Month: September 2016

Learning to Live in the Spirit and Not in the Flesh

Matthew 5:40
And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
Jesus’ instructions to His disciples was simple enough.  It just does not make sense to us and it probably did not make sense to them.  It is not natural for us to bear an injury for the sake of peace.  In the flesh, it is difficult for us to meet this standard.
As we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we learn to commit our concerns to the Lord.  We learn to avoid the disputes that our flesh would demand.  We come to recognize through the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit that our flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God.  Only our spirit will find its resting place with the Father.  And it will be our spirit that will find supernatural peace and comfort on this earth when we follow the principles that Our Lord teaches.
Being a disciple of Jesus Christ cannot be carried out in the flesh.  God does not start with our natural ability and build on it.  He only asks that we rely on His grace and submit to the presence and the supernatural work of the One that dwells within us.  And as He promises, His grace is sufficient.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the all-sufficient grace that You provide that allows us to live as disciples of Your Son, Jesus.  We humbly acknowledge, Father, that You do not see us as who we are today or who we have been.  We rejoice in knowing that You see us as who we are in Christ.  We pray, Lord Jesus, that You will walk by our side and lead us to the way of peace.  We ask that You show us how to draw the world to You through our living testimony as Your disciples.  We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness Is A Critical Element in Our Prayers

Mark 11:25
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
There is but one Cross – one atonement for our sins.  Our time on earth is to be spent reconciling ourselves to the Cross.  Nothing we do has value in the eyes of the Lord unless it has been put in proper order in our lives.  The Heavenly Father must be the first consideration of every conscious moments of our lives.  If there is anything or any person the comes before the Father, He will not hear our prayers.
In other words, when we come before the Father in prayer with anger, uncharitable feelings and unforgiveness toward another, He cannot grant us spiritual power.  We have supplanted His place as The First by coming to Him with our grievances against another mixed in with our prayer offering.  The grievances must be set aside through the same perfect process of loving forgiveness that we receive from the wondrous workings of the Cross.  Jesus died for the forgiveness of all men, not just certain ones that met His expectations.
Let us be ever so mindful that this order of prayer is critical when we are praying for our own forgiveness from our sins.  God’s Holy Word makes it abundantly clear that the forgiveness of the Father is not possible if we are not first able to forgive those who have given us reason to feel injured by them.  Truly we cannot be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others – irrespective of their actions toward us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to hear our prayers when we come before You without claims against any other person.  We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to stand before You as righteous men and women, free from unforgiveness.  We pray for the wisdom and strength to forgive others as You have forgiven us.  May we humble ourselves and kneel at the Cross daily so that we may receive the grace that we need to remain worthy to receive Your mercy.  We ask all these things in the name of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ.

Everything in God’s Plan for Our Lives Will Lead Us to Jerusalem

Luke 18:31
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
Jesus was perfectly attuned to the work that He was called to do.  He spent His entire time on earth completely focused on doing the will of His Father.  He did not care if He preached to one or to ten thousand.  He was not seeking recognition for the good work that He was doing in the sense that we would seek recognition for ourselves.  There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about how we approach our work.
Jesus was only concerned with pleasing the Father.  Nothing could discourage Our Lord on His way to Jerusalem to meet His fate at Calvary.  No amount of suffering could deter Him.  No distraction could lead Him to hurry to the next task.  The only task that Jesus was concerned with was the one that the Father put before Him.  There is so much that we need to learn from Jesus about persevering through our trials.
It is important that we tune into the voice of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit directs our attention to Our Savior.  The Holy Spirit works in our lives so that we can learn to align our personal plans with the plans that God has for our lives.  Just as Jesus aligned His plans with the Father’s plans so that He would find His way to Jerusalem, we must align ourselves with God’s plan for our lives so that we can find our way to our Jerusalem, New Jerusalem.  We must not let anything or any circumstance take us off our path.  If we surrender completely to the One who was completely surrendered to the will of His Father, we will accomplish all that was set aside for us on the Cross.  And we will surely please Our Father in heaven.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our eternal resting place in New Jerusalem.  We praise Our Savior, Jesus, for clearing our path to get there.  We ask for the Holy Spirit to direct us to our path and prepare us for the journey.  We pray that we may be strengthened so that we may be steadfast in doing only the things that are pleasing to You, Father.  May all that we accomplish be for Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Spiritual Rock, Jesus Christ.

The Lord – Our Teacher, Our Master and Our King

John 13:13
You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
In every other religion in the world, except Christianity, the final goal is to have done enough to satisfy a god who provides eternal rewards for those who fulfill the demands.  The followers of these gods live under a task master who has nothing to offer to those who bow before him.
For followers of Jesus Christ, the servitude to the Master is totally different.  The Master has taken care of everything that is necessary for the servant to be worthy of eternal reward with Almighty God.  The Master promises to perfect His strength in the weaknesses of every follower so that they are healed of their wounds, redeemed from their transgressions and made holy and worthy to stand before The Father for all eternity.
Sitting under this Teacher and Lord, Jesus Christ, means that we have someone who knows us better than ourselves, who is closer to us than our friends and family, who understands the deepest desires of our hearts and fulfills them.  Through this Master, the Son of God, we have the security that our eternal destination is settled.  There is no need to question whether we have done enough.  In the words of Jesus himself, “It is finished.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that everything that was required for us to meet You in heaven for all eternity was finished on the Cross.  We bless the name of Jesus who completed it all on our behalf.  We pray, Lord, that we may sit humbly at the feet of Your Son and surrender to the way, the truth and the life that is in Him.  May we become vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.  May we become instruments of His good work.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Commissioned by Almighty God

Isaiah 49:5
And now the LORD speaks–the one who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength.
We learn three important things from the prophet Isaiah that pertains to each of us:
1) God created us.  The entire human race was created to serve and glorify God forever.   Through God’s grace we were given life so that we may be one of His servants here on earth.  Through God’s mercy we were granted eternal life so that we may praise and glorify Him in His eternal kingdom forever. 
2) He commissioned all of us to serve Him.  While our calling may be different from the commission of Isaiah, it is just as important in God’s eyes.  We have all been uniquely gifted to fulfill the will of Our Heavenly Father and His plan for our lives.  Our unique service to Him will be on earth as it will be in heaven. 
3) He will give us all we need to fulfill our commission.  Through Our Savior, Jesus Christ, we shall have the strength and capability to do the work that we have been called to do.  We shall have the protection that we need to overcome our enemies.  We shall have the comfort that we need to rise above our discouragements.  It will all be fulfilled according to His promises and His indwelling in us.  Through it all, He will complete His work in us so that we are prepared for our heavenly duties.
Christ dwelling in us and reigning in us is our hope for living a life that glorifies Almighty God.  Through the presence of Jesus Christ our calling to serve God will be revealed to us.  Through the presence of Jesus, all the mysteries of heaven will be revealed to us.  We will not be shortchanged in any manner when it comes to us being able to serve and glorify Our Father in Heaven.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You have bestowed on us through Your Son, Jesus.  We rejoice in knowing that You have a wonderful plan for our lives that will bring praise and glory to You forever.  We pray, Lord, that You will bring us to a place of repentance so that we may turn away from all the things in our lives that displease You and turn toward all the things that Your Holy Spirit reveals to us.  May it all be for Your eternal glory.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who strengthens us, Jesus Christ.

Our Circumstances Bring Out the Best in Us

Matthew 5:48
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
When Jesus spoke to His disciples, He knew full well that they were incapable of being perfect.  He was asking them to consider the manner in which they represented Him.  He wanted their behavior to distinguish them from others in the world around them.  He wanted them to be living examples of the good character of the representatives of His kingdom.
We are most comfortable in life when we are around people we like.  We also feel comfortable when we are asked to do things that we know that we are capable of doing successfully.  In these times of ease, our personality and our capabilities often shine and our performance appears to be nearly perfect, at least from a secular standpoint.  While this type of behavior is certainly good, it generally will not separate us from the secular crowd.  We are likely to rely on our own strengths, resulting in us just blending into society without reflecting the presence and character of the One who dwells within us. 
On the other hand, when we are challenged by our circumstances and we purposely follow the perfect example of Jesus and draw on Him for our strength, our behavior as His representatives will draw the others to Our Savior.   When we seek and allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to flow through us, the world around us will see us modeling the life of Our Savior and be drawn to Him. 
Jesus commands us to make it our duty to desire to press forward in grace and holiness, so that we may conform ourselves to His example under even the most difficult circumstances.  He desires for us to be perfect like the Father.  When we lean on the Son of God as our model and submit to His indwelling Spirit in our lives, we can attain the perfection that He is calling us to.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to be our perfect model for life.  We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to guide us to follow Jesus’ example.  We rejoice in knowing that our obedience will result in the gifts of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the world around us.  We pray that we may exhibit unusual grace, gentleness, faithfulness, loving kindness, patience, self-control and goodness as we are being taxed by our situations.  May You receive all the praise and glory, Lord.  We ask all these things in the name of the perfect Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

Living the Simple Life in Christ

2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Grey is defined as an intermediate color between black and white.  In truth, there is not any grey area that allows for a choice.  Things are cut and dry.  They are either true or they or not. 
Satan’s fingerprints are all over the complexity of issues that we deal with daily in this world.  His tactics are simple.  Satan builds in layers of grey around the truth.  His minions, especially the media, work hard to confuse us.  They attempt to build layers of grey around good and evil.  They try to make us see elements of evil as good and elements of good as evil.
When our focus is in Jesus Christ, our lives become much simpler.  He that dwells within us is the essence of everything good and the absence of evil.  He is Truth.  Living in Truth is very cut and dry.  Simplicity in life is found by living in the light of Christ.  From this standpoint, we can see, believe in and adhere to the black and white choices offered by the teachings of Jesus.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus.  We praise the name of Jesus for modeling the good and perfect life that we should strive for.  We rejoice in knowing that our choices in life are easy when we abide in Our Savior.  We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will provide the wisdom that we need to discern the proper choices that we need to make in life for ourselves and our families.  May we learn to live in the light and shut the door on the darkness that the world offers.  We ask all these things in the name of the True Light, Jesus Christ.

All for the Glory of the Father

John 17:4
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Jesus Himself declared that His principal work was to be obedient to the will of His Father in heaven.  He did not seek His own glory.  He sought only His Father’s glory.  In the process, He did away with Satan, sin and death and He provided for the redemption and the salvation of all men.
Just as Jesus was faithful in completing His work on earth to glorify His Father, He will also be faithful in completing His work in us so that we may glorify Our Father.  We will not experience the complete fullness of His work in us until we meet Our Savior in His eternal kingdom.  But as we surrender to the will of the Father, we can expect to accomplish more here on earth than we can imagine that we are capable of.  And we can be certain that our work will bring glory to Our Father in heaven.
Be mindful that Satan and our own flesh will come against us as we seek to glorify the Father on earth.   But fear not for the Spirit of the Lord will insure that we overcome the work of the enemy.  We do not need to be concerned about our circumstances, Our Savior will be sufficient.  And it will all be for the glory of The Father.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You have given us through Your Son to overcome the world.  We bless the name of Jesus for His faithfulness in completing the good work that You gave Him to do.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us and strengthen us so that we may fully surrender to Your will just as Your Son surrendered His all to You.  May it all be for Your glory, for the glory of Your Son and the glory of the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of the obedient Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

Aligning With the Will of the Father

Matthew 20:23
He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
The apostles, James and John, were seeking a position in heaven that was not in the will of the Father.  God had a place prepared for them that certainly exceeded their imaginations, but it was not at the right and left hand of Jesus as they had asked.
We have been taught that we can ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be granted to us.  This is true, but our solicitations can be granted only if what we ask is in the will of The Father.  This can cause spiritual confusion for us when our prayers are not answered or, more correctly, have not been answered according to the desires of our flesh.
God has been faithful in providing institutions on earth which can help us to understand how this precept works.  As parents, we can recall times that we withheld things from our children because we knew that is was not the right thing for them at the time.  What they were asking for did not fit in with the overall good that we were seeking for them.  As business leaders, we have denied the requests of good and faithful employees because it would not be beneficial to the company to grant their request.
Almighty God has prepared things for us that have been in place before the foundations of the earth were formed.  Everything that He grants us through His Son is in accordance with His good and perfect plan for our lives in His kingdom.  When we reach our place in the kingdom, we will find it to be beyond our imaginations.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us in Your kingdom.  We bless the name of Your Son, who You have given us to be our mediator as we seek Your grace in our lives.  Teach us, Lord, to seek those things that are according to Your sovereign will and pleasure.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will redirect us when our petitions are of our flesh and not of the fullness of Jesus Christ who dwells within us.   We ask all these things in the name of the True Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Preparing to Stand in His Presence

Revelation 1:17
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
When John saw the glorified Christ, he fell at the feet of Our Lord.  Joshua, Daniel and Paul were all similarly affected.  The reason for such a reaction is the impact of sinfulness coming into the presence of sinlessness.  As we draw in close to the Lord, His light reveals every iniquity in us and His fire begins to burn away that which offends Him.  As we draw even closer, the purification process becomes even more intense.
The Lord will test us to see how difficult a journey we are willing to take to be close to Him.  He will send people into our lives who will be challenges for us.  He will ask us to serve them through the most menial and commonplace order.  He will ask us to wash their feet.
Through it all, His divine presence will be with us.  As we give up ourselves wholly to Him, we will receive His light in our lives.  Our light should then shine forth among all men and women as we engage them in our lives.  In the process, God will receive the glory.
May we listen to His voice and receive His perfect love.  May we submit fully to His rule and reign in our lives, so that we will be able to bear His nearness. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of Your presence in our lives.  We praise the name of Jesus who has made it possible for us to stand before You.  We ask forgiveness for all the things in our lives that have offended you.  We pray that the Light of Your Son will reveal the darkness in our lives.  We ask for the grace to be able to surrender to the good work that You are doing in us to prepare us to carry Your light to the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of the spotless Lamb, Jesus Christ.