Month: April 2014

Living and Loving in the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.

God is love.  His love is unconditional and without end.  His love  for us is expressed explicitly through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.  

We are able to love because God loved us first.  He created a spot in our hearts so that we could receive His love and return it to Him.  He gave us the capacity to share His love with the world around us.  He gave us the Holy Spirit so that our love could be an endless spring.

When we are living in accordance with the Holy Spirit within us, we are capable of extraordinary service to those around us.  When we try to live by the world’s standards, we will choose to serve ourselves first.  The spontaneity of our love and service will tell us where we are living.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us unconditionally.  We thank You that Your love flows to us endlessly.  Prepare our hearts, Lord, so that we may become vessels of Your perfect love.  Cleanse us, Lord, of anything in our hearts that would restrict the flow of Your love in our lives.  May we bear much fruit for Your kingdom through the spontaneous release of Your love to the world around us.

The God of "What’s Left"

Daniel 4:14-15
He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field.

King Nebuchadnezzar was at ease in his house and prospering greatly.  In his own words, the Most High God had blessed him in every way.  But because of Nebuchadnezzar’s unrighteousness and iniquities, it was all taken away from him.  The Most High God, who had provided it all to Nebuchadnezzar, allowed it all to be taken away.  Ultimately, when Nebuchadnezzar turned his eyes back to the the Lord, all was returned to the King.

In the scripture above, King Nebuchadnezzar is the tree.  God commands that the tree be stripped of all branches, leaves and fruit.  But as the God of all mercy stripped everything away from the tree, he left a stump from which the tree could rise again.

Almighty God is not only the God of all provision, He also the God of all loss.  No loss can occur in our lives without God allowing it.  But our merciful Lord, who is filled with lovingkindness, is also the God of “what’s left”.  So no matter what we are going through, or have gone through, God has commanded that something be left from which He can raise us up according to His perfect plans for our lives.  (Today’s teaching taken from a sermon by Jentezen Franklin)

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for every provision in our lives.  We give You all the glory and the praise for Your grace and lovingkindness.  Teach us, Lord, how to give you all the glory and praise when we are experiencing loss in our lives. Build up our faith so that we may endure while You raise us up from “what is left” in our lives to the good and perfect place that You have planned for us.

A Higher Place for the Faint of Heart

Jeremiah 31:25
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.

What a tremendous promise we have from the Lord.  The promise was first spoken to draw the Jews out of bondage back to their homelands and back to Himself.  

The promise still holds true for all of us today as the Lord encourages us with His extraordinary promise to give us the strength that we need to break away from all the bondage in our lives.  He gives us the spiritual inspiration that we need to renew our devotion to Him when it is lagging.  He calls  us to live in a higher place – a place where His presence brings us complete comfort, peace and satisfaction.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Yourself and providing all that we need to make the journey.  We pray that You raise up in us the desire to join You, bringing with us the fullness of love and devotion that You seek from us.  Lift us up, Lord, to a higher place – a place that we cannot reach without You.

It’s Growing Time

Song of Solomon 2:11-12
For behold, the winter is past;
 the rain is over and gone.
 The flowers appear on the earth,
 the time of singing has come,
 and the voice of the turtle dove
 is heard in our land.

Just as the earth goes through seasons, so do we.  Remarkably, our supernatural seasons tend to coincide with the natural seasons.  We should be alert in the spring of the year to seek the new things that God is trying to bring into our lives.  If we are growing in Christ, we will always be taken to higher levels in service, praise, worship and fellowship with Our Savior.

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the seasons in our lives.  We thank You for taking us through the dark of the winter so we can see You more clearly in the light of the spring.  We pray that you will inspire us to seek the newness in Christ that You have planned to raise up in us this spring.  May new fruit come from our growth as Jesus’ disciples this year.




Good and Faithful Servants

Luke 10:20
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When following the Lord’s calling on our lives, the blessing and power of Jesus Christ will be ours to use to overcome the enemy in our lives and the lives of those that we serve.  We must be careful not to call our victories our own for all the glory is for Our Savior.  If our pride allows us to claim the glory, our fall is certain.

We cannot take a commercial view of the things that we do for Jesus.  That is, we cannot measure ourselves by the results of our work.  Our work for the Lord is not about success.  It is about the deepening relationships that we are forming with Him as His disciples.  It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the power and blessings that You release in our lives through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus.  We ask You, Lord Jesus, to show us how to become Your true disciples.  We ask You to give us the power to overcome the enemy in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we bring the salvation message.   We ask that You open the eyes of those around us that they may see and seek Your Spirit that lives within us.  May we all be prepared for the time that we stand before You to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”



God’s Workforce

1Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Consider how liberating it would be if someone told you, “Just follow my instruction and do not worry about the results.  I will be responsible for the results.  You will be richly rewarded for following my instruction no matter what happens.”  

This is where God wants us.  He wants us to serve Him without any concern about the outcome other than to have the faith that He will fulfill what He asks us to do for Him.  He simply wants us to be instruments of His work, living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to join You in Your work.  We rejoice in knowing that You receive great honor and glory when Your children surrender to the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in their lives. Open our eyes so that we may see what You are calling us to do in Your kingdom.  Release in us all the power and authority that is ours through Jesus Christ.  Shield us from taking on destructive personal pride as we see success when doing Your work.

His Power and His Blessing

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

The fullness of everything that we need and the fullness of everything that will satisfy us is held in the hands of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ.  And He dwells in us that we may draw on His power and His blessings.

Man can never be counted on to stand by us through all circumstances.  At some point, all men will fail one another.  The Lord, Jesus, never fails us.  He is with us even under the direst circumstances, even the ones that we have created ourselves.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You provide to us through Your Son.  We pray that You show us how to turn to Jesus first in all things.  Strengthen us so that we may leave behind our reliance on a fallen world.  Prepare us to stand before You one day in the image of Your Son. 

Discovering Christ Daily

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

The greatest treasure of all time is ours.  The treasure that will satisfy our hearts forever is ours for the taking.  Magnificent gifts of grace and anointing are awaiting us.  All we have to do is step beyond being satisfied with knowing about our treasure and into the world of incessant discovery.

God exerted His great power when He resurrected Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand.  He has made this power available to all who believe in the Son and surrender to Him to rule and reign in their lives.  

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son as our Lord, Our King and Our Master.  Through Him we receive our hope in knowing that His power will strengthen us and that His presence will bring us a sweet calm in time of trouble.  Open our eyes, Lord, that we may seek the fullness of the presence of Jesus in our lives.  Take us beyond the knowledge of Your Son to the high places where we experience His presence daily.  Help us deepen our relationship with Our Savior.

Standing Firmly on His Promises

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus fulfilled everything that He was called to do.  Even though He was tested beyond human imagination, He never faltered once in His obedience to the plans of God for His life.  He overcame all of His trials because He was one with the Father and He trusted in the promises of the Father.  And indeed, He did rise on the third day, fulfilling all of God’s promises for mankind.

It is very easy to say, “I give up.  I cannot do it.”  This course may even be acceptable if it is in reference to some earthly pursuit.  But, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.

We are to be anxious in nothing for God promises to take care of our every need and He promises to finish anything that He has called us to do.  The victory is in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to its pursuit.  All we have to do is stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the guarantor of Your promise of eternal life available to each of us.  We exalt the name of Jesus for His complete obedience to His calling as Our Savior.  We pray for the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be obedient to the completed purpose and plans that You have set aside for our lives.  May we stand firmly on Your promises.




Always Alert and Eager to Serve

Exodus 3:4
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Moses was going about his normal business of shepherding the flock when he came upon the burning bush.  He could have run away in fear or he could have simply walked away thinking that this is no concern of mine.  Instead, he approached the bush to discover more of this mystery unfolding before him.  When the Lord saw that He had Moses’ attention, He called out to him and Moses responded, “Here I am.”

Moses was alert to look for God in his daily life.  More importantly, Moses was ready to hear and act upon whatever the Lord asked him to do.

So it should be with us.  We should look for God at all times.  We should expect to be surprised by Him showing up in the smallest details of our everyday lives.  Most importantly, we should be ready to respond to His calling.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always being present with us.  We exalt Your Name for being our ever present God.  We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see You in every detail of our lives, from the grandest places and moments to the lowliest of places and moments.  May Your Holy Spirit prepare us to be alert to see Your presence and to hear Your calling.  May we always be eager to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.