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Good and Faithful Servants

Luke 10:20
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When following the Lord’s calling on our lives, the blessing and power of Jesus Christ will be ours to use to overcome the enemy in our lives and the lives of those that we serve.  We must be careful not to call our victories our own for all the glory is for Our Savior.  If our pride allows us to claim the glory, our fall is certain.

We cannot take a commercial view of the things that we do for Jesus.  That is, we cannot measure ourselves by the results of our work.  Our work for the Lord is not about success.  It is about the deepening relationships that we are forming with Him as His disciples.  It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the power and blessings that You release in our lives through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus.  We ask You, Lord Jesus, to show us how to become Your true disciples.  We ask You to give us the power to overcome the enemy in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we bring the salvation message.   We ask that You open the eyes of those around us that they may see and seek Your Spirit that lives within us.  May we all be prepared for the time that we stand before You to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”



God’s Workforce

1Corinthians 3:9
For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

Consider how liberating it would be if someone told you, “Just follow my instruction and do not worry about the results.  I will be responsible for the results.  You will be richly rewarded for following my instruction no matter what happens.”  

This is where God wants us.  He wants us to serve Him without any concern about the outcome other than to have the faith that He will fulfill what He asks us to do for Him.  He simply wants us to be instruments of His work, living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to join You in Your work.  We rejoice in knowing that You receive great honor and glory when Your children surrender to the rule and reign of Jesus Christ in their lives. Open our eyes so that we may see what You are calling us to do in Your kingdom.  Release in us all the power and authority that is ours through Jesus Christ.  Shield us from taking on destructive personal pride as we see success when doing Your work.

His Power and His Blessing

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

The fullness of everything that we need and the fullness of everything that will satisfy us is held in the hands of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ.  And He dwells in us that we may draw on His power and His blessings.

Man can never be counted on to stand by us through all circumstances.  At some point, all men will fail one another.  The Lord, Jesus, never fails us.  He is with us even under the direst circumstances, even the ones that we have created ourselves.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You provide to us through Your Son.  We pray that You show us how to turn to Jesus first in all things.  Strengthen us so that we may leave behind our reliance on a fallen world.  Prepare us to stand before You one day in the image of Your Son. 

Discovering Christ Daily

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

The greatest treasure of all time is ours.  The treasure that will satisfy our hearts forever is ours for the taking.  Magnificent gifts of grace and anointing are awaiting us.  All we have to do is step beyond being satisfied with knowing about our treasure and into the world of incessant discovery.

God exerted His great power when He resurrected Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand.  He has made this power available to all who believe in the Son and surrender to Him to rule and reign in their lives.  

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son as our Lord, Our King and Our Master.  Through Him we receive our hope in knowing that His power will strengthen us and that His presence will bring us a sweet calm in time of trouble.  Open our eyes, Lord, that we may seek the fullness of the presence of Jesus in our lives.  Take us beyond the knowledge of Your Son to the high places where we experience His presence daily.  Help us deepen our relationship with Our Savior.

Standing Firmly on His Promises

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus fulfilled everything that He was called to do.  Even though He was tested beyond human imagination, He never faltered once in His obedience to the plans of God for His life.  He overcame all of His trials because He was one with the Father and He trusted in the promises of the Father.  And indeed, He did rise on the third day, fulfilling all of God’s promises for mankind.

It is very easy to say, “I give up.  I cannot do it.”  This course may even be acceptable if it is in reference to some earthly pursuit.  But, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.

We are to be anxious in nothing for God promises to take care of our every need and He promises to finish anything that He has called us to do.  The victory is in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to its pursuit.  All we have to do is stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the guarantor of Your promise of eternal life available to each of us.  We exalt the name of Jesus for His complete obedience to His calling as Our Savior.  We pray for the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be obedient to the completed purpose and plans that You have set aside for our lives.  May we stand firmly on Your promises.




Always Alert and Eager to Serve

Exodus 3:4
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Moses was going about his normal business of shepherding the flock when he came upon the burning bush.  He could have run away in fear or he could have simply walked away thinking that this is no concern of mine.  Instead, he approached the bush to discover more of this mystery unfolding before him.  When the Lord saw that He had Moses’ attention, He called out to him and Moses responded, “Here I am.”

Moses was alert to look for God in his daily life.  More importantly, Moses was ready to hear and act upon whatever the Lord asked him to do.

So it should be with us.  We should look for God at all times.  We should expect to be surprised by Him showing up in the smallest details of our everyday lives.  Most importantly, we should be ready to respond to His calling.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always being present with us.  We exalt Your Name for being our ever present God.  We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see You in every detail of our lives, from the grandest places and moments to the lowliest of places and moments.  May Your Holy Spirit prepare us to be alert to see Your presence and to hear Your calling.  May we always be eager to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. 

Good Friday Prayer

Isaiah 53:5
But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

On this day, I chose to pass along the Good Friday prayer of Charles Spurgeon.

Great God,
there was a time when we dreaded the thought of coming near to You,
for we were guilty and You were angry with us,
but now we will praise You
because Your anger is turned away and You comfort us.
Yes, and the very throne which once was a place of dread
has now become the place of shelter. I flee to You to hide me.
O bring us, we pray You, now near to Yourself.
Let us bathe ourselves in communion with our God.
Blessed be the love which chose us before the world began.
We can never sufficiently adore You for Your sovereignty,
the sovereignty of love which saw us in the ruins of the Fall,
yet loved us anyway.
We also bless You, O God, as the God of our redemption,
for You have so loved us as to give even Your dear Son for us.
He gave Himself, His very life for us
that He might redeem us from all iniquity and separate us unto Himself
to be His peculiar people, zealous for good works.
Never can we sufficiently adore free grace and undying love.
The wonders of Calvary never cease to be wonders,
they are growing more marvelous in our esteem
as we think of Him who washed us from our sins in His own blood.
Nor can we cease to praise the God of our regeneration
who found us dead and made us live,
found us at enmity and reconciled us,
found us loving the things of this world
and lifted us out of the muck and mire of selfishness and worldliness
in the love of divine everlasting things.
All our help must come from You.
Give back to the church its love, its confidence,
its holy daring, its consecration,
its generousness, its holiness.
Give back all it ever had and give it much more.
Take every member and wash his feet, sweet Lord, most tenderly,
and set us with clean feet in a clean road,
with a clean heart to guide them, and bless us as You will in a divine fashion.
Bless us, our Father,
and let all the churches of Jesus Christ partake of care and tenderness.
Walking among the golden candlesticks trim every lamp and make every light,
even though it burns feebly now, to shine out gloriously through Your care.
Now bless the sinners. Lord, convert them.
O God, save men, save this great city, this wicked city, this slumbering dead city.
Lord, arouse it, arouse it by any means, that it may turn to its God.
Lord save sinners all the world over, and let Your precious Word be fulfilled.
And now to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Following the Model of Our Servant King

Matthew20:28
even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

To each of His disciples, Jesus gave the command, “Come and follow Me.”  He not only meant for them to join Him in His work but to follow the model of service that His life exuded.  

This, of course, is exactly how Jesus calls us.  He calls us to be humble servants of the world around us.  With all that Our Savior did for us through His suffering, the shedding of His blood, His death and Resurrection, how can we deny the Lord when He calls us to serve in any measure, large or small?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the perfect model of servanthood, Your Son, Jesus.  We praise and exalt the name of Jesus for all that He has done for us.  We pray that we will clearly hear the voice of Jesus as He calls us to join Him in humble service.  May the Holy Spirit convict us to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.

The Truth about Easter

1 Corinthians 3:11
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Political correctness teaches that there are many ways to heaven besides accepting Jesus Christ as Savior.  It is sad to say that Satan has done a remarkable job selling this line of thinking, putting a large portion of mankind in danger of missing the way, the truth and the life that is only found in Jesus.  

We, Christians, have to be just as careful not to bend the Word of God to fit today’s culture, perhaps believing that the Bible is outdated.  God’s Word is the same today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow.  Massaging God’s Word to make it more acceptable to the world endangers the eternal lives of those that we may be trying to appease.  

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Word is true and that Your promises are certain.  May You open our hearts to receive the fullness and truth in the precepts that You reveal to us through Your Holy Word.  May You strengthen us and embolden us to speak the truth about Your Son as we celebrate this Easter season.

The Constant Struggle

Matthew 22:37-38
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. 

May we always be mindful that God provided His Son to die for our sins because we can not measure up to the law.  We have to look no further than the great commandment that Jesus spoke of.  We simply do not have the capacity, except through Christ in us, to love God to the extent that our love consumes our whole heart, soul and mind.

We should also be mindful that God is completely aware of our weakness.  He provides His Holy Spirit to dwell within us to guide us along our path of sanctification.  The Holy Spirit will not rest when we depart from making God the love above all loves in our lives.  The Holy Spirit will not accept us living with one foot in God’s kingdom and one foot in the world.  It is all or nothing with the Holy Spirit.  The good news is that the Holy Spirit’s job is to follow through on God’s promise to perfect His strength through our weakness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the mercy and the endless grace that You provide to each of us.  Help us, Lord, to be keenly aware of the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  Help us to humbly accept the corrections that the Holy Spirit is asking us to make in our lives.  Take us, Father, to the high places that can only be reached when our hearts are consumed by Your love.