Month: November 2016

The Forgiveness Process That Never Fails

Ephesians 1:7
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.
When we think of forgiveness, we usually think of it in terms of how it plays out in our natural interactions with others.  We may find it hard to forgive someone who has offended us, but we can usually find the mercy to forgive them under the right conditions – they come to us and express sufficient regret and express a sincere desire that they will never do it again.  Conversely, we feel like we should be forgiven if we are willing to express our sorrow for the pain we have caused to another and we are willing to say we will not cause that harm again.  In the natural, among people of good hearts, this process works much of the time.
Almighty God looks at forgiveness in a different light.  He certainly requires the same natural interactions of forgiveness that we are familiar with.  For God to forgive us, He requires us to come before Him humbly and confess our sins.  For God to forgive us, He requires us to repent of our sins.  But Our Father in heaven also requires supernatural interaction.  Because of His holiness, we cannot approach Him with our expressions of sorrow and repentance unless we have accepted Jesus as Our Savior.  For Our Savior must first approach the Father as Our Mediator.  He must identify us as ones who have been cleansed by His atoning blood.  In the supernatural, under these conditions, this process works every time without fail.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect, unconditional love and the mercy plan for forgiveness that You have provided through Your Son, Jesus.  We bless the name of Jesus for making it possible for us to come before You with our confessions and our desire to repent of our sins.  We rejoice in knowing that Our Savior stands before You as Our Mediator and that His atoning blood covers us so that we are acceptable to receive Your forgiveness.  We pray, Lord, that we will always be mindful of what it cost You to reinstate us in Your favor.  May the world around us see us in the light of Your favor and be drawn to Your Son to receive the same treasure.  We ask all these things in the name of Our High Priest, Jesus Christ.

Attaining Freedom From Sin

John 8:34
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
In Ephesians, Paul taught that before we accepted Our Savior that we all once walked the course of the world, following the spirit that is at work in the lives of the disobedient.  Through the teachings of Paul and John in the Holy Word, we learn that Jesus is the only way that we can attain freedom from the slavery of sin that we have been born into.
It is through Jesus Christ that we have victory over our sins.  Once we have accepted Jesus as Our Savior, He comes to dwell within us.  With the presence of His Holy Spirit within us, we are set free from the bonds of slavery of sin.  Sin is no longer the ruler in our house, Jesus Christ is.
Because our freedom of choice is never taken away, our flesh constantly battles to take control over our lives and Satan constantly works to deceive us in an effort to make us slaves to sin again.  But Jesus Christ stands with us and, in accordance with His promises, He perfects His strength in our weaknesses and He provides victory over all evil.  He provides all that we need to overcome our sins.  If we choose to submit to the urgings of His Holy Spirit, we shall be free indeed.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect love that provided Your Son to free us from the slavery of sin.  We praise the name of Jesus for taking on all sin so that we may become heirs to Your holy kingdom.  We ask forgiveness for all the times that we have chosen to offend You through our sins.  We repent of these sins and ask for the fullness of the promise of Jesus to perfect His strength in our weakness.  We pray for the grace to surrender today and live forever as bondservants to Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.  

Every Act of Obedience Releases Favor in Our Lives

Luke 16:10
One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
While it is generally understood that this passage is about the poor money management of the underperforming steward, it also places focus on every resource that we have been given.  The message can be taken down to the very basic level of how obedient we are in carrying out even the smallest of tasks that the Lord has put on our hearts to do.
As a parent or an employer, the assessment of how our children or employees carry out their assignments is the basis for our decisions concerning assigning them greater responsibilities in the future. As a good parent or employer, we want the best for those under our care.  We want to see them succeed.  Because we view their position from a higher level, we know that we should only give them greater responsibility when they have shown that they are ready to handle it.
It is in this same way that Almighty God gives us more of anything, whether it be material things or greater responsibility.  Everything that we have belongs to God.  We only have the use of it.  He will only bless us to the extent that we have proven through our obedience that we are ready to handle more than He has already provided.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving patience with us as we struggle to properly manage all that You have given us.  We ask forgiveness for the times that we have squandered the gifts that we have been provided. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in being good stewards of our blessings.  We rejoice in knowing that with every act of obedience that You are ready to graciously release more to us.  We pray, Father, that we will come to a place where we are obedient in every small thing that You place before us.  May our eyes be opened that we may see Your ways, and not our own, in all that surrounds us.  We ask all these things in the name of the source of all provision, Jesus Christ.

It Is Our Focus That Matters To Our Father in Heaven

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
We are too often focused on getting everything we can out of life from a physical and material standpoint.  In fact, we are so focused on the material things that we do not even take a moment to consider God’s perspective of what we are doing, how we are doing it, or why we are doing it.  Even people in ministry often get caught up in the numbers.   Their focus turns toward man’s measurement of what they are doing and not God’s.
In God’s eyes, it is not about how much or how many.  God takes full responsibility for the bottom line.  What He is concerned about it is the “how” and “why” behind our efforts.  Are we leaning on Him for our accomplishments and not on our own abilities or the capabilities of the world?  Are we doing what we are doing for our own personal gain and recognition or are we doing it for the gain of God’s kingdom and for His glory?
Our model for life is Our Savior.  Through His obedience, His suffering and His death, He lived to make intercession for us.  He lived in accordance with the will of His Father.  He lived to bring glory to His Father in heaven.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us living proof of Your ways through Your Son, Jesus.  We bless His name for the way, the truth and the life that He revealed to us through His time on earth.  We pray, Lord, that You will prepare us to walk this earth in the same manner as Our Savior.  May we love You above all things.  May we seek You in all things.  May we love our neighbors unconditionally as we love ourselves.  May it all be for Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of the Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

Claiming the Highest Honor

John 12:26
If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
How is it possible that Almighty God would honor creatures as lowly as we are – His mere creations from dust?  As unimaginable as it seems to us, it is settled in the kingdom of God.  The process for such an honor is locked into place for all eternity.  The steps are clearly defined.  Become a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Serve Him wherever and whenever He calls.  Be honored by the Father. 
Simple enough, right?  At least it would seem so.  But as Americans, we have some social hurdles to overcome.  We were raised to be fiercely independent.  That trait, while desirable in the carnal world, can have a negative impact on how we are able to build intimacy with God.  The true intimacy of a Holy Spirit lead lifestyle is not possible until we are able to completely surrender our lives to Jesus.
Anything short of full surrender to Jesus will lead to a life on the fence – half devoted to being a disciple of Jesus Christ and half devoted to the callings of the world.   When we are in that vacillating position, we are spiritually immature.  That is not the real life that God has planned for us.  God wants a spiritually mature life for us and from us.  He wants us to reach a place where we make every decision in life with discernment of the Holy Spirit.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to be fully committed disciples of His Son, conscious of our dependence on Him without regard to the trappings of our world.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, so that we can stay in constant communion with Him and receive grace from Him.  We rejoice in knowing that we receive honor from You when we follow Your Son and accept the gift of salvation that He offers.  We ask forgiveness, Lord, for all the times that we make decisions based on the world’s standards and not Yours.  We pray, Father, that You will provide the grace that we need to heed the voice of the Holy Spirit only.  We ask for the strength and the wisdom to lay aside the trifling concerns of this life.  May we learn to exercise love, humility, patience, self-denial and resignation to Your will in the same manner as Our Savior did when He walked this earth.  May the eternal glory be Yours.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Purifier, Jesus Christ.

The Blessing of Walking in His Ways

Deuteronomy 30:16
If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
Who does not wish to live, multiply and be blessed in the land where they dwell?  Almighty God placed these desires in all of our hearts and provided simple instructions for us to attain them – obey My commandments.
All simple and easy enough, right?  Well, our all knowing, sovereign God added an interesting wrinkle for us to deal with.  He gave us free choice.  He allows us to find the unique purpose and plan that He has for our lives through the choices that we make. Unfortunately, more times than we would like to admit to we make the wrong choices.  In the flesh, we are ill equipped to make the right choices all the time.
Knowing the inherent weakness in our flesh, our all loving and merciful God included an infallible resource to help us overcome our frailties.  He provided through our acceptance of His Son, Jesus, as Our Savior, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit provides us with supernatural assistance in making our choices. The Holy Spirit provides us with gentle urgings toward the path of obedience and clear stop signs when we are veering off the path.
As we learn to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, our life choices come more into alignment with God’s commandments.  The good and right way become more clearly defined in our minds and hearts.  Ultimately, our choices will be the same as God’s choices for us.  Ultimately through our obedience, we will experience the blessed life that God has set aside for us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessings that You promise us if we are obedient to You.  We confess our sins that separate us from You and repent of them so that the blessings that have been set aside for us can be released.  We rejoice in knowing that You have provided victory for us over our sins through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We bless His name.  We thank You for providing supernatural assistance for us as we make our life choices.  We pray that You will open our ears to hear the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  We ask for the grace to respond in obedience.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without blemish, Jesus Christ.

Living a Life Void of Fear

Matthew 16:8
But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 
The bread of life, which is Jesus Christ, is within us when we receive Our Lord as Our Savior.  The living bread is ever present.  It is never removed.  It is always available to us and to those around us.  The only restrictor of the living bread is our own faith.
When we have no faith in the indwelling power of Our Lord, we build a hardened silo from which no provision can flow.  With little faith, we restrict what can be released from our lives.  With great faith, we can release an unlimited distribution of power, protection and provision into our lives and into the lives of those who surround us.
Doubt should never be an option for a believer under any circumstances.  Jesus loved us so much that He was willing to die for us.  How could we ever doubt His presence and His power in our lives?  How could we ever fear with the King of Kings as our protector?  We should live in the triumphant belief of who He is.  Our faith must be, not in ourselves nor in the world, but in the One from Whom our salvation springs.  His countenance shines upon us and His grace is always with us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the Cornerstone of our faith, Your Son, Jesus Christ.  With His death on the Cross, we received victory over all evil.  We bless the name of Our Savior who made it possible for us to live our lives without fear.  May we live by the faith that we have been given.  We pray, Lord, that You will give us the wisdom and the strength to yoke ourselves to Jesus Himself.  May we learn to live in the fullness of the One who dwells within us.  We ask all these things in the name of the strength of our lives, the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ.

The Foundation of Our Lives

John 14:20
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
What a union…the Father and the Son partaking in the same nature, the same perfections and the same glory.  And to think that we share in the same union through our saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  We are righteous through the atoning work of the Son of God on the Cross.  We are risen with Him through the supernatural ascension of His body into heaven after His death.  We sit together with our Savior King just as He sits at the right hand of the Father.
As new men and women in Christ, the world can see us in union with our Savior.  We become identified by our obedience to God’s commandments and the fruit that we bear from His callings.  Our lives become expressions of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that have been given to us through our union with Christ – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  In everything we do, we share the perfect love and forgiveness that we received from the Father through the Son.  We please the Father by bringing honor and glory to His name, the name of His Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.
And we know with absolute certainty that there is no possibility that our lives are the result of our inherent holiness.  All that we see that is good that is being manifested in our lives is being worked out through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  Our union with Our Savior is the foundation of our lives and our reasoning.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to be Our Savior.  We rejoice in our new lives that we take on when we receive and accept the redemptive work of the Cross.  We pray, Father, that we may be emancipated completely from the darkness in our old lives.  May we walk in the fullness of the union of the Father and the Son as we surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who sits at the right hand of the Father, Jesus Christ.

Trials That Test Our Faith

Genesis 22:12
He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
We are going to experience trials in our lives.  This is as certain in our lives as death and taxes.  Some of the trials will be small and some will be so big that we will nearly faint.  In each case, no matter the weightiness, the real test will be the test of our faith.
Who of us could have answered God’s request to sacrifice a child like Abraham did?  It was his faith that allowed him to go.  Notice what Abraham said to the men who were with him before he headed up the mountain to the place of sacrifice.  “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”  Abraham was resting on God’s promise to make him the head of many nations.  Abraham knew that this was only possible through his son.  Abraham had the faith that in some manner God would provide a way through this test.
Trials and tests are God’s way of drawing us close to Him and teaching us His ways.  It is through the trials and tests that our faith is built up so that we can become the person that God has intended for us to be.  God may not have created us to be a leader of a nation like Abraham, but He does have a specific plan for our lives.  We can only fulfill this plan by putting all of our faith in the One in whose hands we rest.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for each trial that You allow in our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that we are resting in Your hands as we go through each of these challenges to our faith.  We ask, Lord, that we will have the faith of Abraham.  We pray that we will not turn away from any test that you set before us.  May our character and our faith be built up in accordance with Your perfect plans for our lives.  We ask these things in the name of the One upon Whom our faith is built, the Chief Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

Resting in the Wonderful Hope of God Our Father.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.
When we are in full submission to Jesus Christ, we have prepared ourselves to allow the bountiful power of the Holy Spirit to be released in our lives and through us to the world around us.  At this juncture, we are capable of doing all that God has created and willed for our lives.  In this process, we have to learn that God is using us from His personal standpoint.  All that He asks is that we trust in Him.
Even when it seems to us that our lives are a tangled mess, there is always the wonderful hope in the promises of Almighty God.  Through His grace and His mercy, we will come through whatever trials that we see ourselves caught in.  We will find our comfort and our strength by listening for and responding to the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  If we are diligent in listening and responding to the Holy Spirit, our paths will be productive and our fruit will be plentiful.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the free grace and mercy that our hopes are based on.  We praise the name of Jesus, who is the fountain of all the good that we have hope for.  Father, we pray for the strength to overcome our doubtful minds that make us halting in our duties.  May You grant us the unwavering faith that we need to set aside our own self-reliance and to learn to trust in Your promises.  May we be comforted in our hearts as we await all the good things that You have already set aside for us and our loved ones.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who is the complete fulfillment of all of Your promises, Jesus Christ.