First Love Awakening: Redo

"Therefore, remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds that you did at first." Revelation 2:5

"I don't love her any more." Those simple words have been spoken to me by husbands, over and over again, during the past 38 years of ministry. I have heard similar words expressed by wives who have had enough and aren't going to take anymore. It seems there is an unwritten, but consistent script out there, and it keeps getting passed from one generation to another. Whenever a man or a woman wants to dissolve the union that God put together they will play what they believe to be their final trump card. They are always surprised and often irritated at my response.

"Start again!" When I tell a person that their loss of love for their mate is no "Get out of jail free" card for Christian marriage, it really puts a kink in their plans to escape "the old ball and chain." Open hostility is often easier to deal with in a marriage than cold hearted apathy. Dr. John Bisagno would often say, "It is impossible to hatch eggs in a refrigerator." He was right. The warmth of someones disdain is more conducive to the reheating a broken heart than the cold dead ashes of broken dreams that have no spark left in them.

It is not an easy road to recovery in a marriage or in a personal love relationship with Jesus. The hardest part is to admit that Jesus has not grown cold in his love for us, but we have drifted apart from Him. This personal, introspective admission is embarrassing. It is a kind of spiritual checkup that has been postponed too long and now the results of the diagnosis are feared. In its early stages, it is dreaded like a child's phobia of needles. The more delay that builds up between checkups, it leads to a false conviction that the cure is going to kill us. Satan is always lying to us about how little Jesus loves us.

An old Texas, preacher joke reminds us of our personal responsibility for any condition of lost love between us and Jesus. Rancher Jake and his wife Jane were riding into town on Saturday morning in their old pickup truck. Jane was hugging the passenger side door, and wistfully looking out the window, and said in a woeful voice, "Jake, we used to ride into town side by side, and squeezed up close together. Why don't we do that anymore." Jake responded, "I ain't moved!"

What does it take to get back to a first love relationship with Jesus? He told the Church at Ephesus that he expected them to do the things they did at first. The first step they took was going to have to be a recognition that He was not the source of the problem, but He was the source of the solution. They were going to have to move in His direction (repent) and do again (redo) the things that were once so vital to their love relationship.

When I met Dana, I couldn't believe what happened to me. I had never been a fan of love at first sight, but she changed all that in an instant. When she walked into my life, I was stunned into the harsh reality that my self-sufficient existence was woefully inadequate without her in it. I was faced with the real possibility that my life would not be complete unless she chose to share her life with me. That September, Monday night in 1974, we sat at a card table at Lowell and Shirley Thomas' home, and shared a potluck supper with other single adults from their single adult Sunday School class. I do not remember the food, the decor of the room, what was on TV or even the words that transpired between us that night. All I can remember about that evening is Dana. She stepped into my life and rocked my world. I found that when I was not with her, I missed her. I jumped whenever the phone rang, and answered it with the hope that the person on the other line might be Dana. I looked for her when I was at church. Not casually, or indifferently, but I sought her out. I followed the scent of her perfume, "Cachet," like a relentless, hound dog. When I found her, I spoke to her with words that were chosen to build her up, and build a bridge between us. During the week, I found time to call her, or to think about her. She was so much on my mind that I could squeeze her into any and every conversation that I had. If someone wanted to talk about the Cowboys, I would segue with, "You know that reminds me about Dana." Even if my fellow seminarians wanted to talk about church related matters, I would shift the conversation to Dana. Well, I have to stop this heart warming journey down memory lane or I will never finish this blog. I wonder if the warmth I feel for her in my heart right now is why Jesus encouraged His followers to remember.

How does someone remember, repent and redo the things that restore a relationship with Jesus that was once such a vital part of their life. After reflection on Dana for a few moments, some ideas have come to my mind that may warm our hearts for Jesus.

• Miss Him.
• Talk to Him.
• Write to Him.
• Look for Him.
• Listen to Him.
• Walk with Him.
• Talk about Him.
• Read about Him.
• Think about Him.
• Make time for Him.
• Spend time with Him.
• Don't rush away from Him.
• Say a good word about Him.
• Cast all your cares upon Him.

Can you see the curve that is made by the list above. It symbolically reflects a change of mind and a change of direction. Don't wait for the right feeling before you begin doing what is right. Obey your way into a new way of feeling. It is never too late to begin, and it is never to soon to start a restoration of first love. Remember Jake? Jesus ain't moved either. He is right where you left your first love.

GMillerLight4U

First Love Awakening: Repent

"Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent." Rev. 2:5

Years ago as a student at Baylor, I was taught that whenever you come to the word "therefore" in the word of God, it was always wise to take a brief look at the previous statement and find out what it is there for. At first blush this perspective on Holy Scripture may appear to be a bit flippant, but it is still a reliable tool to use in personal discovery of the truth in the Word of God.

"Therefore" refers to the loss of love for Jesus. It described a fallen state, a decline in their spiritual condition. People are in a backslidden condition when their love for Jesus is more about the past tense than the present tense. In the case of the Church at Ephesus, they had lost their first love for Jesus. This was a serious situation, and Jesus expected them to see it the way He saw it.

In his letter to the pastor of the Church at Ephesus, Jesus commended the people for their meritorious service, but exhorted them to return to a focus on Him and not the work they were doing for Him. Jesus gave a wake up call for the church to restore to first priority their love for Him. They had become dangerously myopic. They were more passionate about the mission He gave them, than they were about Him. They had lost their way. They had wandered to the dark side, and were no longer reflecting the shining face of the Son. Being more in love with the work of the Lord than being in love with the Lord of the work always leads to the dark side of the moon. They needed a turn around in their lives. They needed to get back to a face to face encounter with Jesus.

It was not enough for the Church at Ephesus to know the difference between right and wrong. It was also necessary for them to do the right thing. That is why Jesus called them to repent. Too often people combine the words repent and penance and confuse them as synonyms. They are vastly different in meaning and mission. Penance is a punishment for failure, and meant to be a rebuke for wrong behavior. Repent is more of an encouragement to stop moving in the wrong direction, and return to right behavior. There are times the word repent is translated regret, and this may be part of the problem. Regret projects a picture of sorrow and shame over a decision or a condition.

A person may regret taking the wrong turn on a long road trip. They may express deep remorse over their lost condition. Saying "mea culpa" or "my bad" does not turn the car around. Without a change of mind, and a change of direction the trip is doomed to failure. Jesus does not call people to camp out in the rest area on the road of regret. He knows if they fail to turn in a fresh new direction they will choose defeat over deliverance.

Ancient Greeks believed repent was more about a change of thought and change of behavior. They formed this word from the words "change" and "to think." At the very least, repent meant to stop thinking the wrong thing, and start thinking the right thing. It was a change of one's point of view from, "I think." to the perspective of Jesus, "I know!" To repent a person must begin to look at life the way Jesus sees it, and humble themselves to His yoke to stay on the right path.

Zig Ziglar caught my attention one night while I was driving through the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. On a radio broadcast, he challenged the conventional new age thought that you become what you think about. He adamantly disagreed. He said, "If that was true, by the time I was sixteen, I would have been a woman." Great word Zig!

Repent is so much more than a passing interest in a new year's resolution. It is not a matter of self help or self motivation. It is not a matter of self at all. The idea that people can find what they need in themselves has been around a long time. I was in Barnes and Noble yesterday and found a book in Christian inspiration that looked interesting. I put it down when I noted that it equated the Word of God with other religious disciplines. It was written in 1902 by James Allen, a seeker of truth who blended Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism in a little book, "As a Man Thinketh." His contribution to New Thought of that era was really just another attempt to pass on an old lie. He was a forerunner of the more contemporary New Age gurus that tell people they can change their behavior by changing their thinking, and become the master of their own destiny.

Don't misunderstand me, the word of God does say, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7) However, this was a not a call to think one's way to a new level of reality. It was a wise reminder not to be swayed by the disingenuous flattery and gratuitous generosity of a selfish person. Manipulative people may invite others to their table to eat, but they intend to turn their unsuspecting guests into the main course. Their outward signs of generosity are nothing more than a mirage of deceit or a sinister camouflage for their trap.

In his book "Repent or Else," Vance Havner pointed out that repent was the message of Jesus to five of the seven churches in Asia Minor. The modern country of Turkey is now the contemporary chasm where the faint echo of these once powerful churches is heard. They may have heard the word of Jesus and responded with a form of regret. They may have had a feeling of sorrow, but did not respond with an overwhelming inclination to reform or to replace the wrong choice with the right choice. The Greek word for repent is not an emphasis upon sorrow and penance but on a complete change of thought and behavior.

Life changing direction in life does not take place with a change of thought, but in an exchange of hearts. What does this change of heart or a change in attitude towards Jesus look like? It includes a reversal of lukewarm, lackluster lackadaisical love for Jesus into a flaming love for Him. It is a break out from the ice jam of apathy to the free flow of warm hearted appreciation. It is an about face. It is a reverse from a wrong direction to the right direction. It is a reevaluation of the worth of the relationship. It is a return to consistent companionship. It s a refocus away from the mission to the Master. His point of view leads to a change of mind, change of heart, change of direction, and a change of life.

When love dies it does not always generate a sense of outrage. It deteriorates into apathy. One of the most difficult levels of lost love to break out of is the numb, fatalistic, condition of apathy.This is the point in a love relationship between two people, when they both become so cold they are too numb to feel anything for each other. They don't call, confront, criticize, or communicate. They don't fight at all, but they don't talk at all. They have reached a point where they don't care at all. The coldest form of hate may be reached when people completely ignore each other because their hearts have grown cold.

Jesus reminds His Church that He knows how much He loves them, and He wants them to remember that He loved them before they first loved Him. Restored intimacy is a prayer away. It begins with an admission of a need for Jesus. It is established by returning to the yoke of Jesus. It continues with a daily leaning upon the Presence of Jesus through the practice of prayer. Satan wants to make you fear that a return to Jesus will result in punishment for not coming to Him sooner. Jesus knows your fear, and He waits with open arms to warm your heart with a fresh, first love for Him. Don't think your way to a new level of reality. Pray your way back home to your first love. He assumes full responsibility for the direction and correction of your life.

Remember, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love because He first loved us." (I John 4:18-19)

GMillerLight4U

First Love Awakening: Remember

"Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen..." Revelation 2:5

Jesus never commanded His followers to remember His birthday. This may come as a surprise to churches that can get overactive imaginations when it comes pageants, cantatas, camels, hay, and bathrobes. This is not to say His birthday was not a great day, but it was just the beginning of the greatest work that God was going to do.

When Jesus calls His disciples to remember, He is calling them to recall the day they first fell in love with Him. The love of Christ was not poured out on a lost world in a stable, but on hill far away from the little town of Bethlehem. Jesus purchased salvation on a cross, not a manger. That is something to remember.

Dr. Jack McGorman, my Greek professor, was dragging me verse through verse through the book of Galatians in 1976 when I heard him say, "Jesus did not die by fractions on the cross." He was "affectionately" and privately called "Cactus" Jack by his students. He had a way of piercing the thin skin of novice theologians with the sharp point of truth from The Word of God. His words stay with me every time I give an offering to the Lord's work. He reminded us that debating percentages when we are honoring the Savior was very poor form indeed. Something to remember.

Jesus gathered His disciples together on the night before His death and shared The Cup and The Bread with them, and commanded them to "Do this in remembrance of me!" Many people take the invitation to the Lord's Supper as optional. They see it as an occasion to skip out and do something else more important, because the service will not exactly be up to their standards that Sunday. Too quiet. Too contemplative. Not enough laughter. Such a downer. The Cup and The Bread of the Lord's Supper are certainly two very important things to remember.

What else could be remembered to restore a first love for Jesus? "The Passion of the Christ" a movie by a hardened, Hollywood mogul like Mel Gibson could be a tool for remembrance. The weakest part of his movie's message was the power and the reality of the resurrection. It certainly falls short of the whole story, but it gets the pain and the humiliation down with overwhelming accuracy. His death is something to remember.

First love is not matter of chronology, but a lesson in priority. The love that Jesus calls the Church at Ephesus to remember was the intense, and intimate communication that took place between them when they first discovered what Jesus had done for them. They had initially given Him their hearts, and had gradually substituted their time, talent, and treasure. He missed their love for Him more than He honored their work for Him. Remember. Jesus knows the difference.

Love is an act of the will and not a figment of the imagination. It is not a flight of fancy, or a deluded fantasy. It is more than an emotional feeling. William Barclay defines this "agape" love as"unconquerable benevolence and undefeatable goodwill."

Love is not given "because of" what is done by another. Love is something that is done in spite of what is done to another. It is an expression of the will to respond in kindness, instead of reacting in kind.

Awakening is part of an ongoing process of God's people being filled enough, long enough with the Person of the Holy Spirit for the character of Christ to spill out on those who do not believe. Jesus told His followers that unbelievers would recognize them as belonging to Him by the love they had for one another. Awakenings outside the church often happen when life hits people in the church hard enough to spill out on others what God has put in them. Remember. People need to see the love of Jesus.

"God's will for your life is to make you empty of you and full of Him. He uses people and circumstances to knock you out of you so He can fill you with Himself." Bill Stafford.

GMillerLight4U

First Love Awakening

""But I have this one thing against you, that you have left your first love." (Rev. 2:2-5)

Tracking when I began to grasp the concept of a "First Love" relationship with Jesus has been aided by going back and looking my study bibles. The faded red ink underlining the verse, and the handwritten notes in the margin of my college New Testament are the trail markers of a young man on a journey of discovery.

Scribbled in "Bic Pen Blue" at the top of "The Revelation of John" are the words, "Continuously contemporary, this message applied then and it applies now." As I looked at my notes in chapter two, I found underlined in red, "that you have left your first love." Underneath written in the same faint color are the words, "No personal relationship with Jesus."

The first encounter I can document having with this powerful verse appears to have taken place while I was in a Bible Study at Baylor University. It was led by close friends, Bobby Livesay and Bob Bryant. Both men eventually completed their graduate studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, and became accomplished pastors. I cannot thank God enough for bringing these men into my life during my college years. They introduced me to serious, personal bible study and challenged me to apply ancient truth to contemporary life.

While serving at Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth, we were privileged to host a singing and drama group called, "The Jeremiah People." They had a song in their program called "First Love." It contained a dramatic monologue that stirred my heart as much as their music. It pointed out the danger of allowing good things to crowd out the best thing in life. It warned that it was possible to be so engaged in the work of the Lord and still somehow lose the love for Jesus that was once such a vital part of the relationship. It was a call to a believer to return to Jesus and allow Him to restore what has been lost.

In January of 1976, David Walker and I presented a weekend of ministry to the students of Sagamore called, "First Love Awakening." Tony Dyer had sent us a brief outline of a program he had begun called "Disciple Now!" We implemented the concept under the "First Love" theme and saw God do a mighty work in the lives of our young people. Who knew that 34 years later this ministry would still be impacting the lives of students. Thanks, Tony!

By the summer of 1978, I was serving as an Associate Pastor at the First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I led them to close out each summer with a Back To School Crusade and we called it "First Love Awakening." I would invite the camp preacher to return to our home base and spend four days challenging our students to apply on their campus what they had committed their lives to at camp. It was a timely reminder that it doesn't take much time for our love for Jesus to cool off, and become a faint memory rather than a flaming movement of God in our lives.

Recently, I have been asked to lead prayer conferences with three great pastors in three different states. These invitations give me hope of a movement of God that is focused on our need for prayer and for spiritual awakening. I have been priviledged to be with Don Andrews and Haven Baptist Church of Kansas City, Kansas, Keith Kurtz and The Vine Community Church of Thomson, Georgia, and Bobby Bressman and Pleasant Hill Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas.

Bobby Bressman was a sixth grader in my student ministry, when his mother, Melody Horn, was my Executive Assistant at Broken Arrow. God has used Bobby in a great way to call the people of Pleasant Hill to the priority of a first love relationship with Jesus. My prayer conference with him was spiritual preparation for a spring revival. He had remembered the "First Love Awakening" meetings we used to have in BA, and wanted to do something similar at his church with Jon Randle who was scheduled later in the year. I was so pleased that he remembered, and honored that he asked permission to use the idea. I assured him first love was an idea Jesus had first, and it belonged to Him, not me. Still it was nice to be asked. Thanks Bobby!

I have been a student of prayer and spiritual awakening for about 40 years. During the 33 years of our marriage, Dana and I have prayed for God to allow us to be part of something only He can get credit for. As I continue to grow in my understanding of this great work of God, I am learning that the greatest first love awakening that can take place is the one that happens in my own life. Thanks Dana!

My friend, Michael Catt is fond of quoting his mentor, Vance Havner. One of Dr. Havner's finest gems states, "The devil will let a preacher prepare for a sermon, if it will keep him from preparing himself." The first love relationship of a man of God for the Son of God often seems to be the prelude for a greater movement of God in the lives of others. Thanks Michael and Dr. Havner!

As I pray for "First Love Awakening" in my own life, I am challenged by four words.

• Remember: "Remember therefore from where you have fallen..."




• Repent: "...and repent."




• Redo: "...and do the deeds you did at first..."




• Remove: "...or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand."

Jesus gave great commendation to the work of the Lord that had been done by the Church at Ephesus. He saved His strongest condemnation for the one thing they could not live without, a first love relationship with Him. Jesus says seven times to the churches in Revelation, "I know." He always knows when a person is more in love with the work of the Lord than they are with the Lord of the work. He expects them to do something about it, when He tells them the truth. Thanks Jesus!

"First Love Awakening" is not so much an event to be planned as a flame to be fanned. My father, Don Miller, has often said, "Anything that cools your love for Jesus is sin." That is where this separation between the work of the Lord and the Lord of the work is so dangerous. Satan is the great counterfeitor, and he is always the enemy of the best. He will let a believer do what is good as long as it consumes all of his time and energy and leaves nothing for the first love of his life, Jesus. Thanks Dad!

For my prayers for "First Love Awakening" to have any integrity, they must lead to a personal renewal of my own love relationship with Jesus. It is this love of Jesus that becomes too real to be contained. It must absorb me first before there is enough in me to spill out on others.

My undertanding of prayer and spiritual awakening leads me to believe that revival is something God does to the Church and in the Church. It is a saturation of the people of God with the Presence of God. On a wider scale, awakening is something God does in the lives of people outside the church. It is a community saturated by the Presence of God.

This widespread awakening seems to take place when revival of people in the Church lingers long enough for people outside the church to notice the change. Cold hearted people seldom warm others to a profound love for God. A revival movement of God cannot be ignored by people in the Church. On the other hand, when the Holy Spirit takes over in the lives of God's people they leave the four walls of the Church and saturate the streets, shops, alleys, homes, work stations, factories, shops and every place they go with an overflowing expression of praise to God. When revival of the Church becomes an awakening, it cannot be ignored by people outside of the Church. This awakening will either create a hunger for this kind of love in their own lives, or it will generate a hate for it in their hearts.

If you can remember a day or a time in your life when you loved Jesus more than you love Him today, you are in need of a "First Love Awakening." Taking a walk down memory lane is meant to be an about face. Prayer is the only hope for a turn around experience in your life. Focus on spending time with the Lord of the work before you take off to do your work for the Lord.

Jesus is the Light of the World. Pastors, people and churches who fail to reflect the light of His Presence become accustomed to the dark, and invite Jesus to remove them from being a lighthouse to people in peril. Sing it loud! Sing it proud! This little light of mine. I'm gonna let it shine! Thanks Sunbeams!

GMillerLight4U

The Prayer Principle of Glorification

"And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried into Heaven." Luke 24:50

The Prayer Principle of Glorification

Principle: Prayer is the greatest preparation for heaven and the greatest reflection of the Glory of God.

The physical Presence of Jesus had to be removed from the presence of the disciples, before they could be blessed with the Person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus guided them to the understanding that prayer was going to be the language of Heaven, and would be the means by which God would respond to their need for help. When Jesus went away, He would intercede for His followers and ask the Father to send them a Helper who would be with them forever.

"If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. And I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him, but you may know Him because He abides with you and will be in you." John 14:14-17

Prior to His death, Jesus told His disciples that it was to their advantage that He go away. Jesus knew His disciples must come to the end of themselves before they would come to the beginning of God. They need to have sense of their own weakness before God would trust the power of His Spirit to do a great work in and through them.

"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you, but if I go, I will send Him to you." John 16:7

The blessing of Jesus upon the disciples ushered in a whole new dimension in the relationship between Master and disciple. The disciples would sense a great loss when Jesus ascended into Heaven. He would not leave them without a Helper. The Holy Spirit would would always give glory to Jesus. The greatest glory of Jesus would be the changed lives of the people who would be a part of His church.

"He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you." John 16:14

Following His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days on earth teaching His disciples about the Kingdom of Heaven, and their mission on earth. His Ascension to Heaven was a culmination of this important work. It was preceded by a blessing of His disciples. His prayer was a prelude to the fulfillment of the Promise they were to receive at Pentecost.

The blessing of the disciples led them to ask for a blessing themselves. Jesus could pray for them, but Jesus would not do all their praying for them. They must go to God in prayer and ask in the name of Jesus for the Promise to be delivered to them.

Prior to Pentecost, the disciples gathered in an Upper Room and prayed for ten days. In answer to their prayers and in accordance with God's will the Holy Spirit was given to them. The Holy Spirit was not "created" at Pentecost, but His work would be expanded. No longer would His Presence be limited to a specific person, for a specific task, for a specific period of time. He would take up permanent and personal residence in the lives of Christ followers.

Without glorification of the Risen Christ there would be no gift of the Spirit provided at Pentecost. The purpose of the Holy Spirit was to glorify Jesus on earth. This glorification is a reflection of the Presence of God. Jesus ascended into the Presence of His Father, and reflected the light of His face onto the lives of His followers. This blessing from Jesus reflected His special relationship with His Father. The disciples needed this same kind of intimacy to reflect the face of a loving Father into the lives of people in need of His love.

The Presence of the Holy Spirit does His greatest work in the life of the Christ follower by encouraging the practice of prayer. The character of Christ is unleashed in the life of the believer through the power of prayer. When the disciples came to a sense of their own weakness, they came into the Presence of God through prayer. They would take the blessing of Jesus, and turn it into a prayer meeting calling out for the Promise of God. The Holy Spirit changed their lives forever. What may have begun as prayers for a change of their circumstances transformed them. These changed people changed the world by reflecting the love of God and the character of Christ in a hostile world. The Holy Spirit still does the same work through the power of prayer.

The Practice of Prayer: Set aside a time each day to make yourself available to God in prayer. Ask Him to take control of your life through the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Thought for the Day: You have the same person of the Holy Spirit and all of His power available to you that was given to the first century Christians. You do not need more of Him. He needs more of you.

"God's people have always in their worst condition found out the best of their God. He is good at all times; but He seemeth to be at His best when they are at their worst. They who dive in the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls." Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The Prayer Principle of Desperation

"And behold I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high." Luke 24:49

The Prayer Principle of Desperation

Principle: Prayer is the mirror God uses to reveal the desperate need of His children to cover their nakedness with the clothing of His power.

The title of the late Ron Dunn's book, "Don't Just Stand There, Pray Something," is a not too subtle shout out to Christ followers to prioritize the call to pray. The four letters P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Something Happens) carries a similar message. Both of these emphases point to the potential power available to believers, and the way this power is released to believers through their personal, persistent practice of prayer.

When the Risen Christ commanded the disciples to stay in Jerusalem, and wait for the promise of the Father, He was inviting them to a prayer meeting. His disciples always had a wave of enthusiasm and encouragement when they were in the Presence of Jesus. It was not until they were separated from Him that they would regress in their faith, and reveal their inadequacy for His mission. During The Forty Days of The Risen Christ, Jesus walked, talked, taught and commanded them as He had during the three years of His earthly ministry. In the climate of prayer, they would disover their need for Him, and be prepared to receive The Promise.

Jesus did not intend for prayer to be an exercise of futility or a meaningless devotional activity. He intended for His disciples to discover prayer as the key that would unlock the door to the Spirit-filled life. His disciples had seen Jesus seek after God through His own personal and persistent prayer. They had yet to develop their own spiritual muscles in this area. Jesus had prayed for His disciples while He carried out His earthly ministry. His intercession for them would continue after He ascended into Heaven, and took His seat at the right hand of the Father. Jesus could pray for His disciples, but He could not do all their praying for them. They would need to learn their need for God, and find their need for Him met through the personal practice of prayer.

When Jesus told His disciples that He would leave them, He promised them that He would not leave them without a Comforter. It is the promise of the Comforter that He commanded His disciples to pray for and wait for in the city of Jerusalem.

For ten days after His ascension, 120 of His disciples gathered in an upper room and prayed. The disciples attempted to get their hands around the mission Jesus had given them by filling the position left vacant by the death of Judas. Jesus did not tell them to call a meeting and reorganize themselves to carry out His mission. "He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised." (Acts 1:6)

Jesus considered His followers to be naked without the Promise of the Father clothing them with His mantle. He did not want God's children running around on mission for Him without wearing clothing marked with the family crest. Jesus wanted these early Christ followers to recognize their nakedness and clothe themselves with the Person of the Holy Spirit.

Eventually the disciples came to the conclusion that they were in deep need without the Presence and the Person of the Risen Christ. This was the point at which God delivered His Promise. People who are full of themselves are not prepared to be filled with the Spirit of God.

The coming to the end of oneself is the only way to come to the beginning of God. This the crucible that every Christ follower must experience before they are ready to receive the Spirit filled life God has in store for His children. The first Christ followers had to come to the end of their own self-sufficiency before they would come to know the power of The Promise.

Contemporary Christ followers face the same issue. They must come to the end of themselves before they come to the beginning of God. Too often believers feel compelled to fulfill the mission of Christ without the fullness of Christ. This fullness is provided by the Person of the Holy Spirit. It is through personal, persistent prayer that the Spirit is given full access to every area of the life of the prayer warrior. As long as a child of God is full of themselves, they will not be full of the Holy Spirit. There must be an emptying before there is a filling. The early children of God were commanded by Jesus to set aside time to wait on the Father and to receive The Promise.

The Practice of Prayer: Today ask God to forgive you for the sin of self-sufficiency, and ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit. Don't settle for anything less than God's best for you, His Holy Spirit in control of you. Ask God to let you be part of something only He can get credit for.

Thought for the Day: When you come to the end of your rope, stop making rope.

"The world has yet to see what God can do through one man whose life has been totally given over to Him." D. L. Moody

The Prayer Principle of ILLUMINATION

"He took the bread and blessed it...their eyes were opened." Luke 24:29

The Prayer Principle of ILLUMINATION

Principle: Prayer illuminates the darkest hour with the Presence of Jesus.

Two disciples had been walking and talking with one another about the death and burial of Jesus, when He approached them and began walking with them. For seven miles on the Road to Emmaus they had His Presence, but they did not recognize Him. The Bible says, "their eyes were being prevented from recognizing Him." (Luke 24:16). This may have been the result of the darkness of despair that surrounded them. It could have been the fog that comes from the intimidation of immediate circumstances. It may have been God's timing was not right for them. Whatever the reason may have been, they did not recognize Jesus until He prayed with them.

As the disciples reached the village of Emmaus, Jesus acted as if He would go farther down the road. The disciples urged Jesus to join them for the evening meal (Luke 24:29) This may be one of the most profound pictures of the character and conduct of the Risen Christ. Jesus

responded to their request to stay with them. The disciples sought more intimate fellowship with Jesus, and His insight into the Word of God. Jesus did not force His way into their lives. He would have been willing to move on if these two people had been disinterested, but He stayed. He always does when He asked to come in and spend time with anyone who cannot get enough of Him.

• "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." Revelation 3:20

The Bible does not record the prayer Jesus said as a blessing over the food He passed to the disciples. It does say that after Jesus prayed, He began breaking the bread, providing it to them, "And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him." (Luke 24:31) There may have been something unique about the way He prayed. Somehow they were touched by what He said. After Jesus prayed they had fresh insight and complete awareness about who He really was.

The two disciples couldn't wait to get back on the road, and walk seven miles, uphill, to find their friends who were in need of the light. Before the Presence of Jesus was illuminated, they did not have enough light for themselves. After Jesus vanished from their sight, He left enough light for them to pass on to others. When they found the disciples hiding in the dark, they let their light shine. "And they began to relate their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread." (Luke 24:35)

Jesus is the Light of the World. Prayer remains the window that lets the light of Jesus shine on and shine through His disciples. The previous darkness was illuminated by the Presence of Jesus. After Jesus prayed they could see Him in the midst of their circumstances. They admitted to one another what they had both felt when Jesus was sharing the Word of God with them. They were brought closer to God, and to one another through the power of prayer.

The smallest light can illuminate and penetrate the greatest darkness. The disciples had just finished a seven mile journey hearing Jesus teach the word of God. They had heard the truth taught by Jesus, and a fire had been set in their heart. However, it took a simple prayer of blessing to illuminate their lives with the Presence of Jesus. When they saw Jesus as the Risen Christ, they were filled with the power of the resurrection. They returned to a city that had been a source of intimidation, and sought out people in need of illumination. They told them about the Risen Christ, and how they recognized Him when He prayed.

The Practice of Prayer: Pray before you take a bite of food. This may seem like a small thing, but this simple practice will let the light of Jesus shine out of you. Take the time to say grace over the food you eat at home, church, or in a public restaurant. You will become an instrument of light in a dark world. You never know who may need a light.

Thought for the Day: Saying a blessing before you eat a bite of food will insure that you never have another prayerless day.

"The first purpose of prayer is not to give a life of ease, but to glorify God." Donald Demaray