Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem(12/14/22)[Prayer]

The Holy Scriptures | 12/14/22 | left that other site

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Matthew 18

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

_______________________________________________________



New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God Bless America.

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Oh LORD,

Our God,

How Excellent is Your Name over all the Earth!

How Wonderful, How Holy and How Perfect!

You Are So Magnificent in Your Glory,

And So Overwhelming in Your Righteousness and Justice!

And yet, Your Mercies Are New Every Morning,

And As Each Day Dawns,

Your Love and Compassion is Just as Overwhelming to My Soul.

 You Are Our Peace,

Our Wholeness,

Our Shalom,

Our Security,

Our Prosperity,

and Our Future.

And You Give Us Victory over the Grave.




Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

God Bless America.

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Matthew 18

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[g]

23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold[h] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.[i] He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

_______________________________________________________



New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

As a Self-Employed Musician, I had to be very careful about my taxes. Every year, the IRS sent me four envelopes with four special tax forms. This was for me to pay an estimated tax every quarter, because I did not have an employer who would do the "Withholding" for me. Each three months, I would pay a little more than I thought I would owe, in order to avoid getting hit with a big tax bill. You can bet I also kept very good track of mileage, equipment depreciation, commissions, Sheet Music, Costume purchases, and so on, because these could be used as "deductions" to alleviate the tax that I owed at the end of the year. Hopefully, the stack of receipts for the deductions would be always taller than the stack of 1099s. I did that for almost 30 YEARS. And, every year, the Tax Code would change, so I would have to adjust my routine to adapt.

No matter how meticulous I was in my calculations, I often received a notice from the IRS that I left out something, and owed them money. It was always a small amount, so I would quickly pay it because I didn't want to make trouble. Since I was doing it all myself, and deducting everything I legally could, I had an undercurrent of fear that I was somehow doing something nefarious taking all these deductions. The idea of getting audited by the IRS filled me with fear. (Now I am considered too OLD and too POOR to pay taxes, and that suits me just fine! LOL)

Now I am reading that the current administration has taken on 87,000 ARMED IRS Agents, presumably to chase down Tax Evaders. One wonders if they will be going after Billionaires with untaxed accounts in the Cayman Islands, or after Singer-Songwriters who missed reporting a missing 1099 from a Nursing Home back in 2003? My bet is that they will take the safest, easiest route, and go after the Singer-Songwriter.

Today's Parable is one of the most graphic and easy-to-understand story in the whole collection. Both servants in this story owed a debt that they couldn't pay. To the man who owed just a little bit (a couple of day's pay), the debt was as insurmountable as the other man, who wouldn't be able to pay off his debt in an entire lifetime. The importance wasn't the amount of the debt. It was that neither man could pay it back.

Jesus tells us that the King in the story forgave the man who owed the larger amount. He didn't give him a payment plan, nor did he reduce the debt. He just forgave it. It was more than the Servant was asking for. The Servant was asking for tolerance, but he ended up getting mercy.

The lesson of mercy, however, was lost on the guy. When the other servant asked him for the same consideration (a Payment Plan, or a reduction of the debt, or perhaps just a little more time to repay), the first guy was adamant. Like a Street Gang Loan Shark, he turned the servant over to his "enforcers" to beat him up, as if that would make the money come faster.

Jesus used this example to show us how He sees those who receive forgiveness, but refuse to extend it to others.

Matthew must have really liked sharing this parable of Jesus. After all, his JOB had been that of a Tax Collector. During the Roman Occupation, this meant that he was in cahoots with the enemy. As long as the Roman Government got the right amount, Matthew had been free to add whatever "surcharges" he wanted and keep the difference. This made him a wealthy, but despised, man. When Jesus called Matthew to Follow Him, the first thing Matthew did was calculate how much money he had extorted from people and pay it back...kind of like an IRS Audit in Reverse. Zaccheus, another Tax Collector, did something similar when he came to Faith.

The Angels rejoice in heaven when one Tax Collector repents. I am praying for 87,000 new, armed, tax collectors to give then a party they'll never forget!

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[etabeta]

Joining in prayer. God bless.

[NEWwoman]

Amen, left that other site

IRS loves the low hanging fruit or a “political enemy.”

Joining in prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem and for our belovd America.

[TianaHighrider]

Blessings and prayers up. And prayers for all repentance 🙏

[redryder_90]

Amen

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, NEWwoman, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, TianaHighrider, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, redryder_90, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[Hiskid]

Amen

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Hiskid, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[DarthVader]

Amen !!! <><

Psalm 27

Of David.

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold* of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When evildoers assail me
to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
they shall stumble and fall.

3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
yet I will be confident.

4 One thing I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.

5 For he will hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will set me high on a rock.

6 Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
be gracious to me and answer me!
8 ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’
Your face, Lord, do I seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
O God of my salvation!
10 If my father and mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me up.

11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and lead me on a level path
because of my enemies.
12 Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
for false witnesses have risen against me,
and they are breathing out violence.

13 I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the Lord!

[Jeanbl]

AMEN, thank you. Joining in prayer.

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, DarthVader, For Your Prayers and Wonderful Psalm For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Jeanbl, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS