“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
~ Matthew 21:22
Hi James and Ellen
If you knew that you had only one more week to live, what are some things that you would want to do before you die? If you knew that you had only one more week to live, are there places that you would like to go to before you die? If you knew that you had only one more week to live, are there kids who you would like to see one more time before you die? If you knew that you had only one more week to live, are there things that you would like to say to your dad and/or ma, your sibling and/or your kid friends before you die? Matthew – in Matthew 21, recounts what Jesus did during the last week that He was alive on planet Earth. Jesus rode on the back of a burro’s colt into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus literally threw out guys who were using His Father God’s temple that was located in the city of Jerusalem to do personal business. Jesus killed a fig tree that did not have any figs for Him to eat on it. Jesus told parables to His disciples. If you knew that you had only one more week to live on planet Earth, would you want to do the same things that Jesus did the last week that He was alive on planet Earth – such as riding on the back of a burro’s colt into Newark, literally throwing guys out of a church in Newark who were using the church for their own personal reasons, killing a fruit tree that did not have any fruit for you to eat on it and to tell parables or tales to your kid friends and to your family?
Have you ever ridden a donkey? Another name for donkey is burro. A burro was symbolic of humility, peace and a Davidic royalty during the time that God the Son – Jesus, was alive on planet Earth. Your grandpaa does not know how old or big the burro’s colt was on whose back that Jesus rode on into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus had sent two of His disciples ahead of Him into the city of Jerusalem to get a burro and the burro’s colt or foal. Jesus told the two disciples exactly where to go to find the burro and the burro’s colt or foal. As Jesus was riding on the back of the burro’s colt or foal into the city of Jerusalem, guys and gals laid their clocks down and threw palm branches in front of burro’s colt or foal that Jesus was riding on that day. This day that took place nearly 2000 years ago is now remembered today as Palm Sunday. When your grandmaa and grandpaa went on South America Mission’s summer team that went to Colombia, South America in 1976, your grandmaa and grandpaa had photos taken of them as they were sitting on a burro. Your grandmaa had trouble getting on the burro. Each time that your grandmaa put her foot on the box that was used to help your grandmaa get on the burro, the burro would put one of his back hoofs on the box. When your grandpaa sat on the burro, your grandpaa’s feet almost touched the ground. Your grandpaa over a three year period of time went to well over twenty times – as a minor allocation, a small railroad town in Bolivia called Chochís. It seemed like to your grandpaa that every guy and/or gal who lived in Chochís used burros as a pack animal to carry what they grew in their small fields, to carry firewood to their homes in Chochís and to ride. During your grandpaa’s first visits to Chochís, your grandpaa got to know burros as being noisy, abrasive, brazen, and stubborn. Down the back of a burro is a lighter area of hair. This lighter area of hair down the back of a burro has another line of lighter hair crossing it at the front shoulders of the burro. These two lighter areas of hair – as they cross, give the appearance of a cross. Your grandpaa was told one time that because of what Jesus did when He rode on the back of a burro’s colt or foal into the city Jerusalem, that burros from that time on have been blessed being born with what looks like a cross on their backs.
Ask your dad if he has ever gotten really uptight about how a church in Newark was being used by a guy for his own personal business? Jesus – a couple of years earlier, had thrown every guy out of His Father God’s temple that was located in the city of Jerusalem because the guys were using His Father God’s designated worship place for their own personal businesses. Your grandpaa would like to see the church buildings that are on planet Earth today be used for glorifying and worshipping God a whole lot more than what they are being used for but . . . the church today – which is known as the Body of Christ, is really made up of the hearts of guys, gals and kids who have made decisions of faith in God the Son – Jesus, believing in what God the Son – Jesus, did for them when He allowed His body to be nailed to and hung on a cross so that His shed blood would be a ransom for their sins and His suffering and death would remove death’s sting. Your grandpaa is absolutely sure that you have never cursed a fruit tree so that it would die because it did not have any fruit for you to eat on it – as the God the Son – Jesus, did. Even Jesus’ disciples wanted to know why Jesus would put a curse on a fig tree to cause it to wither up and die – just because the fig tree did not have any figs on it for Him to eat on it. Jesus expected the fig tree that He caused to wither up and die to have fruit for Him to eat on it – just as Jesus today expects each one of His specially elected guys, gals and kids who have already made a decision of faith to produce fruit with their lives. When Jesus’ disciples asked Him how He did it – how He had caused the fig tree to wither and die as fast as it did, Jesus said in verse 22, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”” God expects His specially elected guys, gals and kids to live their lives each day as if each day is the very last day that they will be alive on planet Earth. How are you living your lives? Are you expecting God to always answer your prayers? Are your lives producing fruit for God’s sake?
Matthew 21 (434)