Sacrificing Ourselves on Behalf of Others

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.
The life of Jesus Christ was the epitome of servanthood.  He poured Himself out upon the needs of the people, especially the need for salvation from sin.  He was willing to be the sacrificial lamb.  He was willing to be the door mat under people’s feet.  He sought no recognition.  He sought to show us what love is.  He is the precious Lamb of God.  He is love.

More than that, Jesus is the perfect model of love.  He represents the ideal standard for us to imitate.  As His disciples we are called to be His bondservants.  We are called to serve the will of Our Master.  We are called to serve the world as He served the world, sacrificing all that we are and all that we have for the good of all mankind and for the honor and glory of the Father.  We are to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  And like Jesus, we must extend ourselves on behalf of others whether or not they merit our services.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be the blood sacrifice required to atone for the sins of all mankind.  We praise the name of the Precious Lamb of God who gave His life so that we may all have eternal life with You, Father.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will take us to the foot of the Cross to seek a life of service to all men.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to minister in love to those around us.  We ask, Lord, that you provide the grace that we need to forsake the need for recognition, except in Your eyes.  May our lives be a reflection of our Servant King.  We ask all these things in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Living A New Life Through the Love of Jesus

2 Corinthians 5:14
Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.
Had Jesus Christ not died for us, we would be spiritually dead and ruined.  We would be slaves to our sin and would have no power to deliver ourselves from the miserable state that we would be in.
Christ died for all, so that we may all die to sin and self.  As we die to self and receive Jesus as Our Savior, we are free to live for Our Redeemer.  It is through Christ’s love that we are able to live as Our Redeemer lived in the perfect will of the Father.
It is the love of our beloved, Jesus Christ, that shines forth in us when we submit ourselves to be vessels of His perfect love.  The love of Jesus in our lives is what allows us to show the world what living for Christ is all about.  If we ever try to show the world Jesus through our own holiness, and not through the righteousness that we have received from Our Savior, we will fail.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son who died for our sins.  We praise the name of Jesus for accepting Your will and plan for His life all the way to the Cross.  We pray, Father, that the world will see the way, the truth and the life of Jesus through us as we leave our old lives behind in exchange for the our new lives in Christ.  We ask, Lord, that the fullness of the life of Your Son, Jesus, be perfected in us.  May the world know us as His disciples.  We ask all these things in the name of the precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Has Political Correctness Quieted You?

1 Corinthians 4:13
when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world–right up to this moment.
Paul and those who joined with him in spreading the gospel message were attacked viciously by the social media of their day.  How remarkable it is that Paul’s words of 2000 years ago are so accurate today.  The voice of our corrupt world screams out against the gospel message wherever it is presented.  The media persecution of celebrities and public figures that speak out for Christ is a perfect example of this growing trend.  All who are public proclaimers of the Gospel can expect to suffer vicious attacks in all forms of media simply because they are willing to express the truth about their Savior.
Unfortunately, the attacks of the enemy have quieted the voices of most Christians.  We have sat back and watched as prayer has been taken out of our schools and community events.  We have allowed the Ten Commandments to be removed from display in public places.  We have sat idly as the mention of Jesus has basically been banned in any form, unless of course, it is used to ridicule Him.
Now more than ever, as the world spins faster and faster toward total destruction, we must become the lamps on the hill that provide the light to those that are in darkness.  If we don’t, who will?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the blessings that You have bestowed on our nation.  We praise You for granting us the privilege of living in the greatest nation that has ever existed.  We come before You, Lord, and ask for forgiveness for allowing Your Truths to be taken out of our society, to be spit upon and ridiculed just as Your Son was at Calvary.  We ask, Father God, that You shine Your Light upon our land so that the darkness that we have allowed to creep in will be overshadowed.  Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may the laws of our land and the actions of our people come into alignment with Your laws, Your commandments and Your Holy Word.  Once again may we call upon You as the God in whom we trust.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

The Supernatural Component of the Fruit of Our Work

1 Corinthians 1:17
For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News–and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
Paul served the emerging church in a number of ways, but he understood that God had called him and equipped him specifically to preach the Good News.  Paul teaches us that, as we serve our churches and communities, it is important that we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us to find out what God is specifically calling us to do in service to His Kingdom.  

As we discover our role in God’s kingdom on earth, we should be aware of several important aspects of our calling.  
1.  No role is too big, nor is any role too small, when we are doing what Our Creator called us to do. 
2.  When we find our calling, we will recognize it because we will have the same passion for our calling that Paul had for his calling. 
3.  The fruit that we bear in our calling will be the result of the supernatural work of God and not attributable to us.
Paul made it clear to his audience that the redemptive power of the Cross did not rely on anything that he did, nor would it rely on anything that they did or said.  We learn from Paul that it is not our enticing words or the strength of our presentation that wins hearts.  We are simply vessels of the divine truth of God’s mercy on all of us.  We should never consider ourselves to be the reason that a soul came to Christ. The redemptive process is totally reliant on the supernatural work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You equip us to do Your work.  We praise You for allowing us to participate in the work of redemption made possible by the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we can see the unique ways that You have endowed us to serve You.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts so that we may serve You as humble vessels of Your divine, redemptive power.  We pray all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

A Bond Servant of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Paul points out three things about himself as he addresses the Romans.  These three things apply to all Christians.  1. We are called to be servants of Jesus Christ.  2. We were all called to some specific purpose for which God created us.  3. We are all separated unto the gospel of God.
When studying the original writings, it is suggested that the word that was used for servant was actually quite a bit stronger.  It was rendered in the original text as “bond servant” which means someone who is subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of another.  Thus, we are called not only as servants to Jesus Christ, but as bond servants to Our King.
As His bond servants, each of us are called to a specific purpose in service to His kingdom.  But according to His will, we are also “separated unto the gospel of God.”   We must realize that the redemption that we have received through the grace and mercy of Almighty God has separated us from who we were.  We are now righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  We are proclaimers of the Good News through our spoken words and our living testimony.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for separating us from the world through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We bless His name for the blood that He shed so that we could live in the spirit and not in the flesh.  We pray, Father, for the grace to abandon our old lives.  We ask that You help us to understand the fullness of the redemption that You have provided us through Your Son.  We beseech You to give us the courage and the strength to proclaim Your Good News to those that you have placed in our lives.  May the world see that we have been separated unto You, Lord.  We ask all these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Profiting From the Awesome Gift of the Holy Spirit

John 16:13
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.
Our Heavenly Father has given all of us Christians the Holy Spirit to teach us the Truth.  The Holy Spirit takes us beyond head knowledge of God into a personal relationship with Our Creator.  If we submit to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will not only learn about Our Savior, but we will learn to relish and savor all things that glorify Jesus Christ.

Additionally, we will find that the Holy Spirit goes before us as a guide.  He clears our path of obstacles as He opens our understanding.  He leads us on the path that we should follow.  He makes things plain and clear for us as never before.
In order to profit from this awesome gift of the Holy Spirit, we must train ourselves to listen for God’s voice in our lives.  Listening to God is an acquired gift.  It is a byproduct of discipline and obedience.  We must set aside time to tune into God’s voice.  The tuning comes from setting aside time for reading the Word, prayer and meditation on the Word, as well as, personal praise and worship.  When we are obedient in all these things, God will reveal Himself to us in all aspects of our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit will speak to us if we learn to listen for His voice.  Help us, Lord, to overcome the voice of our flesh.  We pray, Father, that You open our ears so that we can hear You at all times.  We ask that Your Holy Spirit help us to overcome the distractions of the world so that Your voice is not drowned out.  We beseech You, Father God, that You would strengthen us so that we can be diligent in the small things that we need to do to prepare ourselves to hear Your voice.  We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ. 

Our Ever Present Savior

Acts 26:15
Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
God has placed this question in all of our hearts.  When we come to a time in our lives when we are challenged to ask the question, He responds with an answer that convicts us of our ignorance and our weakness.  He shows us the way, the truth and the life that is in His Son, Jesus.  He shows us a void in our hearts that can only be filled by accepting His Son as Our Savior.
To get to this place and through this place of self-discovery and redemption, we must rely on the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a divine gift.  The Holy Spirit is the presence of the Lord with us continuously.  The Holy Spirit never leaves us.  It is only us who choose to live in the flesh instead of living a renewed and enlightened life in the Spirit.
Let us make a commitment today to let go of our lives in the flesh.  Let us become humbled, broken and repentant.  Let us allow the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are.  May the new condition of our hearts lead us to and keep us in the presence of Our Lord.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us Your Son, Jesus.  We praise You for revealing to us that Our Lord is always present with us.  We bless the name of Jesus who brings us peace to fill our minds and His love to be our daily portion.  We pray, Father, that you will open our eyes to the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that the Holy Spirit reveal to us the depths of our ignorance and our iniquity.  We cry out, Lord, for the strength and the wisdom to give up our own convictions and delight in doing Your will in our lives.  We humbly plead that we will abandon our flesh and live our lives in Your presence.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our ever present Savior.

Are Our Efforts and Our Direction in Alignment?

Acts 9:4
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

Saul thought he was doing everything right.  He was on fire for his spiritual cause.  Unfortunately for Saul, his cause was grounded in his own reasoning without a foundation of faith in Jesus and without the direction of the Holy Spirit.  Saul rightfully could claim an A for effort.  But he was being measured by Jesus Christ, not by his effort, but by the misdirection of his efforts.

Just like Saul, as Christians we have all faced the day when the Lord challenged us.  Just like Saul, Our Lord had grounds to accuse us.  Perhaps not of persecuting His church, but He certainly had grounds to rebuke us for the obstinacy and self-will of our sinful nature. 

Like Saul, we decided to denounce our old lives and accept our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, unlike Saul, most of us have not taken our calling with the same fervency that Saul did.  While Saul surrendered his old life and became Paul, the apostle.  We have hung closer to our old nature than the new one that Jesus has for us.

Let us set aside our own plans.  Let us seek God’s plan for our lives.  Let us submit to God’s plans for our lives with the same fervor that Paul did. 

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Your Son.  We praise You for setting aside a perfect plan for our lives in Your kingdom here on earth and in heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity.  We pray, Lord, that we will not be directed by our own ambitions, but be led by Your Holy Spirit.  We claim Your promise that through Your Holy Spirit, Your strength will be perfected in our weakness.  We beseech You, Father, that You grant us a double portion of Paul’s fervor for proclaiming Your Good News to the world.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Blessed Hope and Assurance.

Having Faith in Our Promised Provision

Matthew 6:30
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you–you of little faith?
Gorgeous are the wild flowers that fill our fields in the spring and the summer.  They pop up everywhere without a hint of human intervention.  They are here with us for only a brief time before succumbing to the seasons.  Yet year after year, God raises them up and displays them spectacularly as just one tiny example of His loving providence.  How is it possible that we doubt the provision and protection of Our Father in heaven when He is so loyal to even the small plants with their limited life cycles?  Do we not have enough faith to see how much more He would provide for His children who He holds so dear as to grant them eternal life?
We have allowed the cares of the world to come in and diminish our faith in the promises of Almighty God.  We have followed the world’s lead and put our faith in our own independence instead of in the hands of Our Creator.  We have tried to satisfy ourselves in all the things of the world instead of the perfect provision of Our Loving Father in heaven.  In the process, we have complicated our lives to the point that we cannot be satisfied.  

Let us seek the simplicity and satisfaction of the promised provision that is ours to claim from the One who never breaks His promises.  Let us trust that His planned provision for us is more than sufficient and is far more satisfying than anything that the world has to offer.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our every need.  We rejoice in knowing that all the treasures of Your kingdom are ours through the eternal inheritance secured for us by Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Father, that you will help us break our worldly appetites that are impossible to satisfy.  Strengthen us, O Lord, that we may bear up to our daily troubles, stand up against our temptations and allow none of these things to move us away from You.  Help us to seek You, Father God.  We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, our endless fount of provision.

Called by His Grace When It Was Pleasing to Him

Galatians 1:15
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
When it pleased God, He called us from darkness, blindness and ignorance into the light and knowledge of the Gospel.  When it pleased God, He called us out of bondage to sin into the liberty of Christ.  When it pleased God, He called us from the fellowship of men into fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  When it pleased God, He set us apart to have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  It was all through His grace.  It was all in His timing. 
In our arrogance and our ignorance, we often expect God to show up exactly when we want Him to and in what manner we want Him to.  In doing so, we often miss Him when He shows up in the birds, in the trees and in the smiles and words of those around us.  The facets of Our Almighty God are beyond our understanding.  Most of His good work goes unseen and unappreciated by us.  It is the shallowness of our relationship that creates this phenomenon.  

When it pleased God, He called us from dependence on our own righteousness to trusting in His Son, Jesus Christ.  As we begin to focus entirely on Jesus and less on ourselves, our eyes are opened to see how everything God does is done in perfect timing when it is pleasing to Him.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the never ending flow of Your grace in our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that You have a perfect plan for our lives and that You will release it according to Your perfect timing.  We pray, Father, that you will help us to turn our focus away from ourselves and turn our attention to Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes so that the fullness of Your grace is revealed to us in every aspect of our lives.  We ask these things in the name of the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus Christ.