Tag: goodness

Our Final Destination is a Testimony to God’s Faithfulness

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

As we move toward the new year, let us follow the instruction of God’s Holy Word and set our minds on things that are above in heaven where Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. Let us intentionally replace the images of sorrow, suffering, personal horror and overwhelming struggles continuing to pile up in the daily news from the world, and perhaps even in our own personal worlds, with images of goodness such as the the joyous images of the Christmas season that are fresh in our minds. Let us recognize that our current reality is in God’s future plan for us and not in today’s news. Let us grasp with hope and faith that God has a good and perfect plan for every broken person and for every painful situation. Let us reorder our thinking so that the power of Heaven can be released in our lives.

Know that it will not be easy to take the higher path. The pathway to fear and despair are easy roads directed downward by emotion and logic. Certainly the world will be ready to mock us if we dare to take the higher road when our destination cannot be seen with the natural eye.

Let us be strengthened by the knowledge that we are always secure in Jesus Christ no matter what is happening around us. Let us rejoice in knowing that our final destination will be our testimony of God’s faithfulness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessed hope and assurance that we have in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We bless His name for He is our anchor, firm and secure. We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see Your goodness in the dark world that surrounds us. We ask that the Holy Spirit renew and reorder our thinking so that we may align our thinking with Your heart and Your kingdom purpose. We ask all these things in the name of Our Hope that springs eternal, Jesus Christ.

God Only Releases What is in Alignment with Our Eternal Good

Matthew 20:23
He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

The apostles, James and John, were seeking a position in heaven that was not in the will of the Father. God had a place prepared for them that certainly exceeded their imaginations, but it was not at the right and left hand of Jesus as they had asked.

We have been taught that we can ask anything in the name of Jesus and it will be granted to us. This is true, but our solicitations can be granted only if what we ask is in the will of The Father. This can cause spiritual confusion for us when our prayers are not answered or, more correctly, have not been answered according to the desires of our flesh.

God has been faithful in providing institutions on earth which can help us to understand how this precept works. As parents, we can recall times that we withheld things from our children because we knew that is was not the right thing for them at the time. What they were asking for did not fit in with the overall good that we were seeking for them. As business leaders, we have denied the requests of good and faithful employees because it was not in alignment with the company’s vision and business plan.

Almighty God has prepared things for us that have been in place before the foundations of the earth were formed. Everything that He grants us through His Son is in accordance with His good and perfect plan for our lives in His kingdom. When we reach our place in the kingdom, we will find it to be beyond our imaginations.

Let us seek the will of God in our lives. Let us live confidently in knowing that the Father will release to us everything that we ask for that is in alignment with our eternal good. Let us praise Him when He withholds something from us for we know that He has something better planned for us. Let us rejoice in His goodness and His faithfulness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us in Your kingdom. We bless the name of Your Son, who You have given us to be our mediator as we seek Your grace in our lives. Teach us, Lord, to seek those things that are according to Your sovereign will and pleasure. We pray that the Holy Spirit will redirect us when our petitions are of our flesh and not of the fullness of Jesus Christ who dwells within us. We ask all these things in the name of the True Foundation, Jesus Christ.

Praising God with the Love and Delight that He has Placed in Our Lives

Psalm 150:6
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

We are stirred up in our hearts to praise God. We are first moved to praise Him for the magnificence of His creation. We are inspired by the Holy Spirit to praise Him for His holiness and His love expressed through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus. We learn to praise Him because of His power and His glory that we see expressed in our lives every day.

Let us praise God out of the faith that He has built in us through His Holy Spirit. Let us praise God as we are comforted by His goodness and His grace. Let us praise God with the joy of the expectation of life in His eternal kingdom. Let us praise God with the unshakeable confidence that the victory is ours through God’s greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus.

Let us praise God with the love and delight that He alone has placed in our hearts. Let our every breath be filled with praise for Our Savior, Our Redeemer, Our King. Let us praise Him by allowing our lives to be living testimonies of the Son of God who has come to dwell within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we lift our voices toward You in high praise. We bring our thanksgiving for Your precious Lamb, Jesus. We proclaim His holiness and His righteousness. We give thanks for His presence in our lives. We pray Father that You open our eyes so that we may see the presence of Your Son in the tiny things in life as well as the large things. May our every breath praise Him as we come know just how dear He is to You and to us. We ask all these things in the name of the One whose steadfast love never ceases, Jesus Christ.