Tag: Heavenly Father

Let Us Fill Our Hearts Daily with Thanks for Our All-Sufficient Lord

1 Chronicles 29:13
Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.

King David was given unimaginable riches to pass along to his son, Solomon, who had been chosen by God to build the temple. As the riches were collected, all the people came together and brought the things that they could contribute to the building of the temple. Think of the immense pleasure and satisfaction that David felt as he stood over this assembly. He captured the moment perfectly.

David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
1 Chronicles 29:10-13

As we leave the memories of the past Thanksgiving Day, may the gratitude that we felt and expressed extend beyond the table top into our lives everyday. May the world see our joy as we live in the fullness of the gift of salvation and the certain provision of a place in the kingdom of God for all eternity.

Let us fill our hearts daily with thanks and praise for Our All Sufficient Lord. Let the world know us by our joy as we celebrate the unimaginable treasures that we have been given through the loving kindness of Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for every provision that we have been given on this earth. We give thanks and praise Your glorious name for the eternal provision given through Your Son, Jesus. We pray, Lord, that we will have thanksgiving in our hearts every single moment that we breathe. We ask that we will find joy in the many riches that You have provided, especially in the joy that You have provided through the treasure that is our families and our friends. May our joy and thanksgiving draw those around us to Your Son, Jesus, and the eternal provision that He holds for them. We ask all these things in the name of One worthy of all praise, Jesus Christ.

His Steadfast Grasp on Our Lives

Psalm 139:7
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?

There is no place that we can go to get away from God. He chases us no matter where we go because He loves us so much. He pursues us with an undeniable and unlimited fervor because He has so much invested in us. He created us. He gave up His Son on our behalf, so that He could derive value from us not only here on earth but in heaven for all eternity.

When we are at our lowest point and it seems that Satan is winning, God just smiles confidently. He is there with us. He gives us the strength for another breath and another step. He sets an unquenchable fire in us for Him. He knows that the victory is His and ours through Jesus Christ.

Yet He weeps at the same time because He sees us falling short of our potential of who we are in Christ. He weeps because He sees us allowing our flesh to pull us and tug us in the wrong direction. All along though, He can smile because He knows His steadfast grasp on our lives will soon enough lead to our surrender to Him. He is ready to build something enormous in us, something within the depths of our souls that will cause us to rise up and say, “I am not going there anymore for I am a new man in Christ.”

Thus through His constant presence and never ending love for us, we will reach a place where we seek Him and Him alone. The world will become but a distant memory as we settle into our place of eternal comfort in the hands of Our Heavenly Father who has always been there for us.

Let us be inspired by the Holy Spirit to walk in the fullness of our new lives in Christ. Let us seek the comforting presence of Our Savior at all times in everything we do. Let us show the world how He changed us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your relentless pursuit of our affection. We thank You for loving us first so that we could love You. We bless the name of Your Son, Jesus, who made it possible for us to live in the comfort of Your presence for all eternity. We pray, Father, that You set the fire in our souls that sends us running to You in full and immediate surrender. May every breath we take be used to turn our faces toward You and away from the world. May the world around us know us by Your presence in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Omni-Present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Living Under the Divine Hand of Almighty God

Luke15:17
But when he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!”

The prodigal son left home thinking he could conquer the world on his own. His journey turned out much different than he had imagined. It did not take him long to exhaust the resources that he had. It then became painfully obvious to him that all that he ever needed was available to him at his father’s house.

We all experience a journey similar to the prodigal son when we try to take on the world on our own. We set up ourselves for failure and frustration when we try to make our way independent of the resources that Our Heavenly Father has set aside for us. Our skepticism of God’s plan results in us landing in a places of humiliation.

With each failure and with each moment of mounting frustration and humiliation, Our Father in heaven awaits our turning to Him. All of heaven prepares to celebrate our return. When we realize the foolishness of living our lives in the flesh instead of under the divine hand of Almighty God and return to the riches of Our Father, He calls for a celebration on our behalf.

Let us run to the Father now. Let us claim all that He has set aside for us. Let us live now in the richness and fullness that is in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the inheritance that You have prepared for us. We rejoice in knowing that Your abundant riches await us when we join You in our permanent home. We ask forgiveness for living our lives in the foolish arrogance of our flesh. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will guide us in repenting of all of the things in our lives that are displeasing to You. May we live our lives in the fullness of the way, the truth and the life that is ours through Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the One who rewards those that seek Him, Jesus Christ.

Without Forgiveness for Others We are Powerless

Mark 11:25
And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Nothing we do has value in the eyes of the Lord unless it has been put in proper order in our lives. The Heavenly Father must be our first consideration in all things. If there is anything or any person the comes before the Father, He will not hear our prayers.

This is why unforgiveness hurts us so much. When we come before the Father in prayer with anger, uncharitable feelings and unforgiveness toward another, He cannot grant us spiritual power. We have supplanted His place as The First by coming to Him with our grievances against another mixed in with our prayer offering.

These grievances must be set aside through the same perfect process of loving forgiveness that we receive from the wondrous workings of the Cross. Jesus died for the forgiveness of all men, not just certain ones that met His expectations.

God’s Holy Word makes it abundantly clear that the forgiveness of the Father is not possible if we are not first able to forgive those who have given us reason to feel injured by them. Truly we cannot be forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others.

Let us recognize and understand that our forgiveness must extend to all. Let us learn to love and forgive in the same unconditional manner that Jesus did and the Father does. Let us be ever so mindful that we must release all grievances against others before we go the Father in prayer.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to hear our prayers when we come before You without claims against any other person. We praise the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ, who made it possible for us to stand before You as righteous men and women, free from unforgiveness. We pray for the wisdom and strength to forgive others as You have forgiven us. May we humble ourselves and kneel at the Cross daily so that we may receive the grace that we need to remain worthy to receive Your mercy. We ask all these things in the name of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Never Ending Extension of Love and Forgiveness

Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Most people who study the Bible find David to be one of the most intriguing characters in all of the Old Testament. It is likely that he is so interesting to most of us because he is a character of such contrast. We learn that He was passionately devoted to God as evidenced by today’s passage. But on the other hand, we find that he was guilty of some of the most grievous sins written of in the entire Bible. We learn that David was a mighty and courageous warrior that won many battles because of His favor with the Lord. But conversely, we find that he was at his weakest when he was fighting his own personal battles in the flesh. David’s emotional highs and lows are well chronicled by David himself in the Book of Psalms. His writings provide us with some of the most heart-warming and inspiring poetry written anywhere in the Bible.

As we struggle through the challenges of daily life, the way God views David offers hope for all of us. Of David, the Lord said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” We can be comforted in knowing that there is nothing that we can do to cause Our Heavenly Father to love us less. His love and forgiveness are perfectly paired and extended to us without end. Our Lord is particularly pleased when, like David, we come to Him with praise even in our darkest hours.

Let us go boldly to the Throne of God, particularly when we find ourselves in a dry or weary place. Let us sing our praises to our precious Lord. Let us be strengthened by knowing that Almighty God delights in seeing us come through our trials in loving obedience to His calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect love and forgiveness. We sing Your praises knowing that even when we have fallen that Your love for us never fails. We bless the name of Jesus through Whom we are separated from our sin. We ask that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to thirst for You in the passionate, intimate way that David did. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to walk in obedience to all that You ask us to do. We long to be called men and women after Your own heart. We ask all these things in the name of the living testimony of the love of God, Jesus Christ.

The Divine Capacity of Almighty God

Job 26:14
Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

It is completely breathtaking to realize that we have only seen a mere portion of Almighty God’s power. It is quite inspiring to know that in Heaven we will be on an endless journey of enjoying and discovering all of God’s divine capacity.

Just think that all that has been revealed to us about Our Heavenly Father through the experiences of the ages and through the writings in His Holy Word is only a foretelling of His omnipotence. What we see of Him on earth and what we read of Him in the scriptures are illustrative of His awesome nature, but most of what He does each and every day is invisible to us. To name all the wondrous powers of Almighty God would be as fruitless as trying to count the stars.

God’s never ending works are completely immeasurable. They extend well beyond our ability to conceive of His might. We can be certain that what we see or know of Him is nothing in comparison of what we do not know about Him. Yet, we can be even more certain that all of His mighty wonders were eclipsed when He gave us His Son as the way, the truth and the life. With that gracious act of mercy and that unfathomable expression of His perfect love, He opened the gateways of heaven for all of His children to become heirs to His kingdom for all of eternity.

Let us press on through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may grow in our knowledge of the Lord and all His ways. Let us become willing vessels of His power and living testimonies of His love so that others will seek to know Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the exhibition of Your divine power throughout the ages. We exalt the name of Jesus as the most wondrous expression of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask that the Holy Spirit instruct us in knowing about You and lead us into a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus. We pray that we will become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May the world know You through our obedience in following Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the dunamis power of God, Jesus Christ.

Fighting for Our Children

Isaiah 44:3
For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.

No other time in history has produced such a blatant spiritual attack against our children. The indoctrination of the enemy is starting in some school systems as early as pre-K. The constant peer pressure on our pre-teens and teens is continuous. Satan is viciously consistent in his efforts to destroy our families and in his efforts to destroy the lives of our children.

We must be diligent in praying a hedge of protection around our children. We have the power of protecting them through our prayers. Our Heavenly Father promises us that He will pour out His Spirit on our descendants and pour out His blessings on our children.

No matter what circumstances that our children may be in, we must not believe the lies of Satan. We must hold to the promises of Our Father. We must never give in to the evil work of the devil who will urge us to give up on our children. Satan will do all that he can do to discourage our efforts to pray for our children because he knows the power that we access and release when we pray for our children.

Let us be resolute in fighting the good fight on the behalf of our children. Let us continuously pray a hedge of protection around them. Let us proclaim the promises of Our Lord that He will return our children to us and, most importantly, that He will return our children to Himself.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing our prayers of protection for our children. Thank you for providing a way for us to shield our children from the enemy who is set on destroying them. Strengthen us, Lord, that we may never falter in covering our children with our prayers. We rejoice in knowing that You will reward us for our diligent, prayerful efforts on behalf of our children. We cling to Your promise to return our children to the land that You have set aside for them. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

Perfectly Prepared for Battle

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Many of the Psalms were written by David. David was proclaimed by God to be “a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”. Because David proved himself to be obedient to the Lord’s calling on his life, sought God in all things and trusted God in all things, God made him king of Israel.

The first we read about David, we see him as a young man who believed God would give him victory over the giant, Goliath, when everyone else cowered in the face of the giant. The men of the day tried to provide David with their armor to fight the giant. David refused. He knew he only needed God on his side.

The same God that helped David slay Goliath is the God that helps us to slay the giants in our lives. The giants in our lives are not named Goliath. They are named such things as addiction, fear, worry, depression, confusion, manipulation, control, bitterness and anger. We do not need to turn to the world to defeat our giants. We only need to go to Our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Let us not be fearful in any battle that we are fighting. Just as David did, we can go to the Father to be perfectly prepared for the battle. Let us confidently proclaim victory against whatever giant or giants we are facing. Our ultimate victory has already been set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, whose death on the Cross gave us victory over all things. We exalt the name of Our Savior King who opened the gateway to heaven for us. We are so grateful that Jesus stands beside us as we face our giants. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to trust in You, Lord, just as David trusted in You. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord Mighty in Battle, Jesus Christ.

The Fear of Offending the One We Love

Psalm 25:12
Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

As good sons and daughters of our earthly fathers, we benefitted greatly from living in awe of the highest authority figure in our lives. We have been shaped by this key relationship and we will continue to be shaped throughout our entire lives by this relationship. Our earthly fathers took us through the follies of our youth as he provided for us in our formative years and prepared us for life in this world.

Fear of God can be compared in some regards to our relationship with our earthly fathers. While we may have feared punishment from our earthly fathers, it was the fear of offending the one we loved so dearly that held such power over us. The fear of disappointing the one that we wanted to please the most provided enormous influence over us. The fear of not living up to the expectations of the one that we held in the highest place in our lives impacted our lives. The fear of losing closeness with the one we desired to be closest to kept a rein on our lives. It was this paternal fear that held us in line when the world was trying to pull us out of line and it is this awesome and reverent fear of Almighty God that defines us and keeps us in line with His eternal plans for our lives.

But so much more has been provided for us by Our Heavenly Father. He has provided for our every need in preparing us for our eternal lives with Him. Through His mercy and His perfect love, He gave us His Son as our Redeemer so that we could be worthy to spend eternity with Him. To those of us that humbled ourselves before His Son, He set aside a path of sanctification. He provided His Holy Spirit to make us aware of our sinful nature and call us to repentance. To this day, His Holy Spirit guides us and gives us rest in our souls as He leads us to our journey’s end in Our Heavenly Father’s eternal kingdom.

Let us submit in reverent fear to the Son of Almighty God, Jesus Christ. Let us seek to live every day in awe of who He is. Let us seek His Holy Spirit in directing every moment in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we exalt Your name as the name that holds the highest place in our lives and we exalt the name of Your Son, Jesus, who shed His blood for our sins. We thank You that we can live in the shadow of His love, His protection and His provision. We seek to deepen our relationship with Your Son. We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to understand who He is so that we may live our lives in reverent awe of Him. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Purifier, Jesus Christ.

Wisdom is Far Superior to Knowledge Alone

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

What is the first thing that you do when you are puzzled by something or want to know how something works? Most of us go immediately to our favorite internet browser. We are amazed at what we can find and delighted in how the search process often yields the exact information that we are looking for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this process, if used appropriately. It provides us with knowledge that we do not have…fast.

As amazing and effective as internet search can be, there is a much faster source of knowledge that is instantly available to us without the aid of any man-made device. Our Heavenly Father teaches us that all we have to do is ask and He will give us wisdom.

The internet can provide knowledge, but does not provide wisdom. Wisdom is far superior to knowledge alone. Wisdom provides insight into how we should use the knowledge that we have accumulated. Wisdom from God deepens our insight into how we should apply our skills and our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to Him.

The internet will always provide an answer to the question that we asked. The answers are predetermined by the search engine programming. God will not always answer the question we asked. Omnisciently, He will answer the question that we should have asked. He will uniquely tailor His response to our real needs and to His will and plan for our lives.

Let us learn to trust in the one who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Let us trust in the one who holds a perfect plan for our lives in His hands, Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have inspired and equipped others to provide us with knowledge to help us through our daily activities. We come to You to seek wisdom, so that we may use our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to You and in ways that are used to bear fruit for Your kingdom and bring honor and glory to Your name. We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to always turn to You first when we are seeking answers. May the world know us and be drawn to Your Son through the wisdom that You provide. We ask these things in the the name of Our Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ.