Hey,
We would be commencing a very powerful series which would run daily for the next couple of days; the WHEN THOU series.
Scattered all over the Matthew 6:1-18 part of the famous ‘sermon on the mount’ are phrases as:
- When thou doest alms
- When thou prayest
- When thou fastest
It was Jesus laying down the dynamics of three important Kingdom principles – Giving, Praying and Fasting.
We’re going to be examining the guide Jesus Christ gave for these three very important Kingdom principles, but first let’s see some generalities:
a. This sermon (Matthew 5, 6, 7) was given by Jesus to His disciples, not to the multitude.
This is worth taking note of because the two are fundamental different from each other
While the multitudes pursue His miracles (Matthew 8:1), disciples pursue His life (Matthew 5:1).
So the question now is: Who are you?
Are you the multitude that runs to Jesus for miracles but runs from Jesus when it comes to the lifestyle of the Kingdom?
Are you the multitude whose time with God is nothing but a time for requests and ‘binding and casting’, with no iota of intercourse with the Spirit of God?
You spend two hours every day in the Presence of God but there’s no intimacy involved; all that time is filled with one form of request and another form of casting out demons and yet another form of SPARKing in tongues.
Listen.
What you seek determines where most of your energy would go.
In John 1:35-41 (please read it), John the Baptist saw Jesus and declared Him.
Immediately, two of his disciples followed Jesus… they were seeking after something.
But what were they after?
Jesus asked them as He asks us today, “WHAT SEEK YE?”
And their response amazed me (#tongues). They answered Him by asking, “Where DWELLEST THOU?”
The question ‘where dwellest thou?’ connotes:
- We want to spend time with You
- We want to have intercourse with You
- We want to be intimate with You
- We don’t just want a roadside stuff, we want to dwell.
Listen.
Miracles are done at roadsides, but intercourses are carried out in dwelling places.
And when they had dwelt with Jesus through the night, we see the evidence of their encounter as we see Andrew search out his brother saying, “We have FOUND the MESSSIAH…”
Aaaaaaah! Something must have happened that night!
You don’t find the Messiah through miracles; you find Him through intercourse. Miracles may attract you to Him, but it is intercourse that reveals Him to you.
What seek ye?
(I don’t know why I went through this route, for it wasn’t part of the ‘plan’, but I am persuaded it’s because of you. Therefore make amends my dear.)
b. Let’s also notice a word that repeated in the three sentences we earlier isolated: the word ‘WHEN’.
The word ‘when’ is miles apart from the word ‘if’.
While ‘if’ makes a statement conditional, ‘when’ brings certainty to it.
‘If’ connotes, “You may do this or you may not.”
‘When’ connotes, “You must do this.”
So when Jesus says, “And WHEN you do so so and so, do it like this,” He is saying, “You are going to do so so so and so, but this is how to do it right.”
Therefore these three principles (Giving, Praying, and Fasting) are not what a believer can choose to or not to do. He doesn’t have that choice… if he actually desires to obey God.
Don’t let any ‘unbeliever’ talk you out of these Kingdom Life. Anyone telling you not to give, pray or fast is working against God in your life.
God expects us to give, to pray and to fast, but He wants us to do it right so we can profit therein.
I can’t help but imagine Jesus Christ pointing to His disciples and saying, “When you give alms/pray/fast…”
It put them on the spot!
Now imagine Jesus pointing to you and saying, “Now you, when you give alms/pray/fast…”
It puts you on the spot! #hahaha
I don’t think you have any option than to give, to pray and to fast.
But let’s examine ‘the how’ of each.
...to be continued.