Month: August 2016

Can We Pray Without Ceasing?

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We have the opportunity and the privilege to communicate with the Creator, Our Creator, throughout the day.  We can have as many touch points with Almighty God as we would like.  Not only do we have the opportunity to call on Our Heavenly Father with our solicitations, we also have the opportunity to delight the Lord with our praise and worship.  After all, what father does not delight in the visitations of his children?  And what child does not delight in the comforts of a loving father?
Can we pray without ceasing?  Should we be on our knees all day?  Of course, the answer is no for multiple reasons.  If we tried to pray without stopping, our prayer time would in fact clash with other things that we are required to do.  We are required to worship God, we are required to serve others and we are required to meet the obligations of our vocation.  And, of course, we are required to meet all our physical needs for food, drink, sleep, rest and physical and mental refreshment.  We simply could not accommodate the basic requirements of our life if we were trying to pray all day.  Additionally, it should not be overlooked that we are totally incapable of bearing up to a regimen of prayer without ceasing.  Our spirits might be willing but our flesh would fail us miserably. 
Most importantly, God is not commanding us to pray without stopping.  What He is calling for us to do is make prayer a central part of our lives.  As we go through our day, let us make it a habit to mentally pray as we engage in the affairs of life.  May we continously seek the grace, strength and assistance that we need to stand up to the challenges of each day.  Let it be part of our lives to incorporate impromptu worship, praise and thanksgiving to God each time that we recognize His hand in helping us to overcome even the most mundane tasks.  Let us make Almighty God the main thread in the fabric of our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we can come to You at any time.  We rejoice in having access to Your throne.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to come to You throughout the day to praise You, to worship You and to thank You for the comforts and provision that we receive.  May we learn to make our constant interactions with You as normal as every breath that we take.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Our Sanctifier, Jesus Christ. 

Sharing the Hope of Glory That is Within Us

Colossians 1:27
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
God has chosen to reveal to us the riches that are available to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  The fullness of all of God’s riches are complete in Jesus.   Jesus Christ is the glory of the Gospel.  He is the author, the preacher and the subject of the Bible.  The glory of His wisdom and power, His truth and faithfulness, His justice and holiness and His love, grace and mercy are forever manifested in the Holy Word.
Yet all of this was a mystery to men for thousands of years.  The hope of glory for those living in earlier times was reliant on the offerings of their high priests.   How privileged we are as we live in a time when the hope of our glory has been fully disclosed to us.  Our hope is in the form of Our Savior who comes in dwells within us.  He is our high priest.  We need no other.
With His indwelling, we take on the role of priests ourselves.  It becomes our duty to share the hope that is within us.  The blessed hope and assurance that is Jesus Christ is too precious not to share.  We should joyously share that which naturally flows from us without end.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Blessed Hope and Assurance that is Your Son, Jesus.  We praise You for revealing to us the riches that are available through Your Son, our ever present high priest.  Help us Lord to faithfully share the hope of glory that is within us.  We pray His presence will be manifested in our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Glorious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Seeing the Victory Hidden in Our Trials

Luke 18:34
But they understood none of these things.
In the Gospel of Luke, we read how the apostles were told in advance about all the suffering that their Master was about to endure.  They were told the details concerning His coming crucifixion and they were told about His glorious rising from the grave on the third day.  Yet they understood none of these things.
The apostles did not understand because they could only see failure in Jesus’ destiny.  They could only feel the heartbreak of losing their teacher.  They could only visualize their promised King.  They could not visualize their suffering Savior.  They could not see that God considered it all a tremendous triumph.  They could not see that they would soon show the world the way, the truth and the life that Jesus had come to show them.
The most difficult thing about understanding the purpose that God has for our lives is that we are quick to seek God’s blessings, but we are slow to realize that God is in sovereign control.   We are baffled by our trials.  We allow them to hold off our calling in Christ, because we only see ourselves in our trials and we do not see Almighty God who is working out all things for His purposes.
We will move forward in our calling when we look forward to each day without fear or worry.  We will become who God calls us to be when we are in communion with Him and recognize the He is taking us into His purposes.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have a perfect plan for our lives.  We bless the name of Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to fulfill the plans that You have set aside for us.  We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see past the sorrows in our lives.  We pray that You will open our hearts in communion with You so that we may see the triumph that You have planned for us.  May we live our lives without fear, knowing that we are in Your hands, living according to Your purposes.  May it all be for Your glory, the glory of Jesus and the glory of the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ. 

His Power is Made Perfect in Our Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
Are you experiencing something in your life that you feel you are not strong enough to overcome?  Are you being tempted in such a way that you feel like you are near faltering?  Rejoice!!  You are in the perfect position to have Jesus provide all that you need for victory.  He is just waiting for you to recognize your weakness and call on Him to draw on His resources.
The apostle Paul was told by Jesus that Jesus’ strength was sufficient for all of Paul’s needs.  Jesus emphasized to Paul that His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness.  Paul recognized this truth and leaned upon it through all of his trials.  He became the most prolific writer in the bible and led the way of evangelizing the gentile world to Christianity.
When we come to recognize that there is nothing in us that is worthy without Jesus Christ, we open the way for His perfecting work in our lives.  We humble ourselves to build on our relationship with the One who seeks to perfect us.  Through it all, in spite of our weaknesses, the evidence of His presence in our lives becomes visible for all to see.  We must be ever mindful that it is not about the work that we do for ourselves.  It is about the relationship we have with Jesus that releases victory in our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You pour into our lives through Your Son, Jesus.  We seek the power of Your grace in our lives.  We ask forgiveness for the times that we by-passed Your grace in order to operate out of our own perceived strength.  We pray that Holy Spirit will aid us in leaning on You for all of our needs and guiding us in all that we do.  May Your strength be perfected in our weakness.  We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of the Needy, Jesus Christ.

Prepared to Go to a Place Where All Things Are New

Revelation 21:2
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Most of us were taught to set goals and to develop step-by-step plans to reach our goals, so that the end of our lives will be joyful and satisfying.  For many of us, attaining the goals that we set for ourselves has become the driving force that directs the course of our lives.  Thus are the ways of man.

In God’s supernatural world, things are totally different.  Goals are not set for this world, because God did not create this world to be about our accomplishments.  God created this world to prepare us for the eternal life that we will spend in heaven for all eternity.  Everything we go through here on earth is part of the process that God puts us through or allows us to go through in order to prepare us for life in new Jerusalem.

We go up to new Jerusalem, not to fulfill our own purposes, but to fulfill the purposes that Almighty God has for us.  We are being prepared to go to a place where all things are new.  There will be no trouble or tumult.  The new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state.  It is a holy church without blemish and we will be there fully prepared for our place at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us at the wedding feast of the Lamb.  We praise You and worship You for providing a way for us to be made acceptable to take our place at this great banquet.  Father, open our eyes that we may see Your perspective of what our lives are meant to be.  We pray that you show us how to set aside all that this world offers in exchange for the eternal life that we will spend with You for all eternity.  We ask all these things in the name of the True Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ.

The Treasure That We Hold Within Us

2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
Whenever the trials arise in our lives, the natural response is for us to focus on the problems or the pain they cause.  In doing so, we are taken down a path of looking to our own capabilities to resolve the difficulties of our circumstances.  In many cases, we are woefully incapable of handling or resolving our issues alone.  Often times our efforts even make matters worse.
As children of God and disciples of Jesus Christ, we have an alternative available to us which is completely different and produces dramatically different results.  When we choose to respond in our spirit instead of in our flesh, we focus on the solution, Jesus Christ, instead of our problems.  We avail ourselves to a supernatural solution.  We avail ourselves to the power and grace of the One who sees the beginning and the end as we surrender ourselves to His will and plan for our lives. 
When we recognize that the success that we have is due to the excellency and power of Almighty God, we bring honor and praise to His throne.  When others see us testify that our success is not due to our natural abilities, our diligence or the aid that we receive from others, but from the hand of the One who created us, they are drawn to the treasure that we hold within us.  And ultimately, we not only bring honor and glory to Almighty God but we also become vessels of His treasures.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the will and plan that You have for our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that You delight in using Your power to work out all of the things in our lives that trouble us.  We praise You for using each of our trials to shape us into the unique individuals that You created each of us to be.  May all the honor and glory be Yours, Father, as we turn to Your Son for all of our needs.  We pray that the world around us will be drawn to Your Son, Jesus, as we testify to the power and excellency of His presence in our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Strength and Our Power, Jesus Christ.

Our Actions Speak Louder Than Our Words

1 John 3:18
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
There is an old adage that states that actions speaker louder than words.  Nowhere is the old adage more applicable than in our living testimony.  No one wants to learn about Jesus from us if they have not seen Jesus in our lives.
Our greatest orations will never win a soul without a visible expression in our lives that we are living what we are preaching and teaching.  Let those around us see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  When others see these things, they will seek the source.  We will not have to say a word to entice them.
Jesus understood human nature completely.  Thus He labored constantly among the people, showing them His perfect love and forgiveness.  His living testimony drew people to the message that He had come to deliver.
We can do the same if we labor in deed and in truth.  The world around us will be drawn to Jesus if we serve one another, bear one another’s burdens, build up one another in faith and minister to those around us with cheerfulness.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your Son as a living example of the way, the truth and the life that You intend for us to accept and to proclaim.  Blessed is the name of Jesus who surrendered all so that we may be drawn to Him, receive Him as Our Savior and allow His presence to flow through us to the world around us.  We pray that our lives will become living testimonies of the One who dwells within us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Life and Peace, Jesus Christ.

We Are Incapable of Managing Our Own Hearts

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Human rationalization leads us to believe that everyone at some level has a good heart.  God’s Holy Word emphasizes that the opposite is true.  The human heart is corrupt.  Without Jesus Christ, the human heart is in fact deceitful above all things.  Is it no wonder that in today’s news that we see evil called good and good called evil?
As a society, we have pushed God and His Son out of the picture.  Collectively, we have placed our confidence in ourselves and others.  The result has bbeen in accordance with God’s Word.  We now find ourselves in a culture that is desperately wicked.  We see leaders that are delusional.  We live among a people who mock the name of Jesus and persecute those that follow Him and choose to live by His standards.  
How could all this happen?  Does God not know how incapable we are to manage our own hearts?  Of course He does.  That is why He gave us His Son, Jesus, to be Our Savior.  That is why He gave us His Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts to see the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus, to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus as Our Savior, and to mold our hearts to surrender to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King. Through His perfect love and forgiveness, Almighty God allowed us to take the management of our hearts out of our own wretched hands and place it under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing the wickedness in our hearts.  We thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, so that we have a way to overcome our desire to be the rulers over our own hearts.  We praise You for giving us the Holy Spirit to inspire us to turn our hearts over to Jesus. We pray that the lost around us may know the true nature of their hearts as they see the difference that Jesus Christ has made in our hearts.  We ask all these things in the name of the Refiner and Purifier of our hearts, Jesus Christ.

How Storm Clouds Develop Our Faith

Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  Even so. Amen.

This passage calls attention to that great day when all will see the wisdom and happiness of the friends of Christ and the madness and misery of His enemies.  Great sorrow and suffering will be ahead for those who wound and crucify Him by their non-belief.  Those who have not accepted Jesus as the way, the truth and the life will find out that He is the only way to eternity with the Father in heaven.

Isn’t it ironic that Jesus will arrive in the clouds?  It is quite natural to associate the idea of clouds with storm clouds.  When storm clouds are building we are likely to think, “look out.”  As we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we come to realize when storm clouds begin to build in our lives, we need to think, “look up.”  Just as God used the clouds to guide the Israelites to the promised land, He can use the storm clouds in our lives to turn our focus to Him for guidance.  Through this process, He teaches us dependence on Him for providing the pathway through the storms of our lives.  Paradoxically, without the storm clouds we would never develop the faith that we need to completely surrender to Our Savior.  The perfect pathway through the storms of life lies in a relationship with Jesus Christ.  The only pathway from this life into eternal life is through Jesus Christ.

In today’s world it is not difficult to find storm clouds building on every horizon.  Let us pray that all people of the world will turn to Jesus as the clouds become the darkest.  May each heart be prepared to turn to the Light of the World to secure their eternal destiny. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Light of the World, Your Son Jesus, to save us from the darkness that comes to devour us.  We praise You for the faith that You build in us as Jesus carries us and comforts us through our trials.  We pray that we may learn from the trials that we pass through so that we may comfort others who pass the same way.  Through the light of our living testimony, may we draw others through the darkness to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of the Judge of the Living and the Dead, Jesus Christ.