Tag: beacons of light

The Way of Holiness

Isaiah 35:8
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.

Each day’s news and headlines confirm that from a spiritual perspective the earth is a den of iniquity, a vast barren desert. It is a rare case indeed when holiness can be found in the news. Looking forward, the content of the news is not likely to improve but to get worse and more hopeless. The social and political systems of mankind are offering nothing that will change things. As time moves forward, the barren desert is converting to a total wasteland through the ongoing deterioration of the morals of mankind.

There is a way of escape, however. There is a pathway that offers hope for anyone and everyone who takes it. The way out of the barren desert is through Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer. He is the way, the truth and the life. Because Jesus took His place on the Cross as part of the Father’s will for His life, we as the redeemed children of God can stand up and find victory in the most difficult of circumstances.

Although our flesh will fight us, by the Word and Spirit of Christ, we that are spiritually blinded by the world can be enlightened. We that are spiritually deaf to the calls of God can be made to hear them readily. We that are struggling in service can be made active and joyfully productive. We that find it difficult to speak of God or to God can have our lips opened to bring forth His praise. We that find it hard to love one another can have our hearts filled with the perfect, loving forgiveness of Our Father in heaven. Most importantly, we that stand alone against the world can find victory in all things of this earth, no matter how trying, if we all stand together in Jesus Christ.

Let us seek the way of holiness that is found in Jesus Christ. Let us learn to live in the light of Christ even though the world around us lives in darkness. Let us become beacons of His light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ. We thank You for loving us first, so that we may love You and abide in Your will for our lives. We pray that You enlighten us and strengthen us so that we may see and follow the way that You have set aside for us as individuals and as a worldwide community. May Your grace be upon us so that we may be living founts of Your love and holiness to be shared with the world around us. May the world be changed as we all stand together united with Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

There Is No One Like Jesus

2 Samuel 7:22
Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

What if a man appeared at your door, a man of immense power and wealth, a man who everyone around the world recognized and praised, how would you greet him? Would you welcome him in? What if he said, “I know you. I have been watching you. I have a plan for you. I want to make you the inheritor of all the riches of my estate.” How would you respond?

This man has knocked on all of our doors. His name is Jesus. He exceeds beyond our imagination any man that walks on this earth. There is no one like Him. He is the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way to the riches of our eternal inheritance except through Him.

He is the Lord, Our God. His name, His nature, His purposes, His promises and His works are all the essence of everything good. He is the one true God, the creator of all things. There is no one like Him. There is no one that even approaches His name. How could anyone not answer when He knocks?

Let us welcome this humble, loving King that knocks on the door to our hearts. Let us receive in faith all that He has prepared for us. Let us be beacons of light to the world around us as we host our Heavenly King in our hearts.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and exalt You. We thank You for providing Your Son as Our Redeemer. We humbly receive the riches that He has set aside for us through His sacrifice. May we fully submit to Jesus as Our Savior and Lord over our lives as He knocks on our doors and asks us to follow Him. May we become living testimony to His presence in our lives so that others may know Him when He knocks on their doors. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord over all the earth, Jesus Christ.

Christian Voices Silenced

1 Corinthians 4:13
We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash–right up to the present 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 many 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?

Let us take up our positions as beacons on the hill. Let us stand up against those that decry Our Lord. Let us boldly proclaim our faith in Our Redeemer King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for all the blessings that You have bestowed on our nation. 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 the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

An Encounter with Jesus

Acts 26:18
To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.

Paul was sent before King Agrippa by the Jews in an effort to have him killed or at least imprisoned. Paul explained to King Agrippa how he had been led by an encounter with Jesus to abandon his efforts to oppose the message of Jesus of Nazareth and to then turn to a life of proclaiming the message of Jesus to the world.

In today’s passage, the Apostle Paul is describing to King Agrippa the directive and the message that Jesus gave him to bring to the people. The message summarizes for us the fullness of our blessing in Christ, but it also provides us with the responsibility that we share with Paul. For we are all called to spread the Good News that we have received.

It is not uncommon to hear and see people in all walks of life openly professing their disdain for Jesus Christ. People around us need to know and we need to be constantly aware that without our precious Savior, we are doomed to eternal damnation. The sin nature absolutely blocks any possibility that we would choose the light of Jesus Christ over the darkness of Satan. Fortunately for all mankind, Our Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us to overcome our frailty. Through His mercy, He provides a pathway to victory over the darkness in our lives. Through His perfect love and forgiveness, He has given us His Son to be Our Savior. Through His salvation plan, He calls each of us to participate in sharing His salvation story.

Let us choose the Light of the World. Let us choose to be lights to the world. Let us boldly spread the message of the salvation story. Let us insure that everyone around us knows that Jesus washes us clean with His blood so that we can bath in His light and abide with Him for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to atone for our sins and allow us to live in Your magnificent light for all eternity. Your Word tells us that there will be no need for the sun or the moon in eternity for Your light will be sufficient. We pray, Lord, that you will show us how to live in Your perfect light and share it with the world around us. Help us to become living testimony of the loving kindness, mercy and grace that you have provided to us through the sacrifice of Your Son. Father, may our Christian experience be marked by the light that we provide to those around us that are in the darkness. We ask these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

Repositories of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 3:16
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

We are vessels of the living water that dwells within us. We are not the the stream or the rain shower that brings the precious water. We are only the collecting places where the thirsty can come to be quenched.

We are the lanterns of the Light of the World. We are not the sun or the moon that brings the precious light. We are only the beacons that allow the light to shine into the darkness of the world around us.

We are the temples of Jesus Christ. We produce nothing on our own, but we are the repositories of the gifts of the Holy Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

We are conduits of the perfect love and forgiveness of Our Heavenly Father. Nothing that flows from us is of ourselves. It is all the perfection of Jesus Christ within us. God could have chosen angels to deliver His message, but He chose weaker vessels so that His power might be glorified and His treasures might be shared with all men.

Let us prepare ourselves to receive and pass along every good thing that the Father has set aside for us. Let us seek to be living founts of the goodness and loving kindness of Almighty God. Let us be good stewards of His presence in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to deliver Your treasures to the world. We rejoice in knowing that You have pulled us from the pit, cleansed us with the blood of Your Son, Jesus, and made us worthy to be lamps upon a hill. We pray, Lord, that You will reveal to us everything in our lives that hinders the flow of Your gifts. May we live in the fullness of Our Savior. May all the glory be Yours. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Water and the Everlasting Light, Jesus Christ.

Vessels of His Perfect Gifts

Ephesians 4:13
This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Paul teaches that Jesus gave His church these gifts: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers. He provided these gifts so that the Body of Christ could be prepared to be His perfect bride. We are all called to learn from the gifted ministers that are placed in our lives. At some level, we are also called to express the gifts given to us so that we may fulfill our responsibilities in the Body of Christ.

God in His sovereign rule placed each of us exactly where He wants us. He did not place us where we are to stand alone. He placed each of us in a place that is linked perfectly with the world around us for the good of the Body of Christ.

Each one of us is called to be both a receptor of light and a beacon of light. It is our individual responsibility to let God work in us by seeking out and receiving the ministerial gifts offered by the Body of Christ. It then becomes our responsibility to let God work through us as we become active vessels of His perfect gifts to build up the Body of Christ.

We must continually ask ourselves, “Am I building myself up in Christ? Am I also building up the Body of Christ? We will be meeting the complete and full standard of Our Savior when we are maturing in Christ as both a student and as a teacher.

Let us be alert to whom God has placed in our lives. Let us seek out those who can build us up for Christ. Let us stand ready to use our gifts to build up those around us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing us among family, friends, neighbors and co-workers who, through Your handiwork, will help perfect us in Christ. We thank You for giving us the opportunity to help perfect them by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We praise Your name for giving us this magnificent Body of Christ here on earth so that we can learn to measure up to the full and complete standard of Our Savior. May we live our lives for Your glory and for the good of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our King and Our Master, Jesus Christ.