Month: February 2015

Tending the Flock

John 21:17
He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep”.
Peter, believing his love for Jesus was obvious to Jesus, became frustrated.  So Peter challenged Jesus, saying, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”  Jesus’ response to Peter’s challenge was essentially, “Prove it.” 

Jesus challenges each of us as well to feed His sheep.  He calls us to provide appropriate nourishment to the young lambs and encouragement to the mature members of the flock.  He calls us to go after any that leave the flock until they are found and brought back under the protection of the Good Shepherd.

Jesus calls on each of us who love Him to go out and do the work that He was doing.  He tended to all of the needs of the people, all the way to the Cross, because of His love for His Father.  Jesus expects us to take up His work, to take up our cross, because of our love for Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to tend to our every need, especially our need to be freed from the sin that separates us from You.  In response to Your loving kindness, mercy and grace, we surrender our lives to You.  We ask that You show us the cross that You have prepared for us.  We pray, Lord, that You instruct us in the way that we should go.  May Your Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us for the journey.  Father, we pray that You release Your power through us so that others may discover the Way of the Cross.  We ask all these things in the name of the one who went to the Cross and shed His blood for us, Jesus Christ.

Even When Our Courage Fails Us

John 21:17
A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
We can be certain that the sincerity of our love for Jesus will be tested.  We will be examined by Jesus to see if we love Him more than any thing offered by this earth.  We will be measured to see if our love for Jesus qualifies us to feed His sheep.

Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?”  Peter was not hard of hearing.  The Greek translation reveals that Jesus was referring to a different level of love with each question.  The first question asked of Peter was if he loved Jesus as friends might love one another – eros.  The second question Jesus asked Peter was if he loved Jesus like he might love a brother or sister – philos.  The third time Jesus got to the heart of the matter.  He asked Peter if he had an all-consuming love for His Lord – agape.
As we grow as Christians, Jesus will challenge us until we reach an all-consuming love for Him.  All the along the way, the Holy Spirit will guide us, strengthen us and build us up as we work our way through our own personal journey of sanctification.  Through our love for Christ, we will learn to feed His sheep even when our courage fails us.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the unearned, unconditional love that You have given us, so that we may have a love gift to return to You.  We exalt Your name for willingly sending Your only begotten Son to die on the Cross to cleanse us of our sins, so that we may be deemed acceptable to present our love gift to You.  May Your grace be with us so that we can experience the fullness of Your perfect love and respond with an all-consuming love for You and Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Lord, that we will become strong enough and bold enough to feed Your sheep even when we feel to weak too care for them.  We ask all these things in the name of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Using the Weak and The Foolish for His Glory

1 Kings 17:16
The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.
Elijah, in accordance with God’s directive, went to the widow in Zarephath and requested that she make him some bread to eat.  She told Elijah that she could not feed him because she only had enough flour and oil to feed her and her son one more meal.  She then told Elijah they would die because their food supply would be exhausted.  Elijah told the woman if she made his meal first that her supply would never be exhausted.  And so it was by the word of the Lord.
When we feel the call of the Lord to fulfill a service or a charity, we should never concern ourselves with what is in our cupboard.  The Lord will always supply what we need to fulfill His work.  And when the work is done, our cupboard will overflow just as the widow’s did.

It is God’s way and it is to His glory to make use of and put honor upon the weak and foolish things of the world.  It makes perfect sense that He would want to use us to do His good work.  We certainly fit the bill of the weak and foolish.  May we stand ready to proclaim His glory through the work that we do for Him.

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to be of service to Your kingdom.  We rejoice in knowing that You will equip us to do whatever You call us to do.  We exalt You as You bless us, knowing we will be a blessing to others.  We pray that we will never question our ability or our resources as You raise us up as instruments of Your good work.  We pray that all that we do will be praise and glory to You, to Your Son Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the matchless name of Jesus.

The Fullness of Abiding in the Most High Place

Psalm 91:1

He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Loving faith on our part will always be met by faithful love, protection and provision on God’s part.  His covering of us is much greater than we can imagine.  If we are abiding in Him, there is no limit to His shadow that is over us.  He protects us at all times from natural and supernatural enemies.  He makes our homes secure.  He is our refuge in every storm.

There is a special nuance in this passage, however.  The blessings spoken of here in this passage can be greater for those believers who live in close fellowship with God.  Every believer may look toward the inner sanctuary and the mercy-seat, yet all do not dwell in the most holy place.  All believers surely run to the mercy seat in time of need and may enjoy occasional moments of communion with the Father, but the fullness of these most high blessings are for those who habitually abide in the shadow of Almighty God. Those who stand in continuous communion with God set themselves up to become possessors of rare and special benefits.  Let us seek the grace to be constant refugees in the fortress of Almighty God so that we cannot miss the fullness of His shadow.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the shadow of protection and provision that You place over us when we surrender our lives to You.  We bless the name of Jesus who has made it possible for us to come to Your mercy seat.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us as we seek to abide under Your shadow.  As we come to Your mercy seat in the name of Our Redeemer, may we learn to encourage others to trust in Him also.  We ask all these things in His Holy and Righteous Name.

Faithful to Meet Every Need

Psalm 56:11
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

It is amazing how often we struggle, wondering how our particular situation is going to get resolved.  How little faith we have in Almighty God through whom all things are possible.  But what may be even more amazing is how we have no faith that Almighty God is interested in the smallest needs in our lives when His Word proclaims that He knows the count of every hair on our heads.

Through the continuous and sometimes onerous trials that we have passed through in life, we should have learned to be silent and patient when our trials are light.  Yet we seem to become frustrated by the small stuff and lose patience.  More importantly we lose confidence in Almighty God who bottles all of our tears and observes them with tender love and concern.

May we all come full circle just as Paul did.  Through our trials, may we all praise God knowing that He is faithful to meet our every need.

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithful promises to meet our every need.  We praise You for giving us sufficient grace to get through every trial.  We pray, Lord, that You will grant us the faith to trust in You for everything in our lives.  We ask that Your Holy Spirit teach us to come to You boldly with what seems impossible and also come to You confidently with the smallest things that are troubling us.  May Your grace and power in our lives never be diminished because of our lack of understanding.  We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Blessed by the Showers of Almighty God

Ezekiel 34:26
And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.
Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of God.  Our all sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth.  And when the timing is right, He sends showers.  When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets.  You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

He will cause the showers to come down in season.  His showers will fall upon us according to His divine will and timing for our lives.  His showers will refresh us, revive us and make us fruitful unto His own purpose.  And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You and thank You for Your abundant nature.  We seek the wisdom to learn to wait on Your provision.  We pray for the strength to wait on the showers of grace that You have already set aside for us.  We ask, Father, that You help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive.  We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, Our All-Sufficient Lord.

Our King, Our Servant, Our Model

Matthew 20:28
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.
The Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords came to earth as the Son of Man.  He gave up all of His royal rights to become a servant of every man.  His servanthood was so complete that He gave up His own life and He separated Himself from the Father in order to take on all of our sins so that we might have life with the Father.
Once we claim our eternal inheritance as children of God, we accept that which we do not deserve and could not possibly earn except through the grace and mercy of Our Savior.  When we recognize that Jesus Christ served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness and our sin, we should exhaust ourselves serving all men for His sake.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, should we not follow the model of Our Master? We should be in constant communion with the Father, just as Jesus was, so that we can determine the will and plan that Our Heavenly Father has for our lives.  We should then be servants to all men in accordance to the will and plan that the Father reveals to us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to be bond servants in Your kingdom.  We praise the name of Jesus who came as Son of Man to show us the model for living in accordance with Your will.  We come before You to proclaim how unworthy we are of all that You have set aside for us to do in service to Your kingdom.  We bless the name of Jesus who has made us worthy servants through the shedding of His blood.  We pray, Father, that You fill us with the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may pour ourselves out to all men.  May the hearts of those around us be prepared to receive what we have to offer in the name of Our Savior.  We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer.

No Waiting…The Holy Spirit is In.

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God!
Is there anything that we have learned to hate more than waiting?  What is it about traffic lights, grocery lines, internet downloads, etc. that create such an angst?  Has patience disappeared completely in our lives?

Is there anything that frustrates us more than lack of success in whatever we are doing?  Or perhaps more frequently, we are frustrated that things are just taking too long.  Even when we know we are doing everything right and in the right way, the results become more important to us than the process.  When did we lose sight of the fact that God is in control of everything?   

The pain of waiting for anything and the pain of waiting on success both stem from the same issue.  We are focusing on self gratification and not focusing on the plans that God has for our lives and His perfect will for our lives.  Fortunately, the Lord has provided the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us so that we may overcome and endure all that comes our way in life.  There is no waiting line here.  Step right up!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the good plan for our lives that You promise us in Your Holy Word.  We praise You for Your Holy Spirit who guides us and strengthens us so that we can overcome the desires of our flesh that are not in accordance with Your plans.  We pray, Father, that You renew our minds so that we will know Your will for our lives.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to learn to be still and wait on the all sufficient grace and provision that You promise us.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, Our Blessed Hope and Assurance.

Is Anything Too Precious for Him?

Mark 14:6
But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?
When Jesus was dining with a group at Simon’s home, a woman with an alabaster jar full of very expensive perfume came up to Jesus, broke the jar open and poured it’s costly contents on Him.  She was criticized by the group at the table for such an extravagant gesture.  Jesus quickly scolded the group for not seeing the value of what she was doing. 
When we become broken vessels and pour out everything we have to glorify Our Savior, we can be assured that the world will demean us for our efforts.  We can find comfort in knowing that Our Lord is greatly pleased and glorified by our expressions of love.  He will honor us and commend us for our efforts just as He did for the woman.

We should pour out unto Him all the best of our adorations.  We should love Him with all our heart, never fearful of how our zeal and affection will be misunderstood.  After all, Jesus poured out all that He had for us.  Is there anything too precious for us to give to Him?  Surely there is not.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son who poured out all that He had for us.  We exalt the name of Jesus for spilling His blood on our behalf.  We come before You to bring all of our love, our praises and our blessings to bestow them upon Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to pour out all that we are, all that we will ever be, all that we have and all that we will ever have in joyous thanksgiving for all that Our Savior has done for us.  May we never hold back a single thing in expressing our love for Jesus.  We pray all these things in His precious, holy and mighty name.

Joining Jesus in His Work

John 14:31
But I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
We cannot possibly find a better model for life than the only man who lived without sin.  And what was it that this man without sin did?  He loved His Father and He did what His Father asked of Him.  Then He asked others to join Him in His work.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are asked to be obedient to the Father as He was.  We are asked to preach the Gospel as He did.  We are asked to suffer for the sake of the kingdom as He did.  We are asked to fully surrender to the will of the Father as He did.  We are asked to find others who will join in the work of the kingdom, just as the Son of Man did.  In doing so, we join Jesus in doing His work.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us so that we could show the world how much we love You.  We bless the name of Jesus for surrendering His life to You so that we can surrender to You.  We thank You, Father, for the privilege of joining Your Son, Jesus, in His work.  We pray, Lord, that You will raise us up as instruments of Your good work.   We ask that You use us as vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We seek the wisdom, grace and the strength to be able to gather others to unite with us in union with Jesus Christ.  We ask all these things in the holy name of Our Lord, Our King and Our Savior.