During our online gathering last Sunday 2nd August, the Lord led us to a deeper consideration of our connection to heaven and earth, in Christ, and the way in which we are positioned to pray for our needs and the needs of the world through Christ’s finished work on the cross.
The following are some notes on the way in which we were led in our waiting on the Lord. These are not comprehensive but, rather, some brief pointers, which we commend to you for further prayerful exploration:
- We are ‘in Christ’ on earth, as members of Christ’s Body (Rom 12.5). We are also ‘in Christ’ in the heavenly realms (Eph 2.6).
- In His humanity, and as the Son of Man now seated at the right hand of the Father, Jesus is the timeless connection between heaven and earth, which He compared to the stairway/ladder in Jacob’s dream (Jn1.51).
- Question: what is our relationship to the stairway/ladder? The Lord is leading us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be ‘in Christ’. This also relates to our foundational word UNITY. A key part of our oneness with Christ and, ‘in Him’, with one another relates to our place in the connection between heaven and earth.
- The Lord is wanting us to see everything through the ‘lens’ of the cross.
- There is a saying, “They threw away/broke the mould”. God is saying, ‘I’ve kept the mould. The mould is the cross’.
- The cross is the expression of God’s love (1Jn 4.9-10)
- The ‘mould of the cross’ may be seen in the context of ‘what is stopped’ – death, sin, punishment, shame… and ‘what is released’ – life, forgiveness, freedom, hope….
- To pray according to the ‘mould of the cross’, positioned between heaven and earth, is akin to Jesus’ teaching, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt 18.18).
- What does it look like to pray for a situation through ‘the mould of the cross’? It calls for a deeper identification with Christ – His suffering and His victory. On the cross He has borne the wounds of a sinful, broken world; He showed His wounds in His resurrected body; He is described with wounds in heaven – as a lamb, enthroned, “…looking as if it had been slain…” (Rev 5.6).
- Further words/image:
‘Press in’, individually and together. This may be considered in the context of a substance being pressed into a mould. A mould may be used many times to produce a replica.
‘Come closer; go deeper’
Jesus’ words from the cross would only be audible to those who were close.
Image – a mould in a steel forge in the shape of a cross, used to make swords – see Rev 19.15
Our gathering concluded with prayer for Iran, according to the pattern the Lord had been setting out for us.
