Jack found that the Holy Spirit does not give up in answering his prayers. Many months ago Jack had a dream which he still remembered vividly. In the dream he was a person who pushed a cart and rested on the pathway outside a shop. A younger person came and asked for a space to rest. So Jack gave him a space. Then Jack went into the shop to buy a piece of soap (presumably for that young man). The shopkeeper sold him a bar of light brown soap wrapped in plain re-cycled paper, telling him that this was the best soap, called "precious jar/bottle", at a very cheap price of 60 cents. He said that the soap could clean anything and everything. When Jack went out of the shop he found that his heavily cluttered cart was clean, empty and light. In fact, it looked new! The young man had gone too. He woke and was reminded of a verse from II Corinthians 4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." But he could not really understand what this meant to him. Recently after a class he was led to read II Corinthians 3:5 "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God". At that time he did not realize the connection between the two verses.
On another subject, he consulted his intercessor mentor about having over months observed that a particular church leader conducted the Holy Communion regularly but never mentioned the Lord Jesus' body and blood, and when alerted, neither the leader himself nor the pastor bothered to take corrective measures. Eventually the pastor too forgot to mention the blood and the body of Christ himself when conducting the Holy Communion, not just once but repeatedly until Jack escaped from that big church! After being advised by his spiritual mentor, Jack read some articles about the subject. The more he read, the more he saw the similarities between the leaders concerned and the descriptions. His earlier vision about the church new multimillion dollar construction too revealed bad news. In fact, a year ago he received a warning for that church when he first started interceding for them. It was a passage from Isaiah 30:1-5. The intercessor mentor told him to intercede for that former church since the Lord has made him see the visions and observe the irregularities. There is urgency since some members already suffered tragic consequences as a result of the leaders' unbelief of the full redemptive benefits of spirit and body, thus denying the power and protection of the cross.
After making a fresh resolution, this morning he woke at 5am and asked the Lord what to pray and how to pray as he had tried many months previously until he ran out of words for them.The Holy Spirit guided him to read II Corinthians 3-4. Jack was elated to discover that God answered his two prayers with the same set of Bible verses. He wanted to know how to pray and intercede for the Jezebels in the former church.
The II Corinthians chapters 3-4 verses reveal that the people are blinded because of unbelief. They cannot not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. The battlefield is in their minds which are blinded. That is why they do not preach Christ Jesus the Lord, but preach men and men teachings. They seek glory from one another instead of God's glory. They do not know the Christ who is their hope of glory!
He thus noted the following prayers points:
- Pray that the church pastor and leaders be convicted, repent and be filled by the Spirit of the living God. Pray for humility for them. 2 Cor. 3:5 " Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God".
- Pray that God shines His light into their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6 "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
- Pray that they turn to the Lord, so that the veil on their hearts can be removed and be set free accordingly from their bondage. 2 Cor. 3:16-17 "Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
- Pray that they will see Christ and behold His glory and be transformed by the renewing of their minds. 2 Cor.3:18 "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 by the Spirit of the Lord."
- Jack found the following summary given by the Apostle Paul indeed appropriate for this problem solving: 2 Cor. 10:3-5 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ".
The gospel is indeed the gospel of the glory of Christ!
Here are some relevant verses for meditation on "Christ in us, our hope of glory" truth. May our hearts be filled with joy!
Psalm 16:9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
Romans 5:2
through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Ephesians 1:18
the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
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