How often do we pray for the Spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters? Why is the prayer for spiritual growth such a big deal in the bible than the prayers for material blessings? Why do we need to pray for God to strengthen us in our inner being (our heart and our soul) and not necessarily to gain physical strength? Listen to the sermon to learn more on Paul’s prayer.
Every other religion says that man is basically good, and that he needs to be reminded of the goodness in him so that he could walk in uprightness and start loving God. But the Bible says something different about our heart condition, that we are completely dead in our sins. By nature, we are not only unwilling to love God, but incapable of loving God. That means, we would need a help from outside of us to actually change us. This is why God’s intervention is absolutely necessary.
God promised Abraham of the inheritance he is going to receive. God promised Israel of the inheritance of the promised land that they are going to receive. God has always promised an inheritance to His people in the Bible, as a way of His loving assurance. All of His promises of inheritance are realized in Jesus Christ, and this itself is worth pondering over, for our entire life.
In Christ, we have every spiritual blessing granted to us. The first Spiritual blessing is His election or predestination. God chooses sinners before the foundation of world. In this passage, we learn why and how God elects sinners to be saved.
As we continue to learn from the greatest sermon Jesus preached, He teaches us how hypocritical devotion to God is dishonoring to Him and ultimately rendering ineffective service to God and the people around. In this passage, the discourse on prayer especially emphasizes and reflects on God’s Fatherly love for His people as a motivation to pray.
Blaise Pascal once said – “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.” In this passage, we learn how to find our satisfaction and fulfillment only in God.
In the Bible, prophets, priests and kings have always been imperfect saviors of their own flock. Their leadership was always lacking, and the failures always pointed for a need of having a better savior. OT has always pointed to that One Perfect Savior i.e the Lord Jesus Christ. In this passage, we see how Christ fulfills the need for a better Savior and protector of His people.
The Bible is filled with God’s promises. These promises are not primarily about God promising to provide for material things. It is about God promising to keep the covenant which He made to His people. However, it’s not just important to see how God kept His promises and will continue to keep them, but also realizing that even His children are called to be faithful to the covenant keeping God of the Bible.
Bible is not an instruction manual on how to go to Heaven. It’s a Book given to us by God through His servants, primarily meant to reveal Himself and His plan of redemption for the sinners. It’s only then that the Bible is meant as God’s law for redeemed sinners like us, to walk in the path of righteousness. In this passage, we learn how the Bible is also meant to bring us comfort.
God’s dealing with His people has always been through covenants. The Bible is predominantly divided into two covenants. Old and the New Covenant. In this passage we learn the spiritual benefits of the new covenant in the light of the old covenant.