Taking 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 bitterest 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 Jesus because of the ultimate gain for all mankind, He allows each of us to go through our trials for our ultimate preparation to stand before Him sinless and to be received in 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. We pray that You provide us with strength to overcome the weaknesses of our flesh as we face our trials.   May you give us the spiritual maturation to be able to take our cup of bitterness and rejoice in our submission to Your will and plan for our lives.   

Which Path Will I Take?

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.

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 it was not strong enough to stand up to 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 I ever imagined that it could be.  Will we scatter to our old lives when the trials reach us or will we surrender all to Our Savior?

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we have been called to follow Your Son.  Strengthen us in the face of the darkness that challenges us to stand up for our beliefs.  Complete Your work in us so that we have the courage and the faith to choose Your Kingdom and defend it against the world.

The Things that Make for Peace

Luke 19:42
If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.

As Jesus weeped over Jerusalem, He spoke the words in Luke 19 to the Jews, who He knew would reject Him and His offer of salvation.  Because they rejected His offer, He transferred His offer to the willing Gentiles.

This principle is carried out in a different way in our daily lives.  Jesus prepares us to do His work and asks us to be obedient to His calling.  Sometimes He will give us simple urgings in the spirit to do something nice for someone, to pray for someone or to ask forgiveness from someone (to put that grocery cart back where it belongs – I’ve been convicted on that one).  If we accept His bidding, we will be given greater things to do for Him.  We will experience the peace and comfort that flows from serving Him.  If we do not accept His bidding, we will miss the peace He offers and we will miss a portion of the bigger plans that He has for our lives.  Sadly, He will move on to find the one who is willing serve Him readily.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to serve You.  We rejoice in knowing that You are pleased when we are obedient to Your urging.  We pray that You make us sensitive to the work that You call us to do.  May we find joy in even the smallest tasks.  May it all bring honor and glory to You.

Praying in Agreement with the Will of God

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.

In our prayer lives, we often seek the hand of God for protection and provision for ourselves, our families and those close to us.  Our Savior opened His arms for all mankind to benefit.  He wants us to do the same.  

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.  This is not natural for us, but His Spirit within us will help us to see the will of God in our prayer lives.

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray and how to come into agreement with Your will for the lives of the people around us.  Be they far or near, be they friend or foe, Father, teach us how to pray for their needs. May You perfect Your strength in our weakness.

The Wondrous Nature of Jesus

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.  Because we are indwelled by Jesus Christ when we accept Him as Our Savior, we inherit this wondrous nature for ourselves.  Some summarize our inheritance as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

To receive the full benefits of an inheritance of any type, one must be alive at the time of the death of the one who leaves the inheritance behind.  To receive the full benefits of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we must allow our old man to die and allow our new man to come alive in Christ.  

Prayer,
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the wondrous nature that You have given us in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.  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 into a reverent awe that changes how we live every moment of our lives. 

Standing Before the Throne for Others

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 is the perfect intercessor for all mankind.  He takes the mantle that no one else can take.  He stands before the Father in righteousness on behalf of all men.

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.

Preparation for the Kingdom Through Service on Earth

Luke 12:40
You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

God’s Holy Word inspires us to turn our thoughts toward the day that Jesus will return to the earth.  This will be a great and magnificent day for which all of us should prepare ourselves.  On this day the Lord will separate those who knew Him and served Him from those that did not.  We certainly want to be in the group that inherits His Kingdom.  

But our human nature makes it difficult for us to prepare for an uncertain date and time.  We may even be uncertain about how we should prepare for the King of Kings.  The Lord in His mercy gives us simple ways to prepare.  He teaches us that those who feed Him when He is hungry, give Him drink when He is thirsty, clothe Him when He is in need and visit Him when He is sick or in prison will be the ones that inherit His Kingdom.  He adds that even though we may not see Him in these conditions that when we serve those who are in these conditions we are serving Him.  Conversely, He adds,  “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.“

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Holy Word prepares us to receive Our King, Jesus Christ.  Open our eyes, Lord, so that we may see the opportunities to serve Our King everyday.  Prepare our hearts, Lord, to freely give of ourselves to others just as we would if we were serving Jesus Himself.  May the presence of the Holy Spirit within us by Our Guiding Light.

The Fullness of His Love

Ephesians 3:19
May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Jesus loves each one of us unconditionally.  He loves us so much that He gave up His position as Son of God to become Son of Man.  He endured the pain and shame of the Cross so that He could become the sacrificial lamb that was necessary to provide the blood to wash away our sins, to make us acceptable to the Father.  

He extended His unconditional love by sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins, so that we would understand His offer of salvation and accept it.  He continues to extend His unconditional love by dwelling within each of us that have accepted Him as Our Savior, so that we may have the strength and the power to overcome the sinful nature that still tries to rule in our lives.

He continuously pours out His perfect love and forgiveness to each of us.  He places no limit on the love that He pours into us because He wants it to overflow our cups.  He wants us to become living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness so that the world will know Him and know the fullness of His love.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love and forgiveness that You have poured out into our lives.  We pray that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness for the world around us.

No Man is Strong Enough

Matthew 26:56
Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Imagine.  The men who had lived with Jesus for three years, sat under His teaching and witnessed all the signs and wonders of His ministry abandoned Him in His time of trial.  How could this happen?

It is the weakness of the flesh that failed the disciples.  They did not yet have the strength of the Holy Spirit to overcome their weaknesses.  What a dramatic difference the Holy Spirit made in their lives.  After their baptism of the Holy Spirit, all of the apostles boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ.  All but one, John, died as a martyr while sharing the salvation plan.

We can be sure that in the flesh we are no stronger than the apostles.  If we try to live by the flesh without calling on the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us, we will fail in following Our Savior.  Thankfully, God promises us in His Holy Word that He will perfect His strength in our weakness if we abide in Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Wonderful Counselor to be with us, to guide us and to strengthen us in our weaknesses.  We proclaim our weakness before You, Lord.  We ask forgiveness for straying from You.  We boldly claim Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness as we surrender to Your reign in our lives. 

Purity of Heart

Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The beatitudes are often referred to as the the “be happy attitudes.”  In relationship to “Blessed are the pure in heart,” it really applies to our attitudes.  We will never be pure in heart as long as we live on this earth.  Only Jesus Christ was pure in heart.  We can, however, maintain an attitude of purity as we seek to please Our Heavenly Father.

We can submit our lives to the One that was 100% pure. We can make the desire of our hearts to be pure.  Even though we may fail from time to time, we  can turn our minds over to Him to be constantly renewed.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Jesus to this earth as our model of purity.  We ask that You mold our hearts so that we may submit to Your Son to rule and reign in our lives.  May the power of the Holy Spirit constantly renew our minds.   May You provide the armor of protection that we need to shield us from the impurities that the world so freely throws at us.