When Two Or Three Are Gathered

I was struck with a thought today, one that I would like to pursue here in my blog. To follow this thought, let me ask you a question; how often do you act as if Jesus really is in the room with you when you gather with other believers

and pray?

The Bible tells us that when two or three are gathered together in Jesus name, He is there with us. (Matthew 18:19 - 20) But do we believe that, really believe? I submit that in my own life, there are times when I gather with fellow believers and have to

literally fight to stay in an attitude of prayer. I don't know why it is that I feel the urge to look at my fingernails, and try to expunge any dirt that might be there, or look around to see who is really praying and who is not. (Never mind the fact that I'm not praying.) If you and I sat down to talk, would you say that you fight the same urge?

What I find really interesting here, is that we are commanded to act as if the unseen realm is more real than the seen, yet I know for a fact that if Jesus showed up in the flesh during a prayer time at my church, I would not have any desire to clean my fingernails...no sir, I would be Johnny on the spot in the prayer department, putting on a good show for all around. What the heck is that all about?

You know even admitting this here in my blog, I almost feel as if I'm some sort of Christian poser, who probably needs to spend a lot of time on his knees repenting for that acknowledgement. But the truth is, we all do this from time to time in some form or another. Oh Jesus forgive us for our unbelief. It's easy to see the disciples in the Bible display their unbelief and say, "Oh those disciples, what a bunch of goof ups they were." Yet, we do the very things that are written about them in the Bible and don't think anything about us doing that. Ouch, yeah, I'm stepping on some toes now! (My own included.)

That passage of Scripture also says that if two of us would agree about anything, it would be done for us. Jesus is waiting to show off on our behalf, all we have to do is believe that He will and that He is there with us, and we'd be amazed at what all would happen. I think one of the things that we will learn about once we meet Jesus face to face, is that He was around us a whole lot more than we ever gave Him credit for. He may be standing right there beside you as you read this, hoping that you will give Him a chance to show off, but you and I are too busy with our own little lives, living in our own little stories unwilling to stop and pay attention to the fact that He is right there trying to lead us.

So, what has this thought provoked in you? I know that for me, I will be paying a whole lot more attention to the idea that Jesus is with us when we gather in the future. Get 'em up folks, let's go out and whip something for the Kingdom today!