Month: February 2013

The Lord is our wonderful counsel, available 24 hours a day.  Why then do we insist on moving forward without Him?  Why do we not include Him in every decision that we have to make – whether it be big or small.  Is it because we don’t have an intimate relationship with Him?  Are we not close enough to Him that we can feel comfortable in addressing all things with Him?  Draw close to Our Savior and move not one step without His wonderful counsel.  

We are so quick to limit Jesus.  Our faith is so shallow.  We think of ourselves as we used to be before we accepted Him as our Savior.  We try to limit Jesus to our known capabilities.  The truth is that Jesus dwells within us and the depth of His almighty power is ours to tap into.  How sorrowful it is to know that we limit our ability to serve the King because we limit the King Himself by our self-reliance.  If we would look to Jesus instead of ourselves, there would be no limits to what we could do for the kingdom of Our Lord.  Look to Jesus!

We seem to try to put limits on the power that Jesus has to offer us.  On one hand, we are skeptical to think that He would do something way outside the realm of the natural for us.  On the other hand, we think it foolish to bother Him with the small needs in our life.  All we seem to trust Jesus with are the things that we believe we could control, but currently we cannot.  If we would open our minds to understand and receive all that Jesus is willing and able to provide us, we would discover that His powers and His willingness to come to our aid are without limits – regardless of the scope, scale or timing of our needs.

Jesus Christ showed us the ultimate in service to mankind.  With His sacrifice, He poured out upon us His perfect love.  Now it is our duty to receive His perfect love and pour it out on to mankind in His name.  This outpouring need not be a magnificent display.  It can be as simple as doing something loving for our spouses, our friends or for a neighbor.  The Lord waits to see us pour out His Spirit freely as we shed the old man and become the new man that He has created us to be.

Once we have accepted Jesus and His calling on our lives, we are no longer able to choose what we would like to do.  We must lay down anything and everything that interferes with the things that He calls us to do.  The process is for us, not for Him.  He does not need us to accomplish His work.  We need Him and gain everything by setting aside those things in our lives that do not fit the purposes that He has for our lives.  Our gain is based in our sacrifices which purify us to do His work.

Not one of us deserves the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us to prepare our way to heaven.  So how can we be offended by others who would dishonor us or not give us proper recognition for our good deeds.  It is not them that we serve.  It is the Lord and Master alone that we serve.  If it be otherwise, we will quickly lose our desire to serve anyone.  Only when our service is done for the Lord and pleases God does it have any value.  Whether it pleases man or not has no real value.

God will give us the desires of our heart, but He will not give them to us until we are ready to receive His best.  To prepare us He takes us through trials and tribulations that build our faith in Him.  We will recognize His hand in our lives when He takes us to places where everyone else has given up or given in, yet we are driving forward in confident faith.

God does not need any of us to do His work.  He allows us to join Him in His work because it nourishes our souls.  It is His perfect loving flowing through us that refreshes us and flows on to those that we are serving.  

We do not need to concern ourselves with our personal shortcomings as we do the work that the Lord called us to do.  His perfect love and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives will be sufficient for us.  He will provide all the strength and resources that we need to be His vessels.

Arise and join God in His good work.  His good work is all around us.  Surely the Lord has called us to some place where He is working.  It matters not whether we feel prepared  to do the work for He prepares the way.  Once He has called us to join Him in any work, it is not our battle.  It is His.  Go boldly and know that the work of the Lord will be done.  Praise God!

Count it all joy.  There is no drudgery in the Lord.  No matter how small or insignificant a task seems, if it is done in conjunction with the purpose God has for our lives, the performance of that task brings joy to Our Heavenly Father.  If we do things that delight the Master, surely these same things will lift our spirits.  Always be mindful that God has promised to give us great responsibility in Heaven, if we are obedient in the small things here on earth.