{"id":97147,"date":"2020-08-22T04:46:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T09:46:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/?p=97147"},"modified":"2020-08-21T05:27:09","modified_gmt":"2020-08-21T10:27:09","slug":"14-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/22\/14-c\/","title":{"rendered":"14.c. \u2018Behold, I send my messenger before your face,”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Malachi 3:1\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBehold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts<\/p>\n

Matthew 11:10-11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0This is he of whom it is written, \u201c\u2018Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Luke 7:26-28<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.\u00a0\u00a0This is he of whom it is written, \u201c\u2018Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 1:6-7<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.\u00a0\u00a0He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.<\/p>\n

Acts 13:24-25<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0And as John was finishing his course, he said, \u2018What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.\u2019<\/p>\n

Isaiah 40:3-5<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0A voice cries: \u201cIn the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.<\/p>\n

Acts 19:4<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0And Paul said, \u201cJohn baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After the prophet Malachi, there was no prophetic voice heard for approximately 500 years.\u00a0 <\/span>With a prophet at least the people had a choice to listen to and obey what was being said.\u00a0 <\/span>Amos foretold of this time; 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord\u00a0God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a\u00a0famine<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of bread, nor a\u00a0thirst<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for water, but of hearing the\u00a0words<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of the\u00a0Lord.\u00a0 <\/span>Without a prophet, there were multiple groups formed who were claiming the right to interpret scriptures and lead the people.\u00a0 <\/span>The understanding of God diminished and confusion ruled.\u00a0 <\/span>New traditions and rules were common.\u00a0 <\/span>Along comes John the Baptist and though he was clearly revealed in scripture, John was not recognized as the prophet\/messenger preparing the way.\u00a0 <\/span>The famine of hearing the word of the Lord has an effect on mankind.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus Christ was not recognized.<\/p>\n

Imagine what it must have been like for that first generation to have no more prophets.\u00a0 <\/span>Generations after this one surely must have been looking for one to come for scriptures were full of examples of prophets sent by God to lead, warn, plead, and encourage the people.\u00a0 <\/span>Yet, when John the Baptist arrived he was not recognized as the messenger preparing the way for the Messiah.\u00a0 A famine<\/span> of God\u2019s Word has an effect.\u00a0 <\/span>It starves the heart mind and soul of the Bread of life and living water.\u00a0 <\/span>Today there is a famine but it is not caused by Jesus Christ but rather by intentional choice.\u00a0 <\/span>The intentional choice to neglect God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 <\/span>Self-induced famine.\u00a0 <\/span>What do you suppose replaces this eternal life-giving food?\u00a0 <\/span>Things of this world and it\u2019s shallow satisfaction of the present and denial of the future cost to the heart, mind, and soul is what it replaces.\u00a0 <\/span>After a while of self-induced famine the heart, mind, and soul live on the dung of this world and think it tastes good. Their hunger for the bread of life and living water is not even a memory anymore.\u00a0 <\/span>Do you find yourself unsatisfied, confused, anxious, and worried?\u00a0 <\/span>It could be a sign that you are starving.\u00a0 <\/span>Come to the Word of God and eat freely from its words.\u00a0 <\/span>You will find a fulfilling satisfaction with an unending hunger for more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malachi 3:1\u00a0 \u201cBehold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts Matthew 11:10-11\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This is he of whom it is written, … Continue reading “14.c. \u2018Behold, I send my messenger before your face,””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14218,4651,199,2730,454,97,1785,3660,4936,165,4151,340,9641,187,4089,14217,2107,4091,3669,1237,3337,5670,4158,12561,14220,14221,14216,701,872,14219],"class_list":["post-97147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers","tag-baptism","tag-behold","tag-believe","tag-come","tag-coming","tag-covenant","tag-delight","tag-greater","tag-israel","tag-jesus","tag-john","tag-kingdom","tag-least","tag-light","tag-messenger","tag-none-greater","tag-prepare","tag-proclaimed","tag-prophet","tag-repentance","tag-send","tag-straight","tag-suddenly","tag-the-way","tag-voice-cries","tag-who-was-to-come-after-him","tag-whom-it-is-written","tag-wilderness","tag-witness","tag-worth-to-untie"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97147"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97232,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97147\/revisions\/97232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}