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Lord Jesus, receive my spirit
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Posted on: 1st Apr 2015
Acts 7:58-60 (KJV)
58And cast him (Stephen) out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. 59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. 60And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
Reflections:
Stephen could have pleaded with Saul for his life and renounced Jesus, but instead he cried out this simple prayer, �Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.� And then he died. We look at this and perhaps we say, �a loving life was cut short, destroyed, and all for nothing.� -- Or, we can look at it another way: was this the very moment in time that Stephen was created for?
After all, it wasn�t long after Stephen spoke his prayer of forgiveness into the atmosphere that Saul of Tarsus was miraculously converted on the road to Damascus and became the �Apostle Paul;� the writer of much of the New Testament. Paul, the enemy of Christ, became one of His greatest assets. We mustn�t, ignore the proximity of Stephen�s prayer to Saul�s conversion.
Paul himself, personally, came to understand this selfless love, that Stephen modeled, as is evidenced by his writing of the most comprehensive chapter on love that the Bible contains (1 Cor 13). And like Stephen, Paul would one day give up his life for his Lord and Master on that very same altar of love.
Being a Christian isn�t just a simple prayer inviting Jesus into our heart, it is finally, and fully, realizing that total surrender to Christ is everything � He is the essence of life! The true Christian will gladly give his life in the service of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings once he, or she, comes to know Christ personally for who he really is:
�For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence (Col 1:16-18).�
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