Month: February 2017

The True Bread of Life

John 6:33
For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
The Jews were accustomed to the idea that bread could come down from heaven.  But the bread that they were familiar with came only to supply their natural needs.  The manna that they had received came down from the lower heavens.  John was writing to them about a new bread that would come to them from the upper heavens.   John was teaching them about a new bread that was not for sustaining natural life, but for the giving of spiritual and eternal life.   John was revealing to them the bread of God, Jesus Christ.  John was confirming that God was still in the business of provision, but He was extending His giving from beyond the natural to the supernatural.  In His excellency, Almighty God was offering the Jews a bread that was infinitely superior to the manna of old.
Give us this day our daily bread.  How many times have we prayed this and thought only of our fleshly provision?  Have we forgotten what Jesus Himself said?  The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
Christ taught that He is the true Bread. He wanted His disciples to understand that He is supernaturally to the spirit what bread is naturally to the flesh.  As our bodies are nourished by grain, Jesus nourishes and supports our spiritual life. He is the Bread of God.  

When we ask for our daily bread, let us remember both the natural and supernatural provision that our precious Lord provides us.  Let us seek both that which strengthens us physically and that which strengthens us by the supernatural power of the One who was crucified for our sins.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing both our physical and spiritual nourishment.  We exalt Your name for the harvest that You bring into our lives to be the natural provision for our bodies.  We praise You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be the supernatural nourishment and eternal sustenance that we need for our spirit-filled lives.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts so that we will receive a full portion of the nourishment of Jesus Christ for our souls.  May everything we do be in remembrance of Our Savior and what He did for us.  As You nourish us with Your True Bread, Father, may we provide nourishment to those who are in need of the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord of all provision, Jesus Christ.

Taking Claim of the Fullness of Our Redemption

Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,”
The words in Luke 4:18 were spoken by Jesus himself in the synagogue.  He was confirming all the things that the Scripture said that He was anointed to do on earth.  Later, before He left them, Jesus told the disciples that they would be able to do and should do more than He did.  He let them know that where they were weak in the flesh that He would send the Holy Spirit to perfect His strength in their weaknesses.  As Jesus instructed His disciples, He was also instructing us.  All these things have been set aside for us as well.
How shortsighted we are when we accept Our Savior’s invitation for salvation, but do not believe in the fullness of our redemption.  Not only did Our Lord come to redeem us from our sins, but He also came in His power and grace to free us from all the bondages of this world.  Though we may currently suffer in the flesh, He released us into the world with freedom and joy in the spirit so that the world may know Him through our living testimonies.
The fullness of our redemption is not just for our own benefit.  We have each been anointed in different ways to do all the things that Jesus Himself was called to do as the Son of Man.  Let us experience the fullness of our redemption.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for anointing us to do Your good work.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive our anointing.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit dwells within us to insure that where we are weak in our flesh, we will be made strong in Christ.  We pray, Lord, that You show us how to take claim of the fullness of our redemption.  Whatever our current situation may be, may we take on the joy and comfort of Your completed promises.  May we find peace knowing that Your power is working in us.  May the world see the anointing that is upon us because Our Savior is within us.  We pray all these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Doing Our Own Digging

Exodus 20:19
Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”
The Jewish people were not accustomed to going directly to God.  They only approached God through their high priest mediators.  They were quite comfortable in allowing Moses to declare to them what God had spoken to him.  They committed to doing whatever Moses revealed to them.   They were steadfast in fearing that they would be consumed by fire if they were to be in direct communication with the living God.
What an awesome privilege that we have to be able to go directly to the throne room of Almighty God.  What an unspeakable blessing that we have been provided by Our Mediator, Jesus Christ, who opened the doors of heaven for us.
Yet we often delight in and rely on the spoken and written words of men rather than digging into God’s Holy Word ourselves.  We tend to look for our own Moses.  We find that the words of men lean toward messages that are meant to comfort us and not to convict us.  They also tend to require less work to digest.
By shying away from God’s Holy Word, we seek to avoid the discomfort that comes with having our weaknesses brought to light by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.  Even more so, we shy away from a personal relationship with Our Creator.  We may not fear being consumed by fire, but we fear having to let go of the things of this world.  In doing so, we miss or delay the sanctifying work that prepares us for a life of eternal comfort with Our Savior.

Let us be more earnest in our reading of the Scriptures.  Let us seek the Holy Spirit to open our minds to receive all that has been prepared for us in God’s Holy Word.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for speaking to us through Your Holy Spirit and Your Holy Word.  We rejoice in knowing that we can hear Your voice if we dig deeply into Your Word.  We pray, Lord, that we will be consumed by Your Holy Fire.  We ask, Father, that You strengthen us to close our ears to the messages of leniency that the world espouses and to open our hearts to Your Holy Word so that we may bring our lives into alignment with Your laws.  We ask that the Holy Spirit teach us how to listen to You.  May we seek and find an intimate relationship with You through Your Son.  We pray all these things through the Great Mediator, Jesus Christ.

Experiencing the Fullness of Creation

Ephesians 1:10
And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.
This passage indicates that all things were once united together in one.  Man and all the things of the earth and heavens were one with Christ.  It supposes a disunion and scattering of them.  We know that this scattering was the result of sin.  The passage confirms that Jesus Christ will once again restore and renew the former state, bringing together under His authority all of heaven and earth.
While Our Father has blessed us with the capacity to enjoy all that He has created, He leaves a void in our hearts that can only be filled by His Son.  Only when we fill the void with Our Savior are we able to fully experience the abundant life that we have been created for.  When we become one with Christ, we inherit everything in heaven and on earth.
When we become one with Christ, we see His glory in every sunrise, every sunset, every full moon, every star, every mountain, every valley, every ocean, every lake, every river, every stream, every tree, every flower, every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every animal, every bird, every fish and in every man and woman.  When we surrender to the authority of Jesus Christ, we are in position to experience the fullness of heaven and earth as God intended it before the fall.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us a part of Your creation plan.  We bless the name of Jesus, through whom we are able to experience the fullness of Your creation.  We long for Jesus to make His home in our hearts.  We pray that we may have the wisdom to understand the depths of His love.  We ask that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to trust in Him completely.  We pray for the humility to surrender totally to His authority.  May we experience the joy of being one with Christ in heaven and on earth.  We pray these things in the name of Our precious Savior and Restorer, Jesus Christ.

Discovering the Glory of God

Isaiah 40:26
Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of His great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing.
The prophet Isaiah wrote these words to the people of his time because they had turned their attention to idols.  Isaiah was redirecting their focus from their man-made idols to the Creator of all things.  He was testing them.  He wanted them to use their imaginations to find the might, the power and the presence of God Almighty in everything in nature that surrounded them.
Jesus has authority over all creatures and all created things on this earth.  Through the prophet, Isaiah, we were directed to use our senses to consider who created everything and give honor to Him.  We should test ourselves.  Have we replaced God Almighty with our own idols – ourselves, our work, our avocations, our idle time?
Let us lift our eyes to the the heavens above.  Let us seek to understand what a glorious being our God must be.  Let us consider what power He must possess.  Let us imagine the brilliance of His majestic presence.  Let us know for certain how He infinitely exceeds any other being.  Having done these things, let us set His place in our lives where it should be – first and foremost.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for directing our imaginations toward You.  We pray that the Holy Spirit show us how to get past the busyness of our lives so that we can enjoy Your presence in all that we do.  We ask that You teach us how to praise You in every breath, exalt You in every provision and worship You in every activity.  May we find the essence of who You are in our every high thought.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Most High God and Creator, Jesus Christ.

Ever Flowing Fountain of Grace

1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
Once we are washed clean by the blood of Our Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells within us to assist us in our journey toward complete sanctification.  We will never reach complete sanctification in this life.  Our full transformation is reserved for the time when we stand in the presence of God in His throne of glory and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.
Until that time, the Holy Spirit will take us through an intense narrowing of our interests.  Less and less will the things of the world call us.  More and more we will hear the voice of Our Savior as we press toward complete holiness.
Through it all, we are sure to fail from time to time.  But we can be confident by virtue of the faith and promises given to us by Our Creator that He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He will provide an ever flowing fountain of grace that will enlighten us, encourage us, strengthen us and prepare us to stand before Him without spot or wrinkle.
 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us blameless and holy in Your sight.  We bless the name of Jesus who washes away all of our sins.  We live our lives full of thanksgiving for the constant presence of the Holy Spirit.  We pray for the grace to walk in the holiness that has been given to us through Our Savior.  May we learn to ignore the world’s agenda and to surrender completely to the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus.  May we leave the green grass of earth to rest forever in the pasture of the Lamb.  We ask all this things in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

Attending to the Countless Needs of His Children

Isaiah 40:28
Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
If we find ourselves knee deep in doubt about our service to God or find ourselves overwhelmed by our circumstances, it would be good for us to listen to Isaiah.  Isaiah reminds us that we serve an everlasting God who created all things, who possesses depths of understanding that exceeds anything that we can imagine and who is never weak nor weary when it comes to meeting our needs.
Whenever we do the work of the Lord, we are like broken bread and poured out wine.  We are providing nourishment to those around us.  It does not matter what we are doing.  We may be serving.  We may be giving.  We may be praying.  Whatever it is that we are doing for others can drain us to the point of exhaustion. When the body is physically or emotionally drained, the spirit can also be exhausted.  To keep up our strength, we must insure that we are seeking our power from the One who never wearies.  Our affections must be with Him and not with the world.
Whenever we draw on His strength to carry us through our trials, we are privileged to draw on His infinite wisdom.  He is never at a loss to provide the perfect counsel to carry us through to a place of comfort.  Our focus must be on Him and not on our problems. 
No matter how we may be serving Him, no matter how challenged we may be in our service or in life in general, we should always be inspired and filled with confidence that we rest in His hands.  There is not a single need that we have that escapes His attention.  He is never weary in attending to the countless needs of His children.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that our every need is known to You and that You never weary in hearing and responding to our pleas.  We rejoice in knowing that Your response to our needs is always perfect and always perfectly timed for our good and for the good of Your kingdom.  We pray, Father, for the grace to never lose faith in Your faithfulness as Our Provider.  We ask that you show us how to draw on the endless reservoir of the Holy Spirit within us to provide our strength.  May our ears be opened so that we hear the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we humbly submit to the process of overcoming our unbelief, our pride and our self-confidence.  We ask all these things in the name of our Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ.

Ascending to the Highest Ground

Luke 24:21
But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
For the two men on the road to Emmaus, dejection had set in.  They had heard the reports that Jesus had risen from the grave and was alive, but they were perplexed as to why Israel had not been redeemed.  They had hoped for a King that would redeem their land.  Their expectation was of a redemption of a temporal kind – a redemption that would free Israel from bondage to Rome.  Jesus reproved them for the weakness in their faith and their lack of understanding of the prophetic Scripture.
For all of us that have grown up in an era where instant gratification has become the norm, waiting on the Lord to answer our prayers is one of the most difficult challenges that we face.  We often feel dejected when we have not seen our prayers answered quickly or in a manner that we expected.  We suffer the same weakness as the men on the road to Emmaus.  We are weak in our faith and we lack understanding of God’s sovereign plans for our lives.  We tend to seek things from the hand of God without fully seeking the presence of God in our lives.
Unlike the men on the way to Emmaus, let us not have our hopes dashed because God’s work in our lives does not meet our expectations of immediate gratification.  Let us separate ourselves from our old ways of living in the flesh.  Let us learn to move away from dealing with the issues of our day through our own strength.   Let us move to higher ground where we rely on Almighty God to settle our issues.  Let us graduate to the highest ground where we seek the continual presence and impact of Our Savior in our lives and we experience the anointing of living in the Spirit and not in the flesh.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to live among us so that we could learn about who You are.  We praise the name of Jesus for making it possible for us to enter into Your presence here on earth and forever in Your eternal kingdom.  We pray, Father, that You open our eyes so that we can see You in all the commonplace things that surround us.  We call upon Your Holy Spirit to give us the strength to overcome the depression and oppression that we find in our world.  May we always be mindful of all that is ours because of the price that was paid by Your Son, Jesus.  May the world see our joy as we live in Your constant presence.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Our King, Jesus Christ.

To Die Is To Gain? Really?

Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
How could anyone say to die is gain?  Perhaps the answer can be found in this summary: Having been washed clean by the blood of Our Savior, at death we will be delivered from all the tribulations of life.  We will be free of all diseases and free from any concerns about worldly things.  We will leave behind forever all sin, all unbelief, all doubts and all fears.  We will be absolutely free from the temptations of Satan.  More importantly, the benefit of what we gain will be far greater than what we are freed from.  We will be in the presence of Almighty God.  We will experience continuous communion with Our Savior.  We will receive eternal places of rest in the Kingdom of God.  We will live in constant light, love, joy, peace and comfort.  We will be surrounded by endless pleasure.
Our victory over death will be so complete that we are able to enjoy our time on earth without the shadow of death haunting us.  While the world struggles when facing death, the followers of Jesus are able to face their death beds with an exuberance that the world cannot understand.  We know that Our Savior is waiting to receive us and that He has prepared a place for us that is free from all misery and weakness.
As we wait for the time that Our Lord is ready to receive us, we have the privilege to live with the fullness of Christ in our lives.  May each one of our remaining days on earth serve as living testimony to Our Eternal King.  May we proclaim to the world all that He promises us here on earth and in heaven.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the eternal inheritance that You have set aside for us.  We praise the name of Jesus who secured our place with You for all eternity.  We rejoice in knowing that only a wisp of time separates us from claiming all the rights of the heirs of Your kingdom.  As we wait for that time of glory, we pray that You equip us to be Your laborers in these end days.  We ask that You arm us against the attacks of the enemy as we help bring the church to completion.  May we show the world the living Christ that is within us.  We pray these things in the name of our waiting Savior, Jesus Christ.

Does He Know That You Love Him?

John 21:17
He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep”.
“Of course, I love You Jesus,” is a refrain that each of us as Christians could speak very easily and we would believe fully in our sincerity.   Yet aren’t we all a bit like Peter?  Our spoken proclamation of love does not necessarily measure up to our proven love.
Peter, believing his love for Jesus was obvious to Jesus, became frustrated.  So Peter challenged Jesus, saying, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”  Jesus’ response to Peter’s challenge was essentially, “Prove it.”
Jesus challenges each of us as well to feed His sheep.  He calls us to provide appropriate nourishment to the young lambs and encouragement to the mature members of the flock.  He calls us to go after any that leave the flock until they are found and brought back under the protection of the Good Shepherd.
Jesus calls on each of us who love Him to go out and do the work that He was doing.  He tended to all of the needs of the people, all the way to the Cross, because of His love for His Father.  Jesus expects us to take up His work, to take up our cross, because of our love for Him.

Let us go out into the world and join Jesus in the work that He would be doing for His Father in heaven if He were still on earth.  Consider this.  He still is on earth.  He resides in us.  He wants to do His work through us.  Let the world see His love as we prove our love for Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to tend to our every need, especially our need to be freed from the sin that separates us from You.  In response to Your loving kindness, mercy and grace, we surrender our lives to You.  We ask that You show us the cross that You have prepared for us.  We pray, Lord, that You instruct us in the way that we should go.  May Your Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us for the journey.  Father, we pray that You release Your power through us so that others may discover the Way of the Cross.  We ask all these things in the name of the one who went to the Cross and shed His blood for us, Jesus Christ.