Staying on the Ancient Path - Prayer

John 15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."

There are 3 factors, here in this verse, that involve prayer.

The first one is Abiding.  The second one is Asking. and  the third one is Answering.

Abiding:   John 15 :4-5 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Our walk with the Lord is pictured here like a vine.  It holds the branches which produce the fruit.  Just like it could not produce fruit if the branches were not abiding in the vine. But, as the branches bear fruit, they are going to be abiding in the vine.  If they weren't attached to the vine, the fruit would go dry or it won't even produce anything.  It will die.  We as the branches need to abide in Christ who is the vine.  Christians are united by Christ to the faith.  One way is through communion.  We must have fellowship with Christ and draw upon His life and His power.  We are to keep in fellowship with Christ through the Word of God, worship and obedience. 

Asking:   When you spend time in the Word, God talks to you.  And when we pray, we talk to God.  And through this talking, we would be making requests to God.  But prayer is much more then just asking.  It involves many other things.  It involves praising God, giving thanks, worshipping Him and surrendering to Him.  God hears our cry.  We have a rite to be heard by God, because we are His children.  When my children come to me, I stop everything, and I listen to what they want to say.  God does the same thing.  God has invited us to pray. He wants us to pray to Him. 

Answering:   And, then, of course, He will answer those prayers just like you answer requests from your children.  God knows when and how to answer.  

Start with abiding-.  Let God's word purify your heart.  Then ask what is in your heart.  And, leave the matter with Him to answer in His way and His time.  

We are cleansed by the Word.  So, as we abide in Him and are cleansed by His word.  We're not going to be asking for things that He is not pleased with, because we will know what He is pleased with.  And we depend on Him.  If we keep Jesus' commandments, we will abide in His love.  From verse 12.  It says, "This is my (Jesus) commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."  So, His main commandment to us is to love one another.  Don't be fighting.  Don't be bickering.  Don't be complaining.  But to love and take care of each other. 

We didn't choose Jesus, but He choose us.  One of the reasons He choose us was because He wants us to bear fruit and spread His word here, while we are on earth.  As we abide in Christ, we should be bearing fruit.  And, some of the fruit is listed in Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law"

So, we should be bearing fruit and walking in His path.

Inspiration was taken from this book:

"The Bumps Are What You Climb On, Encouragement for Difficult Days", by Warren W. Wiersbe, Baker Books, 1980, pages 85-89

Staying on the Ancient Path -Love

Staying on the Ancient Path Devotional Art Journal - Using 2 Peter 1:5-8 to continue on the journey by adding the final ingredient to our faith - love. 

We are discussing the meaning of how much God loves us by personalizing John 3:16, ”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” and see that God loves us (each individual person) so much that He sent His only Son to take our place and make the payment for our sins so that we can have eternal life with Him through faith.

We also take a close look at 1 Corinthians 13 - the love chapter in the Bible where this Agape, self-sacrificing love is described to us so that we can understand how we can love others.

To make the journal page we collage a picture from a magazine and a vintage bird print with the verse 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth, faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity (Love).”

We collage and embellish it on a piece of one of my botanical gel prints. 

     We wrap up this study in 2 Peter with verse 8, where it says that if we add and practice these 8 ingredients to our faith, we will be fruitful, joyful and effective in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Christian walk.

 2 Peter 1:5-8 - “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Additional verses used:

Galatians 5:22-23-”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

1 Corinthians 13:1-8- “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.”

1 John 4:7-11-”Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Staying on the Ancient Path-Godliness

Staying on the Ancient Path Devotional Art Journal - Using 2 Peter 1:5-8

 

“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We continue on the journey with adding godliness to our faith.  Discussing how to live a godly life and getting to know God and His attributes. To make the journal page we draw/paint a beautiful tree by a stream/river of water, using Psalm 1:3 as our base.

“And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

 The fruit of the tree are all the different attributes and characteristics of God.  

Staying on the Ancient Path- adding Knowledge

Staying on the Ancient Path Devotional Art Journal - Using Jeremiah 18:15:

“Because My people have forgotten Me, They have burned incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves to stumble in their ways, From the ancient paths, 

To walk in pathways and not on a highway,"

and for this installment, adding knowledge to our faith. 2 Peter 1:5-8

 ^"But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control ^[a]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither ^[b]barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

We continue on the journey, discussing how we can get knowledge and the story in Nehemiah 8:1-18, how the people were listening to God’s Word and understanding it.   Using some of my botanical gel prints to make the journal page.  

Other verses used:

Proverbs 2:3-5- “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

Proverbs 8:10-”Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.”

 

Colossians 2:3-(In Christ) “In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

2 Peter 3:18- “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

Psalm 119:130- “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

2 Corinthians 4:6- “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Psalm 119:105- “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

Staying on the Ancient Path - Taking the first Step - Gospel

"Heaven is a gift" tract is read and gives the gospel message.

Also, the story of Abraham and Isaac when God told Abraham to offer his only son

as a burnt offering on the altar and how God provided the Ram as a substitute.

This story gives a clear picture of what Jesus did for us on the cross.

The Ancient Path

"The snow never melts high up in the Lebanon mountains. The cold, flowing streams from the crags of Mount Hermon never run dry. These can be counted on. But not my people! For they have deserted me and turned to foolish idols. They have turned away from the ancient highways of good and walk the muddy paths of sin.  Therefore, their land shall become desolate, so that all who pass by will gasp and shake their heads in amazement at its utter desolation." Jeremiah 18:14-16 (The Living Bible - used for better understanding.)

When Jeremiah wrote these words, Israel had forsaken God.  They worshipped foreign gods.  God's word was not heard in the land and His commandments were not obeyed. Therefore, God was sending the Babylonians to utterly destroy Israel and take them all captive back to Babylon.  It was a very harsh, brutal punishment.  Israel had forsaken God and stopped following the "ancient path" given to them on Mount Sinai.

The 10 commandments:

1- Thou shalt have no other gods before me.2- Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.3- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.4- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.5- Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.6-  Thou shalt not kill.7- Thou shalt not commit adultery.8-  Thou shalt not steal.9- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.10- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." (Exodus 20:3-17)

The Greatest Commandment:

 In the New Testament, when Jesus was questioned by a scribe as to which is the greatest commandment,   "Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these."  (Mark 12:28-31). We all know it as the golden rule.   Each one of these commandments is like a stone on the ancient path we should follow.

What path are we following?I have been so saddened about the recent protests and violent riots against our country, it's flag, courthouses, president, memorials, statues, monuments, churches, and many other things that are good and represent our country.  Our liberties and freedom of speech and worship have also been attacked. What warrants this behavior? Our country is crumbling.  These precious ancient stones are being tossed aside.  A strange, harsh, stumbling path is now being formed and followed, leading to disaster and many of the leaders are just letting it happen.  We are a Judeo-Christian nation, founded on God's commandments and many more instructions given in the Bible, leading to stability and peace. For sure, we've had our problems. We work through them, and learn from them.  There are still many more obstacles to cross. With respect for others, and with God's help, we will solve them.   But I feel like we, as a country, have forsaken God in so many ways and are walking in the "muddy paths of sin".

We as believers need to stay on the ancient path and pray for our country, our president, his family and our churches before our land becomes, as Jeremiah said, "desolate, so that all who pass by will gasp and shake their heads in amazement at its utter desolation."