In His Presence

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

IN HIS PRESENCE

Matt 18:19-20

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." 

NIV

Once again, our scholars of old would what us to think these words of Jesus have no bearing on the normal believer, but they are specifically meant for the apostles in the organization and affairs of the early church. How sad to say that we cannot have the Lord in our midst when we are all in agreement in worshipping him in spirit and in truth. How sad it is that when one of us is sick and we call for an elder of the church to pray for us, that the two of us agree and stand all alone without the presence of the Lord. Of course, we are being a little sarcastic because we do not believe or agree with those scholars of old. Again, if these words are just for the apostles why bother to keep these words of Jesus for believers of all ages to read. How can this just apply to the apostles and apply it to the matter of expelling an unrepentant member of the church? That would mean only two are needed and the whole church is not needed. These words of Jesus are for all of us throughout the whole course of time until he returns to take us home. The problem that could occur is that the two of us might never agree on anything we ask for. Sometimes we get too introspective that we only can think of what we want and are not too concerned about what our fellow believer wants. It seems about the only time two agree is when a pastor calls for anyone who needs to be anointed and someone comes forward with a need and the two of them stand in agreement praying for that one person’s need and behold when that happens there is Jesus right with them. We would think two of us normal believers should agree as often as we can with each other over a situation so that we could have Jesus right there with us and then we would be assured that it would be done by our Father in heaven. However, this requires faith, believing the word of God, believing these words of Jesus are true and meant for all believers. Why would Jesus only promise that to twelve men? No, this is meant for all of us and certainly, we would want to be in agreement so that the Lord would be in our presence and only God who is omnipresent can be with all believers who gather to worship with their hearts in agreement much like an orchestra all play a tune in agreement with each other. So then, when we gather in the house of God and worship Him in spirit and in truth we can be assured that we are in the presence of the Lord.