Tag: grace

Delighting in the Living Word of God

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

As human beings, we all attain some level of learning, understanding and wisdom. Too often, however, we are satisfied with gaining this insight through the counsel of men. Is it possible that there is more for us to learn? Is it possible for us to delve deeply into the riches and inconceivable perfection of Almighty God? Is it possible for us to grasp the mind of the Lord?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world. Let us be aware that we are given the opportunity to be enlightened beyond our normal human capability. Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries through His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

To expose ourselves to the treasures of the mind that await, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us. We have to prepare ourselves through the reading and study of the Bible. We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.

Let us seek our counsel from the One who is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. Let us ask Him to reveal all of His mysteries to us. Let us go to him daily with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to reveal to me today?”

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to study Your Holy Word and to commune with You each day. Lord, may we learn to delight in Your Word and delight in Your presence. We ask that through Your Holy Spirit that we learn how to experience the revelations of who You are. Through Your grace, may we begin to understand all of Your wonderful mysteries. We pray these things in the name of the living revelation of Your Word, Jesus Christ.

Becoming a Repository of God’s Truth

2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

The Bible is the infallible Word of God. The Bible is a repository of God’s truth. The truth is held there for us to absorb and apply to our lives. But we have to persistently study the Word of God to find the truth. Or as the scripture indicates, we must rightly handle the word of truth. To rightly handle the word of truth requires study and hard work. It is good work but it does require industry, diligence and application.

It is work that cannot be done without the grace of God. The grace of God is extended to us as we strive to arm ourselves with the truth. His grace provides the Holy Spirit to insure our understanding of His Word and to show us how to apply it to our lives. Keenly aware of our need for His truth in our lives, Our Heavenly Father encourages us with the promise of comfort through our struggles when we seek His truth. He then delivers on His promises by comforting us as He shines divine enlightenment on our lives even when we are going through the darkest of times.

Through yet another extension of His grace, He will use us to comfort others as we have been comforted. We will find this play out in every area of our lives. When we struggle with anything, we might as well look around because there will be someone near us who is struggling with the same thing. As the Holy Spirit directs changes in our lives through the application of God’s Word, we should prepare ourselves to comfort others with what we have learned and experienced. As we receive revelation, we should be alert to passing the truth on to others in need. It is all a part of rightly handling the truth.

Let us build ourselves up through the diligent study and application of God’s Holy Word in our lives. Let us look to comfort others with the divine comfort and inspiration that we have received through our right handling of His truth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Word is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, constantly drawing us to the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus. We thank You that Your Word enlightens us and comforts us in our struggles. We pray, Father, that the Word that we have received from You will be at work within us. May that good work in us pour forth, as we become founts of the Living Truth for the thirsty that surround us. We ask all these things in the name of the True Light and the Truth, Jesus Christ.

Missing What God Has in Store for Us

Matthew 16:24
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

A true disciple of Jesus is one that walks in the same anointed way that Jesus walked. A true disciple follows His Master’s example on a daily basis. A true disciple is energetic and passionate about every task assigned by the Master. A true disciple of Jesus Christ is one that denies self and takes up the Cross that Jesus has prepared for him or her.

During our toddler ages, we are already beginning to express our own individuality and independence. It is during this time that most of us realize for the first time that we are our own person and can make choices for ourselves. Unfortunately, one of our favorite words during these early ages is “no.” Our rebellious nature wants to reject all the good counsel of our parents in order to fully express our own independence. This independent behavior has a tendency to carry over into our relationship with Almighty God. We set a pattern early for ourselves which establishes the importance of our desires over loving authority. We establish lifestyles in which our decisions are made based on the needs of our flesh and not on the desires of Almighty God for our lives. Ultimately, we miss much that God has in store of us.

Let us shake loose from the independence that we have strived so hard to attain throughout our lives. Let us learn to deny ourselves and surrender completely to the will of Our Savior. Let us follow the path that Our Redeemer laid out for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the grace that You provide so that we are able to take up the Cross of Your Son and follow Him. We thank You for Your patience with us as we learn to deny our sinful natures, our ungodliness and our worldly lusts. We pray, Lord, for the strength to exercise the humility, zeal, patience and self-denial that the Cross demands. May we carry out every duty for Your glory and for the gain of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the Great Shepherd of the Sheep, Jesus Christ.

Only One Way to Heaven is Deemed Acceptable

Hebrews 10:14
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Under the law in the old testament, regular sacrifices were required to atone for sins. The high priests served as mediators, offering up the blood sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people. The people had no access to their own atonement for sin. More importantly, they had no way of individually insuring that they would be acceptable to Almighty God. This all changed when Jesus ushered in the new testament. Under the new testament, the law was replaced by grace and all men were enabled to access their own atonement through one mediator, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No man can get into heaven without recognizing the sacrifice of the precious Lamb of God. No matter who we are or what we have, reinstatement with God the Father is only possible by accepting Jesus Christ as Our Savior. No matter how vile, corrupt and sinful we may be today, we can receive the eternal life that God promised and made available to all men through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Salvation is not earned, but accepted by every man who calls on the name of Jesus as his Savior. For the shed blood of Jesus has the power to wash away all that separates us from the Father. There is no other way that is deemed acceptable.

Let us live in continuous thanksgiving for the One who exchanged His divine station in heaven for a lowly station on earth so that He could fulfill His Father’s plan for salvation for all men. Let us live in continuous praise for the Lamb of God who was the necessary sacrifice for us to be able to exchange our carnal station on earth for a sanctified place with Him in heaven for all eternity. Let us boldly proclaim what He has done for us so that those around us may know Him and claim Him as their Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your new covenant which established Your Son as the only sacrifice necessary to fulfill the law for all men to be deemed acceptable before You. We exalt Your name for providing a way for us to receive the eternal inheritance that we could not earn on our own. We pray, Lord, that we will always be mindful of the suffering of Our Savior. May our lives reflect our thanksgiving for His sacrifice. May our joy in Jesus Christ draw others to Him. We ask all these things in the name of the precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

God’s Contractual Duty to Deliver on His Promises to Us

Genesis 9:13
I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.

Almighty God provided the rainbow as a sign to all living creatures that He would never flood the earth again. When we see a rainbow, we are certainly reminded of His covenant with us. But why stop with the intermittent rainbow? We can look at all of creation and be constantly reminded of the many other covenants and promises that Our Heavenly Father has set aside for us. He has so many promises of provision and protection that are ours to claim. We serve a perfectly gracious God that is bound to deliver to us the awards of His contracts with us.

Unfortunately, we spend more time seeking the good things of the earth instead of the good things that God has in store for us. While the good things we seek in life may indeed be things that any righteous person would deem good, they will fall short of satisfying us if they are not what God has in His will and plan for our lives.

The irony is that getting the good things from God is so simple. All we have to do is abide in Him and we will be given all the good things that He promises us. We need to seek the relationship first and He will provide all the things that He knows will satisfy us perfectly.

Let us become spiritual attorneys. Let us work to discover every contract that Almighty God has agreed to on our behalf. Let us strive to come into right relationship with His covenants. Let us proceed to the courts of heaven and present our claims. Let us rejoice as we learn to live in the fullness of His awards.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the many promises that You have made to us through Your Holy Word. We praise Jesus, who made it possible for us to receive all that You have set aside for us. We humbly come before You, Father, to proclaim our desire to spend our lives seeking an intimate relationship with Your Son instead of seeking the things of this world. We pray that Your grace be with us always as we learn to choose the good things of Your kingdom over the good things of this earth. We ask all these things in the name of the fulfillment of Your covenant with us, Jesus Christ.

Confidently Carrying Out the Work Our Father Has Created Us For

1 Cor 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Everything that we have and everything that we are comes from Almighty God. To speak of ourselves as unworthy or incapable to do the work that the Lord has called us to do is an insult to the Creator. As the apostle Paul states in this passage, “His grace toward me was not in vain”.

In the eyes of Our Heavenly Father, through the blood sacrifice of His Son, we are seen in the image of the Son. We should carry ourselves and conduct our work for the Lord with the confidence of the heirs to His kingdom. The children of God should differ from the sons of men. We should live our lives by the standards that we are capable of through His grace and the presence and support of the Holy Spirit.

Only through our personal relationship with Our Redeemer can we let go the things of the world that are holding us in bondage. Only through submission to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King can we overcome our natural weaknesses and operate in the divine power of Our Creator for His good pleasure. Only by His grace can we become what He created us to be.

Let us steadfastly pursue the grace of Almighty God through our relationship with His Son, Jesus. Let us confidently seek and carry out the work that Our Heavenly Father has created us to do. Let us live boldly as heirs to His kingdom.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us with a sovereign, gracious purpose for our lives. We bless the name of Jesus for shedding His blood so that we may be worthy to do the things that bring pleasure to You. We exalt the Holy Spirit for standing by us so that we may overcome our weaknesses. We rejoice in knowing that Your grace is not bestowed on us in vain. We pray for the strength to persevere in pursuing Your will for our lives and not our own. May the fruit of our efforts be for Your honor, Your glory and Your good pleasure. We ask all these things in the name of Your dearly beloved Son in whom You are well pleased, Jesus Christ.

When the World Tries to Change Our Understanding of What is True

Psalm 119:125
I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.

Discernment is one of the greatest gifts that we receive from the Holy Spirit. It is surely discernment that allows us to function properly in this out-of-control world that we live in. Without discernment we cannot recognize what is true and what is false. With the enemy working overtime to make what is right appear wrong and what is wrong to appear right, we must rely on the Holy Spirit to provide the understanding that we need to make good spiritual decisions.

It is by the grace of God, and not by our experiences in life, nor in any human teaching that we are able to understand the Word of God. We have the necessary enlightenment of God’s Word through our prayers, our study of the Scriptures and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. It is in this manner that God allows us to discern the gradual shades of evil that are introduced into to our lives everyday by the media and the humanist agenda. We have been subjected to small doses of re-written history and contrived teaching via the media until we wake up one day and we find that we have accepted things to be true that simply are not in accordance with God’s Word.

Let us seek the Holy Spirit to provide us with the clarity of mind to know the truth in all things. Let us live by and proclaim the statutes that God’s Holy Word teaches. Let us use our Holy Spirit inspired discernment to reject the errant messages being espoused by the world.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of discernment that You provide through Your Holy Spirit. We bless the name of Jesus who has given us victory over the evil that tries to change our understanding of Your truth. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will fill us with the understanding and discernment that we need to walk according Your statutes. May we seek Your truth daily. As we serve You, may the world know us by our living testimony to Your ways. We ask all these things in the name of the Word and the Truth, Jesus Christ.

Giving Thanks for the Greatest Blessing in Life

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

During our recent Thanksgiving holiday now gone by, we all took time to pause and thank our Heavenly Father for all of the love, protection and provision that we have enjoyed in our lives. We may have even been humble enough to give thanks for our salvation. But did we take time to consider and give thanks for the awesome gift of grace that we receive from Almighty God each day? With the Christmas season of gift giving rushing toward us, let us be sure to add the gift of grace to our Thanksgiving list.

The ever flowing grace of God is what makes all the other blessings in our lives relevant. Not one of us would even accept the gift of salvation if we had not first received the gift of grace. Our sinful, human nature without the grace of God is simply incapable of accepting the idea that a Savior is needed for entry into the eternal kingdom of God. The greatest blessing that we receive in life, for which we should give thanks every day, is the supernatural grace that we are provided which allows us to acknowledge that we are destitute without Our Savior and we are powerless without His presence in our lives.

With the cherished moments of our Thanksgiving holiday fading away, let us take the opportunity to give thanks for the supernatural gift of God’s grace. Let us always be mindful that only through the grace of God and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that our eyes are opened and our hearts are prepared so that we can see and accept the way, the truth and the life that is in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we give thanks today for Your ever flowing gift of grace. We pray, Lord, that we will be acutely aware of how far we fall short of Your glory without Your grace. May our hunger for Your grace release the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. May the Holy Spirit lift us up into the fullness of our lives in Christ. May the world know us by the fruit that we bear because of our acceptance of Your grace. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is the ultimate evidence of Your grace, Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Walking in the Fullness of Our New Life in Christ

Romans 6:6
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

The tree that gave its life, so that the formation of the cross was possible, allowed the Cross to meet its responsibility. Without taking the life of the tree, there would be no crucifixion story.

In a similar fashion, Jesus Christ gave up His life so we could meet the requirements necessary for us to be children of God. Without the taking of the life of Our Savior, there would be no salvation story.

Along the same lines, we put our old man to death so that we might shed the ways of wickedness, error and ignorance that are inherent in the will and understanding of our sin nature. By allowing our old man to be crucified with Christ, we take on our new lives in Jesus Christ in which we rely on Him for everything. Without us giving up the life of our sin nature, there would be no sanctification story.

Let us embrace the sanctification process. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to look into our hearts and reveal everything that the old man is trying to hang on to. Let us repent of everything the Holy Spirit shows us so that we may walk in the fullness of our new nature in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the endless grace that You provide us so that we are able to accept Your Son as Our Savior and are able to submit to His rule and reign in our lives. We bless the name of Jesus who died for our sins to make it all possible. We praise the name of the Holy Spirit for preparing our hearts to receive Our Savior and for revealing the darkness in our hearts so that we may submit our old lives for crucifixion with Our Savior. We pray, Father, that You will empower us to go out to tell the world about our salvation story. May we bring honor to Your name, the name of Your Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Worthy Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Coming Into Alignment with God’s Timing

Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Through His love, His grace and His mercy, we are called to be servants of Almighty God here on earth and in heaven for all eternity. We were created in His image for this purpose in order to bring Him praise and glory. Being conscious of our own weakness, we should wait on and look to Our Master for our direction and our strength.

Our focus needs to be on God at all times. We should be expectant that He will direct our ways and make provision for the fulfillment of our calling. We should understand that He will set the limits of how high He is ready for us to go and He will set the timing of when we will get there. We should recognize that He knows exactly what He has planned for our lives and the lives of those around us.

If we focus on our problems or our visions without including Our Heavenly Father in the process, we will set expectations for ourselves that are outside of God’s will for our lives. We will be setting ourselves up for burn out or for seeing results that are disappointing to us. It is almost certain that we will not go as high as God had planned for us or that we will give up on our calling before it is fulfilled because we are not in tune with God’s timing.

Let us make Jesus Christ the Master over our lives. Let us seek the will of Our Master in everything that we do. Let us lean not on our personal plans. Let us serve Our Lord and Our King in accordance with the perfectly timed, perfect plans that He has set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to be Your servants. We rejoice in knowing that just as the slaves went to their master for their direction and all of their needs, we can go to You for everything in our lives. We pray, Lord, that just as the slaves waited on their master before they did anything, we will learn to wait on the direction of Your Holy Spirit before we take on anything. We ask that we learn to rely on Your hand, Almighty God. May we reach the fullness of service that You have planned for us. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.