The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit

John 16:7
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 
From time to time, you may hear someone say, “I sure wish that I had lived in the time of Jesus.  It would be easier to know and follow Him.”  Jesus, Himself, revealed  to the apostles that life with the Holy Spirit would be better than life with Him on earth.  

The lives of the apostles confirms His message.  The apostles were slow in understanding the teachings of Jesus.  They were even slower in adopting His power and His ways.  They scattered like the wind at His death.  In fact, they were still in hiding even after the Resurrection.  It was after the appearance of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost that everything changed for the apostles.  Their knowledge of the teachings of Jesus became complete.  They were filled with the boldness to go out and proclaim the Good News, even under the threat of death.  And at once, they were able to exhibit the powers of casting out devils and healing the sick.

Everything that the apostles experienced after Pentecost is available to us today.  All we have to do is surrender to Our Savior and live in the spirit and not in the flesh.  The Holy Spirit is our supernatural resource.  The Holy Spirit is our comforter in troubles.  The Holy Spirit is our leader in all truth.  The Holy Spirit is the power behind all of our good works for the kingdom of God.  Let us surrender to the demonstration of His power in our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be our Helper.   We thank You that we do not have to stand alone against the torments of our own flesh and the attacks of the enemy.  We come before You to surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  In accordance with Your promises, we pray that You will perfect Your strength in our weakness.  Through this process, may we come to a full understanding of who You are.  May we become living examples of our relationship with You.  May we serve the world around us through the gifts that You provide us through the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Risen King, Jesus Christ.

Formed By His Goodness

Jeremiah 18:4
And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.
God has the power and the authority to raise up nations to do His good work.  He also may dispose of nations as He sees fit if they do not please Him.  He will always rule and reign perfectly according to His justice and His goodness.

Just as Almighty God rules over the nations, He rules over the lives of all men.  Through His Son, Jesus, He puts His hands on each of us to insure that we are molded uniquely in accordance with His plans for our lives.  Jesus is the Great Potter.  He keeps His hands on us, His clay, at all times.  He is in no hurry to form us according to His purposes.  He knows that He will take whatever time is necessary to get us to conform to the purposes that He has for our lives.  He will even break us, the clay, if it is necessary for Him to see us reach His chosen form.
As the clay, all we have to do is surrender to the hands of the potter on our lives.  From the point of surrender, we should have no concerns for the potter will form us perfectly.  We simply wait on the glory of our finishing.
Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have good and perfect plans for our lives. We thank You for Your patience as You mold us into the good and faithful servants that will stand before You one day in the image of Your Son, Jesus. We pray for the grace to surrender to the hands of Your Son on our lives.  We pray for the strength to endure through the shaping process.  May we become the perfect vessels of Your love that You created us to be.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great Potter, Jesus Christ.

The Compassion of Jesus Christ

Matthew 14:14
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Jesus has great compassion for all people.  During His time on earth, He poured out His compassion on all of the people whom He encountered.  He did not go out condemning them, even though many deserved His condemnation.  No matter what condition He found them in, He offered help.  He came to heal them all in mind, body and spirit.  In each case, He forgave them of their sins and offered them the hope of an eternal inheritance.
Today He does the very same thing for us.  He does not care what condition we are in now or what condition we come from.  His offer is always the same.  He pours our His loving kindness on us.  He offers us the opportunity to be healed in mind, body and spirit and to receive our eternal inheritance through His mercy and grace.  His offer is always accompanied by His perfect love and forgiveness.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our every need and offering us the keys to Your kingdom through Your Son, Jesus.  We exalt the name of Jesus for the sacrifice He endured for us to be able to accept His loving kindness and mercy.  Remind us, Lord, that we are Jesus’ ambassadors of compassion today.  May we be living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness.  We ask all these things in the name of our eternally compassionate king, Jesus Christ.

Choosing the Place of Suffering

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
For every man and every woman, the time of judgement will come.  There will be no comfort for those that come before the Lord on their final day still covered in the filth of their sins.  They will face endless torment. 
For each of us that have been washed clean of our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ, the keys to the kingdom of God will be given.  Our sins will have been judged and forgiven in advance by Our Savior.  Our sins will no longer stain us in the eyes of Almighty God.  We will appear in the likeness of Jesus Christ before Our Father in heaven.  
All sin must be punished.  So those that have received the grace of salvation will be punished for their sins in this lifetime.  The Holy Spirit will reveal to us the past and current sins in our lives.  We must ask forgiveness and turn away from these sins.  Until we completely surrender to Jesus, we will suffer great trials and tribulations.  Our suffering will continue until ever element of our self reliance is slain at the Cross and we turn to the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin in our lives.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace in our lives.  We thank You for opening our eyes so that we may see the sin in our lives that separates us from You.  We thank You for preparing our hearts so that we could receive Your Son, Jesus, as Our Savior.  We pray that You mold our hearts, Lord, so that we fully surrender to Your Son each and every day of our lives.   Prepare us, Lord, to stand before You in the image of Your Son.  We ask all these things in the name of the precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Won Over by How We Live

1 Peter 3:1-2
Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
God is a respecter of no man.  Therefore, what He directs to one, He directs to another.  Therefore, whatever He directs to the wives, He also directs to the husbands.  Therefore, whatever He directs to husbands and wives, He also directs for all relationships.
What Peter is teaching us is that we do not change the lives of our mates, or others around us, by our words.  We change the lives of those around us by changing our own lives in accordance with the work of the Holy Spirit within us.  Through our new lives in Christ, and not through our words, all around us are drawn to the truth that is working within us.
As the Holy Spirit changes us, He will also change our spouses and others in our lives.  The Holy Spirit will work continuously to strengthen our marriages by making Jesus Christ the foundation of our union.  He will work continuously to open the eyes of those around us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the institution of marriage.  We thank You for providing us with mates who complete us in Christ.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to surrender our individual lives to the work of the Holy Spirit so that He can build the foundations of our marriages in Jesus Christ.  We thank You for providing us with friends and family to help build us up.  May our lives open their eyes to the wondrous work of Jesus Christ.  May He become the cornerstone of all our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of our rock and our foundation, Jesus Christ.

Recognizing the Voice of the Enemy

Psalm 41:7
All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.
Is the devil whispering in your ear?  He may sound something like this:
You are not good enough to minister to others.  Let someone else do it.
Why are you trying this?  You will fail.
Why would God have a place for a sinner like you?
You will be embarrassed if you do that.
The whispers of the devil may even come to you through the voices of those you know, you love and you trust. 
We must take on the full armor of God when the enemy begins whispering defeat into our lives.  Our victory and our anointing in Christ has already been set.  We need to seize the anointing on our lives that will break off the yokes of insecurity, inferiority, fear, and unbelief.
When Satan accused Joshua, listen to how Jesus responded, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”  Zechariah 3:2  We need to respond in the same manner every time Satan accuses us.  We must learn to recognize his attacks and respond immediately under the authority of Our King, Jesus Christ.  Otherwise, we will become comfortable with the lies spoken against us.  The victory is ours in the name of the Lord, Jesus.  We must learn to claim it.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the armor that You provide us.  We thank You that the enemy cannot lead us astray when we take on the armor of protection that is ours in our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.  Thank You, Jesus, for providing our victory over all evil.  Teach us how to live our lives in victory.  Strengthen us through our faith in Your promises.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

The Appointment Has Been Made

Habakkuk 2:3
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
As we wait to see the providence of God in answers to our prayers, we must be careful not to become impatient with God.  His ways are greater than our ways.  His timing is perfect.  He has the perfect appointment set for the resolution of our prayerful solicitations.

The prophet, Habakkuk, was frustrated that God was not dealing with the iniquities that he saw in the world around him.  He was impatient because those that he prophesied to were not responding to the Word of God.  In this scripture, the Lord reminds Habakkuk that he must be patient because the visions and promises that God gives are sure to come.
We probably have not had a vision like Habakkuk had.  But if we have been diligent in seeking the Lord’s hand in our lives, we are likely to have found some type of confirmation of God’s providence through His Word, through urgings of His Holy Spirit or through the progress we see in our own lives or in the lives of those that we have been praying for.

Let us be joyful.  The things that we pray for in the will of God and in accordance with His promises will come to us.  Though the fruit of our prayers may be deferred for a long time, the fruit will come at last.  And, hallelujah, the longer wait usually means a greater harvest.


Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your providence in our lives.  We exalt the name of Jesus who has insured that the favor of Your promises will never be withheld from us.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will teach us how to rest on Your Word and will strengthen us when the promise of the Word is long in coming.  May we persevere to the end through the graces that You provide.  We ask all these things in the name of the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Christ.

All That We Need

Romans 8:32
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Is it hope that we need today?  Are we seeking hope to relieve the pain that we are suffering, or hope to relieve the concern over the financial woes that are hounding us or perhaps hope to ease the torment of conflict in a relationship that we are feeling? 
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.  There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God.  He sent the fallen angels from His kingdom forever because of their sins.  He flooded the earth because of the violence and evil of all mankind.  He destroyed all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness.  Yet He spared us from our sins by giving us His Son.  Through His Son, He provides us with all our temporal needs and all of our spiritual blessings.  It is all given freely according to His good will and pleasure.

For while we are without strength, all that we need is provided through Our Savior.  While we are sorrowful, we can always rejoice.  While we are poor, we can experience His abundant riches.  While we may have nothing, we can possess everything through our blessed hope and assurance, Jesus Christ.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing us with all of our needs, both temporal and spiritual.  We exalt the name of Jesus for providing us with that which we do not deserve and could never earn except through His death for our sins.  We praise You for the blessed hope and assurance of Our Savior.  He is all that we need.   We pray that through Your grace and through the aid of the Holy Spirit, we will find the peace and strength that we need in all circumstances.  We ask all these things in the name of the Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Living in the Love of God

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.
God is love.  His love is unconditional and without end.  His love for us is expressed explicitly through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. 
We are able to love because God loved us first.  He 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.  When we try to live by the world’s standards, we will choose to serve ourselves first.  The spontaneity of our love and service will tell us where we are living.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us unconditionally.  We thank You that Your love flows to us endlessly.  We exalt the name of Jesus, who is the full expression of Your love.  We pray, Father, for the Holy Spirit to prepare our hearts so that we may become vessels of Your perfect love.  We pray, Lord, that You will reveal to us anything in our hearts that would restrict the flow of Your love in our lives.  By Your grace, may we repent of everything that is keeping us from living in the fullness of Your love.  May we bear much fruit for Your kingdom through the spontaneous release of Your love to the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Rising Up from What’s Left

Daniel 4:14-15
He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field.
 (a summary of a sermon preached by Jentezen Franklin)
King Nebuchadnezzar was at ease in his house and prospering greatly.  In his own words, the Most High God had blessed him in every way.  But because of Nebuchadnezzar’s unrighteousness and iniquities, it was all taken away from him.  The Most High God, who had provided it all to Nebuchadnezzar, allowed it all to be taken away.  Ultimately, when Nebuchadnezzar turned his eyes back to the the Lord, all was returned to the King.
In the scripture above, King Nebuchadnezzar is the tree.  God commands that the tree be stripped of all branches, leaves and fruit.  But as the God of all mercy stripped everything away from the tree, he left a stump from which the tree could rise again.
Almighty God is not only the God of all provision, He also the God of all loss.  No loss can occur in our lives without God allowing it.  But our merciful Lord, who is filled with lovingkindness, is also the God of “what’s left”.  So no matter what we are going through, or have gone through, God has commanded that something be left from which He can raise us up according to His perfect plans for our lives.  
Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for every provision in our lives.  We give You all the glory and the praise for Your grace and lovingkindness.  Teach us, Lord, how to give you all the glory and praise when we are experiencing loss in our lives. Build up our faith so that we may endure while You raise us up from “what is left” in our lives to the good and perfect place that You have planned for us.  We ask all these things in the name of our all-sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.