Category: Uncategorized

Mature Enough to Handle the Harvest

Exodus 2:11
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

Every man is called to lead his family spiritually.  We are all called to lead others spiritually in some manner.  When the fullness of the calling hits, we soon realize how ill equipped we are for the work and how ill prepared those around us are to receive us.

At this point when we have received God’s calling and are responding to it, God begins to do His good work in us.   Then something strange happens.  We have the vision and a very clear understanding of what needs to be done, but like Moses, we feel like we have been left out in the wilderness.  It seems as if God is ignoring us.

In actuality, the opposite is true.  God is fully and perfectly engaged in our lives.  His plan is to discipline us so that we are focused on Him and not on our vision.  When our focus is corrected, the fruit of the vision is released.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfectly patient hand in our lives.  We thank You for taking us through our wilderness experiences in order to draw us closer to You.  We bless the name of Jesus who carries us through our discouragement.  We praise His Holy Name as He releases the fruit of our lives when we are mature enough in our relationship with Him to handle the harvest.

Walking With Almighty God

Genesis 5:24
Enoch walked with God;

“Enoch walked with God.”  How cool would that be?  At any given time, just dial up the ruler and creator of the universe and invite Him for a walk.  Impossible, you say.  Unimaginable, you claim.

Yet beyond what seems logical to us, it is absolutely within our reach to dial up Almighty God.  The only issue is that to connect we have to be on the same line.  We can only get on the same line by disconnecting from all the other lines of distraction that we are dialed into.  A lot of work to be done there, but well worth the effort.  Spiritual truth awaits.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us the privilege to be alone in Your presence.  We praise You for making Your throne accessible to us.  We bless the name of Jesus for dying on the cross for us so that we are worthy to come before You.  We pray, Lord, that You would teach us how to shed the distractions of the world long enough that we could find time for You alone.  May we all learn to rejoice in complete comfort in Your sweet presence.

Only the Best Ingredients

John 11:6
So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

“Mommy, I really want chocolate cake.  I want it right now.”  

“OK, Dear, but not now.  I will make it later when I have all the special ingredients that I need to make it just the way you love it.”

This is a conversation between a mother and her child.  To the child, the wait may seem painful.  To the loving mother, everything is right and in perfect order.

This is how our loving Father in heaven works with us.  He hears our prayers and He answers them.  He does not rush to provide the answer, even though He could.  He waits for all the best “ingredients”  to be in place.  He wants to prepare only “the best” for us – just like Mommy.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always giving us what is best for us and not what we ask for and certainly not what we deserve.  We exalt You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You extend to us endlessly.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to wait confidently in faith for all that You have prepared for us and those around us.  We rejoice in knowing that Your timing is perfect.

Living As A Child

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

As parents, teachers or caretakers, we understand the joy and the pleasure of an obedient child.  The obedient child’s constant compliance to our instruction melts our hearts.  It is easy and very natural for us to give compliant children greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle the responsibility appropriately.  On the other hand, we are likely to hold back from a child that is disobedient and disrespectful to authority.

So it is when we become new born babes in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Almighty God rejoices when we are obedient and we demonstrate our faithful compliance to His laws, His commands, His Holy Word and His callings on our lives.  When we come to Him humbly and in awe of who He is, He rewards us with more knowledge, more wisdom and more responsibility in His kingdom.

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for receiving us as innocent babes in Christ.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible that we could stand before You in righteousness.  We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to come to You as expectant as young children who go to their fathers eager to learn about the world and anxious for their dreams to be fulfilled.  We pray for the grace to please You in all that we do.  We ask that You release to us the knowledge that we do not have and the wisdom we seek.  May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom.

There is Only One Path

Romans 6:13
Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

When we were born, we inherited a sin nature through the bloodlines of Adam and Eve.  Through the grace of Almighty God, we were given the choice to keep the sin that separates us from Him for all eternity or receive the atonement for our sin provided by the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.  It is a choice that must be made.  There is no place for indecision in selecting where we want to spend eternity.

When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, we are washed clean of all of the sin in our lives.  Nonetheless, the sin nature remains.  It then becomes the work of the Holy Spirit to lead us away from the iniquity in our lives and toward the eternal, holy resting place that we will one day find in the presence of Almighty God.  Again with the grace of God, we are provided all that we need to overcome the sin in our lives.  Yet to receive the fullness of our eternal reward, we must measure every experience in our lives by the standards of Jesus Christ and not by our own standards.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask Your forgiveness for our sins.  We rejoice in knowing that Your forgiveness is certain and complete through the redemptive work of Your Son, Jesus.  We thank You for allowing us to atone for the sin in our lives through Our Savior. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who stands by us as we continue to struggle with our sin natures.  We pray for the grace and the strength to repent and turn away from all the sin that the Holy Spirit reveals to us.  May our bodies be used to do only those things that are pleasing to You, bring glory to You and bear fruit for Your kingdom.

Accepting the Ultimate Invitation

Matthew 11:28
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

“Come to me,” is the ultimate invitation.  It is always valid.  It has no expiration date.  It allows access to the greatest person in the universe on a 24-7 basis.

There is no requirement to accept the invitation, but it is exclusive to those of us who will acknowledge Jesus Christ as Our Savior and acknowledge ourselves as sinners in need of His cleansing blood.  The requirement is necessary in order to make us worthy to be in His presence.

When we accept the invitation, we then have access to the unimaginable favor of the King of Kings for all eternity.  We have the privilege of laying all of our burdens on Him so that we may be refreshed when we are faint.  We have the satisfaction of having our thirst for knowing our Maker quenched forever.  We have the treasure of being able to learn from Our Master all that is good and pleasing to Almighty God.

Why should we go to any other quarter to have our needs met?  Let us go to Him for the mysteries and the grace of God that come through Him.  Let us go to Him for the peace, comfort, joy and salvation that He holds in His hands.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son to reveal to us Your will and Your love.  We bless the name of Jesus for providing the yoke that joins us to Him for the purpose of having all of our burdens lifted from us.  We rejoice in knowing that we live in Your constant shadow protected from evil and supplied with our needs.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will guide us to release all of our cares into the arms of the One who invites us to come to Him.

Debt Cancelled

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.

When we hear the word sin, we usually think of a single transgression or specific transgressions which go against God’s law.  Sin defined in this manner only captures an aspect of sin.

In reality, sin is much more.  Sin is a complete, damning condition that separates us from God.  It is a chasm that we cannot cross on our own.  The chasm was created when Adam and Eve sinned.  At the moment of their sin, we inherited a condition that separated us from God for all eternity.

Thankfully, our merciful Father in heaven provided a way for us to bridge the chasm created by sin.  He provided His Son to take on the burden of all of our sin.  He allowed His Son’s blood to be shed so that we may be cleansed of all of the unrighteousness that separates us from the presence of Almighty God.  God made His own Son take on our sin so that we might become saints in heaven. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, our thanks are inadequate to cover the redemptive work that cleanses us of our unrighteousness and allows us to stand in Your Holy Presence.  There is no manner of word or worship that we could bring before You that would be sufficient to cover the debt that has been paid for us.  We bless the name of Jesus who left His throne in heaven to come to earth to redeem us from the debt we could not pay on our own.  We humble ourselves before You, Lord.  We kneel at the foot of Your Cross and submit ourselves to a life in Your service here on earth and in heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You forever.  We pray that our lives in Christ here on earth will lead others to the foot of Your Cross to receive their salvation.

A Life of Submission, Not Work

Galatians 1:15-16
…who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me…

When Paul was writing and speaking to the Galatians, he made it clear that he was on a completely different path in life when He was touched by the hand of God.  Paul emphasized that it was God that changed him and not him who changed himself.

Because of our sin nature, we all begin our lives on a path covered by darkness.  Until Our Heavenly Father opens our eyes, we can not see the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ.  Only when our new path has been made visible to us by the light of the Holy Spirit, can we receive the precious gift of salvation. 

Upon accepting our salvation, we begin yet another journey – the journey to work out our salvation.  Just as salvation is not a work of our own hand, neither is the working out of our salvation.  The Holy Spirit within us molds our hearts so that we can submit to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to guide us to full submission to Our Savior so that God can do the work in us that is pleasing to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace that is expressed to us through the gift of our salvation.  We praise You for taking us from the darkness of our lives in the flesh into the light of Your Holy Spirit.  We rejoice in being guided into full submission to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.  We pray, Father, that You will strengthen us and regenerate us as we strive to overcome the world in order to live our new lives in Christ.


Choosing to Live in the Light

Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

When we say that man is born with a sin nature, we are confirming that without the indwelling of Jesus Christ in our lives we will put ourselves first in all things.  Our nature without Christ is to put ourselves before God when we are making decisions.

“I am the Lord thy God, have no false Gods before me,” is the first commandment.  It is the first commandment that condemns us to eternal death.  There is no escape or recovery from this sin except through the redemption provided through Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Sin is a thing that we are born with.  We cannot remove it on our own.  Only God removes sin.  God only removes sin in one way – through the shed blood of His Son which cleanses us.

It is important to understand that God does not hold us responsible for inheriting sin.  He will not condemn anyone because of the sin that was inherited.  He will condemn those that refuse to accept Jesus as the only measure of deliverance from sin.  He will condemn those who choose to live in darkness rather than in the Light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we ask forgiveness for the sin in our lives.  We pray that You will reveal to us all the places in our lives where we are living in darkness, instead of in the Light.  We ask You, Lord, for the grace to be able to repent of all the sin that remains in our lives.  We thank Your, Father, that through Your mercy You have made a way for us to be delivered from the condemnation that we deserve.  We praise Your name, Father God, because through Your perfect love we have been given an eternal inheritance that we did not and cannot earn on our own.  We bless the name of Jesus who now dwells within us.  We pray that we may become Light to the darkness in world around us through His presence.

Prepared to be His Saints in Heaven

1 Corinthians 1:2
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

When Paul addressed the Corinthians, he emphasized their sanctification through Jesus Christ.  He confirmed that they would be among all the saints in heaven who had also called on the name of Our Lord as their Savior. 
Our Heavenly Father’s hand never leaves us as He prepares us to be His saints.  The supernatural power of the Holy Spirit is always at work in our lives.  God also brings commonplace people and commonplace events into our lives to teach us, to encourage us and to confirm the plans that He has for us.  

Sometimes the commonplace people and events are meant to challenge us.  The challengers are there to test us.  Through the aid of the Holy Spirit, we come through the challenges built-up in our character and strengthened in our will to follow God’s plans for our lives.  

By the grace of God, we are all called to be heirs to His kingdom.  It is His will that none shall perish, that all will come to repentance.  He puts a God-size hole in all of our hearts that can only be filled by His Son.  It is according to His perfect plan that He provides His Son as Our Redeemer.  It is for His good pleasure and for His glory that He provides His Holy Spirit to prepare us to be His saints.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan to have us join You in heaven for all eternity.  We bless the name of Jesus for His shed blood that washes us clean and makes it possible for us to enter into Your presence.  We pray, Lord, that You will release many teachers, encouragers and confirmers into our lives.  We ask for ears to hear them and the wisdom to follow their counsel.  We pray that we may also become teachers, encouragers and confirmers in the lives of others on their journeys to sainthood.