Jesus’ Invitation

Jesus invites us to participate in the Kingdom of God and all the blessings contained therein. This invitation shouldn’t be ignored.

When Jesus walked the earth He told the parable of a man who was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. This man desired all to come and enjoy the bounty that he had- he knew they would greatly enjoy it. The sad thing about the story was that few came.

“16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’

22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ (Luke 14:16-22)

This parable relates the story of what Jesus was about to do for His people. He was going to go to great lengths to allow His people to enjoy life. He was going to take the punishment for all sin on His own shoulders and give the keys to the kingdom of Heaven to His followers. All His followers needed to do, was to accept this great invitation and follow Him to the table.

Requirements Of An Invitation

There are always requirements when we accept and invitation. If we receive a wedding invitation we need to set aside what we are doing and prepare to go. We must RSVP, dress appropriately and show up at the appropriate time in order to take part in all the wonderful happenings. If we decide to show up “whenever” the wedding may be over and we would have missed out.

Jesus also has requirements before we are able to partake in the great banquet called the Kingdom of heaven. We are to set aside our old life. We must acknowledge ourselves as sinners in need of a Savior and turn our lives towards Him and walk in His ways.

Jesus never asked us to believe true things about Him, He asked us to follow Him. We cannot say to ourselves that we will save our devout life for when we get married, or when we have children, or when we are less busy. No! When we are made aware of the need to be a true follower of the Lord we must do it immediately. We may never know when we will need a powerful prayer life. Life can throw us curve balls and our need for the Lord’s help becomes immediate. At that point we will regret our decision to put off learning about the bounty of goodness Jesus won for us at the cross.

The Invitation is Full of Goodness

The invitation Jesus has given us is full of goodness and power. Doing life our own way is like taking two steps forward and three steps back and will never give us sustained peace along with bounty. We may have made a rich life for ourselves but problems and hard work abound. This is not the bountiful life. Jesus tells us to rely on Him and not to worry about the everyday things.

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:31-34)

We were all born into a world of abundant sin and thus we may not even realize we are sinning on a daily basis. Meaning, if we don’t spend time reading the Bible we miss the point of our existence. Sin is simply missing the mark intended for our life by ignoring God or putting Him on our quarterly “to do” list. Even if we do read Scripture often, this sinful world leads us to behave likewise without thinking much about it.

“… they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)

God calls disobedience depraved. The definition of depraved is: morally corrupt or wicked. This is not to be taken lightly. If we call ourselves followers of Christ we must carefully read the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to empower us to be obedient to the Words.

I know that I’m not perfect and for that reason I try to make it a point to ask for forgiveness for my sins- both known and unknown- on an almost daily basis and if I step out of God’s will in front of my children the Holy Spirit is loud in my mind making sure I acknowledge it in front of them.

I want my family and future grandchildren to desire a right relationship with the Lord too, and it starts with parents. Kids then learn that prayers can be answered swiftly when in right standing with God. And who doesn’t want that?

Invited To A Powerful Prayer Life

When God invited us to His bounty through His son Jesus, what He was actually doing is inviting us to have a powerful prayer life. Jesus stepped in for us, took our punishment and by following Jesus our prayers have power behind them.

I recently told my youngest daughter a prayer request I had. When we were on vacation together the prayer request happened to come to fruition right in front of her. She was astonished and said “I need to stay closer to God because I want my prayers to be answered as fast as yours!”

God’s banquet is available to all who believe and is full of blessings for those who follow. Won’t you join me in asking the Holy Spirit to empower you to live a life that is pleasing to our Heavenly Father? And let’s encourage each other to fight the good fight of faith, so our families are strong representatives of the Kingdom of God here on earth for generations to come!

God’s Promise to claim: “Lord you said if I seek first your kingdom and walk in right standing with you, you will take care of all of my needs- I don’t need to chase after them. Therefore I’m thanking you in advance for giving me what I need exactly when I need it so I can work to advance your Kingdom.”

Food For Thought,

Lisa