Midweek Fellowship – February 17, 2016
“OREMUS” - Series V
Fr. Roberto M. Jorvina
We are to have an understanding that we are not alone; we are God’s. Christ promised this and He guaranteed it with His own life, His precious blood, His death on the cross. God gave His best – not just an angel or an archangel. He did not just give a heavenly being. He gave His only Son. I pray that our eyes will be open to see this and that it will reveal to us the reality of His presence in our lives.
I pray that this series on “Oremus” is bringing us to a higher scale, a levelling up of our normal lives as a Christian. We are no longer just the mundane where we just allow the situations to take over our lives. Rather, it is understanding Romans 8 which says, “I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me, who gave Himself up for me.” We are more than conquerors and this is that consciousness that we must have day by day.
We began the series showing the cross where Christ was the center and the Word and prayer as one should be the vertical beam that keeps us strong to know Him. The horizontal beam, which completes the cross, is to make Him known by our fellowship amongst each other and by witnessing Christ to those who may not know Him and to those who may not understand His power in our lives.
These four areas – the Word, prayer, fellowship and witnessing – are vital in our growth in Christianity. We looked into Galatians 2:20 as the first Scripture to memorize which says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” This is the gospel! The second Scripture is Philippians 4:6 that says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Prayer is vital and important in our Christian growth. In the past series, we have seen the purpose of prayer; the requirements of prayer. We learned about the attitude that we must maintain in prayer - an attitude of being grateful and thankful to God; an attitude of joy; an attitude that is constantly beaming with the very life of God; an attitude of keeping hope alive in our lives.
Today, we are looking at the yield, the benefit or the fruit of prayer. Why do we need to pray? Prayer is tapping into the resources of heaven and we make God’s resources available to us here on earth so that we are not without. We do not have to worry about the future and the situations that we face. There is a God who promised. There is a God who gave His all so that we can live our lives to the fullest. There are many opportunities to pray and let that prayer overflow in our lives and in our hearts.
Prayer is not about informing God. Prayer is about God transforming us. God does not need to be informed. He knows all things even before we ask. The reason we pray is not for Him but for us that we can be transformed. The whole aspect of Christianity is transformation. We are to be transformed into His image and His likeness of which He made us from the beginning. God said, “Let Us make man in Our image and likeness. Let Us make him like Us.” When we begin to allow this to sink in through prayer, we are being changed and transformed.
Luke 2:40 says that Jesus Christ continued to grow and become strong increasing in wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him. The growth, the transformation even of the Son of God, in His humanity, showed that if He needed this growth, so do we. Who are we to say, “I don’t need to grow anymore. I don’t need to increase. I am okay. I can pray anytime even for five minutes a day. I can be a Christian that can come and go to Church and be just what I am?” This is not Jesus’ pattern.
Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and men.” Psalm 84:5-7 says, “How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; the early rain also covers it with blessings, they go from strength to strength, every one of them appears before God in Zion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!” The people are being transformed from strength to strength. Our lives are no longer just the same life over and over again. Life is not measured by how much money we earned last year. Life is not measured by how much material goods we have amassed and even by the many citations that we have. All these things will be left behind one day and what will stay is the very character and nature of God in our lives and this will never fade away.
Many times, we are so consumed by material things. We are so consumed by human achievements. Do we remember who the PBA champion was in a certain year? Do we remember who topped the bar exams, the medical board exams for a certain year? All of these things are human achievements and they will not last. They will one day be forgotten, but one thing will remain and will be carried in our lives, that is, our life with God from strength to strength.
2Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as form the Lord, the Spirit.” The Amplified translation says, “From one degree of glory to the next degree.” Philippians 3:21 says “Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Ephesians 4: 13-15 says, “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”Growing up into all aspect into Him is levelling up that we can now walk as new creation with a greater manifestation of who we are. If we can only understand this, this world will never be the same again because it will affect the people around us.
This morning, as I was walking down the street, a woman who was in her nice office wear took my hand and kissed my hand maybe because I was in my clerics. We are now making a statement to the people around us. We are here with Jesus who is always with us to bring Him to other people. We are being changed from glory to glory.
The Amplified translation of John 15:16 says, “You have not chosen Me; I have chosen you, I have appointed and placed and purposely planted you so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing and that your fruit will remain and be lasting so that whatever you ask of the Father, in My name, as My representative, He may give to you.” As we are being transformed, the fruit will remain. Those things which should really count on as vital in our lives will stay. The things which we see are temporal. Even a problem has a terminal point. Even the sickness will end because the things which are not seen are eternal and we see them through prayer.
Practice and make the habit of prayer be a lifestyle in us. See the importance of prayer in whatever we are doing. Challenge yourselves to enter into a life of prayer. Even though we can pray 24/7, Christ had specific times of prayer where He set Himself apart and began to pray. Challenge yourself to spend time and take time from your regular schedule. Get your Bible. Get a notebook and begin to look at Scriptures and begin to pray. Your life will never be the same again. Your prayer life will transform you as it has transformed many people.
Let us be a Church of prayer. Jesus Himself said, “My house shall be called a House of Prayer.” Let us make “Oremus” a reality. Let us pray!