REFORMATION DAY October 31.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg. The contents of his theses challenged the teaching of the Roman Church at that time.

A few years later in 1520, the Pope issued a bull decree, calling Luther’s teaching poisonous. He demanded that Luther recant in 60 days or be excommunicated. Instead of acquiescing to this request, Luther publicly burned the pope’s bull decree.

In 1521, Luther was summoned to the town of Worms to appear before Charles V, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. Luther was commanded to recant of all his teachings against the Roman Church. After one night of prayer and pleading with God, Luther returned to the Diet of Worms and declared the following:



Outside Luther’s Germany, similar “protest” movements were helmed by people like John Calvin, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Knox. Beyond protesting corruption in the church, the emerging “protestant” movement challenged many of the theological and traditional teachings of the Roman Church.

The reformers believed that Scripture alone—not human traditions or the rulings of a church—held complete authority for Christians, and that salvation was a free gift of God that could not be earned by good deeds. The Protestant Reformation was shaped by many people over many years, but came into focus with this action by Martin Luther.

The contents of this post were adapted from several sources (see links in post). For a history of Halloween click this link.

MEET THEM WHERE THEY ARE

I recently read a post by a sister in Christ over at Christian By Association that talked about meeting people where they are and it inspired me to write this. Many times we neglect to reach out to people for Christ because of how they look, how they dress, the colour of their hair, their piercings or tattoos, and our perception of the state of their finances. The people of the day hated publicans and hated Zacchaeus as we will see. Jesus knew this yet He risked his good reputation to reach out to Zacchaeus.

Jesus met Zacchaeus where he was, at his level, and his house was transformed because of it. Zacchaeus’ story begins when Jesus entered and passed through Jericho (Luke 19:1). Zacchaeus was a publican, was the chief among them, and he was rich (v.2). (Note: Jesus’ disciple Matthew [Levi] was also a publican. Matthew 10:3; Luke 5:27.)

According to Thayer’s Lexicon, a publican was “a tax gatherer, collector of taxes or tolls, one employed by a publican or farmer general in the collection of taxes. The tax collectors were as a class, detested not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they did their job.”

What’s fascinating is that this much hated publican Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was. According to the scriptures Zacchaeus was a short man and the crowds of people trying to see Jesus was an obstacle for him. The Greek context of this scripture says that he craved to see who Jesus was; he ‘sought’ with the expectation of finding (v.3). Zacchaeus did something very interesting. He knew Jesus was supposed to pass that way so, before the crowds came, he ran out and climbed a sycomore (mulberry) tree to see Him (v.4). Can you visualize the chief collector of taxes, this rich man, up a tree? LOL.

Jesus came to the place, looked up and saw Zacchaeus and told him that He would be staying at his house that day (v.5). While it is likely that Zacchaeus was well known, there is no indication that Jesus knew him yet He called him by name. 'Zacchaeus' means ‘pure’ and ‘innocent’. This should be a lesson to us. Just because he was the chief among publicans didn’t mean that his character was the same as theirs.

Jesus essentially said, ‘pure or innocent one, hurry up and come down from the tree because I will stay at your house today!’ We can see in scripture that Zacchaeus hurriedly came down from the tree (v.6). The Greek context of the scripture says that he hastily came down and received Jesus while rejoicing exceedingly because he earnestly desired Him.

You can read more about how the people murmured, how Zacchaeus gave half of his goods to the poor, and how he restored things to people fourfold, whose goods had been taken because of false accusations (v.8). More interesting though is that Jesus approved. Look at what Jesus said in v.9:

“…This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.”

The word 'house' is translated from the Greek word oikos, referring to the human body, an inhabited home or building, all the occupants in the home, and all the descendants of the family in that home. We miss a great opportunity to save souls when we neglect to reach out to that one unusual person. Jesus reached out to one “reject” and salvation became available to his entire house as well as to his descendants through him. Jesus met him where he was and took him to the next level!

Wow God!

DELIGHT THYSELF ALSO IN THE LORD

"Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." Psalm 37:4-5 (KJV)

Do you know what the Hebrew context of this scripture says? The word 'delight' comes from the Hebrew root word ANAG (Strong's H6026), which means to be soft, be delicate, be dainty, be pampered, be happy, and to take exquisite delight in something.

Many macho men may have a problem with this. LOL. The scripture is saying that we should take pleasure in the LORD so much that we pamper ourselves with Him in the most soft, delicate and dainty way and be happy about it. When we do this God gives us the prayer requests, petitions, or desires of our heart.

The scripture goes on to say we must commit to the LORD. The word 'commit' comes from the Hebrew root GALAL (Strong's H1556), which means to roll, or to roll together. It is the same word translated 'wallowed' in 2 Samuel 20:12 (KJV). It is also translated as 'trusted' in Psalm 22:8 (KJV).

Many people loosely use the slang: "I'm rolling with my crew". The scripture is saying we must "Roll with God" in the sense that we must wallow in Him like we are rolling in something and completely trust (be confident, bold, secure) in Him in everything. I've not had a pampering mud bath as yet but I imagine that is how we should wallow and roll around in God. LOL.

So Psalm 37:4-5 (KJV) is saying that when we "pamper ourselves" in God he gives us what we pray for and when we "roll with Him", He manifests these desires of our heart.

Isn't that something!

THE MIDNIGHT PRAYER

We have discussed several aspects of prayer so far: prayer is like breathing, the standard secret prayer, the Holy Spirit secret prayer, the ceaseless prayer, being sober, watching and praying, and praying about everything. Let us continue our study with the midnight prayer.

Image credit: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images

The Midnight Prayer
Did you know that there is a time for special prayers? Yes, separate and apart from all the other types of prayer, here are two scriptures that talk about the midnight prayer. The Psalmist said he would rise to give thanks to God at midnight because God’s judgments are righteous.

“At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.” Psalm 119:62 (KJV)

In the Hebrew text this scripture is interesting. The Psalmist is literally saying: at the precise time that divides the night in two, I will stand up with power and YADAH, that is, confess, profess with my words as if I am throwing stones, give thanks, praise and celebrate to GOD. The Psalmist was under oppression from enemies as is evident from verses 60-61. When he said he would profess with his words as if he was throwing stones, he was saying in essence that he would launch an offensive in the spirit realm against Satan's forces operating against him through his human enemies. That was one part of his YADAH prayer.

Paul and Silas were in prison unjustly and had been beaten with many lashes. While they were there they prayed at midnight and praised God in song so that the prisoners heard them. Suddenly, because of their midnight prayer, there was an earthquake that shook the prisons foundations. The prison doors flew open and everyone’s prison shackles were loosed.

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.” Acts 16:25-26 (KJV)

Paul and Silas launched an offensive. They attacked the enemy forces in the spirit realm and effectively dismantled the human operation in the physical realm. This was a perfect execution of the principle in Psalm 119:62. As a result there was a physical manifestation of the victory. This midnight prayer is a powerful one indeed so let us discipline ourselves to use it. :)

God Bless You!