Coffee With The Lord

What a wonderful “Sip!” …from the very words of Jesus!

“When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you! You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent! (From John 17:1–3 ESV)

With the growing popularity of YouTube videos “Do It Yourself” has become a big deal! People are trying all sorts of difficult tasks they thought they could never do before.

HOWEVER, there are some things you just can’t do for yourself (or things that aren’t advisable for you to try). These are things for which you need a qualified person … someone who is appropriately certified, someone who knows what they’re doing. For example, “do it yourself heart surgery” …NOT RECOMMENDED! And it is usually not recommended that you serve as your own attorney in difficult court cases.

When it comes to you or I standing before God as guilty sinners we need a Divinely qualified priest and advocate! Jesus is that priest and advocate according to the writer of Hebrews in your Bible! You cannot deal with your own sin! You can’t forgive yourself at the Heavenly tribunal! You can’t take the divine pen and write “ACQUITTED” (the Bible word is “justified”) over the official record of your transgressions and sin! Jesus can!! He’s qualified as our “Great High Priest” and “Advocate” (the Bible word is “Intercessor”).

“He is able to save COMPLETELY those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered Himself! For the Law appointed as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath (God’s oath), which came after the Law, appointed the Son (Jesus), who has been made perfect forever! (Hebrews 7:25–28 NIV)

I read those words in my Bible this morning and had a bit of a personal praise and thanksgiving spell!! I’M SO GRATEFUL THAT JESUS IS DIVINELY QUALIFIED TO DEAL WITH MY PAST – PRESENT – AND FUTURE FAILURES AND SIN!!

I read a wonderful, encouraging Old Testament story today during my time of “Coffee with the Lord!”

The king of Aram had been at war with Israel. Time and again he had attempted to attack God’s people. Elisha, the prophet, had supernaturally informed Israel’s king ahead of time about these planned attacks in specific terms and consequently they had been able to avoid them. The report of this had come to the king of Aram. As a result he decided to lay siege to the city where Elisha lived and capture him! Elisha’s servant got up one morning and there they were … a whole army with horses and chariots surrounding the city!

He panicked with fear and cried out, “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?!”

“Don’t be afraid,” Elisha answered, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them!” And then Elisha prayed for his servant, “Open his eyes Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servants eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” (2 Kings 6.8-17 NIV)

Some of you – my “Coffee with the Lord” friends – are facing frightening challenges today! It seems like “the enemy” has surrounded you and is laying siege to you! You don’t know what to do or where to turn for help. The temptation is to panic!

My prayer today? “Oh Lord, open their eyes! Help them to see what is unseen to their physical eyes! Help them to see that ‘Greater is He that is in them, than he that is in the world!’ (1 John 4.4) and ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?! … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!’” (From Romans 8:31-39)

Yes, that’s my prayer… “LORD, OPEN THEIR EYES!” And when I’m about to panic about a situation in my life, may I hear the sweet whisper of my “Divine Intercessor”… “OPEN HIS EYES!”