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Through Devotion to Our Servant King

1 Peter 5:2

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly–not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

When we were children, we joined our parents in the work that needed to be done around the house.  We joined them in obedience to their request for help. If we served them because we loved them and wanted to honor them, our work was done eagerly and with joy.  If we served them for any other reason – to earn allowance or perhaps avoid punishment – our work probably became tedious quickly.
We may find a similar experience when we seek to serve humanity.  No matter how fulfilling the service may be at first, the humanitarian cause will become exhausting if the root of our service is not our love for Our Savior.  The secret of our joy in service will be our devotion to Jesus Christ. 
Jesus was the perfect model of service.  Jesus was able to carry through on His service to mankind all the way to the end because He was driven by His love for His Father first.  Honoring His Father with His obedience was His calling. The service that He provided for mankind was the result of His love for His Father.

So let us serve the Lord willingly, even eagerly, in devotion for Our Savior King.  Through our labors of love we will receive a crown of unfading glory.  Our reward will be greater than any power, wealth or pleasure that the world has to offer. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to express our love to You through our service to those around us.  We pray that You strengthen us, Lord, for our work by helping us to grow in our relationship with Your Son.  May our devotion to Him be measured by the fruits of our work.  May all that we do to serve Your kingdom bring honor and glory to Your Holy Name, the name of Your Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Servant King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

That Sinking Feeling

Matthew 14:30
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
When Peter first stepped out of the boat, all He saw was Jesus.  He saw nothing but the one he desired to be with.  His focus was on His Lord and His Lord alone.  With His focus only on His Lord, he walked on water.  But then Peter let his focus shift to his surroundings and down he went.
It is a bit difficult for us to relate to walking on water, but we can all relate to finding ourselves in a place in life where we feel like we are sinking.  In these times, we are weak in faith and our doubts are overwhelming us.  

Too often we get to this place because we are seeking a way out through our own strengths.  Our focus is on our problems and not on the promises of Our Savior.  Peter was rebuked for his lack of faith.  We should know that we share in Peter’s weakness.  There is no valid reason why the disciples of Jesus Christ should be of doubtful mind.  Even on the stormiest of days, He is our ever present help.  

With our focus on Jesus, two important things happen.  1) The things that are around us to scare us or hinder us become insignificant.  2) The vision of Who we are living for and where He is leading us becomes crystal clear.  Through Jesus, we are able to see clearly the path that God has set aside for us before we were even born.  Through Jesus, we find the strength to keep up the good walk of faith when the world distracts us.  Through Jesus, we are able to complete the course that ends in our eternal resting place with Almighty God.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us with a unique purpose through which we serve You and bring honor and glory to Your Name.  We rejoice in knowing that we can fulfill our purposes here on earth as well as in Your eternal kingdom.  We exalt the name of Our Savior, Jesus, who walks along side us to insure that we have the strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy.  May we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus so we are not distracted or hindered by the things which are trying to pull us away from our purposes.   May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, My good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Our King, Our Priest and Our Prophet, Jesus Christ.

Our Sacrificial Calling

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
The life of Jesus Christ was not the life of a mere man, but the life of a divine man who gave up His deity and His royalty in order to accept the calling of Almighty God to be the blood sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.  Jesus took on this calling freely and voluntarily that He might secure our legal standing in the kingdom of God.

The moment that we accepted the salvation that Jesus made possible when He laid down His life for us, we were given the power and the calling to lay down our lives day after day for the people around us.  This sacrificial calling is contrary to our human nature.  Our flesh will fight us on every occasion, be it large or small, that we seek to emulate Jesus’ love for us in our service to others.  And certainly, Satan will do his part to discourage us too.
Yet we can and will overcome the urges of Satan and our flesh, if we learn to rely on the urgings of the Holy Spirit.   For we were not only given the calling to serve, we were also given the power to serve.  We were given the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to dwell within us.  All we have to do is let the Spirit within us flow out of us.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son Jesus to die for us so that we would not remain separated from You for all eternity because of our sins.  We praise Your Name for extending Your mercy so that we could accept the salvation that we did not earn and do not deserve.  We pray, Father God, that the fullness of Your Holy Spirit will flow from us each day.  May we learn to lay down our lives each day so that others may see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

The Release of God’s Power In Our Lives

2 Chronicles 27:6
King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the LORD his God.

After the Jews were freed from bondage, they made their way to the holy land that God had set aside for them.  Moses sent twelve men to scout the land.  All but two returned with fearful stories.  As a result, the Israelites rebelled against Moses and refused to take the land that was prepared for them.  God punished the Israelites by condemning them to wander the desert for forty years.  None of the men over the age of twenty were ever allowed in to the holy land because of their disobedience.

On the other hand, Jotham became king at the age of 28.  He was obedient in all things.  Because of his faithfulness, he was given victory in all of his battles and a resting place of honor when he died.
We can miss out on the promises of God in our lives simply by not complying to the small things of life that the Holy Spirit may place on our hearts.  How many times have we passed up the opportunity to assist a testy neighbor, lend a helping hand to a needy stranger or respond politely and with love when receiving poor service?  Each time we passed on one of these or numerous other Holy Spirit led opportunities, we deprived God of His glory and we halted or limited the release of His power in our lives.  It is important that we seek and give full consideration to the will of God concerning all elements of our daily lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the opportunity to bring honor and glory to Your Name when we allow the marvel of Your grace to be exhibited in our lives.  Teach us, Father, to recognize You and Your love in the simplest of tasks that are performed in service to others.  Lord, we pray that You release the fullness of Your power in our lives as we learn to share Your perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of Lord of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Settling the Burden of Our Sins

Psalm 32:5
I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
It is very important that we confess our sins and repent of them quickly.  We should not hold on to them for any reason – not even to punish ourselves.  We must take God’s merciful grace and cleanse ourselves of our sins.  We must recognize that Jesus Christ has atoned for all of our sins for all eternity.  To hold on to any sin, even its guilt, is to continue to unnecessarily suffer its destruction in our lives.

As difficult as it is for us in our carnal natures, our confession requires that we gloss over nothing.  We must lay our souls bare before the Lord with no attempt to conceal an iota of our guilt.  Then with great sorrow we must turn away from our sin in repentance, pleading for the pardon that Jesus Christ has paid in full.
Once we have cleansed ourselves of our sins through confession, the Holy Spirit will come along side us and lift us to a new, higher level relationship with the Father.  “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.  Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”  Psalm 32:1-2  We are truly blessed when we place our trust in the Lord.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace that has provided a way for us to be cleansed of our sins and freed from its destructive power in our lives.  We thank You Jesus for settling our sin debt for all eternity.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to uncover all of the sin in our lives so that we may quickly confess it with our mouths.  May we escape the darkness that has overcome us and live in the precious light of Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without Blemish, Jesus Christ.

Covering Our Children in Protective Prayer

Jeremiah 31:16–17
Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the Lord. “Your children will return to their own land.”
As mothers and fathers, we must be diligent in praying a hedge of protection around our children.  Satan is viciously consistent in his efforts to destroy our families and in his efforts to destroy the lives of our children.  As parents, we have the power of protecting them through our prayers.
No matter what circumstances that our children may be in, we must not believe the lies of Satan.  He will try to get us to give up on our children.  He will do all that he can do to discourage our efforts to pray for them because he knows the power that is in our prayers.
We must fight the good fight on the behalf of our children.  We must continously pray a hedge of protection around them.  The Lord promises us that He will reward us for our efforts.  He will return our children to us.  Most importantly, He will return our children to Himself.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing our prayers of protection for our children.  Thank you for providing a way for us to shield our children from the enemy who is set on destroying them.  Strengthen us, Lord, that we may never falter in covering our children with our prayers.  We rejoice in knowing that You will reward us for our diligent, prayerful efforts on behalf of our children.  We cling to Your promise to return our children to the land that You have set aside for them.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

Fully Dependent on the True Vine

John 15:4
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
Where do we find ourselves today?  Are we happy with our circumstances?  These questions are irrelevant if we are abiding in Jesus.  If we follow His command to, “Abide in Me.”, we will not have a care about where we are, what we are doing or what is going on around us.  In this place of abiding, we will find our lives filled with the perfect joy of the Lord.  Whatever we find ourselves doing will be completely satisfying and will bear much fruit.  What freedom and power we find when we abide in Our Savior!!

On the other hand, if we are leaning on the world or on our own natural abilities, we soon find out how impotent we are.  Just as the passage suggests, we are destined to experience a withering away when we separate ourselves from the True Vine.  We are sure to enter into a poor, fruitless condition.  Why would we ever consider living in any other way except fully dependent on the True Vine.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we bow in awe and wonder before You.  We acknowledge and thank You for the fullness of the joy and the power that we receive when we abide in Your Son.  We pray for the strength to place all of our fears and worries at Your feet.  We ask for the courage to move forward knowing that all things are possible when we place our trust in Our Savior.  May we always seek the grace, nourishment and strength that we need from our all-sufficient source, Jesus Christ.  We ask all these things in His precious, holy and mighty name.

Visible Representatives of Christ

Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We are the handiwork of the creator of the entire universe, but not merely as creatures, but as new creatures in Christ.  We were prepared before hand with the capacity to perform good works for the pleasure, the praise and the honor of Almighty God.  We were created not just to perform one good work but to continue to walk in a series of good works.  We were created to perform righteous and holy work as visible representatives of Our Savior.

There is nothing that we will face in life that is too big or too small for Jesus to overcome for us.  He is waiting to comfort us and guide us and intercede for us in every minute detail and in every seemingly insurmountable circumstance in our lives.  Once we receive Jesus as Our Savior, it is His promise that He will insure that we are successful in carrying out His plans for our lives.
Why should we try to rely on our own power when we have the power of the creator and sustainer of the universe available to us?  We should rejoice and seek Jesus in every element of our lives.  We should submit every breathing moment to Him.  He awaits!!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who comforts us, guides us and intercedes for us.  We pray that You teach us how to put all of our trust in Him.  We ask that You shield us from all the distractions that we bring into our own lives.  May we learn to walk in the ways that Jesus shows us.  May the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us as we seek to endeavor in the righteous and holy work of Your kingdom.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Righteous and Holy King, Jesus Christ.

Living Beyond Our Imagination

Matthew 25:18
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
What a shame it is to accept our salvation and then to remain mostly unchanged by the Holy Spirit within us.  In doing so, we are like the servant that took the talent from his master and buried it in the ground without doing anything with it to increase its value to the master.
When we do not access all that is available to us through the Holy Spirit, we cut off the flow of the gifts from God, denying ourselves the opportunity to reap from all that God has stored up for us.  Remember Jesus Christ gave everything for us.  He held back nothing.  He expects the same from us in return.

Also remember that Jesus rewards those who are faithful in their service to Him.  If we look for and seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we open our access to all the treasures of heaven.  We enable God to prepare us to serve Him and bear fruit for Him in the manner that He planned for us.  Often we will find that our harvest for the King is well beyond the limits of our imagination.
Prayer 
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gifts and talents that You have given us.  We call on Your Holy Spirit to take us beyond what we see and understand about our own capabilities to a place where we are releasing things in our lives that are not even imaginable to us now.  May all the gain we see and all the fruit we bear be for Your honor and Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Bountiful Lord, Jesus Christ. 

Escaping the Heavy Burdens of Life

Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus invites all of us who labor and are carrying burdens to come to Him.  He proclaims that He will provide us with the rest that we need.  At some level, we all take on the heavy burdens of this world.  Without a doubt, we all seek to escape from the stress filled grind that most of us endure. 

The moment that we receive our salvation the abundance of God’s grace is available to us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  All we have to do is to submit to Jesus Christ and allow His Spirit to guide all that we do.  Our peace awaits us. 
But be assured that “I will give you rest” does not mean “I will hold your hand while you lay in bed languishing in your burdens”.  It means “I will pull you out of the half dead state that you are in.  I will pull you from the depravity of your sins and the oppression of the enemy.  I will give you the spirit of life.  You will find your rest in vital and sinless activity.”
Why do we insist on hanging on to the old things that do nothing but hinder our progress toward finding the rest that is promised to us?  Why do we accept anything less than the full measure that God has set aside for us?  It is all about our commitment.  When we come to Jesus, we are committing to leave everything of this world behind in exchange for a personal relationship with Our Savior.
Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a refuge for us – a place where we can be free from the burdens that the world tries to lay on us.  We praise You for providing the comfort that we can find nowhere else except through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus.  May we be drawn by the Holy Spirit to respond to the words of promise, “Come unto me.”  May we learn to live our lives in the vitality and might that You offer us in Christ.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Comforter, Jesus Christ.