Category: Uncategorized

Practicing the Presence of 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.  Spiritual truth awaits.
Let us be inspired by Nicolas Herman, an early 1600’s gentleman who became a monk and took on the name of Brother Lawrence.  He later wrote the book, “The Practice of the Presence of God.”  It seems that Brother Lawrence became known for the profound peace and joy in his life.  His demeanor became so well known that people of all walks began coming to him for spiritual guidance.  His conversations and his letters to those he communicated with became the basis for his book.
Brother Lawrence’s secret was that he made devotion to the Lord part of every task, no matter how mundane. By his own admission, the process was difficult and tedious.  Even so, his perseverance paid off.  He gradually began to experience the presence of the Lord in all that he did.  Bottom line is that he treated all of his labor as sacred, as done unto the Lord, and as a result he walked with God each day.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us the privilege to be alone 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. 

Withholding Today What Will Be Better Tomorrow

John 11:6
So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
“All my friends are driving, I want to now.”  “All my friends are dating, I want to now.” “I want something right now and it is the biggest deal in the whole world,” is the common cry of all children.  The response of the loving, thoughtful and prayerful parent may sound like this, “You will be able to do this, Dear, but not now.  I will allow it later when I see that you are mature enough to handle this.”  To the child, the wait will seem painful.  To the loving parent, everything is right and in perfect order.
It is common place for those whom Jesus loves to be afflicted with pain or disease, to be in financial need or to find themselves in a very dry place spiritually.  Almighty God has every intention of meeting the needs of those that accept His Son as their Savior.  Just as it was for Lazarus and his family, 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 the loving parent responds to the child, so does our loving Father in heaven respond to us.  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 answer, even though He could.  He waits not for a good solution to our problems, but the best solution.   He wants to prepare only “the best” for us – just like the parent whose love is great enough to withhold today what will be better tomorrow.
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.

Childlike Obedience for All Ages

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.
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.

Choosing and Working Toward Our Eternal Resting Place

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.
The things of darkness that perplex and distress us will persist throughout our lifetime on earth.  Regardless of the trials, the grace that we receive for these days will be sufficient.  But let us 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 Day of the New Covenant

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 Jesus would bring in a new covenant.  This covenant would be based on the ultimate invitation, “Come to me”.  The invitation of the new covenant is always valid.  It has no expiration date.  It allows access to the greatest person in the universe on a 24-7 basis.  There is no requirement to accept the invitation, but it is exclusive to those of us who will acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Savior and acknowledge themselves as sinners in need of His cleansing blood.  The requirement is necessary in order to make us worthy to be in the presence of Almighty God.
When we accept the invitation, we then have access to the unimaginable favor of the King of Kings for all eternity.  As invited, we have the privilege of laying allof our burdens on Him so that we may be refreshed when we are faint.  We have the satisfaction of having our thirst for knowing our Maker quenched forever.  We have 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 Him for the mysteries and the grace of God that come through Him.  Let us go to Him 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.

The Supernatural Plan for Our Righteousness

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.  Can we surrender too much, labor too much or suffer too much for the One who has made us righteous before Our Heavenly Father and secured our place with Him for all eternity?
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.

Are We Living As Jesus Did?

1 John 2:6
Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.
No matter where we are in life, no matter what season we are in, no matter what circumstances surround us, we must choose to live our lives as Jesus did.  We must have the attitude of Christ in all things.
Jesus was willing to leave His seat of glory in heaven in order to come to earth and fulfill the plan of the Father for His life.  He humbled Himself by giving up His heavenly stature and taking on the form of a man.  He willingly accepted all the scorn, all the mockery and all the suffering, even unto death.  He always put the interest of others first.  He told us Himself that, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45
We must ask ourselves with what attitude do we approach all things in life.  These things demand serious self-examination; and earnest prayer, so that God will show us what we are, and whether we are truly living as Jesus did.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son as the perfect model for our lives.  We exalt the name of Jesus who was the only man who ever led a life that was without sin.  We lift our hands in praise and worship as we bow before Our Savior with a grateful heart.  We pray, Father, that You will show us how to live the Kingdom life on earth like Jesus did.  We ask that the Holy Spirit lead us to live our lives with the attitude of Christ.  May we be humble, gentle and obedient in all things as He was.  We ask all these things in the name of spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Not By Our Own Hand, But By the Grace of God

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 work out our salvation.  Just as salvation is not a work of our own hand, neither is the working out of our salvation.  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.
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.

Accepting the Mercy That Frees Us from Inherited Sin

Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
As a result of the disobedience of Adam, we were born with a sin nature.  Because of Adam’s disobedience, we naturally put ourselves first in all things.  We instinctively put ourselves first in violation of the first commandment, “I am the Lord thy God, thou shall have no false Gods before me.”  The violation of this commandment is enough to condemn us to eternal death.  We cannot remove the condemning stain of this sin on our own.  There is no escape or recovery from this sin except through the redemption provided through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As a result of the obedience of Jesus to the calling of His Father in heaven, we are made righteous in the eyes of the Father.  God removed our sin through the sacrifice of His own Son.  He removed our sin in the only way that was acceptable to Him – through the shed blood of His Son which cleanses us.  We accept His mercy and eternal atonement through our surrender to His Son, Jesus Christ. 
It is important to understand that God does not hold us responsible for inheriting sin.  He will not condemn anyone because of the sin that was inherited.  He will condemn those that refuse to accept Jesus as the only measure of deliverance from their inherited sin and their ongoing iniquities.  He will condemn those who choose to live in submission to the darkness of the flesh rather than under surrender to the light of the world, Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask forgiveness for the sin in our lives.  We pray that You will reveal to us all the places in our lives where we are living in darkness, instead of in the Light.  We ask You, Lord, for the grace to be able to repent of all the sin that remains in our lives.  We thank You, Father, that through Your mercy You have made a way for us to be delivered from the condemnation that we deserve.  We praise Your name, Father God, because through Your perfect love we have been given an eternal inheritance that we did not and cannot earn on our own.  We bless the name of Jesus who now dwells within us.  We pray that we may become Light to the darkness in world around us through His presence.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Sanctified in Christ by Our Challenges

1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
When Paul addressed the Corinthians, he emphasized their sanctification through Jesus Christ.  He confirmed that they would be among all the saints in heaven who had also called on the name of Our Lord as their Savior.
Our Heavenly Father’s hand never leaves us as He prepares us to be His saints.  The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives.  God also brings commonplace people and commonplace events into our lives to teach us, to encourage us and to confirm the plans that He has for us.  He may at times use extraordinary people and extremely uncommon events when He needs to drive a message home.
But it is generally the day-to-day encounters with the commonplace people and events that He puts in place to challenge us.  The challengers are there to test us on an ongoing basis.  Through the aid of the Holy Spirit, we come through the challenges built-up in our character and strengthened in our will to follow God’s plans for our lives.
By the grace of God, we are all called to be heirs to His kingdom.  It is His will that none shall perish, that all will come to repentance.  He puts a God-size hole in all of our hearts that can only be filled by His Son.  It is according to His perfect plan that He provides His Son as Our Redeemer.  It is for His good pleasure and for His glory that He provides His Holy Spirit to prepare us to be His saints.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan to have us join You in heaven for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus for His shed blood that washes us clean and makes it possible for us to enter into Your presence.  We pray, Lord, that You will release many teachers, encouragers and confirmers into our lives.  We ask for ears to hear them and the wisdom to follow their counsel.  We pray that we may also become teachers, encouragers and confirmers in the lives of others on their journeys to sainthood.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy and Awesome Lord, Jesus Christ.