A lesson in prayer for today

This is the 92^nd letter:

Text for the day: John 17:21

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

Our Theme for the day: “The true Watchers and Prayers” (Part 11)

A lesson in prayer for today

Our Devotional

The day had finally come for the power of the Holy Spirit to be poured out with great power. After the ascension of Jesus Christ, the disciples with a sudden revival of their old hope gather together in the upper room of a house to wait and pray for the promise the Holy Spirit to come. The number assembled ten days after their last sight of seeing Jesus, was about one hundred and twenty people. On those ten days of closeness, God would unveil for them their greatest need if they where going to functioning as a church. Let me say at this point, there are many churches in our world today which are open but are not functioning as a church. If the truth be told, we will all have to admit that they are dying, or already dead. As you go by these churches there is no growth by baptism or by birth, and it hasn’t been that way for years. What is preventing the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit which fails on the day of Pentecost from working among the members? What is holding back the fullness of the growth among the body of Christ? The answer could be found in the upper room of those early believers. In Acts 2:1 the scripture says, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” The first prerequisite for the Holy Spirit to fully work in the body of Christ is unity.

The call to be one or on one accord is not just for you, or a few! The call is for the entire body. Yet the will to be one and come out from your self is not an easy thing, but it is the right thing to do if we are going to be one. It is said of the early church that they were of one accord. They had no speculations; they had no strife, and neither was it permitted to take sway among them. No love of supremacy, no thought of self, was cherished; they where all one in Christ. The call to be one is for all who profess the name of Christ, it also includes the call to wait, watch, and be found praying with one heart. All differences should be put away; unity and tender love one for another will be seen among all. It is only then that our prayers may go up together to our heavenly Father with strong, earnest faith. Then we may wait with patience and hope the fulfillment of the promise to the disciples. God knows how and when to answer our prayer, but it is our part as servant leaders to put ourselves in connection with Him. The Bible says that God is faithful to His promise, and will be responsible for His part of the work. The great and important matter with us is to be of one heart and mind, putting aside all envy and malice, and, as humble supplication, to watch and wait.

Jesus, our Representative and Head, is ready to do for us, what He did for the praying, watching ones on the day of Pentecost if we would be one. The second prerequisite for the Holy Spirit to fully work in the body of Christ is being in one place. One place doesn’t necessary mean under the same roof or on the same ground all the time in scripture. When ministry became some what burdensome for Moses, in Numbers 16:16-17, God said unto him to gather unto the tabernacle of the congregation seventy men of the elders of Israel. To these seventy He will fill with the same spirit as His servant Moses that they may bear the burden of ministry. By the time we get to verse 24, we see the pouring out of the spirit of God upon sixty-eight round about the tabernacle. In verse 25 we see the evidence of that power as they prophesied in the camp. The big question in the mind of the onlookers was, were there not seventy chosen? What happened to the other two? The answer would be found in verses 26 to 30, let us read it. “However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.

A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." Joshua the son of Nun who had been Moses' aide since youth, spoke up and said, "Moses my lord stop them!" But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that the entire Lord’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.” The Bible doesn’t give any reason why these men where not there, but note how God still numbered them among the seventy. There is a lesson here, we need to be careful how we look upon people if they are called to a gathering and don’t show. Remember God is bigger than our one place mentality, because he is in every place. The record goes on to say of those early members of the first church, from that time forth the language of the disciples was pure, simple, and accurate in word and accent, whether they spoke their native tongue or a foreign language. These humble men, who had never learned in the school of the prophets, went on to present truths as elevated and pure as to astonish those who heard them. They could not go personally that day to the uttermost parts of the earth; but there were men at the feast from every quarter of the world, and the truths received by them were carried to their various homes and published among their people, winning souls to Christ. May God, bless you today, as you become one.

Join us next time for another ray of sunshine from Garden Ministry.

We are into our 23rd week since starting Garden Ministry; it is growing with new people asking to subscribe to it each day. If you are gaining spiritual muscle mass, and strength through Garden Ministry, and would like to help some-one else gain Spiritual muscle mass and strength also. Then send Garden Ministry your Testimony at, http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ . Garden Ministry would love to share your Testimony with our faithful viewers and readers. So ask yourselves, which letter or message from Garden Ministry helped you to hold on to your faith, or helped someone else hold on to theirs? Our Prayer for today: Lord, make us one even as you are one. Prayer Request Last week if you remember we had asked for prayer for some of our readers to Garden Ministry. Unfortunately one of our reader’s brothers who was at Johns Hopkins Hospital for pneumonia and was on a life support machine passed away on Tuesday November 10, 09. On behalf of their family we thank you for your prayers, they really appreciated it. Let’s continue to prayer for them during their lost. Send your prayer request to Garden Ministry: There is much comfort in Jesus in the arms of prayer. Remember, you’re the only Jesus some will ever see. If you are blessed by these “uplifting gems”, share them. These letters are written by Elder Kevin Santucci For further information, comment or requests, E-mail Garden Ministry: http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ Garden Ministry would love to thank you today for your prayers and continual faithfulness of sharing these letters with others like your self. Thank you for your insightful comments to Garden Ministry. If you love to leave a comment, go to our website at http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ and then comment, follow the directions and then you will be finished. Truly I am encouraged how little can become much when you place it in the master’s hand. To all our faithful readers on behalf of the Garden Ministry team, we wish you Gods riches Blessings.