Category: Uncategorized

Applying God’s Holy Word to Our Lives

John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 
No matter how intelligent we might be, the teachings of the Bible will remain a mystery to us without the influence of the Holy Spirit to aid us.  Our understanding is no better than the early listeners to Jesus’ parables who “did not have ears to hear”.  We cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the work and business of the Holy Spirit, to teach, interpret, and explain all things to us which Christ had taught to His disciples. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make the Bible plain and easy to for us to understand.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us to and instruct us in all things necessary for salvation.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to prepare us to teach what we have learned to others. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be Our Helper, Our Comforter and Our Guide on our journey of sanctification.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will instruct us in all things necessary for our salvation.  We ask, Lord, for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives help us to interpret Your Holy Word.  May Your teachings become easy for us to understand and apply to our lives.  May the Holy Spirit show us how to share this precious gift with others.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Alone with Our Savior

Mark 4:34
He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Jesus used examples of everyday life events to explain kingdom principles to the crowds.  Often the crowds did not understand.  His disciples did not understand either.  So Jesus would take His disciples aside and reveal the truth to them.

Jesus does the same with us.  He reveals His truths to us through the everyday events in our lives.  Much of which we do not understand because we do not truly understand ourselves.  At least, not until we are willing to go to Jesus and spend time with Him alone.  At these times, His Holy Spirit will reveal to us all that has been hidden from us because of our own spiritual immaturity or sinfulness.

While the treasures of the kingdom are present in the world, we often over look them or simply take them for granted.  It is important that we set aside a private time with Jesus or we may miss His treasures all together. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Yourself and Your treasures in this world.  We praise the name of Jesus who represents the highest order of Your benevolence to all humanity.  We pray, Father, that you will draw us unto Yourself so that we will seek Your Holy Spirit to guide us into precious, private time with Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  We ask, Lord, that You reveal all of Your truths and mysteries to us as we learn to build an intimate relationship with You.  We pray these things in the holy, might and righteous name of Jesus.  

When Our Obedience Costs Others

Luke 23:26
As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
Because Jesus was obedient to His Father’s calling, it cost others around Him.  In this case, it was Simon of Cyrene who bore a portion of the costs of Jesus’ obedience.
Whenever we choose to be obedient to God’s calling on our lives, it is likely to cost other people.  Suppose the Lord asks us to give up something we love doing because He wants more time with us.  It is likely that we shared our beloved activity with others who will suffer from our withdrawal from the activity.  Or it may be that our faithful service at church creates an internal challenge to those who are shunning a calling of their own.  We must beware of the inclination to move away from our calling in order to avoid costing others.  We simply must obey and leave the consequences with Our Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us to fulfill unique plans and purposes in Your kingdom.  We pray that you keep us steadfast in our obedience to Your calling on our lives.  We ask, Lord, that You provide the strength we need to overcome the pressure that may come from others as they bear the costs of our obedience.  Show us, Father, how to forgive those that persecute us for serving You.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ who gave His life so that we may have eternal life.

  

Providing Light in the Darkness

Acts 26:18
To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

In this passage, the Apostle Paul is describing to King Agrippa the directive and the message that Jesus gave him to bring to the people.  The message summarizes for us the fullness of our blessing in Christ, but it also provides us with the responsibility that we share with Paul.  For we are all called to spread the Good News that we have received. 

Without our precious Savior, we would choose eternal damnation.  Hard to fathom, but we see it every day – people openly professing their disdain for Jesus Christ.  The sin nature absolutely blocks any possibility that we would choose the light of Jesus Christ over the darkness of Satan.  Fortunately, Our Savior washes us clean with His blood so that we can bath in His light and surrender to Him for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins and allow us to live in Your magnificent light for all eternity.  Your word tells us that there will be no need for the sun or the moon in eternity for Your light will be sufficient.  We pray, Lord, that you will show us how to live in Your perfect light and share it with the world around us.  Help us to become living testimony of the loving kindness, mercy and grace that you have provided to us through the sacrifice of Your Son.  Father, may our Christian experience be marked by the light that we provide to those around us that are in the darkness.  We ask these things in the name of Jesus, the Light of the World.

Supernatural Examination

Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Jesus Christ died on the Cross so that we could stand blameless before the Father.  To prepare us for this time, the Holy Spirit dwells within us to guide us through the sanctification process.  The Holy Spirit takes us beyond the carnal limits of our own understanding.  Inspired by the light of Our Savior, we are allowed to see the full depth of the darkness of our sin and the full height of our potential in Christ.  Rest assured that we would never properly examine ourselves without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us righteous through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for providing the grace that we need and the ever present assistance of the Holy Spirit so that we may submit to the transformation process from sinner to saint.  We pray that You open the gateways of our minds so that we may see and repent of all of the shackles of sin on our lives and we may see and grasp the fullness of your plans for our lives.  We ask these things in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Learning to Worship Daily

Genesis 12:8
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.
Abraham established a culture of worship.  At the end of each of his journey segments, Abraham built an altar for the Lord from which he worshiped.  He built the altars to set up and keep up the worship of God in his family. He maintained the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice and he nurtured the practice of seeking his God.  He preached concerning the name of the Lord.  He taught his family and neighbors the knowledge of the true God.
The way of family worship is a good old way, no new thing, but the ancient practice of honoring Almighty God.  Abraham showed us that worship is an ongoing need.  As he moved from station to station, at times unsettled in the midst of enemies, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar to worship Almighty God.
We can learn great lessons from Abraham by applying his worship principles to our own daily lives.  If we consider each day a journey, we should conclude each journey by finding a quiet place to worship God.  If our daily journey takes us away from our homes, let us not fail to take our worship practices along with us.  As Abraham did, let us establish a place of worship at the end of each journey no matter we are located.  Let us be separated from all of our daily activities and spend our time with Our Lord.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing a desire in our hearts to worship You.  We pray that You show us how to come to you each day to worship you in a manner that pleases you.  Strengthen us and guide us, Lord, so that we are able to find a quiet place and time each day.  We ask that the Holy Spirit help us separate our minds from all of the daily issues of the world so that we may focus on You alone.  We pray these things in the precious, holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ.  

But Do You Know Him?

John 8:19
Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
One of the greatest blessings of our salvation is that the Holy Spirit leads us beyond head knowledge of Jesus into a real relationship with Our Savior.  If we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will find a peace in our lives that we never knew and we will learn God’s will for our lives with more depth than we ever imagined.

Seeking a relationship with Jesus and abiding in His commandments should be the highest priority in our lives.  After all, every good and faithful promise that has been given to us by God through His Holy Word hinges upon our relationship with His Son and our obedience to His commandments and calling on our lives.  

Because of our inability to form the relationship and to follow through in discipleship, our merciful Lord provided the Holy Spirit to be our helper.  We must learn to take full advantage of this blessing and gift.  Our eternal resting place in the kingdom of God is guaranteed when we accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior and we seek to live our lives under His discipleship.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to know You through Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that we will come to know you intimately through our relationship with Your Son.  May we find peace and joy beyond any that the world can provide.  May we be transformed by the Holy Spirit.  May the world know us as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We pray these things in the name of the Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Building Our Lives on the Rock

John 20:22
And with that He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
Ahh…the new year…time for new resolutions, time for new plans, time for new dreams, but unfortunately, usually the beginning of things that will not succeed.  Our failures will not be because we did not try.  Our failures will be because we had the wrong foundation.

Just as the apostle Peter learned when he failed the Lord three times, we can never count on our own strength.  Our resolutions have no power in them.  Our own strength is never enough to meet the demands and challenges of this world.  Our strength must come from the Lord, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit that He gives us.  The Holy Spirit has been sent so that we may have the foundation that we need to rise up against the enemy that is always trying to bring us down.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit to come along side of us to be our counselor.  We praise the name of Jesus who defeated all evil when He died on the Cross so that we could defeat the evil that comes against us.  We pray that you will teach us to accept our utter failure without Christ.  Help us to realize our best will never be good enough until we are cleansed by the blood of Our Savior and receive His Holy Spirit into our lives.  Help us Father to build our lives on the Rock that is Jesus Christ.

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.
In our society, patience is a lost virtue.  Everybody wants satisfaction instantly.  Nobody is willing to wait on anything.
The rush to get things done is in direct opposition to how Our Heavenly Father works.  No single thing is done in His kingdom until everything is in perfect order for the perfect result.  This is especially true in our lives.  The Lord does not want us to advance until He has prepared us and our surroundings properly.  If we try to move ahead of God’s plan, we will meet heartbreak and disappointment.

We can make a lot of good decisions in our lives without God.  We can accomplish a lot of good things without God.  We cannot accomplish anything of real kingdom value without placing our reliance on Our Heavenly Father and waiting on Him to direct us through His Holy Spirit.  In order to be deemed good and faithful servants, we must learn to wait on the Lord in all things.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for working all things in our lives for our good when we trust in You.  We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to be with us always to remind us to lean on You and not on ourselves.  We pray, Lord, that you will give us the patience to wait on you.  We ask that You show us how to be still in the valley as you prepare the mountain top for us and those that You have given us to serve.  We rejoice in Your faithfulness.  We ask all these things in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.

Understanding the Mysteries of God

Job 11:7
“Can you fathom the mysteries of God?  Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world.  Yet Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Spirit.  Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Of course, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us.  We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.  It can be helpful to open our quiet time with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to say to me today?”  He is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to commune with You each day.  Lord, may we learn to delight in Your presence and learn how to experience the revelations of who You are and all of Your wonderful mysteries.  We pray these things in the name of Your precious Lamb, Jesus Christ.