Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Text: Luke 22:43-44
It is interesting that Luke is the only one of the gospel writers to mention that Jesus’ sweat was as great drops of blood. This is probably because Luke was a physician (Col. 4:14), and therefore, this had special significance to him.
There have been documented cases of people actually sweating drops of blood under extreme emotional pressure. This might explain why Luke is the only writer to mention the angel strengthening Jesus. Just as when Jesus encountered Satan during His forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness and the angels ministered unto Him (Mk. 1:13), so here, He needed supernatural strength to endure His sufferings.
The use of the words “as it were” might also mean that the sweat of Jesus was only comparable to blood in consistency or size, but it certainly underscores the effect Jesus’ agony had on His physical body.
Jesus’ sufferings for us were more than just physical. In the garden, before He suffered physically, He suffered emotionally, almost to the point of death. As Luke records, an angel had to come and give Him strength or the emotional struggle alone would have killed Him.
All that Jesus did was motivated solely by love. It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured going to the cross. He didn’t do what He did to save us out of pity or a sense of obligation as our Creator. He did it because He loves us.
This message was written by The Association of Related Ministries International (ARMI) is an extension of Andrew Wommack Ministries (AWM). ARMI is a unique partnership committed to providing resources to help like-minded ministers succeed in a spirit of excellence and to draw from the experience and expertise of both the AWM and Charis Bible College staff. (www.awmi.net).
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The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy . . . —Zephaniah 3:17
The world’s millions could come down to the beach and reach out their hands to be filled with sea water. They could each take as much as they wanted, as much as they needed-and still the ocean would remain unchanged. Its might and power would be the same, the life in its unfathomable depths would continue unaltered, although it had supplied the needs of every single person standing with outstretched hands along its shores.
So it is with God. He can be everywhere at once, heeding the prayers of all who call out in the name of Christ; performing the mighty miracles that keep the stars in their places, and the plants bursting up through the earth, and the fish swimming in the sea. There is no limit to God. There is no limit to His wisdom. There is no limit to His power. There is no limit to His love. There is no limit to His mercy.
Prayer for the day: Almighty God, how glorious are my thoughts of You, for You are everywhere—loving and caring for the minutest details of our lives!
Written by Billy Graham, Founder of Billy Graham Evangelistic Association(BGEA). BGEA exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ by every effective means and to equip the church and others to do the same.
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Blessed art thou…for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. – Matthew 16:17
Remember when you went to school and learned your ABCs? You learned them by using your five senses and your logical abilities to gather information and sort it out. That kind of knowledge is called natural knowledge and it’s the only kind most people know anything about.
But in the kingdom of God, there’s another kind of knowing. One that works its way from the inside out instead of from the outside in. It’s called revelation knowledge.
Jesus spoke about this kind of knowledge in Matthew 16. He’d just asked the disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Peter had answered Him by declaring, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“Blessed are you, Simon,” Jesus responded, “because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in heaven.”
In other words, Jesus was saying, “Peter, you didn’t learn this information through your physical senses. You received it another way. You received it directly from God.”
If you’ve ever had a revelation like that, you know that when it comes, it changes things. It makes you see old things in an entirely new light. It gives you such unshakable confidence that, as Jesus said to Peter, “The gates of hell can’t prevail against you.”
But revelations like that don’t come easily. You have to meditate the Word and search the Spirit of God for them because they are “hidden” in Him. The Bible says God has hidden His wisdom for the saints (1 Cor. 2:7-9). Notice, He’s hidden it for you, not from you. He wants you to have it.
Don’t think, however, that God is just going to drop great revelations into your lap while you’re watching television. You have to seek Him.
If you’re hungry for revelation knowledge, get yourself in a position to receive it by meditating the Word, praying and fellowshiping with the Lord. Begin to receive those revelations from Him. It’s the most exciting kind of learning there is.
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 2
This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.
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We often hear about a prayer need or think about a situation and say to ourselves, I need to pray about that later when I pray.
That thought is a stall tactic of the enemy. Why not pray right that minute? Procrastination is one of the major things that Satan uses to keep us from ever doing the right thing. Never put off until later what you can do right now!
Prayer would be easy if we just followed our hearts, but Satan wants us to procrastinate because he is hoping that we will forget the matter entirely.
A grateful heart is already focused on the Lord and ready to pray at any moment. Praying as we sense the desire or need to pray is easy to do, and it is the way we can pray continually and stay connected to God in every situation throughout the day.
Prayer Starter: Father, I thank You for the power of prayer. When there is a prayer need that comes to my attention, I’m going to talk to You about it immediately. Thank You that You are always ready to hear my prayer. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.
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You are watching the Wednesday LIVE Service tagged “Covenant Hour of Prayer, November 7, 2018 with Bishop David Oyedepo at Living Faith Church, aka Winners’ Chapel, Faith Tabernacle Canaan Land Ota Nigeria. (Please, reload this page for the latest live event)
Read: Colossians 3:12–17, Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 40–42; Hebrews 4
Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Colossians 3:13
In 2005, Collins falsified a report that resulted in McGee being thrown in prison for four years, and McGee vowed to find Collins when he got out and “hurt him.” McGee was eventually exonerated, but not before he lost everything. Meanwhile, Collins’s many falsified reports were uncovered, he lost his job, and he too spent time behind bars. But both men came to faith in Christ while in prison.
In 2015, the two discovered they were working together in the same faith-based company. Collins recalls, “I [told McGee], ‘Honestly, I have no explanation, all I can do is say I’m sorry.’” It was “pretty much what I needed to hear,” said McGee, who graciously forgave him. The men were able to reconcile because both had experienced the incomparable love and forgiveness of God, who empowers us to “forgive as the Lord forgave [us]” (Colossians 3:13).
Now the two are great friends. “We have this joint mission . . . of letting the world know that if you owe an apology to somebody, put your pride down and go apologize,” said Collins. “And if you’re holding something against somebody, let go of the bitterness because it’s like drinking poison and hoping it’s hurting them.”
God calls believers to live in peace and unity. If we have “a grievance against someone,” we can bring it to Him. He will help us to reconcile (vv. 13–15; Philippians 4:6–7).
Prayer: Dear Father, thank You for forgiving us when we come to You in sorrow over our sins. Help us to receive Your forgiveness and to extend it to others.
Christ sets us free to forgive.
INSIGHT:
Many of the themes in Colossians 3:12–17 are repeated in Ephesians 4–5. Paul challenges followers of Christ at Colossae and Ephesus to have a forgiving spirit (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13), to love one another (Ephesians 5:2; Colossians 3:14), to live in the peace of Christ (Ephesians 4:3; Colossians 3:15), to allow the message of Christ or the Holy Spirit to dwell within them and fill them (Ephesians 5:18; Colossians 3:16), and to worship God with singing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). And everything is to be saturated with a thankful spirit (Ephesians 5:20; Colossians 3:15).
The common denominator is that we’re incapable of doing any of it in our own strength. It’s only as the Spirit fills us and the gospel changes our hearts that the higher ground of the Christ-life will be expressed in us.
Bill Crowder
This message was written By Alyson Kieda [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]
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