Month: February 2017

Letting God Be Who He Says He Is

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 with the issues of the day, 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.  Our smallest concern is as important to Him as our greatest need.
Through the continuous and sometimes onerous trials that we have passed through in life, we should have learned to patiently wait on the Lord to take us from darkness into the light.  Yet we seem to become frustrated by the small stuff and lose patience.  More importantly we lose confidence in an Almighty God who cares for us so much that He bottles all of our tears and observes them with tender love and concern.
May we all come full circle just as David, the Psalmist, did.  May we be in constant recognition of the fact that the Lord is our helper.  May we move forward fearing no man, for man has no power but what God has given him.  Through our trials, may we all praise God knowing that He is faithful to meet our every need.

Let us make David’s affirmation of Almighty God’s power the foundation for our daily resolve.  Let us rejoice and trust in Him to be who He says He is.
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 ask all these things in the name of the Son seated at the right hand of power, Jesus Christ.

Preparing for the Spring Showers

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 Almighty 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 for our lives.  And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.

And through His blessings on each of us in the Body of Christ, the world will receive showers of grace.  But first, we must prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels and we must be alert to the onset of our seasons of grace.  When our seasons arrive, we must be obedient to His calling on our lives.  If we have made ourselves ready, we will receive the promised showers of favor on our lives.

Let us prepare ourselves through obedience to the callings of the Lord on our lives.  Let us become fountainheads for the showers that He has prepared for all men.

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 Holy Spirit to sharpen our awareness of the showers of grace that You pour upon 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 that the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming eager conduits of Your grace.  We ask all these things in the name of Our All-Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

Is There Anything More Frustrating Than Waiting?

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
Almighty God is omnipotent.  He is able to deliver us from the most extreme trials.  Almighty God is omniscient.  He knows every little detail about us and our troubles.  Almighty God is unchangeable, forever faithful to His promises.  He makes all things work together for those that abide in Him.  So why is it that we are so impatient when it comes to waiting on 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 angst?  Has patience disappeared completely in our lives?  Is there anything that frustrates us more than lack of success when something we are working on is in stall mode? 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 frustration of waiting for something to happen 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.  So we rush ahead of God in our efforts to make things happen on our timetable.  Let us reach out to the Holy Spirit for guidance and instruction when we are so anxious to move before God moves.  Our trust in God’s timing will prove to be a reward beyond our imagination.
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 Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Making Our Love Offering

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.

Let us make an eternal love offering to Our Savior.  May it represent all that we are and all that we have.
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 the name of our precious Deliverer, Jesus Christ.

Answering the Invitation

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.
What an exquisite invitation that Jesus offered to His disciples, “Come let’s be going.”   He offers us the same invitation to join Him in doing the work of the Father.  With the offer, He promises a gift of peace of mind and heart, even in the face of the trials of our lives.
We cannot possibly find a better model for life, nor a better partner for our work, 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 with the comfort of knowing that all will be done with peace of mind and heart.

Come.  Let us be going to join the Son of God in doing the Father’s 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 Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the holy name of One who invites us to join Him, Jesus Christ.

Coming Out of the Darkness of Depression and Despair

1 Kings 19:5
Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.  All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
Elijah was on the run from his troubles.  He was so depressed that he asked God to take his life.  Then he fell asleep.  God sent an angel to pull him out of his despair.
It is very common for all of us to want to go into a shell when troubles seem overwhelming.  We do not always have the faith that we need when things are not going our way.  At times, we may feel like we should just give up.  This, however, is the messaging that we are receiving from our enemy.
God knows everything about us.  He designed us.  He knows our daily work and he knows our daily trials.  He has promised that if we have faith in Him, His grace will be sufficient for us to overcome the attacks of the enemy.
It is amazing how simple acts of love or service can lift us out of the darkness of depression or despair that we may be experiencing.  The angel instructed Elijah to get up and eat.  Through his simple act of obedience, Elijah was quickly on his road to recovery.  He was back to a place where he once again trusted in the care that God promises all of us.
When we are feeling down, a quick look around to find others who are in need may be our way out from the darkness to the light.  A simple gesture of kindness to the person in need could be all that we need to get us going again.  We should consider being angels of mercy to those around us.  In the process, we will minister to ourselves.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to lift us up in our times of struggle.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will urge us to inquire how we can serve You when we feel so needy.  Inspire us, Lord, to do the simple acts of obedience that You set before us.  May we learn to comfort the world around us with the comfort that You provide us in our times of trouble.  We ask that You use us as your angels of mercy in times of overwhelming trouble for those who are in our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of the Angel of Mercy, Jesus Christ.

Overcoming What the World Has Laid Upon Us

Luke 5:5
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
It is important to realize that there is power for us in the Word of God.  The power that we can access is held in the promises that are revealed to us in the Holy Bible.  The promises are the keys to our victory over all the forces of this earth and all the forces of evil that might try to come against us.  No matter what we think the promises of this world hold in store for us, the Word of God promises exceedingly more.
Peter exhibited faith in the spoken words of His Master, Jesus.  Even though his instincts told him that it was highly questionable to expect a worthwhile catch, he dropped his nets.  He had faith that Jesus’ words were more powerful than the forces of nature that he knew were unlikely to deliver a decent catch at this place and time of day.  His faith was rewarded.  His nets were filled beyond the point of bursting.
Whether we are toiling in a ministry that is not fruitful, laboring in a vocation that is not productive or simply struggling with the issues of life, we should look toward the promises in God’s Holy Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Our victory is guaranteed and is waiting upon us if we have faith in the Lord.

Let us dig into the Holy Word of God and find those scriptures that best fit our time of need.  If we are diligent in our search, we will find the promises that will provide the power that we will need to overcome what the world has laid upon us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Holy Word to teach us the things that we are promised as inheritors of Your kingdom.  We pray that the Holy Spirit shows us how to live our lives in accordance with Your Word and in reliance upon Your promises.  We ask that the Holy Spirit strengthen us to stand against everything that comes against us, knowing that through Our Savior we have victory over every circumstance.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who gave us victory over all things when He died on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Escaping the Misery of the Darkness

John 12:46
I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
Each and every one of us was born into darkness.  We were born with an unregenerate spirit and a spirit of unbelief.  We were born with a darkness in our nature that makes us totally unacceptable to Almighty God. 
This did not catch God by surprise.  Through His loving kindness, His mercy and His grace, He provided a plan by which each of us could remove the darkness from our lives so that we would be able to stand in His presence one day and serve Him according to His eternal will for our lives.  As part of His gracious plan, the Holy Spirit was instructed to reveal to each of us that upon believing in Jesus Christ as Our Savior, Our Heavenly Father provides us with the way in which we can become acceptable to Him.
Unfortunately, because our sin nature remains with us as long we are in our earthly bodies, we will continue to make choices that are according the world’s standards and not Our Lord’s.  Thus we will bring darkness back into our lives.  Our compassionate Creator had a plan for this weakness as well.  In our new lives in Christ, we are able to see and understand the darkness that the world is offering us.  We are able to overcome our natural ignorance about sin and take our victory over sin.  Through Jesus Christ who strengthens us, we are able to walk in the light of truth, faith and holiness.  We are able to walk this path of enlightenment on this earth until the day we die and until our day of living in Christ’s eternal light is upon us.

Let us repent of the darkness in our lives.  Let us seek the Light.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus, so that we can have victory over the darkness in our lives.  We bless the name of Jesus and pray for the wisdom, understanding and counsel that we need to rely daily on Your Son, who came as the Light of the World.  May we be set free from the darkness of sin, whether it be by ignorance or error.  May Your grace allow us to live in the light rather than in the misery of the darkness.  May we become broken vessels that allow Your light to shine through to those around us who are still living in darkness.  We ask all these things in the name of the Eternal Light, Jesus Christ.

The Seat of Honor That Awaits Us

2 Kings 25:30
Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived.
During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, God punished the Jews because of their disobedience and falling away.  He allowed the Jews to be overcome by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.  Nebuchadnezzar exiled the Jews from their land and imprisoned their king, Jehoiachin.  When Nebuchadnezzar died, his son Evil-merodach became king of Babylon.  Because God loved His children so much, He placed favor for the Jews in the heart of the new Babylonian king.  King Jehoiachin of Judah, who had been imprisoned for 37 years, was given a seat of honor in Evil-merodach’s house.  Jehoiachin dined regularly with the Babylonian king and was provided an allowance for all his daily needs as long as he lived.
Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, they were exiled from the land where they walked with Almighty God and each of us that followed them was also exiled by sin to a life outside the presence of Almighty God.  But because God loved us so much, He provided His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the Cross to atone for the sins that separated us from Our Creator. 
Like Jehoiachin, we received unmerited favor.  But while Jehoiachin received a seat of honor at the king’s table, we were provided unlimited access to the throne of the King of Kings.  While Jehoiachin was provided an allowance for his daily needs, we received a royal inheritance of all of the unlimited treasures of Our Heavenly King.  While Jehoiachin’s privileges ended at his death, we were given the fullness of God’s blessings for all eternity.

Let us be mindful of the treasures that have been prepared for us.  Let us rejoice in the seat of honor that awaits us.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You loved us so much that You gave us Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to join You in Your heavenly kingdom.  May the Holy Spirit guide us to Your throne to receive the fullness of Your blessings and the ongoing provision for our needs.  May our cups overflow with Your love and Your grace.  May all the unmerited favor that we receive be poured out on the world around us.  We ask all these things in the matchless name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Finding and Accepting Our Role in the Body of Christ

Romans 14:7
For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone.
To live for ourselves alone is evidence that we are strangers to Jesus Christ.  If it is our main purpose to gratify our flesh, to gain material things and to become the center of our social activities, it is evidence that we are not living according to the Good News of the Gospel.
The church is called the Body of Christ because we are all one in Christ.  Each one of us is inseparable from the other.  Each one of us is inseparable from Our Savior.  We are all different in our strengths, our capabilities and our practices.  Yet we all are one in union with the Lord.  We should all be looking to serve and prove ourselves as witnesses to Him.  The spiritual health of others should be as important to us as our own spiritual health.  The Body of Christ depends on our acceptance of our responsibility to be poured out for Christ.
No one who has given his or her life to Christ is a self-seeker.  The true purpose of our lives is to please God not ourselves.  Through the grace of God, we are able to identify fully with both the life and the death of Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  Let us search our own lives to insure that we are approving ourselves to Christ in service to all mankind.  Let our lives be living testimonies to our thanks for all that Jesus has done for us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You provide that we may not live for ourselves but that we may live for Our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We bless the name of Jesus who died for us so that we may live for Him and serve Him in the Body of Christ.  Lord, we pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to be responsible members of the Body of Christ.  We ask, dear Jesus, that You help us to understand that our sufficiency is in You and not in ourselves.  Guide us to the strengths, the capacities and the processes that You have set aside for us to serve You.  Allow our lives as Your servants to be our proclamation of thanksgiving for all that You have provided.  We ask all these things in the Righteous and Holy Name of Jesus Christ.