HEAD of the CHURCH ... Passover Meditation for the Monastic-At-Heart ... Ephesians 1:22

CHRIST, THE HEAD of The CHURCH

Meditations  for Pascha

(The Passover Season, 2016)

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Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart

Now is My+ Soul troubled

and what shall I+ say, 

FATHER, 

save ME+ from this hour?

But for this cause came I+

unto this hour. 

FATHER,

Glorify Thy Name.

Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying,

I have both glorified IT,

and will glorify IT again.

John12:27-28

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Meditation Verse 

Ephesians 1:22

And  [The FATHER ] hath put all things under His+ Feet, and gave HIM+ to be the Head over all things to the church,

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Meditation

Our Holy Heavenly FATHER loved HIS SON+ ... HIS obedient SON+ ... Who+ made Himself+ of no reputation and  took upon Himself+ the form of a servant and so was made in the likeness of men.

Since The LORD JESUS beat the satan at the Resurrection, The FATHER gave to HIM+ dominion and authority over every thing in this world and in the ages to come.

Everything is under the Feet of JESUS CHRIST, the Nail-scarred feet.

But there is more...

The FATHER so loved the SON+ that HE  also gave HIM+ something else: the headship over the Ekklasia... the Called-Out Ones... the church.

Our LORD JESUS CHRIST cannot be the Head of the church unless HE+ is the head of the members of the church.

Thus, those who yield the control of their lives unto CHRIST JESUS are the ones who are counted as being "in the church."  

Regardless of letters of membership, regardless of who or where or in what group one is baptized,  those who reject the HEADSHIP of CHRIST JESUS in their personal lives are not in the church.

It is easy to identify individuals who ARE in the church.

These individuals will have characteristics that will remind everyone of JESUS.

They will, for instance, make themselves of no reputation, like HE+ did.  

This is not a groveling inferior demeanor, but rather, they are constantly pointing all good reputation towards JESUS Himself+; they will receive nothing towards themselves.

True Followers of JESUS will go so far as to allow other Servants to take the credit for work they do for JESUS, knowing for sure and certain that nothing is erased from their account with The LORD CHRIST.

Knowing this, True Followers of JESUS can safely forget about the credit due them and rejoice that they can entrust their work to the Keeper+ of All Accounts.

Another characteristic is that they will conduct themselves like servants... Servants of the Most High GOD. 

In other words, what HE+ says, they do. Without a quarrel, without a murmur, they obey the commands from their Master+ CHRIST.

They make themselves available unto JESUS at all times, just like good Servants do who await their Master's command.

So, if The LORD tells His+ Servants to WAIT on HIM+  in the prayer closet, they wait... and they do it in the prayer closet, not in the dining hall.

If the LORD of that Servant tells him to fast to prepare for the battle ahead, the Servant does it, knowing that fasting clears the ears of confusion and distraction. That way, he can hear the Voice of his Master+ clearer and more quickly.

If the LORD of that Servant tells him to secretly give to someone, the Servant finds a way to give without the receiver knowing where it came from... thus thanking GOD in Heaven for meeting his needs.

Reputation-hunters will never know who the REAL servants of GOD are because they keep themselves hidden from the eyes of the world.

But, rest assured, they are NOT hidden from GOD! His+ ears are VERY open to their prayers. 

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Let us pray:

Dear Heavenly FATHER, thank YOU for give us Your SON+ JESUS CHRIST Who+ came to us as one of us.

Thank YOU+, LORD JESUS, for making Yourself+ of no reputation so that we could learn the way to walk with GOD, the way of power in prayer.

Thank YOU+, O LORD, for showing us that the way of humility is the way of favor with GOD.

And now, help me to embrace that lowly place too.  Help me to forsake accruing a “good” reputation for my Self… even in my own mind and before my own eyes. Help me to yield to THEE+ when others take the credit for my work; I make that an offering unto THEE+, O CHRIST.  

Help me to embrace it when others do not treat me with dignity or common courtesy. 

Help me to be meek and not rail with anger or angry words --- even in my thoughts ---  when I am mis-treated.

Help me to take Your+ Yoke of humiliation upon my Self and learn of YOU+.

Help me to join YOU+, O LORD JESUS, at the Cross.

This I pray in Thy+ HOLY Name, O LORD JESUS, Who+ has purchased our rest by Thy+ humiliation.

Amen.

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Worthy is the LAMB+

Worthy is the LAMB+ 

Worthy is the LAMB+, 
SLAIN from the FOUNDATION
of the earth. 

Revelation 13:8

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PRAISE and THANKSGIVING

be to The FATHER,

and to HIS Beloved SON+

JESUS CHRIST,

and to

the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT.

ONE GOD:

FATHER,

SON+,

and HOLY SPIRIT,

both now and forever,

world without end.

Amen.

A MAN+ WHO+ Told Me All Things I Did ! .... Passover Meditation for the Monastic-At-Heart... Ephesians 1:21

Primacy... Authority... Power... Lordship

Meditations  for Pascha

(The Passover Season, 2016)

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Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart

Now is My+ soul troubled;

and what shall I+ say ...

FATHER,

save ME+

from this hour ?

but for this cause

came I+ unto this hour.

FATHER,

Glorify Thy Name.

Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying,

I have both glorified IT,

and will glorify IT again.

John12:27-28

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Meditation Verse 

Ephesians 1:21

[ Verse 20..."... which HE ( The FATHER) worked in the CHRIST, raising HIM+ out from the dead ones

and seating HIM+

at HIS ( The FATHER’S)  Right Hand

in the Heavenlies."  ]

  

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

The literal Greek:

[The LORD JESUS is seated... ]

... Far above ...  in status in

·                  all PRIMACY ---  first in time and position both --- and

·                  AUTHORITY and

·                  DYNAMIC, supernatural POWER and

·                   LORDSHIP and

·                  (  far above ) every name having been named

·                  not only in this AGE but also

·                  in the one coming.

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Meditation

The ENORMITY of the immense power and rule The FATHER has placed onto HIS Beloved, Obedient SON+ JESUS CHRIST ... should make us afraid.

It should make us afraid to sin, even in thought, much less in word or deed. 

We should be saying to others:

"Come see a Man+ Who+ told me

all things that ever I did ! "

The woman at the well in Samaria, John 4:29 ) , a woman who had 5 husbands and who was living with a man not her husband, had only one testimony:

  COME SEE

a MAN+ Who+ told me

all things that ever I did.

Would not we be scared to meet such a person ?

If we met a holy man for the first time who not only knew our name before we told him but could also list our secret sins, would not the FEAR of GOD descend upon us ?

It should ! 

Like Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, who lied to the HOLY SPIRIT, fear fell upon them and all those about them when the Apostle Peter confronted them with their sin.

How did the Apostle Peter know ?

He knew because the HOLY SPIRIT told him.  The HOLY SPIRIT revealed this knowledge to the Apostle Peter.

Do we think the HOLY SPIRIT --- Who is sent by CHRIST from The FATHER --- does NOT know our very thoughts before we even speak them ?

Our GOD, The ELOHIM: The FATHER, HIS Beloved SON+ our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, and the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT have no need for men to tell them anything.

 But JESUS

did not commit Himself+ unto them,

because HE+ knew all men,

And needed not that any

should testify of man:

for HE+ knew what was in man.

John 2:24-25

Indeed, Psalm 139 itself should be enough to strike fear into our hearts:

:

 O LORD, THOU hast searched me,

and known me.

THOU knowest my downsitting

and mine uprising,

THOU understandest my thought afar off.

THOU compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue,

 but, lo, O LORD, THOU

knowest it altogether.

Psalm 139 : 1-4

Do we have ENOUGH belief in GOD that we are sure and certain that HE knows us, inside and out ? ... that HE knows what we are going to say before we say it ? ... that HE knows what we are going to do before we do it?  ... that HE knows our mind-paths and our very personal habits ?

If we believe even the Old Testament Scriptures, we should have a healthy regard for WHAT HE KNOWS ABOUT US, individually.

That Our LORD knows what is in man  becomes even MORE APPARENT in the New Testament !

We judge ourselves so that HE+ does not have to judge us. ( I Cor. 11:31).

And when we realize how thoroughly JESUS knows each one of us, it brings us in stark HUMILITY on our faces to I John 3:

Behold, what manner of love

The FATHER hath bestowed upon us,

that we should be called

the children of GOD:

therefore the world

knoweth us not,

because it knew HIM+ not.

Beloved,

now are we the children of GOD,

and it doth not yet appear

what we shall be:

but we know that,

when HE+ shall appear,

we shall be like HIM+;

for we shall see HIM₊ as HE+ is.

And every man

that hath this hope in him

purifieth himself,

even as

HE+ is pure.

1 JOHN 3: 1-3

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Let us pray:

O pure and holy LORD JESUS, help me to become pure too. 

Help me never yield the thoughts of my heart unto the satan.

I repent of allowing my thoughts to follow the dictates of my Adamic flesh; I know better. O forgive me and cleanse me, Most Holy JESUS. 

In the Name of JESUS CHRIST I renounce the Self-centered, self-righteous thoughts I have allowed to be in me. By all the authority the BLOOD of JESUS gives unto me, I cast them behind me and put them out of my life.

Help me never let the evil one use my lips again. 

Cleanse me, O Cleanse me thoroughly,  inside and out... I'm standing in the need of prayer, O Holy ONE+.

YOU+ know me better than I know myself, for YOU+ know what is in man.

Yet... YOU+ said YOU+ love me... and that also, better than I love myself.

I cannot live without THEE+, O LORD. Cleanse me from my waywardness and sin, that I might draw closer to THEE+... in Spirit and in Truth.

In the Holy Name of JESUS, which is above every name, I pray. Amen.

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Worthy is the LAMB+.

Worthy is The LAMB+

that was slain.

Worthy is the LAMB+,

slain

from the foundation

of the earth.

Revelation 13:8

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PRAISE and THANKSGIVING

be to The FATHER,

and to HIS Beloved SON+

JESUS CHRIST,

and to

the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT.

ONE GOD:

FATHER,

SON+,

and HOLY SPIRIT,

both now and forever,

world without end.

Amen.

WHITE ROBES for the ELECT ... Passover Meditation for the Monastic-At-Heart

Their crime?  Being Christian.

GOOD WORDS ! For, HE+ IS LORD!

BEING FITTED
FOR THEIR WHITE ROBES

^{REVELATION 6: 9-11} 

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the WORD of GOD, and for the Testimony which they held:

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O LORD, Holy and True, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

And WHITE ROBES were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellows Servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

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Dear Friends... 

Today ( 3-6-2016 ) the Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD+ received an email from Wycliffe translators who are retired now from the field but continue to help OTHER translators working on translating the Word of GOD into their respective languages. 

This past year our friends had a special commission:  to work with 25 translators from countries in the Middle East to translate Scriptures into their dialects. 

Today, this email was received at the OGS+: 

" ... We got some bad news yesterday. Four of the 25 translators in the Middle East were killed because of their being engaged in translation work. 

One of the seven whom I taught when I was there was badly beaten, but two brothers threw themselves on top of him to absorb the blows, so he survived. 

May the church there mushroom because of the blood of these four. And may God raise up other translators in their stead. ... "

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LET US PRAY: 

LORD JESUS CHRIST, unto WHOM+ every knee shall bow, we too bend the knees of our hearts to THEE+. 

We thank THEE+, O CHRIST, that these martyrs whose "crime" was being a CHRISTIAN, are with you in Paradise and wearing WHITE ROBES to this day.  

We thank THEE+, LORD JESUS, that precious in YOUR+ eyes is the death of YOUR+ saints. 

LORD JESUS, help me to stand firm also for THEE+ and never, never deny THY+ Name... regardless of my fears.  

I commit my life unto THEE+. 

In Thy+ Name, O The LORD JESUS CHRIST, I lift this prayer to THEE + .  Amen.

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Worthy is the LAMB+.

Worthy is The LAMB+

that was slain.

Worthy is the LAMB+,

slain

from the foundation

of the earth.

Revelation 13:8

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