And Jesus Answered them, 'The Hour Has Come for The Son of Man To Be Glorified. Truly, Truly, I Say to you, Unless A Grain of Wheat Falls into the earth and dies, It Remains alone; BUT If It dies, It Bears Much Fruit. Whoever Loves his life Loses it, And whoever Hates his Life in this world Will Keep It for Eternal Life. If anyone Serves Me, he Must Follow Me; And Where I Am, There Will My servant Be Also. If anyone Serves Me, The Father Will Honor him.'"....
I Hear The Holy Spirit making Three Points of Thanks, this morning, focusing around - (1) These Greeks; (2) Grain of Wheat's Death Yields Life and Fruitfulness; (3) A Servant Follows his Master... (1) I am Thankful God The Father Accepts us all. "These Greeks" asking to see our Lord Jesus would have been a HUGE no-no during our Lord's Time Amongst us. Greeks would clearly have been Gentiles. Also, we know from history the Greeks were a polytheistic people, thus their requesting to 'see' a Rabbis of Judaism would really have been very odd indeed. Now the Word does not Share if Jesus Spoke with "These Greeks" - Yet His Answer, "A Grain of Wheat Falls into the earth and dies....BUT If IT dies, IT Bears Much Fruit"....resonates with me that our Lord Jesus was Opening The Narrow Gate for All who Believe and Follow Him as His servant. "If anyone Serves Me"....His Word, "anyone" is a wide-open path for us to Him. (2) Grain of Wheat....It isn't rocket-science to connect the dot to our Lord Jesus' reference to His Passion, death and Resurrection in His Comment regards the Grain of Wheat. One could say His Prophecy of Bearing Fruit has indeed come true. As of 2010, 33% of the world's population (+/- 2.1 Billion people) claimed to be Believers in our Lord Jesus. BUT, Bottom-Line/Up-Front....personally for me, His Choosing to die for my sins, Bears His Fruit within me, and Guides me to (3) as His servant, Follow Him.
Thus my Prayer of Thanks for us today would be - Lord Jesus, Thank You for Providing a Path for us, "These Greeks" to become Your children by Your Life, Death and Resurrection. Holy Spirit, Help us and Encourage us, likewise, to Be Grains of Wheat of Your Word to Be Willing to die to our selves and Live Your Life Within us. Father God, Empower and Encourage us to Ever Walk In Your Son, our Lord Jesus' Steps. We Pray These Prayers of Thanks in Your Son's Holy Name....Amen/Amen....jaj
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