Month: April 2016

Spring Cleaning Time is Here

Song of Solomon 2:11
For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. 
Just as the earth goes through seasons, so do we.  Remarkably, our supernatural seasons tend to coincide with the natural seasons.  As we respond to the gloominess of the dark winter days, we tend to become inactive like the flowers and the trees.  As the spring arrives, we tend to become more lively.  We enjoy a sense of calmness and peace and we look forward to a fruitfulness in our works.
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.  May we turn away from the darkness of the winter past and turn toward the light of Jesus Christ.  May we look for the arrival of the harvest around us as the cold, hard ground of winter becomes the fertile, soft soil of the spring.

It is spring cleaning time.  Let us dust off any complacency that has arisen in our winter time.  Let us shake off the things that have us stuck in one place.  Let us draw near to Our Savior who is anxious to release new fruit in our lives.
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 Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to seek the newness and boldness in Christ that You have planned to raise up in us this spring.  We pray that You will use us to harvest the souls of the men and women surrounding us as You prepare their hearts to be fertile grounds for Your Good News.  May new fruit come from our growth as Jesus’ disciples this year.  We ask all these things in the name of the eternal spring, Jesus Christ. 

Rightly Relating to Our Successful Service for the Kingdom of God

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 Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, they all came back with stories of victory against the enemy.  Jesus had to forewarn them not to be overcome by their success.
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 alert to the fact that victory over the enemy and any type of fruitful service for the kingdom of God can be quite intoxicating.  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.
Further, we must not let ourselves 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 relationship that we are forming with Him as His disciples.  It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with the Father.  It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom.  As we rightly relate to our success in serving God, we shall become more useful in our service for Him.
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.”  We ask all these things, Lord Jesus, in Your precious and holy name for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Working Alongside the Son of God

1Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
The first day on any job is generally very exciting and also somewhat stressful.  Immediately, we are naturally concerned about the results that we are going to be able to produce in our new job.  Consider how liberating it would be if the first thing our new boss told us was, “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.”
If the boss we choose to serve is Our Father in heaven, then we have found the liberating boss that we have always longed for.  More importantly, 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. 
It may be entirely possible that we are taking on work for which no man is sufficient.  Yet in submission to the Father, we are only asked to be diligent and faithful in carrying out our calling.  We are certain to find that we have a co-laborer in Christ.  Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, will look over us, direct us and strengthen us as we do our part in bringing in His harvest.
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.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who saved us and called us to join Him in serving His Father in heaven, Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Heavenly Places

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.
In this passage we are given the summation of all of our blessings.  God the Father is the author and giver of all blessings.  Jesus Christ is the medium that God the Father uses to dispense His blessings.  The sphere of coverage is every single blessing in heavenly places. 
The fullness of everything that we need and the fullness of everything that will satisfy us originates with God the Father.  Every iota of these blessings is held in the hands of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ.  And His Holy Spirit dwells in us as the dispensing fount that we may draw on at any time.
Why should we ever look elsewhere?  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.

Let us surrender ourselves to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  Let us prepare to receive all that He can bestow, all that His Son can provide and all that the Holy Spirit can apply in our lives.
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, Lord, so that we may leave behind our reliance on a fallen world.  Prepare us, Father, to stand before You one day and receive the fullness of Your kingdom in heaven.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Mediator, Jesus Christ.

The Treasure of Our Hearts Awaits

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?”  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”?
The greatest treasure of all time is ours.  The treasure of knowing Almighty God will satisfy our hearts forever.  It 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 head knowledge about our treasure and into the world of a discovery of the heart.
Philip had seen Jesus with His eyes, but he had not fully discovered Him with his heart.  We must be aware of the importance of truly seeking a relationship with Almighty God.  He is our loving Father.  He is eager for us to approach Him as Our Father in heaven.  While He is pleased when we study His Word and we sit at the feet of His teachers to learn about Him, He desires for us to have so much more.  He longs for us to seek intimacy with Him and He provides the way for us to do so through His salvation plan.  
God exerted His great power when He resurrected Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand.  He reserved a place in heaven for all who believe in His Son and surrender to Him to rule and reign in their lives.  May the desires of our heart be quickened by our hunger for a deep personal relationship with Almighty God through His beloved Son. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son as the gateway to Your kingdom.  Open our eyes, Lord, that we may not only seek our salvation through Your Son, but that we may also seek the fullness of His presence in our lives.  We pray that the Holy Spirit take us beyond the knowledge of Your Son to the high places where we experience an intimate relationship with Him daily.  Help us, Father, deepen our relationship withYour Son so that we may know You according to the fullness of heart that You have set aside for us.  We ask all these things in the name of Your Living Testimony, Jesus Christ.

Being Obedient to God’s Call on Our Lives

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.  Through the process, it was a blessing to us all that Jesus did not listen to the voice of others around Him.  Peter specifically rebuked Jesus for proclaiming such a tragic ending to His life.  Jesus let Peter know that he spoke Satan’s language when he suggested that Jesus step away from His mission.
It is very easy to say, “I give up.  I cannot do it.”  This is especially true when we allow others in our lives to suggest that the values of man should be given more weight than the callings of God upon our lives.  In essence, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.
Jesus 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.  In the same way, 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.  Our victories are in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to their pursuit.  All we have to do is stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty just as Jesus did.
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.  We ask these things in the name of the One who secured our victories on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Responding to the Presence of God in Our Lives

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 not see anyone who might have started the fire.  Moses could have run away in fear or he could have simply walked away thinking that this is no concern of mine.  Instead, Moses approached the bush to discover more of this mystery unfolding before him.   He heard a voice but there was no human there speaking it.  But it was unmistakeable to Moses, He was being addressed by someone who knew him and knew His name.  When the Lord saw that He had Moses’ attention, He called out to him and Moses responded, “Here I am.”

As noted, the first appearance of God to Moses was while he was tending his sheep.  This seems poor employment for someone who was raised as a prince in the Pharaoh’s court. Yet Moses was well satisfied and God was pleased with him.  God was pleased with Moses because he was learning the meekness and contentment that he would need in the calling that was awaiting him.  He was also pleased with Moses because Moses was seeking God in his life. 

Moses is a great model for each of us.  He looked for God in his daily life and, 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.  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.  We ask all these things in the name of our ever present Lord, Jesus Christ.

There Is No Tolerance in the Truth

1 Corinthians 3:11
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
In construction, if a beam is one degree out of level it is no longer true.  There is no tolerance for this measure.  The beam is either true or it is not true.
The world would like to teach us that there are many ways to heaven besides accepting Jesus Christ as Savior.  It is sad to say that Satan has done a remarkable job selling this line of thinking, putting a large portion of mankind in danger of missing the way, the truth and the life that is only found in Jesus.
We Christians must be extremely careful not to bend the Word of God to fit today’s culture.  The Word of God is the truth.  God’s Word is the same today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow.  Jesus Christ alone is the firm, abiding and immovable Rock of Ages.  In every way, He is able to bear all the weight of the sins of mankind that has been placed upon Him.  He alone can bear this load.  He alone is the trustworthy foundation.  Anyone who sets their foundation elsewhere will find nothing but destruction in their future.

Making God’s Word more pleasing to others is not being tolerant.  It is abandoning what is true.  More importantly, massaging God’s Word to make it more acceptable to the world endangers the eternal lives of those that we may be trying to appease.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Word is true and that Your promises are certain.  May You open our hearts to receive the fullness and truth in the precepts that You reveal to us through Your Holy Word.  May You embolden us to speak the truth about Your Son as the world around us rejects Him.  May You strengthen us to stand firmly on the foundation that only He provides.  We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Fully Consumed by His Love

Matthew 22:37
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
To love God with all of our heart, soul and mind requires that all of our physical strength and all of our intellect and understanding be fully engaged in turning all of our affections toward our heavenly Father.  May we always be mindful that God provided His Son to die for our sins because we can not measure up to this command from Almighty God.  We simply do not have the capacity, except through Christ in us, to love God to the extent that our love consumes our whole heart, soul and mind.
We should also be mindful that God is completely aware of our weakness.  He provides His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to guide us along our path of sanctification.  The Holy Spirit will not rest when we depart from making God the love above all loves in our lives.  The Holy Spirit will not accept us living with one foot in God’s kingdom and one foot in the world.  It is all or nothing with the Holy Spirit.  The good news is that the Holy Spirit’s job is to follow through on God’s promise to perfect His strength in our weakness.

Charles Spurgeon captured the essence of this command so eloquently in his teaching. “Come in, O strong and deep love of Jesus, like the sea at the flood in spring tides, cover all my powers, drown all my sins, wash out all my cares, lift up my earth-bound soul, and float it right up to my Lord’s feet, and there let me lie, a poor broken shell, washed up by His love, having no virtue or value; and only venturing to whisper to Him that if He will put His ear to me, He will hear within my heart faint echoes of the vast waves of His own love which have brought me where it is my delight to lie, even at His feet for ever.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the mercy and the endless grace that You provide to each of us.  We bless the name of Jesus who allows us to fulfill the law that we cannot fulfill on our own.  Help us, Lord, to be keenly aware of the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  Help us to humbly accept the corrections that the Holy Spirit is asking us to make in our lives.  We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will take us to the high places that can only be reached when our hearts are fully consumed by Your love.  We ask all these things in the name of the Exalted One, Jesus Christ.

Paired Side By Side With the Son of God

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
In days of old, the yoke was used to pair field animals together.  The yoke enabled the pair to work together more efficiently.  In this passage, Jesus invites us to join Him in His yoke. He then points out that He is gentle and lowly in heart.  Thus, He is telling us that He is a willing servant that welcomes us along side, where He will teach us about His demeanor and bring us rest.  How could we pass on such an offer from our Servant King?  How could we pass on the opportunity to learn from the only man who ever lived in perfection?  How could we pass on being paired side by side in all things with the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ?
And consider this…to make the offer even greater, Jesus places no limits on the time He will allow us to come along side of Him.  Nor does He place any limits on the burdens that He would share with us.  His invitation to be at His side is available 24-7.  He is always along side us to bring us comfort when we are under the greatest level of stress or experiencing pain at the limits of our ability to endure.  Truly He offers us the endless joy that He shares with the Father.  When we surrender to the yoke of Our Lord, the joy of the Lord is our strength when we would have none otherwise. When we take up His yoke, we take on His meekness, His humility, His lowliness and, most of all, His complete subjection to His Father.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to get through our troubles.  We rejoice in knowing that we can find joy in the heaviest of burdens when we accept the yoke that is offered by Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that You teach us how to be lowly in heart so that we readily accept our place in the yoke. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Comforter who rescues those who are crushed in spirit.