Tag: inspiration

The Power of Our Words

Proverbs 15:4
The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

God spoke the world into existence. Jesus cast out demons and healed the sick with His spoken words. There is great power in our words as well. Words cast out from our mouths have the power to build up and the power to crush. We must be conscious of the power of every word that we speak.

Destructive comments like, “You will never amount to anything,” can have long term, negative impact on the life of a child. Life giving comments like, “God has a special plan for your life,” can have long term, positive impact on the life of a child. We must be careful in choosing the words that we speak to our loved ones and to all the people that we encounter in life. We truly have the power to plant life or death into those around us.

Satan will stay in our ears all day long, feeding us with destructive words to be spoken against those that we care for. We must keep our armor up against the urgings to hurt others with our words. We must continually ask the Holy Spirit to help us to be mindful of our words so that we comfort and build up those around us instead of crushing their spirits.

Let us speak healing words to the wounded. Let us speak atoning words to those without Christ. Let us speak peace, encouragement and building up in the lives of all those that surround us. Let us silence any destructive words that the enemy tries to solicit from us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of speaking. We rejoice in praising You with our words and our songs. We take comfort in coming to You with our words of solicitation. We pray, Father, that You will fill our hearts with words that speak life into those around us. We pray that You will shield us from the urgings of the enemy to speak words of conflict and destruction. Build us up, Lord, so that we may build up others in Your Precious Name. We ask all these things in the name of the Living Word, Jesus Christ.

A New Work in Our Hearts

John 16:8
And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin and of God’s righteousness and of the coming judgment.

Jesus instructed His disciples that the Holy Spirit would come to them after He departed the earth. He let them know that the Holy Spirit would be their counselor. He taught them that the Holy Spirit would convince them of their sin and reveal to them the penalty for sin that is required by a righteous and holy God. He also let the disciples know that the Holy Spirit would be their comforter. He taught them that the Holy Spirit would be with them to show them the need for their Redeemer and the value of the gift of salvation.

We received Jesus’ teaching about the Holy Spirit in the Holy Word of God. We have been taught through the Bible of the role of the Holy Spirit in inspiring us with the promise of Almighty God to forgive our sins if we confess them before Him and repent. As we go through the process of asking for forgiveness, the Holy Spirit will remind us that the only reason that Our Heavenly Father can forgive us is because Jesus Christ died on the Cross for our sins and that had Jesus not become sin for us, Almighty God in His righteousness could not forgive our sin.

Let us praise the Lord for the work of completion that the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. Let us celebrate anew each time that the Holy Spirit leads us to relish and savor the gift that we have been given. Let us rejoice and give thanks each time that the Holy Spirit begins a new work in our hearts so that we may fully value the treasure that is ours through the Cross.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of the folly, fault and filth of our sins. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who leads us to Your Son, Jesus. We bless the name of Jesus for He is the only way that we can avoid the penalty of separation from You for all eternity because of our sins. We pray, Lord, that we will be forever mindful and eternally thankful for the Holy Spirit that You have provided to be Our Comforter and Our Counselor. We ask all these things in the name of Our Holy and Righteous Lord, Jesus Christ.

Work Inspired by God

1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

Satan’s craftiness is witnessed in the way that he gets us to focus on good things that we are good at, knowing that we will find praise in our efforts. Satan in his cleverness knows that if he can get us to stay in our comfort zone, we will never meet our full potential. More importantly, Satan recognizes that in the process of relying on our own capabilities that we will completely by-pass God’s inspiration in our work.

It is easy for us to take on projects that we are comfortable with and ones in which we feel our probability of success is very high. There is nothing wrong with this position as long as we go to God for confirmation that the project is one that He ordains.

God inspired projects, however, are more likely to have us question our abilities to successfully complete them. God is not concerned about our capabilities. If He ordains something, it will be done. God is looking for the opportunity to have His power and His glory, not our capabilities, reflected in the things that we do. May we learn to seek the counsel and the might that He offers.

Let us forsake the wisdom that the world offers, lest we be trapped by our own pride. Let us seek Godly counsel in all things. Let us move forward with the urgings of the Holy Spirit, even if they are outside our comfort zone.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word that teaches how Jesus was interested in doing only those things that You asked Him to do. In Jesus’ life, every project was carried out in accordance with Your will. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to seek You first in all things. We pray for the grace to be able to accept and act upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May all that we do be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Living in a Higher Place

Jeremiah 31:25
For I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.

What a tremendous promise we have from the Lord. The promise was first spoken to draw the Jews out of bondage back to their homelands and back to Himself. Through His prophet, Jeremiah, Almighty God was assuring the Jews that they would find a rest and joy in their new settlement if they set aside their idols and returned to Him.

The promise still holds true for all of us today as the Lord encourages us with His extraordinary promise to give us the strength that we need to break away from all the bondage in our lives. The promise includes drawing us back to Himself when we have separated ourselves from Him by living in the world and taking on personal idols that we have set ahead of the Lord. The promise includes giving us the spiritual inspiration that we need to renew our devotion to Him when it is lagging.

Through His incredible promise, He calls us to live in a higher place, a place where His presence brings us complete comfort, peace and satisfaction. He calls us to a place where the weary find rest and the sorrowful find joy. There is no other place except in Jesus Christ that we can find such a promise.

Let us take our weary souls before Our Father in heaven. Let us languish there and be replenished in body, mind and spirit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Yourself. We bless the name of Jesus who provides all that we need to be one with You and one with Your Son. We pray that You raise up in us the desire to bring to You the fullness of love and devotion that You seek from us. Lift us up, Lord, to a higher place – a place that we cannot reach without You. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to leave behind the things of the world that we place ahead of our devotion to You. We ask all these things in the name of our Most High Savior, Jesus Christ.