Category: Uncategorized

Bond-Slaves of Jesus Christ

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

In the days of slavery, the slaves were keenly aware of who their slave owner was and what their slave owner expected of them.  When the slaves had a good master, they understood the value of the  provisions that they were given.  They would delight in pleasing their good master.

As Christians, we not only have a good master, we have a good and perfect master.  We have Our Lord, Jesus, as our Master.  We should be in constant praise and worship for the provisions that we receive.  We should delight in meeting every calling that Our Master places on our lives.  We should purposefully sign away our own rights in order to be bond-slaves of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for legally binding us to Your service for all eternity.  We rejoice in knowing that we will praise and worship You forever as our needs are met and satisfied beyond our imaginations.  We pray, Lord, for the wisdom and the strength to renounce any ownership that we seek to claim from this earth.  May we live in the comfort and triumph of Your grace.  May we live every day in surrender to Your Son, Jesus.

Living Daily For The Love of God

John 14:15
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Most diets that we follow are built around a list of “do’s” and “don’t’s”.   Here are a few “don’t’s”. 
  • Don’t eat this type of food.
  • Don’t eat more than this much.
  • Don’t eat at this time of day.
Of course, there is always a corresponding list of “do’s” to guide us through our diets as well.

For many of us, sadly, the diet process will ultimately end in failure.  We may find short term results, but we will revert to our old ways over time.  The cold hard fact is that the flesh is not capable of satisfying itself.  Those of us who are successful at diets are those who dieted for a specific purpose beyond losing weight – be healthy for my family, live longer for my family, etc.

Similarly, obedience to God’s commandments for the sake of obedience is doomed for failure.  Obedience based on our love for the Lord and our desire to please Him is the only way to find victory against the desires of the flesh.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us first, so that we have Your love to return to You in an expression of praise and worship. We thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to give us victory over our sins.  Through the strength of our victory in Christ, we ask forgiveness and repent of our sins.  We pray for the grace to walk in oneness with You in all that we do.  May You know that we love You by the way we live each day. 

Vessels of God’s Redemptive Work

1 Corinthians6:19
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes and dwells within us.  The Lord begins using us as vessels that carry the Living Water.

Before the Living Water can flow, we must be free of those things in our lives which would hinder the flow.  We must get into fellowship with Jesus Himself.  Without His fellowship, we are of no use to God as vessels of salvation.

As we submit to the Lord, we can anticipate that there will be trials in our lives.  Jesus Himself told us that it would be so as we followed Him.  These trials that create brokenness in our lives will also create the cracks in the living vessel so that the Living Water can flow through unhindered.  If but one heart can be saved because of our brokenness, let us thank God for allowing our trials to occur.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for using us as Your vessels of Living Water.  We rejoice in knowing that through shed blood of Your Son, Jesus, and through the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit in our lives that You can use us, the sons of inequity, to be instruments of Your good work.  We pray for the aid of the Holy Spirit to build us up in Christ so that we can endure in faith all of our trials.  We ask, Father, that we may become free flowing vessels of Your redemptive work in those around us. 





Living with Boldness, Courage and Confidence

Romans 5:2
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.

One of the greatest gifts that we receive through faith is the ability to approach our death beds with peace and joy, not with fear and trembling.  Through our faith, we know that what awaits us in heaven is beyond our imagination.  Through our faith, we know that at our death we will be set free of every pain and challenge that life has brought to us.  Through our faith we know that we will spend eternity in the presence of Almighty God and we will be worthy to be there.

This kind of faith is actually worked out in us on this earth.  This kind of faith by its nature must be tried.  This kind of faith is built up through all of the trials that we face seemingly alone.  This kind of faith is built up when we realize we were never alone.  We know we have this kind of faith when we can approach where we now stand with boldness, courage and confidence knowing that Jesus is always right beside us to carry us through.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the faith that brought us to receive Your Son, Jesus, as Our Savior.  We thank You for the faith to believe in Your Holy Word and reject all that contradicts it.  We praise the name of Jesus for standing by us as we enjoy all the blessings that You bring us and endure all the trials that life throws at us.  We pray, Father, for the grace and the strength to live every day of our lives in the conscious delight of who we are in Christ.  

My God is My Rock

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.

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 that all of our earthly efforts be in obedience to Your will and plan for our lives.  Through the love of Jesus, may all that we do be as worship to You.

Living with a Renewed Heart

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.

The importance of Jesus taking on all sin is that all men can become worthy to stand before the Father in a righteous state.  By accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, all believers are eligible to do away with all that separates them from their eternal inheritance.

Through salvation, all the sins of the old man are gone – nonexistent.  All that remains before the Father is the new man in Christ without blemish.  The new man that stands before the Father is made in His own image.  The new man is now the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  He is 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 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. 


White As Snow Forever

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.  In fact, there cannot even be the memory of sin.  Every person in heaven will be holy.

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.  All we have to do is accept Jesus as Our Savior.  All the necessary work 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 all 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.  May we live in the fullness of the One who suffered and died for us.  May we surrender daily to our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Did Not Issue a Quota

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?  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.  









Thriving Under the Power and Authority of Jesus

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.

Love, Compassion and Forgiveness 24-7

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 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 24-7.

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 24-7 as we walk through our daily lives.  May we bear fruit for Your kingdom here on earth.