Through Jesus' Love

God does not want us to sacrifice anything just for the sake of sacrifice.  He wants us to submit our lives to Him.  He wants us to submit daily to His calling on our lives.  He wants us to love Him above all things with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength.  He wants our every action to be for His glory. He wants our lives to be a living reflection of His Spirit within us.  He wants the world to see The Lamb of God in us.

To know Jesus is to know a peace in our lives that dwarfs any peace that we may have gained through any other relationship or circumstance.  To know Jesus is to know the purpose in our lives with more depth than we could have ever imagined.  To know Jesus is to know a joy that exceeds any happiness that the world has ever given to us.  To know Jesus is to know that we have no other need in our lives.

Worshipping God, waiting on God and doing God’s work are not meant to be intermittent activities.  They are intertwined like the cords on a rope and operate in a continuum when we are functioning according to God’s plans and not our own.  God wants us to continually grow in all areas of our lives, so He provides us with the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us in perpetual motion toward our ultimate place next to Him for all eternity.

Everyday we must endeavor to remember that we need the cleansing blood of Jesus in our lives.  Without the armor of protection that He gives us through His Holy Spirit, we are helpless to avoid sin.
Until we understand this, we will try to live a good life on our own.  It will be fruitless until we accept our utter failure at righteousness without the Lamb of God standing before the Throne of God on our behalf.  Praise Jesus.

We all want to jump ahead to the “big event” in our lives.  For most of us, God’s plan for our lives does not call for a big event.  God calls us to a series of small acts of obedience, all strung together by periods of God asking us to wait for His next move in our lives.  Along the way, if we have waited on Him in obedience to His calling, we will have accomplished great things for God.  Most of the things that we will have accomplished for His Kingdom, we will not even be aware of.  This is God’s way of protecting us from our own pride.

Impatience is our biggest enemy.  If we rush ahead of God’s guidance, we risk missing it all.  The good things that we do are never as good as the the God things that He has planned for us.  

The Bible is nothing more than a collection of stories until we receive Jesus into our lives.  When we receive Jesus and His Holy Spirit, the Bible becomes life itself.  The words in the Bible certainly take on a new life as they reveal the Truth to us in ways we could not have ever seen without the intercession of the Holy Spirit.  When we go to the Word of God, we now meet God Himself as He reveals Himself to us through His words.

For most of us, there is not going to be a “burning bush” experience.  Only a chosen few get a direct calling from God.  For most of us, the power of the Holy Spirit simply draws us toward the Father.  In that drawing, we are called to obey God in many small ways.  Each small submission in obedience puts us closer in step with God’s plan for our lives.  Through the process, we learn who God is and we develop our relationship with Him.  Through the grace of God, we join Him in doing His work – no matter where, when or how.

There is truly no area of grey when it comes to our commitment to Jesus Christ.  Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, His Spirit dwells within us.  His Spirit will root out everything that does not meet the standards of Jesus and will put us on a direct path to bring glory to God the Father and His Son.  If we waiver, we come under heavy pruning or heavy discipline.  If we are obedient, we move toward giving our utmost to Jesus.