Category: Uncategorized

Believe That God Is Who He Says He Is

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Our faith comes into play whenever we encounter pain, conflict or disorder in our lives.  Our natural reaction is to try to fix everything ourselves.  All too often, we do not turn to God until we have exhausted all of our own failed initiatives.
God wants us to turn to Him first.  He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything, whether it be big or small.  We grow into this place through our relationship with Jesus.  The Psalmist David captured the relationship perfectly in Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Let us believe that God is who He says He is.  Let us trust in His promises to reward those who seek Him.  Let our faith draw us near to Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the endless fount of faith that you make available to us through Your Son, Jesus.  We praise Your name for the comfort that we enjoy because of the faith that we have in Your promises.  Lord, we ask for the wisdom to turn to You first in all things.  May You provide the grace for us to free ourselves from the need to try to fix everything ourselves.  We humbly ask that all of our earthly efforts be in obedience to Your will and plan for our lives.  We pray that through the love of Jesus all that we do will be as worship to You.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

Changed Forever in Character and in Conduct

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.
By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we are able to do away with all that separates us from our eternal inheritance.  The importance of Jesus taking on all sin is that we can become worthy to stand before the Father in a righteous state.  But before we reach our eternal resting place in heaven, we begin to prepare ourselves for heaven by living in a new manner on earth.  As new creatures in Christ, we live each day by new principles, by new rules, with new brothers and sisters and with new ends in mind.  We become the workmanship of Almighty God, changed forever in character and conduct. 
Through the marvelous gift of salvation, all of our sins are gone – nonexistent.  They have been taken away by the One who knew no sin.  The have been washed away by His shed blood.  Each one of us new creatures stand before the Father without blemish.  Each one of us in Christ stands before the Father is in the image of His own Son.  Each one of us is now the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  We are worthy to dwell with the Father for all eternity.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us in Your image, heirs to Your kingdom.  We ask forgiveness for all those things in our lives that make us unacceptable to stand before You and unable to accept our eternal blessings.  We praise the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who took on all of our sin so that we may become righteous in Your eyes.  We pray, Father, that You will provide the grace for us to live in accordance with the renewed hearts given to us by Jesus.  May we live by new principles, new rules, new ends and in new company.  May our outward reformation be living testimony to Your kingdom.  We pray that those around us will seek the One who knew no sin.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without blemish, Jesus Christ.

Acceptable to Our Father in Heaven

Romans 5:10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
God is holy, holy, holy.  Sin cannot exist in His presence.  To have any type of sin remaining means eternal separation from the Father in heaven.  Thus, every person in heaven must be without sin.  There cannot be even the slightest stain.  Every person in heaven will be holy.

Jesus gave up His life for the atonement of all sin.  He died to save us from the penalty of our sin.  He died to work a great change in us.  He died so that we might be acceptable in the presence of His Father in heaven.
The Good News of the Gospel is that God provided the way for our complete cleansing through the death of His Son, Jesus, on the Cross.  It is the shed blood of Jesus that washes us clean and allows us to stand before the Father white as snow forever.  Our Heavenly Father required nothing from us except to accept Jesus as Our Savior.  Jesus did all that was required for us to stand before Almighty God.  Everything that was required was finished on the Cross.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to have eternal access to Your heavenly kingdom.  We praise You.  We love You.  We bless Your name.  We rejoice in knowing that we will worship You forever.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal to us everything in our lives that is displeasing to You.  We ask for the grace to walk the perfect path of sanctification that You have set aside for us through the sacrifice of Your Son.  May we live in the fullness of the One who gave His life for us.  May we surrender daily to our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Is It God’s Plan or Our Own Plan?

Matthew 28:19
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
How many did you win?  How many did you sell?  How much profit did you make?  These are the clamorings of men and women who trying to measure their success against their perceived plans. 
Sometimes it pours over into the things we do in service to Our Lord.  How many attended the 11am service?  How much did we collect at the offering?  How many responded to the altar call?  How many were baptized?  Man’s desire to satisfy/gratify his own need is insatiable. 
Man’s desire to convert God’s work to his own plan is a common practice.  Our Heavenly Father has a different plan.  Almighty God does not call us to results.  Jesus did not tell His disciples to go out and win souls.   He asked them to go out and teach the people about having a relationship with Him.
Jesus did not give His disciples a quota, nor does He give us one.  He simply asks that we teach the world around us about the relationship that we have with Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in knowing that it is Your will that no man shall perish.  We thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Father, that You will use us to teach the world about Your wonderful salvation plan. We ask for the grace to set aside our own personal desires and plans so that we may fully submit to the perfect will and plan that You have for our lives.  Through the presence and power of Jesus in our lives, may we make disciples of others.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who shall have dominion, Jesus Christ.

Nothing Can Stop Us

John 20:21
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”
In one brief statement, Jesus gave the disciples the peace that they needed to overcome the fear that had them gathered in a hiding place and the power and authority that they needed to be successful in their calling.  So it is for us.
It is so easy to be overwhelmed by all that the world throws at us.  It is so easy to become discouraged, even fearful of the outcome ahead of us.  It is so easy to withdraw to a hiding place where doing nothing seems comfortable.  Yet the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you,” are just as relevant today as they were 2000 years ago.
Are we giving back to the Lord as He has given to us?  He has given us the peace, the power and the authority to do what He has called us to do.  Much has been given to us.  Are we doing all we can do with what we have been given?  Surely we will not leave on the table the feast that He has set before us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to be good and faithful servants.  We rejoice in knowing that there is nothing in the world that can stop us from bringing to harvest the seeds that You have given us to plant.  Father, we pray that You give us the wisdom to see the bounty that You have planned for us.  We ask for the grace and the strength that we need to thrive under the power and authority that we have through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus Christ.  We ask all these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Marketplace, Neighborhood, Social Club Ministry

1 Corinthians 9:22
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
Paul shared with the Corinthians his passion to carry out the good work of delivering the message of salvation to all men.  He emphasized that this required him to be a servant to all men, regardless of their stature or their spiritual state.  In doing so, he was also teaching them that carrying the gospel to all men was their calling also.
God calls people to all walks of life to insure that His gospel message is spread to the world.  He calls some to full time ministry, but most are not.  Most of us are called to traditional occupations and lifestyles where the Lord wants us to let Christ be revealed by the way we live and by the way we treat others.
God wishes for our messages of love, compassion and forgiveness to be the same whether we are in a boardroom or in a maintenance shop, whether we are in a health club or in a hospital, whether we are at a church function or in the visiting room of a prison.  He wants our messaging system to be on non-stop.
All we have to do is surrender our lives to Our Savior and submit to the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord will draw spiritual production from us within the structure of our natural lives.  He will direct our lives toward paths of fruitfulness.  And the glory will go to Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love, compassion and forgiveness that You pour out onto each of us.  We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to become vessels of Your grace.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten us and invigorate us to carry the salvation message with us as we walk through our daily lives.  May we bear fruit for Your kingdom wherever our paths on earth lead us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Tower of Salvation, Jesus Christ.

The Presence of the Lord

2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.
As believers and followers of Jesus Christ, all of our triumphs are in Him.  All of our success, especially our success in leading others to the Lord, are reasons for each of us to rejoice.  In our joy, we must go forward in life, not covered in pride, but covered in the sweet aroma of His presence.
While it is a wonderful thing for us to proclaim to the world how Our Savior atoned for our sins and made us worthy to be heirs of the kingdom of Almighty God, our living testimony should be much more.  The world should be able to see the presence of Jesus in every single action we take and in every single word that we speak.  The world should be able to savor the experience of being near Jesus Christ just by being near us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us conquerors over all things in this world.  We rejoice in the victories that we claim through Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that we be given the grace to overcome the arrogance and the pride that naturally come with victory.  We pray that in every victory that all praise, honor and glory will go to You Father, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit.  May the aroma of the One who brought the victory be spread around the world as we become living testimonies to His presence in our lives.  We ask these things in the name of the Rose of Sharon, Jesus Christ.

Compassion in Our Daily Lives

John 19:26-27
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”
The compassion that Jesus Christ has for us is beyond our understanding.  His compassion goes beyond human capability.  His compassion extends to a level that only He, as the Son of Man and the Son of God, can personify.
His remarkable compassion was fully revealed to us on the Cross.  In His moments of agony and pain, as He was fulfilling all that He was called to do, as he was placed between thieves with soldiers gambling for His clothing, He called out to the Father, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  In His compassion, He recognized the frailty of all men and extended His perfect love and forgiveness.
Then in the final moments before His death.  He made sure that His mother was cared for.  He took the time to model that even in our highest calling that we have day-to-day challenges in our lives that must be dealt with.  Who but Jesus, could exhibit such personal compassion at the same time that He was taking on the sins of the world?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your compassionate understanding of our frailty in the flesh.  We bless the name of Jesus who came and lived in the flesh so that we could see how to live both in our highest calling and in our day-to-day responsibilities of caring for our families, our loved ones and those placed around us.  We pray that we will be forever mindful of Our Compassionate Savior as we go through the trials of our lives.  May we extend the fullness of His compassion for us to the world.  We ask all these things in His precious, holy and mighty name.

Let Us Be Merciful

Luke 6:28
Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you.
Strike back!  Respond in defense!  Prove that I am right!  All of these are natural human responses to conflict.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to follow a different standard.  “Love thy neighbor as thyself” requires a supernatural response when we run into personal conflict.  We are called to express the love of Christ in each instance.  This may require having to forgive the person in the heat of the conflict.  Only our strength through Jesus Christ allows us to meet this standard.
We need supernatural strength to respond in crisis.  Our human nature and our pride are generally not going to be sufficient.  When it comes to facing the day-to-day conflicts in our lives, the supernatural grace of God is required.  It is through His grace and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that we are able to consistently respond in a manner that reflects the discipline of a follower of Jesus Christ.

On the Cross, Jesus prayed that His murderers might be forgiven.  Stephen, the martyred disciple of Jesus, in his dying moments also showed us the standard to which we are called.  Let us be merciful just as Our Heavenly Father is merciful to us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You loving us first so that we may love You and love those around us.  We thank You for the mercy that You extended to us through the redemptive blood of Your Son, Jesus, so that we may extend mercy to those who we come in conflict with us.  We thank You for forgiving us of our sins so that we may be able to forgive those who sin against us.  We pray, Father, for the grace and the strength to release to the world the overflow of the lovingkindness that You poured out on us. We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb, Jesus Christ.

What We Did Not Earn and Certainly Do Not Deserve

1 Corinthians 6:11
And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Once we receive Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are washed clean of our sins and made acceptable to take our place before the Father in heaven.  We receive what we did not earn and certainly do not deserve.  It is granted to us through the atoning work of Our Savior.  None is the result of our holiness. 
Our holiness is the holiness we receive when we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  Our holiness is the result of us allowing the life of Jesus to be manifested in our flesh.  Are we willing to let God do in us all that has been made possible by Our Savior?  Or are we resting content in the salvation that we have been granted without pressing into a relationship with the One who gave His life so that our salvation could be assured? 
Our salvation guarantees our place in heaven.  The relationship that we have with Our Savior will determine our position in heaven.  Both our place in heaven and our position in heaven are gifts from God.   But we must choose to receive them.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the eternal resting place that You have prepared for us.  We ask that we may receive the grace to fully recognize the perfect gift that we have been given and the unimaginable sacrifice that was required for us to be able to receive it.  We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to choose to accept the fullness that is ours through Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that we will never be satisfied with our salvation alone, but that we will seek the highest level of all things that You have set aside for us.  We ask all these things in the name of our Most High, Most Holy and Most Righteous Lord, Jesus Christ.