Gaze – The Presidential Prayer Team

When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. – Luke 21:28

Every sportsman knows you must keep your eye on the target to hit the mark. Whether you are trying to catch the game winning ball or drive your car under the checkered flag, your attention will settle where you fix your gaze.

The last people to see Jesus on Earth were His friends. According to the Bible, after His resurrection from the dead, He stayed with them forty days preparing them to tell His story to the world. Then one day He lifted His hands, blessed them and was carried up into heaven. As they stood in awe staring into the sky, they noticed two men dressed in white, saying; “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go” (Acts 1:11).

Today, as you put away Christmas decorations, what is on your mind? Are you quietly dreading the continuance of pandemic and politics? Are you counting and recounting dollars verses your bills? How about taking a different approach to preparing for another year? Place your attention and your faith into the reality that Christ has not forgotten His friends. Ponder the gospel message of Christ’s return and look for the person God has prepared to hear the message from you.

Pray for the churches and faithful ministries in your area and support them with your time and resources. As you pack up the old and get ready for the new make sure your gaze is fixed on the beauty of Christ’s care for His followers. And keep one eye on the horizon, He is coming soon!

Today’s Verse: Luke 21:28

Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

²⁴For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. ²⁵Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, ²⁸so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.