Tag: grace

Our Smallest Care is Important to Him

Psalm 56:11
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

It is amazing how often we struggle with the issues of the day, wondering how our particular situation is going to get resolved. How little faith we have in Almighty God through whom all things are possible. But what may be even more amazing is how we have no faith that Almighty God is interested in the smallest needs in our lives when His Word proclaims that He knows the count of every hair on our heads. Our smallest concern is as important to Him as our greatest need.

Through the continuous and sometimes onerous trials that we have passed through in life, we should have learned to patiently wait on the Lord to take us from darkness into the light. Yet we seem to become frustrated by the small stuff and lose patience. More importantly we lose confidence in an Almighty God who cares for us so much that He bottles all of our tears and observes them with tender love and concern.

May we all come full circle just as David, the Psalmist, did. May we be in constant recognition of the fact that the Lord is our helper. May we move forward fearing no man, for man has no power but what God has given him. Through our trials, may we all praise God knowing that He is faithful to meet our every need.

Let us make David’s affirmation of Almighty God’s power the foundation for our daily resolve. Let us rejoice and trust in Him to be who He says He is in all things big and small.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithful promises to meet our every need. We praise You for giving us sufficient grace to get through every trial. We pray, Lord, that You will grant us the faith to trust in You for everything in our lives. We ask that Your Holy Spirit teach us to come to You boldly with what seems impossible and also come to You confidently with the smallest things that are troubling us. May Your grace and power in our lives never be diminished because of our lack of understanding. We ask all these things in the name of the Son seated at the right hand of power, Jesus Christ.

Under the Hand of Almighty God

Ezekiel 34:26
And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.

Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of Almighty God. Our all-sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth. And when the timing is right, He sends showers. When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets. You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

He will cause the showers to come down in season. His showers will fall upon us according to His divine will and timing for our lives. His showers will refresh us, revive us and make us fruitful unto His own purpose for our lives. And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.

And through His blessings on each of us in the Body of Christ, the world will receive showers of grace. But first, we must prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels and we must be alert to the onset of our seasons of grace. When our seasons arrive, we must be obedient to His calling on our lives. If we have made ourselves ready, we will receive the promised showers of favor on our lives.

Let us prepare ourselves for the God’s blessings by spending time with Him and spending dedicated time in His Word. Let us prepare ourselves through obedience to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us become cisterns of His anointing showers and fountainheads for dispersing those showers of grace into the lives of others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You and thank You for Your abundant nature. We seek the wisdom to learn to wait on Your provision. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sharpen our awareness of the showers of grace that You pour upon us. We ask, Father, that You help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming eager conduits of Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of Our All-Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

The Promised Favors of God Upon Our Lives

Ezekiel 34:26
And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.

Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of Almighty God. Our all-sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth. And when the timing is right, He sends showers. When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets. You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

He will cause the showers to come down in season. His showers will fall upon us according to His divine will and timing for our lives. His showers will refresh us, revive us and make us fruitful unto His own purpose for our lives. And it will all be a part of His abundant grace which provides peace, rest, pardon, righteousness and eternal life for each of us.

And through His blessings on each of us in the Body of Christ, the world will receive showers of grace. But first, we must prepare ourselves to be worthy vessels and we must be alert to the onset of our seasons of grace. When our seasons arrive, we must be obedient to His calling on our lives. If we have made ourselves ready, we will receive the promised showers of favor on our lives.

Let us prepare ourselves for the God’s blessings by spending time with Him and spending dedicated time in His Word. Let us prepare ourselves through obedience to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us become cisterns of His anointing showers and fountainheads for dispersing those showers of grace into the lives of others.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You and thank You for Your abundant nature. We seek the wisdom to learn to wait on Your provision. We pray for the Holy Spirit to sharpen our awareness of the showers of grace that You pour upon us. We ask, Father, that You help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in becoming eager conduits of Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of Our All-Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

“Give up” is a Message from the Enemy

1 Kings 19:5
Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

Elijah was on the run from his troubles. He was so depressed that he asked God to take his life. Then he fell asleep. God sent an angel to pull him out of his despair.

It is very common for all of us to want to go into a shell when troubles seem overwhelming. We do not always have the faith that we need when things are not going our way. At times, we may feel like we should just give up. This, however, is the messaging that we are receiving from our enemy.

God knows everything about us. He designed us. He knows our daily work and he knows our daily trials. He has promised that if we have faith in Him, His grace will be sufficient for us to overcome the attacks of the enemy.

It is amazing how simple acts of love or service can lift us out of the darkness of depression or despair that we may be experiencing. The angel instructed Elijah to get up and eat. Through his simple act of obedience, Elijah was quickly on his road to recovery. He was back to a place where he once again trusted in the care that God promises all of us.

When we are feeling down, a quick look around to find others who are in need may be our way out from the darkness to the light. A simple gesture of kindness to the person in need could be all that we need to get us going again.

Let us learn to listen to the Holy Spirit in our times of need. Let us be aware of His calls for our obedience even in very small matters. Let us consider being angels of mercy to those around us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to lift us up in our times of struggle. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will urge us to inquire how we can serve You when we feel so needy. Inspire us, Lord, to do the simple acts of obedience that You set before us. May we learn to comfort the world around us with the comfort that You provide us in our times of trouble. We ask that You use us as your angels of mercy in our times of overwhelming trouble. We ask all these things in the name of the Angel of Mercy, Jesus Christ.

Learning to Cherish Almighty Gods

Galatians 1:15
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

When it pleased God, He called us from darkness, blindness and ignorance into the light and knowledge of the Gospel. When it pleased God, He called us out of bondage to sin into the liberty of Christ. When it pleased God, He called us from the fellowship of men into fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When it pleased God, He set us apart to have our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. It was all through His grace. It was all in His timing.

When it pleased God, He called us from dependence on our own righteousness to trusting in His Son, Jesus Christ. As we learn to focus entirely on Jesus and less and less on ourselves, our eyes are opened to see how everything God does is done in perfect timing when it is pleasing to Him.

Unfortunately, even as we grow in faith and in knowledge of Almighty God, we continue to be limited by our weakness in the flesh. In the flesh, we expect God to show up exactly when we want Him to and in what manner we want Him to. In doing so, we often miss Him when He shows up in the birds, in the trees and in the smiles and words of those around us. The facets of Our Almighty God are beyond our understanding. Most of His good work goes unseen and unappreciated by us. It is the shallowness of our relationship that creates this phenomenon.

Let us strive to find a deep and inmate relationship with Our Savior. Through Him, let us find and cherish Almighty God in every moment that we live.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the never ending flow of Your grace in our lives. We rejoice in knowing that You have a perfect plan for our lives and that You will release it according to Your perfect timing. We pray, Father, that you will help us to turn our focus away from ourselves and turn our attention to Your Son, Jesus. We pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes so that the fullness of Your grace is revealed to us in every aspect of our lives. We ask these things in the name of the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus Christ.

His Hand of Provision and Protection Never Tires

Isaiah 40:29
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

With so much going on around us that we are troubled by, but have no control over, it is easy to become frustrated at our station in life. With so much evil in the world today, it is very easy to become despondent and depressed. But how is this so?

How is it that we do not now trust in that which has been recorded throughout history and is prepared for our understanding in God’s Holy Word? How have we missed being enlightened to the ways in which Almighty God has been forever with us when we have the experiences of good men through their own observation and the God-inspired writings of His apostles and His prophets to instruct us? How have we not learned that the Maker and Former of all things, who upholds, governs and judges all that is under His kingdom, never tires of providing for and protecting the creatures that He created for His own glory? Why do we continue with our foolish frets and fears and not find peace in the storm when the One who vanquishes all that comes against us is always with us?

We should not be surprised at our weakness or lack of understanding. God was perfectly aware that we were not capable on our own to cope with the torments of our own flesh and the attacks of the enemy. Through His immeasurable grace He sent His Holy Spirit to dwell within us. For those that He knew were weak, He provided all the strength required for victory.

Let us gather up our strength in the Lord when we are challenged by the enemy. Let us seek His might when we are being overwhelmed by the world and tormented by our own flesh. Let us rest on His promises as we claim our victories over our troubles.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to overcome this world. We bless the name of Jesus who died on the cross so that we might have victory over all evil. We rejoice in knowing that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to provide peace, comfort and strength through all trials. Father, we pray that our hearts and minds are put to rest with the certainty of Your presence and Your promises. May those around us be comforted by the peace that they see in our lives during times of trouble. We ask all these things in the name of our ever-present Lord, Jesus Christ.

An Invitation That All People Receive

Jeremiah 31:31
“The day is coming,” says the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah.

Jeremiah foretold of a time when the Lord would bring in a new covenant. This prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ when he stepped down from His seat by the Father in heaven to accept His sacrificial calling on earth to be the Redeemer of all men.

When Jesus came to earth, He issued an invitation to all men to “Come to Me.” He established Himself as the way, the truth and the life. He did not make it mandatory to accept His invitation, but He did make it clear that accepting His invitation was the only way to become worthy to be in the presence of Almighty God for all eternity.

Because Almighty God knew our frailty so well, the benefits of accepting His Son’s invitation went beyond the eternal reward promised. By accepting His invitation, we were also extended the grace needed for sustaining us during our time on earth while we were preparing for our eternal resting place in heaven.

Our earthly benefit package includes, but is certainly not limited to:

  • access to the unimaginable favor of the King of Kings
  • the privilege of laying all of our burdens on Him
  • the satisfaction of having our thirst for knowing our Maker quenched forever
  • the treasure of being able to learn from Our Master all that is good and pleasing to Almighty God.
    Why should we go to any other quarter to have our needs met?

Let us go to Jesus to receive the grace of God that comes through Him. Let us go to Jesus for the peace, comfort, joy and salvation that He holds in His hands. Let us respond without delay to His invitation.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending us Your Son to reveal to us Your will and Your love. We bless the name of Jesus for providing the yoke that joins us to Him for the purpose of having all of our burdens lifted from us. We rejoice in knowing that we live in Your constant shadow protected from evil and supplied with our needs. We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will guide us to release all of our cares into the arms of the One who invites us to come to Him. We ask all these things in the name of the Yoke of Our Burdens, Jesus Christ.

The Power of Modeling Christ in Our Lives

Matthew 5:48
You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

When Jesus spoke to His disciples, He knew full well that they were incapable of being perfect. He was asking them to consider the manner in which they represented Him. He wanted their behavior to distinguish them from others in the world around them. He wanted them to be living examples of the good character of the representatives of His kingdom.

We are most comfortable in life when we are around people we like. We also feel comfortable when we are asked to do things that we know that we are capable of doing successfully. In these times of ease, our personality and our capabilities often shine and our performance appears to be nearly perfect, at least from a secular standpoint. While this type of behavior is certainly good, it generally will not separate us from the secular crowd. We are likely to rely on our own strengths, resulting in us just blending into society without reflecting the presence and character of the One who dwells within us.

On the other hand, when we are challenged by our circumstances and we purposely follow the perfect example of Jesus and draw on Him for our strength, our behavior as His representatives will draw the others to Our Savior. When we seek and allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to flow through us, the world around us will see us modeling the life of Our Savior and be drawn to Him.

Jesus commands us to make it our duty to desire to press forward in grace and holiness, so that we may conform ourselves to His example under even the most difficult circumstances. He desires for us to be perfect like the Father.

Let us lean on the Son of God as our model and submit to His indwelling Spirit in our lives. Let us strive for the perfection that He is calling us to. Let us draw the world to Our Savior as they see us modeling Jesus Christ in our daily lives regardless of our circumstances.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to be our perfect model for life. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to guide us to follow Jesus’ example. We rejoice in knowing that our obedience will result in the fruit of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the world around us. We pray that we may exhibit unusual love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control as we are being taxed by our situations. May You receive all the praise and glory, Lord. We ask all these things in the name of the perfect Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

When Christ Draws on His Resources on Our Behalf

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

At times, we all experience things in our lives that make us feel like we are not strong enough to overcome. At times, we all are tempted in such a way that it feels like we are near faltering. Rejoice!! We are in the perfect position to have Jesus provide all that we need for victory. He is just waiting for us to recognize our weakness and call on Him to draw on His resources.

The apostle Paul was told by Jesus that Jesus’ strength was sufficient for all of Paul’s needs. Jesus emphasized to Paul that His power was made perfect in Paul’s weakness. Paul recognized this truth and leaned upon it through all of his trials. He became the most prolific writer in the bible and led the way of evangelizing the gentile world to Christianity.

When we come to recognize that there is nothing in us that is worthy without Jesus Christ, we open the way for His perfecting work in our lives. When we humble ourselves before Our Savior, we build on our relationship with the One who seeks to perfect us. Through it all, in spite of our weaknesses, the evidence of His presence in our lives becomes visible for all to see. We must be ever mindful that it is not about the work that we do for ourselves. It is about the relationship we have with Jesus that releases victory in our lives.

Let us surrender to Our Savior King. Let us present our weaknesses to Him so that He may perfect His strengths in our lives. Let us become living testimonies to His power.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You pour into our lives through Your Son, Jesus. We seek the power of Your grace in our lives. We ask forgiveness for the times that we by-passed Your grace in order to operate out of our own perceived strength. We pray that Holy Spirit will aid us in leaning on You for all of our needs and guiding us in all that we do. May Your strength be perfected in our weakness. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of the Needy, Jesus Christ.

Living in Accordance with the Purity of Christ

Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Have you ever stubbed your toe on a piece of furniture or perhaps leaned up quickly and hit your head on something? I am sure you have. We all have. Did the unexpected jolt of pain result in words of love and praise flowing from your mouth? For most of us, the answer would most certainly be no. More likely, we may have let out a few words that we were not too proud of.

Found in the core structure of the flesh is sin. Thus our response to trials can often be categorized as something less than holy. To think that we are capable of avoiding the trappings of our flesh on our own would be spiritually naive. In fact, we would be thinking contrary to the Word of God if we thought we had such control over ourselves. We are firmly bound to sin without the indwelling of Jesus Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We can lead good lives by worldly standards, but we cannot lead Godly lives without the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the filling of the Holy Spirit. Purity is too deep down for man to get to naturally. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us in surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ so that we may live in accordance with His unsullied purity.

Let us surrender our hearts to Jesus Christ. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to show us how to make our lives completely pleasing to Our Lord. Let us rejoice in knowing that His grace is sufficient.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, Jesus, to be the supreme authority over our hearts. We pray that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us in our battle to live our lives in a manner that is pleasing to You. By Your loving kindness, Your mercy and Your grace, may we repent of everything in our lives that displeases You. We pray that we may surrender all that we have and all that we are to You. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You in purity and perfection for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is Perfect and Holy, Jesus Christ.