Shutting Down the Rule of the Old Man

Romans 6:6
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Our corrupt nature, called the old man, is crucified with Jesus Christ by the grace granted from the Cross.  Accepting the crucified Christ as Our Savior allows us to accept the crucifixion of our old selves.  As Christ submitted totally to the Father, we also submit totally to the Father through the power of the new spirit of Jesus Christ that lives within us.
The power of evil within us was nailed to the Cross by the sacrifice of Our Savior so that the damning power of that evil might be subdued, weakened and put under restraint.  But we must recognize that the old man continues to exist in a weakened and dying state, struggling to stay alive within us.   So it is important that we develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our ruling King.  In doing so, we will shut down any place for the old man to rule.  We will see the old man completely destroyed, abolished and done away with.  Our bondage to sin will be done away with forever.
Rejoice!!  We shall be victorious against the callings of the old man.  Our union with our crucified Savior insures it.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Precious Lamb, Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for our sins.  We accept our co-crucifixion with Jesus.  We stand before You to ask for the Holy Spirit to strengthen us as our old man tries to pull us back into sin.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will urge us to keep our eyes on the Cross and not on the world.  May it all be for the glory of the Precious Lamb.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who suffered so much for us, Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.

Accepting the Cup of Bitterness

Matthew 26:39
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus fully accepted His assignment of death on the Cross.  He knew that His sacrifice was necessary for the salvation of all men.  He knew that His death on the Cross was the reason He was sent to earth.  The thing that overwhelmed Jesus was the impending separation from the Father when He would take on the sins of all men.  Yet Jesus was fully obedient to the will of the Father for the good of all mankind.  And He was received in all His glory by the Father.
According to this example of Christ, we must drink of the most bitter cup which God puts into our hands.  Even though our flesh will seek immediate relief from all trial in our lives, we must recognize and accept the will of Our Father as we go through our trials.  For, as God allowed the unspeakable trial of the Cross for the benefit of all mankind, He allows each of us to go through our trials for our ultimate eternal gain.  Through our faithful obedience, one day we will be standing sinless before Almighty God and we will be received into glory by Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You allow the trials in our lives that prepare us to be received by You.  May You provide the grace we need for our spiritual maturation so that we are able to take our cup of bitterness and rejoice in our submission to Your will and plan for our lives.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us so that we may overcome the weakness of our flesh.  We surrender to Our Savior and ask that we live in the fullness that He has made available to us through His sacrifice on the Cross.  We ask all these things in the name of the Word made flesh on our eternal behalf, Jesus Christ.

We Will Never Have to Stand Alone

John 16:32
Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.
The apostles and disciples of Jesus scattered as He began His journey to the Cross.  They returned to their homes and their old jobs.  Their faith was real, but without the Holy Spirit they were not strong enough to stand against those that were persecuting their Master.  They left Jesus to stand alone.  Fortunately for us, Jesus did not stand alone as the Father remained with Him and provided Him with all He needed to accept His place on the Cross.
Jesus calls us from different times and places in our lives, just as the apostles were called.  At some point in time, we will all be called to stand up for our faith.  In today’s anti-Christian environment, this challenge is more real than any of us could have ever imagined that it could be.  Will we scatter to our old lives when the trials of persecution, the trials of trouble or perhaps the trials of political correctness challenge us? Or will we surrender all to Our Savior?
The answer lies in Jesus Christ and has nothing to do with our own strength, capability nor merit.  We must recognize our weakness.  If we think we can stand against the world, especially against the enemy, we will certainly fall.  We must recognize how weak we are and take our brokenness – all our wounds, all our frailties, all our fears – to Our Savior.  We must allow His goodness, His love, His mercy and His kindness to become the essence of our lives.  If we accept His free gift of love and life and surrender to Him, we will never stand alone against what the world tosses our way.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we have been called to follow Your Son.  We exalt the name of Jesus who gained victory over all sin and all evil on our behalf.  We praise His precious name as He stands forever by our sides.  We pray, Father, that we may have the wisdom and the strength to recognize and face our brokenness.  We ask that the Holy Spirit guide us in surrendering everything to Jesus.  As we are challenged by the darkness, my we call on the name of Jesus to stand up for our beliefs.  We beseech You, Lord, to complete Your work in us so that we have the courage and the faith to choose Your Kingdom and defend it against the world.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives grace to the humble, Jesus Christ.

The Essence of God’s Love in Our Lives

1 John 4:16

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

God is love.  His love is unconditional and without end.  His love for us is expressed explicitly through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.  His love for us is reinforced daily by the counsel of the Holy Spirit in our lives.


Through His love, Almighty God gives us an unfailing hope for our future.  Let us not lose sight of the truth that our hope for our future is so much more than how we feel about our future or what the world tells us about our future.  Our hope rests upon a very special love gift from God.  Our hope is built upon the Good News of God for the world that He loves us so much that He gave us His Son so that we may have eternal life.

Through His love, Almighty God also gives us His Holy Spirit to stand by us, to give us the strength to bear all things that come against us and the spiritual maturity to endure all the tribulations that make up life on this earth.  His grace is poured out on us in this manner so that we may overcome the world.

Most importantly, Almighty God created a spot in our hearts so that we could receive His love and return it to Him.  He gave us the capacity to share His love with the world around us.  He gave us the Holy Spirit so that our love could be an endless spring.  When we are living in accordance with the Holy Spirit within us, we are capable of extraordinary service to those around us.  By returning our love to the Father through our service to those around us, we become living testimonies of His perfect love.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us unconditionally.  We thank You that Your love flows to us endlessly.  Prepare our hearts, Lord, so that we may become vessels of Your perfect love.  Cleanse us, Lord, of anything in our hearts that would restrict the flow of Your love in our lives.  May we bear much fruit for Your kingdom through the spontaneous release of Your love to the world around us.  We pray, Father, that the world will be drawn to Your Son when they see Your love at work in us.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who delights in our steadfast love, Jesus Christ.

The Perfecter of Our Prayers

Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
While intercessory prayer is very rewarding and plays a powerful role in deepening our relationship with Our Heavenly Father, it can sometimes lead us down paths that are challenging, perhaps even frustrating.  The Holy Spirit has been placed along side of us to insure that we are not deterred by our frustrations.  There are several important areas where the Holy Spirit supports us in our weakness.
First, the Holy Spirit is our perfecter in praying for the true needs of others.  We are generally very comfortable seeking the hand of God for protection and provision for ourselves, our families and those close to us.  It is natural and easy for us to pray for those that we love.  At times, however, we may be at a loss to know what the will of God is in the lives of those that we are praying for.  We can be comforted and confident in knowing that our prayers will be perfected before the Father by the Holy Spirit. 
Second, the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and soften our hearts toward all mankind.  It is not our nature to pray for those we do not feel close to or perhaps even dislike because of their behavior toward us or others.  In His ministry, Jesus often argued with the apostles because He wanted to be among those in the most need of His redemptive work, not those that were more socially acceptable.  Jesus wants us to intercede for the world around us, whether we feel drawn or repulsed by the ones that we pray for.  As we mature in Christ, the Holy Spirit will help build up our sensitivity to and our desire to pray for the needs of all mankind.
Finally, the Holy Spirit has been sent to strengthen us when we are personally overpowered by the things that the world has brought against us.  When we are so broken that we do not even know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit is beside us to silence our fears and help us through our discouragements.  Most importantly, the Holy Spirit stands with us to make intercession for us before the Father so that the enemy cannot prevail against us. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Holy Spirit to help us pray in accordance with Your will for our lives and the lives of others.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit will perfect our prayers before You.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts to be intercessors for all of mankind.  Be they far or near, be they friend or foe, Father, teach us how to pray for their needs. When we are too weak to pray properly, or even pray at all, may Your Holy Spirit strengthen us and intercede for us.  We pray all these things in the name of the mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ.

Becoming Rescuers Through Jesus Christ

Acts 9:17
So Ananias departed and entered the house.  And laying hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
And in an instant, Paul not only received his physical sight, he also received the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Thus, he received wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge of God and a holy reverence for God.  All of these gifts came on him at once. His vision of who He was in Christ, along with all of its associated power, served to allow him to replace the evil man that he had become with the new, righteous man that he was to become.
From this passage, we learn that for those of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we become new men and women in Christ just as the sinner and prosecutor of the early church, Saul, became the new man Paul.  The teaching of the Holy Spirit reveals to us the faulty mindset that the world provides, allowing us to escape our ignorance and our pride.  The power of the Holy Spirit within us allows us to become new creatures who proclaim the Good News and serve as conduits of God’s love. 
But do not miss the second message of this passage.  There would have been no conversion for Paul without the obedience of Ananias to got out and deliver the message of God, even though He questioned the righteousness of the one that he was called to minister to.  We must be careful not to withhold the message of hope from anyone because we feel they are not worthy.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the anointing that we receive as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We pray that You will open our eyes to the things of the world that are creating ignorance and pride in our lives so that we may turn away from them.  We ask that You release the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may see the vision that You have for our lives and be empowered to go out as messengers of hope in the world that surrounds us.  We pray that our hearts are prepared to view every person as worthy to receive the Good News that we possess.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who rescues those whose spirits are crushed, Jesus Christ.

When the Spirit of the Lord Rests Upon Us

Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
In this passage, Isaiah was prophesying of the nature of our coming Savior.  The scripture foretold that Jesus would be given extraordinary endowments through the agency of the Holy Spirit.  Because we are indwelled by Jesus Christ when we accept Him as Our Savior, we inherit these same wondrous endowments for ourselves.  The inheritance that we receive is not temporary or occasional.  It is a permanent and enduring influence on our lives.
With our inheritance, we receive three pairs of spiritual influences to assist us in being holy, pure and wise.  Each pairing is made up of a spiritual gift and the resulting impact of that gift in our lives:
1) We are provided wisdom from which comes the understanding to perceive moral and intellectual truths.
2) We are provided counsel from which comes the might that gives us the direction and the power that we need to carry out the plans that emerge from our spiritual insight.
3) We are provided knowledge from which comes the fear of the Lord which establishes the foundation of our relationship with the one true God, Our Father in heaven.

This passage is usually taught as the “7 gifts of the Holy Spirit.”  The Holy Spirit resting upon us as we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior is the first and most important of the seven gifts.  It is only through the Holy Spirit that we receive the other six endowments. 
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the wondrous nature that You have given us in Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We pray that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will rest upon us.  We seek Your wisdom so that we may have understanding in all matters.  We seek your counsel that we may become mighty warriors for Your kingdom.  We ask, Lord, that You inspire us to take the knowledge that we have of You and turn it into a reverent awe that changes how we live every moment of our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives power to the faint and might to those without strength, Jesus Christ.

Standing for Others – A Divine Service

Isaiah 59:16
He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
Jesus was sent to earth to be the perfect intercessor for all mankind.  He took the mantle that no one else could take.  The Son of God came as Son of Man to be Our Redeemer.  His Holy Spirit followed Him to be Our Sanctifier and Our Comforter.  He stands forever before the Father in righteousness on behalf of all men.  No human champion could ever meet the perfect intercessory requirements of the Father.
Though there is not one of us good enough to be true intercessors, Almighty God allows us the privilege to stand in intercessory prayer for others.  Our privileges are not earned.  They are granted through our relationship with Jesus Christ. 
Intercessory prayer is the perfect service for each of us to enter.  We communicate with God on behalf of others.  We go before the Father in worship and solicitation for His divine assistance.  We seek His will for those that we pray for.   Through the process, the needs of many or met and our relationship with the Father grows to be like the relationship that the Father has with The Son.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Son to stand before Your Throne on our behalf.  We pray that You will teach us how to stand before You on the behalf of those that You have placed around us.  May You open our eyes and hearts so that we may see their needs and prayerfully respond to them.  May You strengthen us so that we will not falter in our prayer life.  May our relationship with You become like the relationship that You have with Your Son, Jesus.  We ask all of these things in name of the Divine Intercessor, Jesus Christ.

United with Him Through His Resurrection

Romans 6:5
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
When Jesus chose to accept the will of His Father, He chose to die on the Cross for the sins of all mankind.  Jesus’ death did not come quickly.  It was necessary for Jesus to suffer every scourge mark, to suffer every ounce of pain and to suffer the loss of every drop of blood for His sacrifice for mankind to be made complete.  

When we chose to accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we chose to let our old sinful man die.  Just as Jesus’ death was not carried out quickly, our old sinful nature will not be completely put to rest in short fashion.  For the old sinful man in us to die completely, we will have to endure trials, tribulations and sufferings of all type that will transform us to be completely in the will of Our Father in heaven.  Just as Jesus’ physical death was necessary for Him to complete His sacrificial work and gain the victory over sin for all mankind, so will our physical death be necessary for us to receive our final and complete victory over our old sinful lives.
With the sacrifice of His human body complete, the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus’ spirit from His body to return in His glorified body to the Father.  When we die in Christ, the same power of His resurrection will lift us from our old lives in the flesh and enable us to stand sinless before the Father in our glorified bodies.  It will not be because we became better people.  It will be because we will have become completely new people in Christ.  It will be because we have been united with Him through His resurrection for all eternity.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for raising Your Son to meet You in heaven after His death on the Cross.  Thank You for preparing the way for us to gain our eternal inheritance as Your children through the power of the Resurrection.  Father, release the full power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can surrender completely to our new lives in Christ, leaving behind forever the old man that torments us daily.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Message of the Crucifixion

Mark 15:33-38
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
The story at the Cross, as written in this sequence of verses provided by Mark, paints a perfect picture of the salvation message.  The supernatural darkness that came over the entire world in the middle of the day represents our personal sin and the sin that engulfs all of mankind.  

Jesus’ crying out to the Father “why have you forsaken me?” was sure confirmation of what had been prophesied in the old testament in Psalm 22.  The combination of these fearful words and the darkness that ensued illustrates Jesus being separated from the Father, who cannot have sin in His presence. Perhaps poetically speaking, the sun withdrew its rays because the Father could not bear to watch what was being done to His Son. 

And then, the tearing away of the veil reveals that the death of Christ opened up heaven to all of us.  The veil of the old covenant had represented the separation of God from the people, except through the intercession of the assigned high priests.  Instantly and gloriously, the new covenant of salvation was opened up to all mankind with Jesus Christ as our perpetual High Priest before the Father.  A heaven that had been closed to all was laid open to all for all eternity.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for establishing the blessed hope and assurance of the new covenant through Your Son, Jesus.  May the eyes of the world be opened to see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son.  May the hearts of the world be prepared to receive Your Son as their Savior.  May the hearts of the world be molded so that they may surrender to Your Son as their Lord, Master, and King.  May it all be for Your honor and glory, for the honor and glory of Your Son, Jesus, and for the honor and glory of the Holy Spirit.  Father, we pray that You will allow our lives to be living testimony to this glorious message.  We ask these things in the name of the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus Christ.