Tag: call of God

Avoiding Taking a Commercial View of Our Work for God

Luke 10:20
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, they all came back with stories of victory against the enemy. Jesus had to forewarn them not to be overcome by their success.

When following the Lord’s calling on our lives, the blessing and power of Jesus Christ will be ours to use to overcome the enemy in our lives and the lives of those that we serve. We must be alert to the fact that victory over the enemy and any type of fruitful service for the kingdom of God can be quite intoxicating. We must be careful not to call our victories our own for all the glory is for Our Savior. If our pride allows us to claim the glory, our fall is certain.

Further, we must not let ourselves take a commercial view of the things that we do for Jesus. That is, we cannot measure ourselves by the results of our work. Our work for the Lord is not about success. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with Him as His disciples. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with the Father. It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom. As we rightly relate to our success in serving God, we shall become more useful in our service for Him.

Let us grab hold of the power given to us by Our Savior to overcome the enemy who attacks us and our loved ones. Let us give all the glory to the One who made the power available to us, Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in knowing that our eternal resting places in heaven have been secured for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the power and blessings that You release in our lives through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus. We ask You, Lord Jesus, to show us how to become Your true disciples. We ask You to give us the power to overcome the enemy in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we bring the salvation message. We ask that You open the eyes of those around us that they may see and seek Your Spirit that lives within us. May we all be prepared for the time that we stand before You to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the One whose kingdom and power and glory are forever, Jesus Christ.

Looking for God in Our Daily Lives

Exodus 3:4
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Moses was going about his normal business of shepherding the flock when he came upon the burning bush. He could not see anyone who might have started the fire. Moses could have run away in fear or he could have simply walked away thinking that this is no concern of mine. Instead, Moses approached the bush to discover more of this mystery unfolding before him. He heard a voice but there was no human there speaking it. But it was unmistakeable to Moses, He was being addressed by someone who knew him and knew His name. When the Lord saw that He had Moses’ attention, He called out to him and Moses responded, “Here I am.”

As noted, the first appearance of God to Moses was while he was tending his sheep. This seems poor employment for someone who was raised as a prince in the Pharaoh’s court. Yet Moses was well satisfied and God was pleased with him. God was pleased with Moses because he was learning the meekness and contentment that he would need in the calling that was awaiting him. He was also pleased with Moses because Moses was seeking God in his life.

Moses is a great model for each of us. He looked for God in his daily life and, more importantly, Moses was ready to hear and act upon whatever the Lord asked him to do. So it should be with us.

Let us look for God at all times. Let us expect to be surprised by Him showing up in the smallest details of our everyday lives. Let us be ready to respond to His calling.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always being present with us. We exalt Your Name for being our ever present God. We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see You in every detail of our lives, from the grandest places and moments to the lowliest of places and moments. May Your Holy Spirit prepare us to be alert to see Your presence and to hear Your calling. May we always be eager to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask all these things in the name of our ever present Lord, Jesus Christ.

When the Cost Seems So High

Matthew 26:42
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

Jesus Christ, the only perfect man to ever walk the this earth, fell on His face, cried out to His Father in heaven and asked to be freed of His upcoming duty. In the same overwhelming moment, Jesus fully surrendered everything to the will of His Father. In this same moment, we saw the two wills of Christ, the human and the Divine. Jesus could not turn from the supernatural plan that His Father had for Him, even though He knew how much it was going to cost Him in the flesh. Jesus knew He was submitting to God’s perfect plan for the salvation of all men.

It is certain that we will find times in our lives when we are nearly overwhelmed by the thought of what is ahead. Our flesh will be ready to give in to defeat. It is precisely at these times that we must fall on our faces before Our Heavenly Father and surrender to His will for our lives. At these times, there is no resource to us greater than our prayer for strength. It is in these times that we receive the supernatural blessing that we need to obey God’s calling on our lives.

Our Father in heaven has given us life. He sustains our lives everyday. God, Himself, made the ultimate sacrifice by sending His Son to die for our sins, so that He could grant us eternal life with Him. Our full surrender to the Father is the only appropriate response that we can offer to His calling on our lives.

Let us go to the Father in prayer for the strength that we need to surrender to His plan for our lives, especially when the cost to go on seems so high. Let us rejoice in knowing that we will receive all that we need to overcome anything that is blocking our way to our destinies in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us life in flesh, sustaining our every breath and granting us eternal supernatural life through the atoning sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. We rejoice in knowing that the obedience of the Son to Your will paid the complete price for our salvation. We pray that we will find all the strength that we need to completely surrender to Your will. May we bear the fruit of Your will as we walk in obedience every day of our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the One without sin, Jesus Christ.

The Peace and Comfort that Comes from Serving God

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, to forgive someone or to ask forgiveness from someone. Often His urging may be for a simple act to bring a smile upon the face of another. At other times, His bidding will have much more significant impact. Whatever He asks of us, if we accept His call, 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.

Let us not miss the satisfaction of living in the peace and comfort of the Lord. Let us eagerly accept and carry out any task, big or small, that the Lord is asking us to do. Let us discover how simple acts of obedience bring complete peace and comfort into our lives.

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, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the One that gives us peace at all times and in every way, Jesus Christ.