Month: October 2014

Living with Boldness, Courage and Confidence

Romans 5:2
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

One of the greatest gifts that we receive through faith is the ability to approach our death beds with peace and joy, not with fear and trembling.  Through our faith, we know that what awaits us in heaven is beyond our imagination.  Through our faith, we know that at our death we will be set free of every pain and challenge that life has brought to us.  Through our faith we know that we will spend eternity in the presence of Almighty God and we will be worthy to be there.

This kind of faith is actually worked out in us on this earth.  This kind of faith by its nature must be tried.  This kind of faith is built up through all of the trials that we face seemingly alone.  This kind of faith is built up when we realize we were never alone.  We know we have this kind of faith when we can approach where we now stand with boldness, courage and confidence knowing that Jesus is always right beside us to carry us through.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the faith that brought us to receive Your Son, Jesus, as Our Savior.  We thank You for the faith to believe in Your Holy Word and reject all that contradicts it.  We praise the name of Jesus for standing by us as we enjoy all the blessings that You bring us and endure all the trials that life throws at us.  We pray, Father, for the grace and the strength to live every day of our lives in the conscious delight of who we are in Christ.  

My God is My Rock

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Our faith comes into play whenever we encounter pain, conflict or disorder in our lives.  Our natural reaction is to try to fix everything ourselves.  All too often, we do not turn to God until we have exhausted all of our own failed initiatives.

God wants us to turn to Him first.  He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything, whether it be big or small.  We grow into this place through our relationship with Jesus.  The Psalmist David captured the relationship perfectly in Psalm 18:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the endless fount of faith that you make available to us through Your Son, Jesus.  We praise Your name for the comfort that we enjoy because of the faith that we have in Your promises.  Lord, we ask for the wisdom to turn to You first in all things.  May You provide the grace for us to free ourselves from the need to try to fix everything ourselves.  We humbly ask that all that all of our earthly efforts be in obedience to Your will and plan for our lives.  Through the love of Jesus, may all that we do be as worship to You.

Living with a Renewed Heart

2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The importance of Jesus taking on all sin is that all men can become worthy to stand before the Father in a righteous state.  By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, all believers are eligible to do away with all that separates them from their eternal inheritance.

Through salvation, all the sins of the old man are gone – nonexistent.  All that remains before the Father is the new man in Christ without blemish.  The new man that stands before the Father is made in His own image.  The new man is now the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  He is worthy to dwell with the Father for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us in Your image, heirs to Your kingdom.  We ask forgiveness for all those things in our lives that make us unacceptable to stand before You and accept our eternal blessings.  We praise the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who took on all of our sin so that we may become righteous in Your eyes.  We pray, Father, that You will provide the grace for us to live in accordance with the renewed hearts given to us by Jesus.  May we live by new principles, new rules, new ends and in new company.  May our outward reformation be living testimony to Your kingdom.  We pray that those around us will seek the One who knew no sin. 


White As Snow Forever

Romans 5:10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

God is holy, holy, holy.  Sin cannot exist in His presence.  To have any type of sin remaining means eternal separation from the Father in heaven.  Thus, every person in heaven must be without sin.  There cannot be even the slightest stain.  In fact, there cannot even be the memory of sin.  Every person in heaven will be holy.

The Good News of the Gospel is that God provided the way for our complete cleansing through the death of His Son, Jesus, on the Cross.  It is the shed blood of Jesus that washes us clean and allows us to stand before the Father white as snow forever.  All we have to do is accept Jesus as Our Savior.  All the necessary work was finished on the Cross.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to have eternal access to Your heavenly kingdom.  We praise You.  We love You.  We bless Your name.  We rejoice in knowing that we will worship You forever.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us all in our lives that is displeasing to You.  We ask for the grace to walk the perfect path of sanctification that You have set aside for us.  May we live in the fullness of the One who suffered and died for us.  May we surrender daily to our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Did Not Issue a Quota

Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

How many did you win?  How many did you sell?  How much profit did you make?  These are the clamorings of men and women who trying to measure their success against their perceived plans.  

Sometimes it pours over into the things we do in service to Our Lord.  How many attended the 11am service?  How much did we collect at the offering?  How many responded to the altar call?  Man’s desire to satisfy/gratify his own need is insatiable.  

Man’s desire to convert God’s work to his own plan is a common practice.  Our Heavenly Father has a different plan.  Almighty God does not call us to results.  Jesus did not tell His disciples to go out and win souls.   He asked them to go out and teach the people about having a relationship with Him.

Jesus did not give His disciples a quota, nor does He give us one.  He simply asks that we teach the world around us about the relationship that we have with Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in knowing that it is Your will that no man shall perish.  We thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Father, that You will use us to teach the world about Your wonderful salvation plan. We ask for the grace to set aside our own personal desires and plans so that we may fully submit to the perfect will and plan that You have for our lives.  Through the presence and power of Jesus in our lives, may we make disciples of others.  









Thriving Under the Power and Authority of Jesus

John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

In one brief statement, Jesus gave the disciples the peace that they needed to overcome the fear that had them gathered in a hiding place and the power and authority that they needed to be successful in their calling.  So it is for us.

It is so easy to be overwhelmed by all that the world throws at us.  It is so easy to become discouraged, even fearful of the outcome ahead of us.  It is so easy to withdraw to a hiding place where doing nothing seems comfortable.  Yet the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” are just as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago.

Are we giving back to the Lord as He has given to us?  He has given us the peace, the power and the authority to do what He has called us to do.  Much has been given to us.  Are we doing all we can do with what we have been given?  Surely we will not leave on the table the feast that He has set before us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to be good and faithful servants.  We rejoice in knowing that there is nothing in the world that can stop us from bringing to harvest the seeds that You have given us to plant.  Father, we pray that You give us the wisdom to see the bounty that You have planned for us.  We ask for the grace and the strength that we need to thrive under the power and authority that we have through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Love, Compassion and Forgiveness 24-7

1 Corinthians 9:22
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Paul shared with the Corinthians his passion to carry out the good work of delivering the message of salvation to all men.  He emphasized that this required him to be a servant to all men, regardless of their stature or their spiritual state.  In doing so, he was also teaching them that carrying the gospel to all men was their calling also.

God calls people to all walks of life to insure that His gospel message is spread to the world.  He calls some to full time ministry, but most are not.  Most of us are called to traditional occupations where the Lord wants us to let Christ be revealed by the way we live and by the way we treat others.

God wishes for our messages of love, compassion and forgiveness to be the same whether we are in a boardroom or in a maintenance shop, whether we are in a health club or in a hospital, whether we are at a church function or in the visiting room of a prison.  He wants our messaging system to be on 24-7.

All we have to do is surrender our lives to Our Savior and submit to the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord will draw spiritual production from us within the structure of our natural lives.  He will direct our lives toward paths of fruitfulness.  And the glory will go to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love, compassion and forgiveness that You pour out onto each of us.  We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to become vessels of Your grace.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us and invigorate us to carry the salvation message with us 24-7 as we walk through our daily lives.  May we bear fruit for Your kingdom here on earth.














Savoring the Presence of the King

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.

As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, all of our triumphs are in Him.  All of our success, especially our success in leading others to the Lord, are reasons for each of us to rejoice.  In our joy, we must go forward in life, not covered in pride, but covered in the sweet aroma of His presence.

While it is a wonderful thing for us to proclaim to the world how Our Savior atoned for our sins and made us worthy to be heirs of the kingdom of Almighty God, our living testimony should be much more.  The world should be able to see the presence of Jesus in every single action we take and in every single word that we speak.  The world should be able to savor the experience of being near Jesus Christ just by being near us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us conquerors over all things in this world.  We rejoice in the victories that we claim through Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that we be given the grace to overcome the arrogance and the pride that naturally come with victory.  We pray that in every victory all praise, honor and glory goes to You Father, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit.  May the aroma of the One who brought the victory be spread around the world as we become living testimonies to His presence in our lives.

Renewed in Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The two greatest commandments, as taught to us by Jesus Himself, are:
1)  Love God with you whole heart, whole mind, whole soul and with all your strength.
2)  Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Jesus went on to teach us that all other commandments hang off of these two.  These two great commandments are broken down in what we know as The Ten Commandments.  The first half of which direct our behavior toward God and the second half which direct our behavior toward one another.

The Ten Commandments represent the summation of the law by which we are all called to live in order to be worthy to live with Almighty God in heaven.  Unfortunately, no man, not one, can meet the requirements of these commandments, at least not in the flesh.

Fortunately, through the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace of Almighty God, we were given His Son in a new covenant.  No longer judged by the law, our eternal resting place is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Through our relationship with Jesus, we are given a new nature, fully acceptable to Our Father in heaven.  

While the old man, crippled by his sin, continues to struggle in the flesh, the renewed man in Christ acts with a renewed heart given to Him as a workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus to do good works.  The old things pass away one by one in exchange for the righteousness of Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rest at the foot of the Cross in thanksgiving for the eternal lives that we receive through Your Son, Jesus.  We praise Your name for the mercy that You have extended to us as Your receive us in the image of Your Son because of the atonement that He provided for our sins.  We rejoice in receiving the new natures that we have been given so that our service for You shall be judged worthy.  We pray, Lord, that You accelerate us toward the day in which the last bit of the old man has passed away and we love You with our whole hearts, whole minds, whole souls and all of our strength.








Take Off Your Sandals

Romans 8:16
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we become heirs to the kingdom of God.  At this moment, we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit then comes into agreement with our spirit that we are children of God.
There are several remarkable things are thus confirmed:  

1. As we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, the presence of Almighty God is with us. “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.” Matthew 18:20  

2. When we listen to and come into agreement with the Holy Spirit, whatever we ask shall be done by the Father. “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 18:19

3.  In our spirits, we are holy.  For wherever God is, is holy.  When God called to Moses from the burning bush, the first thing God told him was, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5  Some 40 years later when God appeared to Joshua as the Israelites besieged Jericho, He again said, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” Joshua 5:15

Protected by God’s presence and empowered by His promises, we have greater power in our lives than anything that can come against us.  To access that power, we must “remove our sandals”. We must acknowledge the holiness of Almighty God, surrender fully to Him and humble ourselves by releasing our earthly trappings and the pollutions of our flesh.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to become temples of the Holy Spirit.  We bless the name of Jesus whose blood washed us clean so that the Holy Spirit could dwell within us.  We rejoice in knowing that we live under the power and authority of Your presence in our lives.  We pray, Lord, for the grace and the strength to humble ourselves before You in awe of who You are.  We ask, Lord, that the world may see and benefit from Your holiness in us.