Matt 21 Have we made the proper approach

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Matthew 21:1-46 -
The Triumphal Entry
1As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2"Go into the village over there," he said, "and you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them here. 3If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will immediately send them." 4This was done to fulfill the prophecy,
5 "Tell the people of Israel, F109 'Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey— even on a donkey's colt.'" F110
6The two disciples did as Jesus said. 7They brought the animals to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it. F111
8Most of the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting,
"Praise God F112 for the Son of David! Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!" F113
10The entire city of Jerusalem was stirred as he entered. "Who is this?" they asked.
11And the crowds replied, "It's Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
Jesus Clears the Temple
12Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. 13He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" F114
14The blind and the lame came to him, and he healed them there in the Temple. 15The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the little children in the Temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David." But they were indignant 16and asked Jesus, "Do you hear what these children are saying?" "Yes," Jesus replied. "Haven't you ever read the Scriptures? For they say, 'You have taught children and infants to give you praise.' F115 " 17Then he returned to Bethany, where he stayed overnight.
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, 19and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs on it, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" And immediately the fig tree withered up.
20The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?"
21Then Jesus told them, "I assure you, if you have faith and don't doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, 'May God lift you up and throw you into the sea,' and it will happen. 22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
23When Jesus returned to the Temple and began teaching, the leading priests and other leaders came up to him. They demanded, "By whose authority did you drive out the merchants from the Temple? F116 Who gave you such authority?"
24"I'll tell you who gave me the authority to do these things if you answer one question," Jesus replied. 25"Did John's baptism come from heaven or was it merely human?" They talked it over among themselves. "If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn't believe him. 26But if we say it was merely human, we'll be mobbed, because the people think he was a prophet." 27So they finally replied, "We don't know." And Jesus responded, "Then I won't answer your question either.
Story of the Two Sons
28"But what do you think about this? A man with two sons told the older boy, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' 29The son answered, 'No, I won't go,' but later he changed his mind and went anyway. 30Then the father told the other son, 'You go,' and he said, 'Yes, sir, I will.' But he didn't go. 31Which of the two was obeying his father?" They replied, "The first, of course." Then Jesus explained his meaning: "I assure you, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do. 32For John the Baptist came and showed you the way to life, and you didn't believe him, while tax collectors and prostitutes did. And even when you saw this happening, you refused to turn from your sins and believe him.
Story of the Evil Farmers
33"Now listen to this story. A certain landowner planted a vineyard, built a wall around it, dug a pit for pressing out the grape juice, and built a lookout tower. Then he leased the vineyard to tenant farmers and moved to another country. 34At the time of the grape harvest he sent his servants to collect his share of the crop. 35But the farmers grabbed his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36So the landowner sent a larger group of his servants to collect for him, but the results were the same.
37"Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking, 'Surely they will respect my son.'
38"But when the farmers saw his son coming, they said to one another, 'Here comes the heir to this estate. Come on, let's kill him and get the estate for ourselves!' 39So they grabbed him, took him out of the vineyard, and murdered him.
40"When the owner of the vineyard returns," Jesus asked, "what do you think he will do to those farmers?"
41The religious leaders replied, "He will put the wicked men to a horrible death and lease the vineyard to others who will give him his share of the crop after each harvest."
42Then Jesus asked them, "Didn't you ever read this in the Scriptures?
'The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous to see.' F117
43What I mean is that the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the proper fruit. 44Anyone who stumbles over that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls. F118 "
45When the leading priests and Pharisees heard Jesus, they realized he was pointing at them—that they were the farmers in his story. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they were afraid to try because the crowds considered Jesus to be a prophet.
FOOTNOTES:F109: Greek Tell the daughter of Zion. Isa 62:11. F110: Zech 9:9. F111: Greek over them, and he sat on them. F112: Greek Hosanna, an exclamation of praise that literally means "save now"; also in 21:9b, 15. F113: Pss 118:25-26; 148:1. F114: Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11. F115: Ps 8:2. F116: Or By whose authority do you do these things? F117: Ps 118:22-23. F118: This verse is omitted in some early manuscripts.
Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living Translation

~ Lena’s Journalin’~
When we ask something of God in prayer, why do we ask?
Do we ask because we hope he’ll want us to have what we want to have?
Do we hope he’ll like us enough to give us what we want?
Do we hope he’ll even hear us?
Are we just thinking aloud?
Why do we ask?
Do we believe in Him?
In His word?
If we ask and when we ask, we must ask in faith.
For the longest time, I wondered why we “have” to talk to God a certain way. Ya know so many people teach and tell us how to pray and also when you are around a fellowship of believers they often correct your words and help you speak a different way, different than you usually think to speak on your own.
They say things like, “When you approach God, say”, “…”, or they’ll say something like, “God doesn’t even hear those prayers”.
I used to wonder why we couldn’t just speak with God as though He was our buddy and longtime friend and vent on Him and complain and murmur and blow smoke and just about say anything to Him we want, etc.
Then lately I believe He began to show me answers. First off He is God! Do we believe in God? I’m talking Almighty Creator of the whole entire World and the Universe! Yeah- God! Secondly, he’s King, like King of Kings. He knows absolutely everything and is trying to teach us a few things if we are willing to listen. We DO NOT need to vent, we need answers and change. He needs people, to change the world. he needs us to change ours. Venting changes nothing, nothing at all. It only makes me feel ok for brief moments as I’ve blown off some steam, but God needed that steam to accomplish a few things where His will is concerned and wanted to use my energy to do it. he wanted to change my complaint in to a realization of who He is, to turn and look to Him for the answers only He could give, and then do something about it!
Do you remember the story of Esther? (There’s a movie out right now called “One Night with the King”, might be a good one to see). Well Esther became queen. I mean she was the King’s wife, she slept in His bed, talk about buddy-buddy, that’s a bit closer than friends. They were intimate- when he called for her. She had a need, she had a plan, she had a desire and she needed the execution of His will concerning it. She had to pray for the favor of God and then had to walk out a plan to approach the earthly king. Her favor with God allotted her a place in the throne room.
Our favor with Jesus, and our faith in the power of His shed blood allots us a place in the throne room. If Esther was somehow not right with the king, if she wanted the approach to be successful, she’d have to do something different than she was to make things right before the approach.
This is the same way with us and our King. We cannot just storm in and vent! This is God, yes he’s our Father, but only because of the Son and a living active faith in the Son. Also because we have a regular relationship with Him through Jesus, we must maintain our love-walk and our good standing. If we mess up, we can repair through faith, but faith is the way.
Even earthly kings have a way of approach and a weeding through the red tape to get an appointment. We have a continual approach and appointment with our Father through faith in Jesus Christ. Not a one time, “Ah yeah, I believe in God”, but a life that is willing to be cleansed from unrighteousness - daily. A life that is willing to live being daily led by the blood of Jesus and be a demonstrator of its power! A life willing to change to gain more and more favor with God and become an influencer of men for their King. This means change how I speak, change my thoughts and words to faith-filled words. Become who He is to be where He is.
Not use God as a venting station, but saving energy for fervency in the spirit.
Ok, so your Aunt Tilly gets a bad report from the Dr. You are sad about the report, you cry, you say I can’t believe she got this report, man! Now you worry, worry, worry all day long, all week long. Now you tell God how sad and worried you are. He is NOT hearing it and it is not changing the report.
Ok, your child gets in trouble, gets in a fight at school is suspended. You are mad, angry. He tells you the story and you feel he’s been treated unfairly, now you’re really mad. You call people, tell them about the story, tell the parent of the other kids, tell the teacher, tell the principle, tell the coach, now you tell God how mad you are. He didn’t hear any of it, and not one of those things you did changed the situation at all.
Your spouse is hurting you emotionally, he’s getting on your nerves, he’s so unfair, does not help you at all, the he makes you sad, mad, angry, tired. Everyday you talk to God about it. You tell Him how hurt you are, how sad, and how mad he makes you and how nothing ever seems to get better. The enemy hears you in all of this “venting” and knows exactly where to push your buttons next time, though God did not hear any of it. That’s the truth. Love will tell you the truth, because the truth is the only way to freedom.
None of the above even skimmed through any of the requirements of making the approach of help to God.
Thanksgiving is the first approach to His presence. In what part of any of the above did we give thanks?
When we give thinks in (not for) all things, we are only beginning to come into His presence. Now that we’ve come into His presence the way to stay there long enough to be inside of the place of help is to praise. Praise is how we open up the next gate. If we’ve not given thanks or praised where are we? Outside of God’s presence, and He doesn’t hear us outside where murmuring and complaining occur. He doesn’t live out there. Out there no changes will be made, and no help is available. Yet if we do not approach the right way, we stay outside. If we really want and need help and change, we must go inside and stay inside until.
We have a saying- “Pray Until Something Happens”. P.U.S.H.
That does not mean beg until something happens, or complain until something happens, or cry until something happens.
It means, to make the approaches properly and stay in the presence, do what it takes, say what is required the way He requires it, and stay THERE until something happens!
That means ditch the crying, wishing, begging, complaining, venting etc. Leave it outside the door and if and when you come out again, let it burn on the altar! Don’t pick it up. If we live this way, we can take the presence with us.
The veil was rent in two, so we could go in and God could come out, too.

Daily Repetitive Verses -
John 17:15 I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one.