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Our Journey of Faith

Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
Abraham went out in obedience toward a land that he did not know and could not see.  In obedience, he left his country, he left his father, he left his relations and he left his friends.  He went out in absolute faith that he would receive blessings that he did not fully understand.  Because of his faith, his name was changed from Abram to Abraham, the father of all nations.  

Faith is believing that which we cannot see today will be ours one day in accordance with God’s promises.  Faith is taking hold of our blessings even though we have not received them yet.  Faith is overcoming the terror of our circumstances in exchange for the comfort that only God can bring to us.  Faith is following paths that we do not understand yet.  Faith is allowing ourselves to fully accept the what Jesus has to offer when our flesh wants to take it piece by logical piece.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the grace that we need to receive in faith all that You have set aside for us through the sacrifice of the Precious Lamb, Jesus Christ.  We pray that You show us the path of obedience that we need to follow to submit to Your Son as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  May Your Holy Spirit aid us in our journey of discovery.  May we leave not a crumb on the table that You have set for us.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the bread of life.

Living Sober, Righteous and Holy Lives

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
When we accepted Jesus into our lives, it is likely that we were in bondage to one or more things that were of the world and not entirely pleasing to God.  Once we received the Holy Spirit, we began the process of shedding those things that the Lord found unworthy.
We will not change all things in our lives instantly, nor completely.  But we can begin the process of shedding our fleshly bonds one at a time as the Holy Spirit convicts and strengthens us.  We can enter into the perfecting process that is guided by the Holy Spirit.  We cannot on our own live a life of holiness without sin, but strengthened by the Holy Spirit we can live a life marked by our desire to be righteous and holy to the end of our days.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your wisdom so that we may understand Your ways and learn to live in awesome reverence of who You are.  We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see all the ways in our lives that displease You.  Convict us of our sinful nature.  Prepare a path for us to walk in the process of sanctification aided by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Lord, may we learn to lean on the Holy Spirit so that we may live soberly, righteously and holy.  By Your grace, Father, and by the strength of Christ and the assistance of the Holy Spirit may we be delivered from our sinful lives.  May the world know us by the fullness of Jesus Christ within us.  We ask all these things in His mighty name.

Waiting Patiently on the Promises

Psalm 130:5
I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
There is all-sufficient fullness in Our Savior.  He is able to meet every single need of each and everyone of us. As He pours Himself out to us, His storehouse remains full of loving kindness, mercy and grace.  His fount is always open to those who wait on His promises.

God sets everything according to His time.  We must learn to confidently expect His grace and mercy.  We should never doubt His power and His faithfulness.  According to His promises, we will share in His eternal glory and His happiness.  Why then would we choose to run ahead of Him?  Why would we choose to turn to a deteriorating world that is always in short supply when it comes to meeting our real needs?  Why? Why? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the all-sufficient Savior that You have given us through Your perfect love and forgiveness.  Our souls wait for You, longing for Your gifts of grace and the evidence of Your power working in our lives.  Strengthen us Lord through our trials and afflictions. We look forward to Your deliverance in accordance with Your good and perfect plans for our lives.  We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit may help us to wait patiently and quietly until we see the fruit of Your immutable promises.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Our Shepherd, Jesus Christ.

Citizens on Earth or Heirs to the Kingdom

Psalm 119:19
I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.
God has given us His commandments and He has given us His inerrant Holy Word to confirm His guidelines for our lives.   Yet we have allowed our fellow man to take the laws of Almighty God and hide them from us by replacing them with the laws of fallible men.
The laws of fallible men invariably turn toward tolerance of things that are not pleasing to God and these same laws are used to pressure one another into accepting wrongful behavior as truth.  We must guard against becoming citizens of this earth and foreigners in God’s kingdom.  In this day and time, we must dare to be strangers in our own land.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is revealed to us in Your Holy Word.  We bless the name of Jesus who is the Word made flesh.  Father, we pray that the Holy Spirit may direct us to repent of the things in our lives that are not pleasing to You.  We ask for the strength to turn away from these displeasing things and the grace to turn toward all that is pleasing to You.  We beseech You that all of our faith will be in Jesus Christ and not in the world.  As we surrender to Your will, equip us, Lord, to reveal Your kingdom to those around us.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Grace that is All Sufficient

2 Timothy 2:1
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Paul wrote the words in this passage to his helper, Timothy, to prepare him for everything that the world was going to throw at him.  Paul alerted him that there would be many trials that he would endure.  He encouraged him by reminding him that he would be strengthened by the One who sent them out to preach to the people.  Paul exhorted Timothy to rely completely on the grace of God and not to turn to his own ways to find his strength.
As we find ourselves challenged by life, we can be comforted by Paul’s instruction to Timothy.  Jesus Christ will never leaves us.  When we turn to Him for our direction and our strength, our path is secure.  By the fullness of His grace we are enabled to fulfill our ministries, bear all trials and afflictions and stand against all persecution.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that we receive through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus.  We exalt the name of Jesus, who provides the strength that we need to overcome all of the issues in our lives.  We ask, Lord, that the Holy Spirit teach us how to rely solely on the fullness of the grace available to us through our relationship with Our Savior.  We pray that our firm reliance on Your Son will release His power and His Spirit into our lives and our ministries.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, the fount of endless grace.

Overcoming the Callings of Our Flesh

1 Corinthians 10:12
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
The Christian’s security against sin rests in Jesus Christ alone.  He provides ample supply of the oil that we need for our lamps to light our way.  He gives freely of the strength that we will need to overcome the callings of our flesh.  In Christ, we are enclosed in the arms of everlasting love.  In Christ we stand on a foundation that will never fail.  In Christ, we are kept by an almighty power that cannot be overcome.
It is our responsibility to maintain the flow of His strength in our weakness.  The “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Spurgeon, offers the following guidance for maintaining our strength in the Lord.
Be much more in prayer. Spend longer time in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for promising to perfect Your strength in our weakness.  We exalt the name of Jesus who stands beside us and promises never to leave us.  We rejoice in the presence of the Holy Spirit who provides us with the strength that we need to overcome every trial and temptation in our lives.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to draw near to You through our prayers, our worship and our study of Your Holy Word.  Help us to be constantly vigilant that we are bond slaves to Jesus and not to our flesh.  May we live in the fullness of Your grace.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our security and our strength.

Everlasting Life with Almighty God

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God’s immeasurable, inexhaustible, divine love was required to save a sin ravished world.  He gave His Son, Jesus, to be the Prophet, the Priest and the King for all mankind. 
In order to avoid eternal damnation for our sins, we must submit to Jesus Christ as our teacher, our ruler and Our Savior.  Our duty is to proclaim His name.  Our benefit is everlasting life in His Kingdom.
Jesus sacrificed His life for us.  He is asking us to sacrifice our old lives in exchange for a new life under His stewardship.  There is really no sacrifice on our parts.  What we receive is eternally greater than what we leave behind.
Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a way for us to escape eternal damnation because of our sins. We thank You for providing Your Son as our sacrificial lamb and as our living, ever present Good Shepherd.  We humbly submit to You all that we are and all that we have in the name of Jesus Christ.  May the presence of Your Holy Spirit strengthen us as we walk the pathway of sanctification that You have set aside for us.  We rejoice in knowing that one day we will stand before You in the image of Your Son.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Holy Redeemer.

Parting with the Things of the World

Mark 10:22
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
The rich young man came to Jesus to inquire how he could inherit eternal life.  The young man proclaimed knowledge of the commandments and his complete compliance to the commandments, assuming this to be enough.  Jesus responded, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

The young man could not part with the things of this world.  He chose the world over the kingdom of God.
Our Heavenly Father has nothing against our possessions or our money.  Abraham, Moses and David all had great wealth.  Yet they all did what God asked them to do.  They placed their relationship with Almighty God above all else.  They used their wealth to help meet the needs of their people so that God would receive the glory.

At some point in our walk as disciples of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit will inspire us to surrender all that we are and all that we have to Jesus. Nothing less will be acceptable.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the provision that You have given us. We exalt Your name for the endless flow of Your blessings in our lives, most of which we take for granted.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire and strengthen us to lift up Your name each day above all the things of the world.  We ask, Father, that You prepare our hearts to surrender all that we have and all that we are to You.  May we freely part with the provision that You have given us to meet the needs of those around us.  May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom.  We ask these things in the name of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.

That Vision from Heaven

Acts 26:19
And so, King Agrippa, I obeyed that vision from heaven.
While we are not likely to have a vision for our lives delivered to us in a dramatic encounter with Jesus like the apostle Paul did, we are all called to respond to the plan that Almighty God has willed for our lives.  If we are diligent in seeking “our vision”, it will be revealed to us in a manner that will be sufficient to guide us and inspire us to pursue our vision.

The apostle Paul was brought before the Judean Monarch, King Agrippa, to defend himself and his gospel.  In his defense, he told the king why he was doing what he was doing, “I obeyed the vision from heaven.”  Paul was not driven by a well thought out plan based on practicality or his own competence.  He went out and proclaimed the gospel against all hindrances imaginable, many of which could not be overcome without the hand of God.  He also went where God told him to go at the time that God told him to go.
Paul is our model for following visions.  We should move forward without regard for our own capabilities for God always provides what is needed to complete His good work.  We should not rush ahead in consideration of our current skills and circumstances.  We should only move when and where He urges us to move. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You allowing us to serve You.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to seek and discover Your plans for our lives.  We ask that You teach us how to turn to You alone for our direction.  We ask that You teach us how to wait on You to prepare the way before we move.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Wonderful Counselor.  

We are All Preachers of the Gospel

2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
We are commanded to preach the Word of God.  Are we prepared?

Jesus Christ, the Living Word, came to earth to teach about His Father in heaven and to reveal the salvation plan.  A large portion of His message was presented through the way that He lived and loved among the people.  He used His miracles to exhibit His love and to gain attention for His message – especially for those that would not listen to His message otherwise.
So it is with us.  Because most of the world now has hardened hearts for the spoken Word, we must draw them to the Word by the way that we live our lives.  Our living testimony of the miracle that occurred in our lives through Jesus Christ must be the message that those around us see day in and day out.  Once they see the miraculous way that our lives have changed and they see the joy that we have regardless of circumstances, the comfort we have regardless of our trials and the love that we share through good times and bad, they will be drawn to the fount that sustains us.  The way we live will say more and teach more than we could convey with eloquent speech.  To preach the Word is more about how we live than how we orate.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the living presence of Your Son in our lives.  We bless the name of Jesus who dwells within us so that we may be vessels of His perfect love.  We pray that we may become broken vessels, surrendered to Our Savior, so that the world may be drawn to Him by the Light that lives within us and shines forth from us.  Once those around us have been drawn to us by the lives in Christ that we are living, we pray that You give us the strength and the boldness to proclaim the gospel.  We ask that You open the ears of those around us and prepare their hearts to receive their Savior.  We ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus.