Through Jesus' Love

There are opportunities in life that we let go by without taking advantage of them.  Fear or lack of faith in ourselves may have been the reason that caused us to let the opportunities pass us by.  In each case, we may have missed a chance to change our lives entirely.  These missed opportunities may never come by again.

When these missed opportunities were presented to us by the Lord, we missed a large portion of God’s favor on our lives.  Fortunately for us, God works with us through the Holy Spirit to diminish our fears and build our faith in Him so we are prepared to accept His offer the next time.  

He is a God of second chances.  He will return to us with new opportunities to serve Him.  The blessings of the earlier opportunity will be missed forever, but blessings beyond our imagination will be waiting on us if we accept the new opportunity that the Lord places before us.

Once Jesus dwells within us, our interests in the things of the earth diminish relative to our interest in the Lord.  This can become a real problem for those around us who have not received Jesus as their Savior.  They can become threatened, particularly when we begin rejecting things that they may hold dear.  We must be careful not to judge them for they do not know the Lord.  Anytime our thoughts turn to judgement, we should quickly turn those thoughts into intercessory prayer.  

Pray that the Lord will open their eyes to see the way, the truth and the life in Jesus Christ.  Pray that the Lord will open their hearts to receive His Son as their Savior.  Pray that the Lord will mold their hearts so that they will submit to Him as their Lord, Master and King.  Pray that they will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to go out to proclaim their good news, to share the perfect love and forgiveness of Jesus with the world around them, to bear fruit for the kingdom of God and to bring honor and glory to His name.

The apostles were constantly trying to steer Jesus away from the worst elements of society.  Jesus would have no part of it.  By His own claim, He was here on earth to serve those who needed His help – sinners one and all.

So we should be careful not to only extend our intercessory prayers to those we favor.  Those who repulse us are probably in much greater need of the power of intercession from the Spirit within us. 

By seeking the will of God, we will receive the discernment we need for our intercessory prayers.  It should come as no surprise when we find our prayers of love and forgiveness lifted up for our enemies. 

Jesus Christ is our intercessor before God.  His Spirit in us leads us to be intercessors for others.  

To be effective as intercessors, we must go to Jesus to find His concern for those that we pray for.  When we get in line with the cares and concerns of Jesus, our intercessory prayer efforts will most certainly be in accordance with the will of the Father.  When our prayers are in accordance with the will  of the Father, they most certainly will be answered.  

And through this process, our discernment concerning other souls will grow and mature in Christ Jesus.  We will move away from a spirit of criticism to a spirit of intercession for those that the Lord has put into our lives.

He is risen indeed!!  Happy Easter

Intercessory prayer is the perfect service to enter for Our Heavenly Father.  It is in itself an act of communicating with Him and an act of representing another before Him.  If we can separate ourselves from the results of our prayers (it is His power not our actions that produce good results), there are no pitfalls.

In a simple act of love, we go before the Father seeking His divine assistance for another.  Through the process, we are worshiping Him just by acknowledging our belief in His power.  As a result of the intercessory process, our relationship with God matures and grows.

As Christians, Jesus Christ dwells within us.  He is the new man that dwells within our spirit.  His greatest desire is to serve the Father in all ways.  We must learn to be attentive to every opportunity in our lives where we can serve the Father.  

Our Heavenly Father may never call us to do some highly visible task, at least as the world views it.  He may only call us to serve Him through small acts of love which are significant to Him.  If we prove ourselves worthy in the joyful completion of the small acts of love, we will be worthy and we will be ready for anything the Lord asks us to do – no matter how big or how small.

When God calls us to obey Him, He is giving us the opportunity for spiritual growth.  He is opening the door for us to receive His power into our lives.  When we choose to “wait to understand” before we obey, we may miss the opportunity to serve God in a fashion that would fulfill God’s plan and purpose for our lives.  We may send ourselves into a period of personal struggle instead of abiding in abundant personal joy.  

Obey God through a living relationship with His Son and not through your own understanding of the world.   He is the truth, the way and the life.  Obey Him with reckless joy.

When we are teaching small children how to behave, we impress upon them good vs. bad in terms that are understandable to them.  When the children comprehend good behavior at the basic level, we move them up to higher levels of responsibility where they begin to make their own decisions.

We follow this process because at some point we know that the children will be making their own independent decisions.  They will have to be able to separate good from evil on their own.

God builds us up the same way.  As we are obedient in small things, He gives us larger responsibilities.  But one big difference in God’s parenting vs. our own is that God never leaves us alone in our decisions.  We always have the Holy Spirit with us to guide us.

There has only been One Man who lived his entire life without sin.  Living without the stain of sin is unattainable for the rest of us.  We are not and cannot be 100% pure.

We can, however, turn our minds toward the one who is 100% pure and submit totally to His reign over our lives.  We can seek the armor of God to gird us against the impurities that the world has to offer.  We can seek purity as our desired nature.  “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8

Why is it that we think it is our job to save those that we know and love?  It is not our job at all.  The job of salvation belongs solely to Jesus.

Our job is to introduce our family, friends and social connections to the One who saved us.  The introduction is best made through our living testimony.  Our lifestyle, which is a reflection of our relationship with Him, speaks much louder than our words.  Once others have a chance to see what Jesus is doing in our lives, it is much easier for us to tell them what the love of Jesus means to us and how they could experience His love in their lives.