Reading and praying through 1&2 Chronicles and Ephesians this morning I was really impacted by the correlations I could see with the Lord’s help in prayer. It’s amazing to realize Jesus and His followers in all of our unimpressive appearance as the fulfillment of the promised Messianic King and the Temple!

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Holy meditation! What is impactful is to pray this passage out personally as a Jesus follower in prayer to the Father of glory:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. – Ephesians 1:11-23

What?! Oh, holy Father of glory, keep my heart circling through this prayer and dwelling in the grandeur of You and Your Son and Your promised Holy Spirit! Along with Your church, may we realize our holy calling and priesthood! We are Your temple and those selected for the dissemination of hope for the world in Jesus’ death and life for all who believe! This is truly the holy calling on the lives of every body of Jesus’ followers, to make disciple-making disciples of Jesus, pure, simple, holy, loving, and faithful disciples of Jesus Christ!

It is critical that we realize how holy this “lowly” walk is as bodies of Jesus’ followers. My kids and I walked through our new neighborhood to visit a new friend we were recommended to meet, and I felt such a deep and clean and clear calling to faithfully befriend and love those I began to meet and introduce the kids and myself to family by family, individual by individual. These are such precious and real people, and I already know more names here in a few weeks than I got to know in our former neighborhood in two years of living there! It’s a beautiful thing when we know we are called to love and serve in a neighborhood. Maybe we have too high a view of safety and too low a view of our fellow human beings? Maybe our understanding of neighboring is too focused on us and not enough of an orientation around Jesus as LORD and King, the very God and yet approachable Rabbi, the Teacher who got down on the ground to be known and loved and enjoyed. We follow a Master Who teaches us how to really neighbor our neighbors in a way that stumps and causes all to wonder, what’s in that normal person that makes them so kind and loving and servant-hearted and understanding and patient and kind and thoughtful and hopeful! HOPE in our eyes and hearts should be one of the most obvious causes for sweet interest in us and ultimately our Lord Jesus who bled on the cross for all who simply believe in and follow Jesus, leaving our lives of sin and selfishness behind!

I’d like to bring up this video series once more and encourage a devoted time of watching these with some genuine followers of Jesus and then seeking the Father of glory in prayer, asking what the local church should be up to and Who we should be seeking after all.