Month: October 2017

Setting Aside the Anger that the World Stirs in Us

1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for the sins of all of mankind.  In this one act, we see the perfect love and the perfect forgiveness of both the Father and the Son.  The advocacy of the Son is limited to believers, but the propitiation for sin extends as far and as wide and as deep as the evidence of sin in all people.  
When we receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as Our Savior, we are receiving the fullness of His perfect love and forgiveness.  We also receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who instills in us this perfect love and forgiveness to share with the world around us.  As it is with the Father and the Son, we are to withhold love and forgiveness from no man. 
With all the anger and bitterness that is spewed every day in our society, we should not withhold even the smallest portion of love and forgiveness from any man anywhere.  Our ability to love and forgive under all circumstances is what marks us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us set aside the anger that the world stirs in us.  Let us refuse to partner with the bitterness that our flesh demands.  Let us live in the fullness of joy and peace that is only found through perfect love and forgiveness.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unlimited flow of love and forgiveness that comes from Your Throne. We bless the name of Jesus for becoming sin for every man so that we all could receive the eternal gift of salvation.  We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will guide us as we learn to become free flowing vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We ask for the grace to overcome all bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in our lives so that we may in no way hinder the provision of Your love to the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord Our Redeemer.

He Will Find Someone Else

Esther 4:14

For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.

God had a unique will and plan for Esther’s life.  He wanted her to be the instrument that He used to deliver His people.  He wanted her to know that He would bring favor for His people through her efforts.  But God would not make the choice for Esther, she had to make her own choice to follow His instruction.  If she did not follow His will, God made it known that He would find someone else who would be the instrument of delivering His people.
God was very clear in conveying the options to Esther.  What He did not say to her was, “Thanks, I could not do this without you.”  God can accomplish His plans without any help from us.  If we are not obedient in doing the things that He asks us to do, the loss is not His.  He will find a replacement to do His good work because He loves to use His children to accomplish His work.  It brings Him great pleasure and glory.
But if we are not obedient to the things that He asks us to do, it is our loss.  The work that we do for the Lord is more about our sanctification process than the results of our work.  Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience to His calling.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we can fulfill God’s will and plan for our lives.  Let us seek to join the Lord in His good work.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of serving You on this earth.  We rejoice in knowing that we bring You great pleasure and glory when we do Your good work.  We pray, Father, that You will open our eyes so that we may see the ways in which You are calling us to serve You.  We pray, Lord, that You will prepare our hearts to surrender to Your will for our lives.  May all that we do be for Your pleasure and Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great King Over All the Earth, Jesus Christ.

Preparing to Handle the Harvest

Exodus 2:11
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
Moses had a calling on his life and he knew it.  He just did not know how to handle it.  Although he was tuned in to his calling, he was not spiritually prepared yet to handle the assignment.  God took Moses through 40 years in the wilderness to prepare him for his God-appointed place among the Israelites.
We are all called to lead our families spiritually.  We are all called to lead others spiritually in some manner.  When the fullness of the calling hits, we soon realize how ill equipped we are for the work and how ill prepared those around us are to receive us.  We have the vision and a limited understanding of what needs to be done.  But like Moses, we feel like we have been left out in the wilderness.  It seems as if God is ignoring us.
In actuality, the opposite is true.  God is fully and perfectly engaged in our lives.  His plan is to discipline us so that we are focused on Him and not on our vision.  When our focus is corrected, the fruit of the vision is released for the harvest.

Let us tune into the vision that God has for our lives.  Let us surrender to His work as He prepares us for our work.  Let us confidently wait on the perfect time in which He will release the fullness of His blessing into our lives. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfectly patient hand in our lives.  We thank You for taking us through our wilderness experiences in order to draw us closer to You.  We bless the name of Jesus who carries us through our discouragement.  We praise His Holy Name as He releases the fruit of our lives when we are mature enough in our relationship with Him to handle the harvest.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Over All, Jesus Christ.

Learning to Walk With Almighty God

Genesis 5:24
Enoch walked with God;
“Enoch walked with God.”  Good for old Enoch, but what about us?  Does it seem possible that at any given time that the ruler and creator of the universe would dial us up and invite us for a walk or we could dial Him and ask Him to join us for a walk?  In the flesh, it certainly seems impossible, perhaps even unimaginable.
While it all may seem illogical to us, it is absolutely within the plans that Almighty God has for each of us.  He is always ready to hear from us.  He is eager to come along side of us.  His line is always open.  The only issue is that to connect we have to be on the same line.  We can only get on the same line by disconnecting from all the other lines of distraction that we are dialed into.  A lot of work to be done there, but well worth the effort.   Profound peace and joy awaits. 
Let us begin the task of separating ourselves from the distractions of the world.  Let us devote every task, no matter how mundane, to the Lord.  Let us treat all of our labor as sacred.  Let us learn to stay in the presence of Almighty God throughout the day.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us the privilege to be in Your presence.  We praise You for making Your throne accessible to us.  We bless the name of Jesus for dying on the cross for us so that we are worthy to come before You.  We pray, Lord, that You would teach us how to shed the distractions of the world and make You the center of all that we do.  May we all learn to rejoice in complete comfort in Your sweet presence.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Ever Present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Almighty God Does Not Share Our Impatience

John 11:6
So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
In today’s world, everything happens at such a rapid pace.  Almost any product can be ordered on line and delivered within one to two days.  There are now some on-line delivery services that promise delivery of the new item within two hours.  To stand in line for anything drives us up a wall.  We simply have lost all patience with anything other than instant gratification.
The problem with instant gratification is that it often fails to deliver on the expectations of the moment.  That shiny new toy that we were so excited about seldom fulfills all that we thought it would.

Unfortunately we carry our need for instant gratification into our prayer life.  When we find ourselves or our loved ones afflicted with pain or disease, in financial need or in a very dry place spiritually, we look to Almighty God for instant relief.  He does not share our impatience.  His timing is completely different from ours.  

Our Father in heaven has every intention of meeting the needs of those that accept His Son as their Savior.  His plans for us are perfect for us and our needs.  He hears our prayers and He answers them.  He does not rush to provide the answers instantly, even though He could.  When His work of temporal or spiritual deliverance is delayed, it is only on hold for the right time and the maximum good for all.  Just as it was for Lazarus and his family, He responds to our prayers with only the best for us and those around us, regardless of how long it takes. 

Let us learn to lean on the promises of Almighty God with total faith.  Let us know without any doubt that He will hear and answer our prayers.  Let us rejoice in knowing that His response to our needs will be perfect for us and for those around us. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always giving us what is best for us and not what we ask for and certainly not what we deserve.  We exalt You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You extend to us endlessly.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to wait confidently in faith for all that You have prepared for us and those around us.  We rejoice in knowing that Your timing is perfect.  We ask all these things in the name of the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Christ.

The Power of Childlike Faith

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.
Jesus was well aware that the mindset of the individuals around Him was a critical determinant in their ability and desire to accept His teaching.  Jesus knew that many of the people that He was trying to reach set up blockades to learning because they granted authority only to their logic, tradition, culture and emotional feelings.  They would not accept the truth and authority of the King of Kings.  Thus they closed the door on the truth in His teaching.  Ultimately, He closed the door on them.
As parents, teachers or caretakers, we understand the joy and the pleasure of an obedient and respectful child.  The obedient child’s constant compliance to our instruction melts our hearts.  Their demeanor invites instruction.  It is easy and very natural for us to give compliant and respectful children greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle the responsibility appropriately.
So it is when we become new born babes in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Almighty God rejoices when we are obedient and we demonstrate our faithful compliance to His laws, His commands, His Holy Word and His callings on our lives.  When we come to Him humbly and in awe of who He is, He rewards us with more knowledge, more wisdom and more responsibility in His kingdom.

Let us seek to sit at the feet of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, with the same eagerness as children sitting around a story teller.  Let us be childlike as we delightfully soak in all that we hear.  Let us be even more childlike as we learn to accept all the teachings of Jesus Christ in complete faith.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for receiving us as innocent babes in Christ.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible that we could stand before You in righteousness.  We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to come to You as expectant as young children who go to their fathers eager to learn about the world and anxious for their dreams to be fulfilled.  We pray for the grace to please You in all that we do.  We ask that You release to us the knowledge that we do not have and the wisdom we seek.  May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom.  We ask all these things in the name of the Author of Our Faith, Jesus Christ.

Making the Right Decisions for the Glory of God

Romans 6:13
Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
When we were born, we inherited a sin nature through the bloodlines of Adam and Eve.  Through the grace of Almighty God, we were given the choice to keep the sin that separates us from Him for all eternity or receive the atonement for our sin provided by the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It is a choice that must be made.  There is no place for indecision in selecting where we want to spend eternity.
When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, we are washed clean of all of the sin in our lives.  Nonetheless, the sin nature remains.  It then becomes the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us away from the iniquity in our lives and toward the eternal, holy resting place that we will one day find in the presence of Almighty God.  Yet again with the grace of God, we are provided all that we need to overcome the sin in our lives.  To receive the fullness of our eternal reward, we must measure every experience in our lives by the standards of Jesus Christ and not by our own standards.  We must do right for the glory of God.
Let us seek the all-sufficient grace that we need to overcome the things of darkness that will perplex and distress us throughout our lifetime on earth.  Let us rejoice and be encouraged, for in the blink of an eye on one glorious day, we will stand before the Father in the image of His Son and we will hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask Your forgiveness for our sins.  We rejoice in knowing that Your forgiveness is certain and complete through the redemptive work of Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for allowing us to atone for the sin in our lives through Our Savior. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who stands by us as we continue to struggle with our sin natures.  We pray for the grace and the strength to repent and turn away from all the sin that the Holy Spirit reveals to us.  May our bodies be used to do only those things that are pleasing to You, bring glory to You and bear fruit for Your kingdom.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

The Ultimate Invitation

Jeremiah 31:31
“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.
Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring in a new covenant.  This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ when he stepped down from His seat by the Father in heaven to accept His sacrificial calling on earth to be the Redeemer of all men. 

When Jesus came to earth, He issued an invitation to all men to “Come to Me.”  He established Himself as the way, the truth and the life.  He did not make it mandatory to accept His invitation, but He did make it clear that accepting His invitation was the only way to become worthy to be in the presence of Almighty God for all eternity.
Because Almighty God knew our frailty so well, the benefits of accepting His Son’s invitation went beyond the eternal reward promised.  By accepting His invitation, we were also extended the grace needed for sustaining us during our time on earth while we were preparing for our eternal resting place in heaven.  

Our earthly benefit package includes, but is certainly not limited to:
  • access to the unimaginable favor of the King of Kings
  • the privilege of laying all of our burdens on Him 
  • the satisfaction of having our thirst for knowing our Maker quenched forever
  • the treasure of being able to learn from Our Master all that is good and pleasing to Almighty God. 

Why should we go to any other quarter to have our needs met?  
Let us go to Jesus to receive the grace of God that comes through Him.  Let us go to Jesus for the peace, comfort, joy and salvation that He holds in His hands.  Let us respond without delay to His invitation.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son to reveal to us Your will and Your love.  We bless the name of Jesus for providing the yoke that joins us to Him for the purpose of having all of our burdens lifted from us.  We rejoice in knowing that we live in Your constant shadow protected from evil and supplied with our needs.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will guide us to release all of our cares into the arms of the One who invites us to come to Him.  We ask all these things in the name of the Yoke of Our Burdens, Jesus Christ.

Securing Our Place in Heaven

2 Corinthians 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When we hear the word sin, we usually think of a single transgression or specific transgressions which go against God’s law.  Sin defined in this manner only captures an aspect of sin.  In reality, sin is much more.  Sin is a complete, damning condition that separates us from God.  It is a chasm that we cannot cross on our own.  The chasm was created when Adam and Eve sinned.  At the moment of their sin, we inherited a condition that separated us from God for all eternity.
Thankfully, our merciful Father in heaven provided a way for us to bridge the chasm created by sin.  He provided His Son to take on the burden of all of our sin.  He allowed His Son’s blood to be shed so that we may be cleansed of all of the unrighteousness that separates us from the presence of Almighty God.  God made His own Son take on our sin so that we might become saints in heaven.
Jesus was not a sinner.  He never sinned, yet He was made sin by the Father.  He became a sin offering, a sacrifice for the sins of all men.  The supernatural plan for all of this was that we might be made righteous in the eyes of God.  Let us praise Our Lord for without Him we cannot surrender enough, we cannot labor enough nor can we suffer enough to secure our places in heaven for all eternity.

Let us be forever mindful that there is not a single thing that we can do on our own to pay off the sin debt that we inherited.  Let us run to the foot of the Cross to receive the righteousness that is only available to us through Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  Let us insure that our living testimonies reflect the eternal gift that we have been given at an enormous price to Our Savior.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, our thanks are inadequate to cover the redemptive work that cleanses us of our unrighteousness and allows us to stand in Your Holy Presence.  There is no manner of word or worship that we could bring before You that would be sufficient to cover the debt that has been paid for us.  We bless the name of Jesus who left His throne in heaven to come to earth to redeem us from the debt we could not pay on our own.  We humble ourselves before You, Lord.  We kneel at the foot of Your Cross and submit ourselves to a life in Your service here on earth and in heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You forever.  We pray that our lives in Christ here on earth will lead others to the foot of Your Cross to receive their salvation.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord of Our Righteousness, Jesus Christ.

Our Path to Holiness

Galatians 1:1
This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
When Paul was writing and speaking to the Galatians, he made it clear that he was on a completely different path in life when He was touched by the hand of God.  Paul emphasized that it was God that changed him and not him who changed himself.
Because of our sin nature, we all begin our lives on an ill conceived path covered by darkness.  Until Our Heavenly Father opens our eyes, we can not see the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ.  Only when our new path has been made visible to us by the light of the Holy Spirit, can we receive the precious gift of salvation.  All who are converted to be new men and women in Christ are called by the grace of God.
Upon accepting our salvation, we begin yet another journey – the journey to become holy.  Just as salvation is not a work of our own hand, neither is the working out of our sanctification.  The Holy Spirit within us molds our hearts so that we can submit to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us to full submission to Our Savior so that God can do the work in us that is pleasing to Him.  All the saved in Christ who are working on their sanctification are under the power and grace of the Holy Spirit working in them.

Let us recognize that there is nothing in this world that can bring us to victory over the darkness that the world offers.  Let us be certain that we are totally incapable of overcoming the darkness of the world without the light of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Let us surrender to the urgings of the the Holy Spirit as He carries out the work of sanctification in our lives.  Let us rejoice in knowing that our path to holiness was guaranteed on the Cross. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace that is expressed to us through the gift of our salvation.  We praise You for taking us from the darkness of our lives in the flesh into the light of Your Holy Spirit.  We rejoice in being guided into full submission to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.  We pray, Father, that You will strengthen us and regenerate us as we strive to overcome the world in order to live our new lives in Christ.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Most Gracious Savior, Jesus Christ.