It’s annoying isn’t it? Driving into a jammed parking lot at
the store and there out of the corner of your eye you see an empty parking spot
and it’s near the door! So you are beating a path there hoping nobody steals it
and just as you are about to turn into it; there’s a sign that says: “Reserved
for Employee of the Month” or something similar. You may have had occasion to
go to an upscale restaurant or hotel where there are parking signs saying “VIP
Parking Only.” Do you ever wonder who those VIP people are? I mean I’ve never
had anyone introduce themselves to me and tell me they are a VIP. By the way,
VIP is an acronym for “Very Important Person.” Just who are these VIP’s?
Obviously the President of the United States is a VIP.
As a youngster growing up during what was called the “Cold
War” between the United States and Soviet Russia, there was talk all the time
about the “Hotline” between the Oval Office and the Kremlin. It was a dedicated
phone line directly between the two leaders of world’s super powers. Maybe from
TV & movies, we assume this phone is a red phone sitting on the President’s
desk. If you have access to that line, it
most certainly makes you a VIP. What if you had a red phone mounted on the wall
of your home that was a dedicated line directly to that red phone on the
President’s desk? How empowered would you be to know that you could call the
President directly and he would answer that phone anytime you picked it up? No
operator, no one screening your call, one ring and the President is on the line
to answer your request. I’m pretty sure we’d be taking advantage of that kind
of VIP status.
I ask again, just who are these VIP’s? I’m here to tell you
that if you are a COG, you are a VIP! What’s a COG? Great question my friends.
If you are a believer, a disciple of Jesus Christ, a Christian, you are a COG –
a Child of God and that makes you a Very Important Person! You have something
better than a red phone mounted on the wall of your home; you have a direct
line to the throne room of Almighty God through prayer. When you pick up that
dedicated line to God in prayer, you don’t have to go through an operator, a
secretary or a recorded message to press 1 or any other key; you have the ear
of God Himself.
The Apostle Paul encouraged us in Eph.2:18 saying “For through Him (Jesus) we both have access by one
Spirit to the Father.” Down in Eph.3:12,
Paul continued: “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through
faith in Him.” The Apostle John, one of the Lord Jesus’ closest friends
here on earth – called “the disciple Jesus loved” said in 1st John 5:14-15 “Now
this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His
will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know
that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” How is that for encouragement? We know that He
hears and that we have the petitions we asked of Him when we pray according to
the will of God.
So why don’t we take advantage of our VIP status? Maybe
Satan has convinced us that God is too busy to respond to our requests or that
God doesn’t want to be bothered. There’s a Greek word for that: hooey - Hooey! (I’m kidding about the Greek
word!) But our wonderful Heavenly Father, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ and
the blessed Holy Spirit all want us to take advantage of our VIP status and
come to God in prayer. The Apostle Peter affirmed this truth in 1st Peter 5:7 “Casting all our
care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
More than any other time, people are stressed out beyond
belief. The statistics about stress and the impact of heavy stress on our
health is mind boggling. I believe Christian people are stressed out in part
because we’re not taking advantage of VIP status by carrying our concerns to
the Lord in prayer. When we depend on ourselves and not on the Lord, we get overwhelmed
in a hurry and then we’re stressed out because we’re not depending on Jesus.
Will you join me in taking advantage of our shared VIP
status and pray? Some of you could join our prayer ministry “Sweet hour of
Prayer” on Thursday mornings at 0930 in the sanctuary. Most of you cannot do that but you can pray
where ever you are and any time you would like. Pray for yourself, pray for your family, your friends, and your church
family and church leadership. Pray for lost friends to be saved. Satan wants
to destroy families and the family of God. If he can keep us from praying and
distracted by busyness of life, disconnected from our life line, he can keep us
from accomplishing anything of significance for the Kingdom of God. You are a VIP and you have direct access to the throne of God! Let us humbly be VIP’s today and every day by taking hold of the
throne of grace in prayer, from my little prayer corner of the world to
yours…
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