The New Age Of Spirituality

Pagan Spirituality

Spiritual Direction in the New Decade

 

 

From 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 3 verses 1 through 5 reads as follows from the New King James version of the Bible, “ 

1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith.
3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you.
5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

 

Thematic towards these verses involving direction is to prioritize the spiritual and the world of prayer especially intercessory prayer.

 

Paul as the efforts were continued towards the speedy spread of the word of truth, would be facing naysayer of varied sorts,

Here he is asking specifically for prayers in anticipation of the difficulties and resistance he was anticipating as he went forwards and faced the throngs.

His request goes into the confidence in those who were praying for him and the power they exercised in the places of prayer.

Paul is asking for prayers for his specific work in the near future, and this was asking for prayer support.

These prayers and the ministry would be an ongoing effort, something that would accompany Paul in the realm of the Spirit.

 The ministry In this case was highlighted by an intercessory prayer ministry; in other cases it might be inclusive of that but not exclusive to that. 

But the spiritual principle espoused by Paul is that this ministry of prayer should continue and correspondingly the Lord will be faithful to establishing the ways of the one’s who have been faithful to the call, the Lord will return the favor faithfully.

We don’t have the weather report for the new decade, but there is a call to stay with it as far as the ministry goes, in particular in this case in the intercessory prayer ministry and in return the Lord will be faithful in establishing our ways in the various ways they might need to be established and facilitated and this includes many and all areas of concern such as relationships, financial and material issues which are ongoing and spiritual issues which are also ongoing. There would be the assistance of angels, powerful beings that are there to help.

As the Lord would see the continuance of the prayer service, He in turn would be faithful to address the needs of these prayer ministers wholly. While this doesn’t lay out into what the specifics might be, it does give careful heed to the relationship aspects involved and that there would be a redress by the Lord in establishing what needed to be established for these prayer minister who were supporting Paul that way even though they for the most part were not to be physically present with him. Yet even though they might not always be walking with him physically or in person, they needed to continue there walk with him and for him through prayer in the spiritual realms.

As it says in the psalms, He established the heavens and thinking of it in terms of the sun, and its awesome power, if the Lord establishes the sun, He can establish what is needed for an individual in this coming decade. 

The ways in which things might need to be established for you in the coming decade could be countless. So there needs to be a reliance of the presence of the Lord to you as an individual for this.

The individual or individuals to whom Paul are speaking have been walking in the ministry and they are spoken to in this passage to continue on in the ministry specifically of giving Paul support in the spiritual and natural realms for the sometimes difficult waters he would be facing in terms of varied factions of opposition.

That Paul is referencing the prayer ministry here, gives credence to the situational importance of prayer in time and place. And also considering who it is, Paul himself, as vaulted a person as anyone in the history of the church, giving particular instructions towards the necessity and call to pray for him and his ministry, means that this call would never be exceptional or unusual but even the best and brightest need the assistance of prayer.   

They indeed were called to a very specific prayer ministry that was supportive of Paul and his efforts to speedily outreach to others in his public ministry which including speaking to crowds that might be mixed with hostile elements. It characteristic of a wonder that others prayer ministry could and did have a direct impact of what would be happening in Paul’s public ministry.  This is quite a lesson in the importance of the ministry in general and the prayer ministry in particular.

This is a case of the Lord’s willingness, in fact his will, that he will be faithful to your faithfulness to the call of your ministry and the call specifically is to keep it going.  

There is always the question, what is the Lord’s will, but key aspects of it are being revealed right here, if you find yourself in a ministry, it is important to the Lord and your faithfulness to it will corresponding be met with a faithfulness of the Lord to clearly establish what you need to be clearly established in all your ways.

 

The hostile elements could have included the pagan influences of Rome, the rich tax collectors who felt there was an intrusion on their sometimes questionable practices, or those that were upholding prior traditions. In any event there were various contending factions that were and were going to hostile.

 

 

There is also the directive of love and the symbol of the heart, which is in the context of the verse, a symbol of what we love and cherish in the depths of our being and how that will be directed can change.

Even though Paul was speaking to trusted confidants, who already were of service and already knew, there was the matter of doing and continuing to do the works requested. 

There is no guarantee that they would continue as it was a matter of freedom.

In Galatians Chapter 2 Paul talks of the straightforward road of truth, that even at that point Peter was erring from in withdrawing from the Gentiles.

Jonah was called but initially went strongly in the opposite direction of the call.

That does not mean however that the direction of the called changed with him or that the call turned in some way to meet his errant response.

He was still called to warn the great city and the call and the direction of the call remained the same, despite his movements in the opposite direction. 

God was working with him, to bring him back into the road and direction of the call and to do what was requested of him.

He was to be an instrument of the Lord in warning the city to repent or else.

And as the story played out, he made the turn in direction and so did the city as they took his warning quite seriously and repented to every man and women.

Two directions changed in this story, one involved just one person and the other change involved many people but that each made the turns that they did was not a given, it happened out of freedom of choice on their part. 

The story of Jonah shows how the actions or inactions of one person can affect many untold people, in this case it is estimated that the city was well over 100,000 at the time and the call was upon one person to warm them to repentance.

It is important to see that the call involves freedom and opening the door and going through it.

In the gospel of John Chapter 10 starting with verse it says,”7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Jesus is offering abundant life but you have to freely open the door to that and in this case those other voices of criminal intent were not heeded even though they were out there. .  There is knowledge that is there, the sheep do hear the shepherd’s voice and they know it, so it is a matter of doing it and walking through that door of salvation.  If they walk through the door, there is an unfolding to untold blessings of abundance

The truth takes on narrow proportions and is resentful to those who do not follow it… To get the truth, you have to walk through the door, and this is the door period.  You want to keep the path between you and the Lord as a direct line and follow the line of the Lord. The heart is the symbol of love, and you would direct your hearts affection and ways to the Lord…

You can make mistakes but slip onboard and don’t slip overboard.

If the door is opened to the faith and the actions of this, on the other side of this are an unfolding that involves abundant life and the presence of Jesus, the good direction to go in, and the true direction. 

In the book of Isaiah chapter 61 there is a talk of being directed into truth and within that is abounding blessings of the double portion.

7 Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,
      And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.
      Therefore in their land they shall possess double;
      Everlasting joy shall be theirs.
       8 “ For I, the LORD, love justice;
      I hate robbery for burnt offering;
      I will direct their work in truth,
      And will make with them an everlasting covenant. 

There is the portion you can rejoice in but you don’t want to be on the outside looking in on this as it alludes to for some in Revelation chapter 22. 

If closeness with the Lord is found, their will be direction in truth with this as part of an everlasting covenant, you will not be left rudderless but finding the Lord will include finding the direction of the Lord. 

And this is the way to sail in the new decade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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050 – Random Vid on Spirituality sorry!