August 20th, 2014. WITHDRAW FOR FRESH SUPPLY Then the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often was withdrawing into the wilderness and was praying. Luke 5:15- 16 A marked feature of how the Lord spent time with the Father was that He practiced withdrawing into the wilderness to pray. The Lord not only rose up early in the morning to be with the Father, but also on many occasions during the day and night He withdrew from the crowds privately to pray. Luke 5:16- 17 says, So He Himself often was withdrawing into the wilderness and was praying.... And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. The repetition of the Greek imperfect tense (continuous action in past time), translated as was, clearly shows that the Lords power to heal was in direct proportion to the time He was spending withdrawing to pray. A paraphrase might help to grasp the sense of this passage:He Himself was continuously withdrawing in the wilderness and was continuously praying,... and as a result, the power of the Lord was continuously with Him to heal. The Lords practice of withdrawing reveals how much He was actually dependent upon continuous supply to meet His present needs. Even the Lord Jesus Himself needed fresh supply, fresh infusion, and fresh energy imparted into His humanity in order to live a life expressing God. The way He received these fresh supplies was by His practice of withdrawing to spend time with the Father in prayer. By this we can see that the Lord did not live trusting in His divinity to carry Him through His human existence. In His humanity, He needed to withdraw to spend time with the Father for His daily life. If He as the very Son of God depended upon this time, how much more do we need to practice withdrawing in order to be continuously supplied by the divine life! August 20 MORNING GOD [IS] NOT A MAN, THAT HE SHOULD LIE; NEITHER THE SON OF MAN, THAT HE SHOULD REPENT. The Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.-- Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever. His truth [shall be thy] shield and buckler. God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed [it] by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which [it was] impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. The faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.-- All the paths of the LORD [are] mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.-- Happy [is he] that [hath] the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope [is] in the LORD his God: which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein [is]: which keepeth truth forever. NUM 23:19. Jas 1:17.-- Heb 13:8.-- Ps 91:4. Heb 6:17, 18. De 7:9.-- Ps 25:10-- Ps146:5,6. August 20 EVENING [IF] THOU FAINT IN THE DAY OF ADVERSITY, THY STRENGTH [IS] SMALL. He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.-- My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.-- He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I [will be] with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.-- The eternal God [is thy] refuge, and underneath [are] the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee. I looked [for some] to take pity, but [there was] none; and for comforters, but I found none. Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things [pertaining] to God,... who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way;... so also Christ... though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him-- Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. PROV 24:10. Is 40:29-- 2 Co 12:9.-- Ps 91:15.-- De 33:27. Ps 69:20. Heb 5:1, 2, 5, 8, 9.-- Is 53:4.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Aug 2014 04:50:09 +0000