Month: January 2015

Transformed in His Image

2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We were all created in the image of Our Heavenly Father.  We were created to be with Him and be one with Him, one with Jesus Christ and one with the Holy Spirit.  Even though we are burdened by our sins which God cannot accept in His presence, we can still look forward to the day that we will stand in glory in His presence because of the atoning work of His Son, Jesus.  As Christians, the stench of our sin is removed by the blood of Our Savior for all eternity. 

Yet, day to day, we remain in a battle with our flesh that seeks to remain in sin.  We must rely on the strength promised to us by Our Savior.  We must claim His promise to perfect His strength in our weakness. We must seek the aid of His Holy Spirit to help us overcome the daily torments of our flesh and the regular attacks of the enemy.  We must submit to the sanctifying process of being transformed into the image of Our Lord.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us in Your image.  We come before You to confess our sins to You, to repent of our sins and to thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to redeem us from our sins.  We pray, Lord, that You will provide the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may turn away from everything that displeases you and turn toward everything that is pleasing to you.  May we stand before You one day in the image of Your Son and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.  

The Zeal of the Child

Jeremiah 2:2

Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says: “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.

Any parent who has grown kids has fond memories of how their young children delighted in being in their presence.  They also remember how the zeal of the children being with them diminished as the children grew older and formed their network of friends.  What parent at some point doesn’t say, “how I miss those early years.” 

So it is with Our Heavenly Father.  He remembers how hungry we were to know Him when we first received His Son as Our Savior.  He feels sorrow when He sees our knowledge of Him increasing while our zeal for Him is becoming stale.  He is sad when He sees us spending so much time in the world and so little time with Him.  He longs for us to return to the energy and enthusiasm that we showed Him when we were first born again in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for pouring out Your perfect love to us so that we are able to return that love to You.  We rejoice in knowing that Your throne is always open to us and You eagerly wait for us to come to be in Your presence.  We pray, Father, that you will fill us with the zeal of young children who run to their earthly parents to express their love and their joy in being in their presence.  May the fire of Your Holy Spirit rekindle our devotion and fervency for You.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of our righteousness.  

Vessels of Refreshing

Ezekiel 36:26
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior, we are given a new heart.  We are given a heart that senses sin and danger.  We are given a penitent heart, keenly aware of the things that offend our Lord.  We are given a sanctified heart, submissive to the will of God.  We are born again into a renewed life.

Being born again is the unmistakeable work of the Holy Spirit. We are given a new vision of life – kingdom vs. carnal.  We are taught, directed and sanctified by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We are equipped to walk in the ways of Our Savior.  We are given ongoing access to the Living Water which is infinitely superior to anything that the world has to offer.  

How can we allow ourselves to grow stale when the continuous fount of refreshing is readily available?  Let us drink deeply.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the new hearts that You have given us through the redeeming work of Your Son, Jesus.  We praise the name of Jesus for the renewed lives we are given through His sacrifice.  We pray, Lord, that You will keep our hearts soft.  We beseech you to protect us against the world that tries to harden our hearts.  We humbly ask that You release the living waters in our lives so that we may stay refreshed in Christ and be vessels of refreshing to those around us.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Going Back to Where We Were

Luke 15:8

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 

Where will the woman look first for her lost coin?  She will go back to the place where she thinks that she lost the coin.  If the coin is not there, she will go back to all the other familiar places that she can think of until she finds the coin.  Even if her search takes her into darkness, she will find the light she needs to guide her to the object of her longing. 

So it is with us when we have lost our zeal for Christ.  We should go back to the place where we lost it.  Did we lose it because we cut back on our prayer time?  We need to return to our most robust prayer habits.  Did we lose it because we stopped studying the Word of God?  We should return to our diligent studies.  Did we lose it because of our habitual sin?  We need to repent and surrender to Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the most awesome treasure known to mankind, Your Son, Jesus Christ.  In our weakness, Father, we find that we have drifted away from our zeal for Your Son.  We pray that You will help us return to the place where we lost Him.  We ask that You show us how to invigorate the good discipline in our lives that we once had.  We beseech You to give us the strength we need to walk away from the torments of our flesh. Lord, bring us back to the Light of the World, our first love, Jesus Christ.  We pray these things in His holy name. 

Nothing Left to See

John 20:28
Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas, once seeing the wounds of Jesus, proclaimed both his complete belief and complete submission to his Master when he spoke the words, “My Lord and My God.”  All in one burst, Thomas asserts his interest in Jesus as his Lord, espouses his affection for Him and denotes his submission to Him.

We are all called to come to the same place where we finally “see” the total redemptive work of Jesus and fully submit to Him as Our Lord and Savior.  Nothing less is acceptable.  Anything less and our salvation is not attainable.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the loving kindness, mercy and grace that You have provided us through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that you will open our eyes so that we can see and fully appreciate the eternal value of Your Gift to us.  Lord, take us to a place in our lives where we tremble at the thought of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  May the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us so that there is nothing left in us that competes with our attention, our love, our praise or our service for Our Savior.  We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus.

Set Apart by Our Creator

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

As it was with Jeremiah, so it is with each of us.  God created us and has a plan for our lives.  He has set us apart to serve Him in a way that only we can do because of the unique nature and capabilities that He has given to each of us.  God draws each of us into a relationship with Him so that we can understand what He has prepared us to do.  We do the things that we are called to do in response to the outpouring of love that we receive from Our Creator.

As we grow in our loving relationship with Our Heavenly Father, our primary focus needs to be on finding the answer to the question, “why was I created?”, and responding accordingly.  The good news is that we do not have to answer the question nor respond on our own.  Our Heavenly Father has given us a Helper to guide us through the process of finding and accepting the calling that He has placed on our lives.  As long as we set aside time to be in the presence of Almighty God and surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will discover our “why” and rejoice in our opportunity to serve Our King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us to fill a specific need on this earth and in Your eternal kingdom.  We thank You for providing a Helper to guide us in finding and following the path that You have set aside for us.  We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will help us to dig deep into our relationship with you.  May the Holy Spirit show us the special things that you have created us to do in Your Name.  We ask, Lord, that you teach us how to become vessels of the perfect love and forgiveness that you have poured into our lives.  May it all be done in the name of, Jesus, the One who redeemed us so that we could one day be designated as good and faithful servants.

Our Source of Comfort and Provision

Isaiah 41:14
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Why is it that we ever doubt for a second that the Lord has a plan already set in place to relieve us of whatever burden that troubles us?  Did He not set aside His own glory to become man to have a plan for our salvation?  Did He not shed His own blood so that the plan could be executed on our behalf?  Does He not hold all power and wisdom in His hand?  When He has done so much already, why would He withhold any good thing from us now?
As sure as the sun rises and sets each day, 
As sure as four seasons come our way, 
As sure as each wave comes ashore, 
He will be our provision and protection forever more.

Let us set our troubles before Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithfulness.  We bless the name of Jesus who gave up everything so that we could receive the fullness of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We rejoice in knowing that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to comfort us and strengthen us.  We pray, Lord, that you forgive us for being so weak in our faith.  Strengthen our spiritual nature so that we are seeking our comfort and provision from You and not from this world.  Let us always be mindful that all things are possible through You.  We pray these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

The Struggle of the Balancing Act

Romans 6:4
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

The struggle for most Christians is realizing and adjusting the way we live by the spiritual fact that we are new men in Christ with the power to walk away from our old sin nature.  Our old flesh and our new spirit are in a battle.  The flesh wants to keep us in the world.  The Spirit wants to lead us on our path to sanctification.  There is no peace when trying to live in both worlds.

The perfect mercy and loving kindness of Our Father set aside a helper for us to manage through our daily struggles to overcome the calling of our flesh and the world.  We were given the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us and we were given God’s promise that He would perfect His strength in our weakness. 2 Cor 12:9

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan and provision for us to overcome our sin natures.  We praise the name of Jesus for sacrificing His life so that we can have victory over sin.  We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us to guide us and strengthen us.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to end our struggle to balance our lives.  May the Holy Spirit assist us and give us the strength to walk away from the world and commit everything in our lives to Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  We pray these things in His precious and holy name.

Here I Am, Send Me

Acts 26:16
Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

These are the words that Jesus spoke to Paul when He struck him down on the trail to Damascus.  Being the respecter of no man, these are the same words that Jesus speaks to every man.  By the loving kindness, mercy and grace of Our Savior, each one of us have been taken down in the flesh to be raised up anew in the spirit to serve Our Lord.  He is just waiting on us to say, “Here I am, send me.”

Saul was an enemy of the early church.  He was doing all he could to shut down the early Christians.  If God would use such a man for His good purposes, can He not use each of us?  Just as the Lord lifted Saul from his blindness to be Paul, a beacon of light to the world, He can also lift us from whatever darkness is holding us down.  He can change us into new men and women in Christ, witnesses to the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus.  All we have to do is respond to the One that is calling us.


Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking down the old man and raising up a new man in Christ.  We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to escape the darkness in our lives and empowered us to be lights on a hill for the world to see.  We rejoice in knowing that we will be bondservants to Our Savior for all eternity.  We ask that the Holy Spirit prepare us for our work, Lord.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will show us how to make our lives living testimonies to Your glory.  We pray these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

Applying God’s Holy Word to Our Lives

John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 
No matter how intelligent we might be, the teachings of the Bible will remain a mystery to us without the influence of the Holy Spirit to aid us.  Our understanding is no better than the early listeners to Jesus’ parables who “did not have ears to hear”.  We cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the work and business of the Holy Spirit, to teach, interpret, and explain all things to us which Christ had taught to His disciples. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make the Bible plain and easy to for us to understand.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us to and instruct us in all things necessary for salvation.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to prepare us to teach what we have learned to others. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be Our Helper, Our Comforter and Our Guide on our journey of sanctification.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will instruct us in all things necessary for our salvation.  We ask, Lord, for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives help us to interpret Your Holy Word.  May Your teachings become easy for us to understand and apply to our lives.  May the Holy Spirit show us how to share this precious gift with others.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.