Tag: Jesus

The Standard to Which We are Called

1 Corinthians 11:1
Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, he exhorted them to pattern their lives after Jesus Christ. Paul understood that obedience to a creed simply takes us to a proper and higher level of lifestyle. Accepting Jesus Christ as Our Savior and patterning our lives after Him will move us toward a level of perfection, holiness and purity that only He could attain and we can begin to approach through Him.

In truth, it is not good enough to be good. It is not good enough to do great works. The only thing that we can do that is of any eternal value is to submit our lives to Jesus Christ as Our Savior, to die of self and to take on the spirit of the One who dwells within us. Anything less than full submission to Our Lord and Master and anything less than becoming imitators of Jesus Christ as His disciples leaves us short of being true Christians.

What is the goal then? The goal is to imitate Jesus Christ in our daily lives. What is the challenge? The challenge is that we are incapable of achieving our goal without the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. What is the answer then? The answer is to surrender all that we are and all that we have and all that we will ever be and all that we will ever have to Our Lord and Savior. Then we must turn to the Holy Spirit daily to guide us and strengthen us as the natural man within us refuses to surrender. Finally, we should rejoice and praise God for He has provided the unchanging, unfailing way, the truth and the life that will allow us to fulfill our stated goal.

Let us yoke ourselves to Our Redeemer. Let us yield to Him as He guides us on our path of sanctification. Let us surrender to Him as He prepares us to stand in righteousness before the Father for all eternity.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing the Word to become flesh so that we could see the standard to which we are all called. May we stand before You one day in the image of Your Son, washed clean by His blood and perfected by His presence within us. Father God, we pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to become true disciples of Jesus as we spend our time on earth preparing for the glorious day of coming into Your presence. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High God.

The Light and Power We Need to Escape Darkness

Colossians 1:13
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Sin is our nature. It never leaves our flesh. It keeps us in darkness from which there is no escape. Without Jesus Christ in our lives, we are easy prey for Satan who stands ready to exploit the power of sin in our lives at a moment’s notice.

But our merciful Heavenly Father made it part of His plan to give us the light and the power that we need to escape the darkness. He provided a way for us to be bond servants to His Son and not to be slaves to Satan. Through our relationship with His Crucified Son, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God. We receive true spiritual light as Christ is revealed to us, causing the prince of darkness to flee from us and the scales of darkness and blindness to fall from our eyes.

Our only refuge from sin is Jesus Christ. By faith in Our Savior we are redeemed at the expense of His shed blood. We are forgiven of our sins so that we may become objects of the Father’s love and delight, just as His Son is.

Let us rejoice in knowing that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. Let us seek to become beacons of His light for the world around us. Let us humbly accept our roles as vessels of His light so that He may draw others from the darkness into His eternal light.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a way for us to be freed from our sinful natures. We thank You, Jesus, for giving us victory over sin through Your shed blood and death on the Cross. We thank You, Holy Spirit, for standing with us and strengthening us to overcome the sin in our lives. We pray that we will come to the humble place where we recognize that we are incapable of victory over sin without the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. We rejoice in knowing that one day we will stand in the light for all eternity and darkness will never again touch us. We pray that we may become beacons of light for the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Great Light, Jesus Christ.

Judging Others Has Enormous Consequence

Matthew 7:2
For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

One of the biggest flaws in humanity is the desire to proclaim judgment on one another. It is part of our human nature. When we combine the desire to proclaim judgment on others with the fact that we are all so tragically flawed by sin, the opportunity for judging others becomes readily and abundantly available. This has led us as a society to be cruelly judgmental of all the people that we find in our lives.

Jesus knew that we would struggle in this area. Thus He provided us with a stern warning about judging others. He wanted us to recognize that we are not qualified to judge, only He is. Even more so, He wanted us to understand that in judging others we put ourselves in a position to pay an enormous price.

In addition to the potential of ruining other people’s lives because of our judgmental nature, we also risk the following for ourselves:
If we practice a critical spirit, we are likely to steal our own joy and peace.
If we assume God’s authority to judge, we place ourselves under greater scrutiny.
If we include malice in our judgement, we pollute our own hearts.
If we plant seeds of unforgiveness and condemnation, we become vulnerable to hatred.

Almighty God, through the sacrifice of His Son, chose to see us all as holy and blameless. He gives us the freedom to choose to see others as He sees them. He calls us to:
Forgive others as we let Christ’s peace rule in our hearts.
Comfort others as we manifest the mercy of the Father.
Honor others above ourselves as we imitate the humility of Our Savior.
Encourage others as we share in the treasures of Jesus Christ
Love others as we let the perfect love of God flow through us.

Let us love God above all things, relying on Him as the Judge over all. Let us love our neighbors as ourselves, choosing to live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and not in the spirit of the world.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that our sins have been forgiven and washed away by the sacrificial blood of Your Son. We praise You for the mercy that You have extended to us through Your Son. We pray that You will shield us from the desire to judge others when You have kept judgment for Yourself. May we not seek to find sin in the lives of others, but only seek to help others find the forgiveness that is in the name of Jesus. May we all live our lives as vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask all these things in the name of the Judge of the Living and the Dead, Jesus Christ.

Taking Up the Cross of Christ

Mark 14:34
And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”

Through Jesus, we receive the exchanged life of joy for the old life of sin and its miserable consequences. Jesus paid a great price for our redemption. He suffered physically, mentally and emotionally to go to the Cross for us. He knew in advance the bodily torments, the agonizing death and the inconceivable burden of the weight of the sins of all men that He would suffer. To secure our redemption, He chose the only path that fulfilled God’s plan for our salvation.

As Jesus approached His time of great suffering, He was very sorrowful. He was feeling the full agony of knowing that He would be taking on the burden of all sin. His suffering was so great that He took Peter, James and John with Him to stand by Him in prayer as He prayed for strength in His most awful time of distress. Three times He left the apostles to pray. Each time He asked them to remain and watch. Each time He found them asleep when He returned. The apostles in their weakness were not able to provide Jesus with the support that He requested as He prepared to take on His Cross. But even though the apostles left Jesus to take on the Cross alone, Jesus was given the strength that He needed by the Holy Spirit.

Ultimately, we must choose to take up the Cross of Jesus Christ. We must choose the way of Christ or the way of sin. This is an impossible decision for us to make on our own. Just like the apostles, our flesh is too weak. But like Jesus, we have the power and the strength that we need to overcome sin because the Holy Spirit stands by us and prepares our hearts to take our victory over sin.

Let us strive to live the joyous life of holiness. Let us be watchful and persistent in fending off the oppressive life of sin. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to stand by us and strengthen us as we walk on our paths of sanctification.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. We praise the name of Jesus who chose to take all the sorrow and grief that He endured on our behalf. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who guided us in choosing to accept Jesus as Our Savior, so that we might overcome the sin in our lives that separates us from You. We pray for wisdom to always seek the strength and the counsel available to us through the Holy Spirit that stands on watch against sin with us. We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb, Jesus Christ.

The Perfect Model of Service

1 Peter 5:2
Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly–not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

The apostle, Peter, witnessed first hand the servant attitude of His Master, Jesus Christ. Peter saw how Jesus served all people out of the devotion He had for His Father in heaven. In his writings, he was encouraging His fellow followers of Christ to follow the model that Jesus had provided them.

When we were children, many of us joined our parents in the work that needed to be done around the house. We joined them in obedience to their request for help. If we served them because we loved them and wanted to honor them, our work was done eagerly and with joy. If we served them for any other reason – to earn allowance or perhaps avoid punishment – our work probably became tedious quickly.

We may find a similar experience when we seek to serve humanity. No matter how fulfilling the service may be at first, the humanitarian cause will become exhausting if the root of our service is not our love for Our Savior. The secret of our joy in service will be our devotion to Jesus Christ.

Jesus was the perfect model of service. Jesus was able to carry through on His service to mankind all the way to the end because He was driven by His love for His Father first. Honoring His Father with His obedience was His calling. The service that He provided for mankind was the result of His love for His Father.

Let us willingly serve Our Father in heaven with the same passion that was so evident in Jesus’ ministry. Let us eagerly serve those around us out of devotion for Our Savior King. Let our service to the flock that the Lord has given us be marked by the same sacrificial fervor as the Good Shepherd.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to express our love to You through our service to those around us. We pray that You strengthen us, Lord, for our work by helping us to grow in our relationship with Your Son. May our devotion to Him be measured by the fruits of our work. May all that we do to serve Your kingdom bring honor and glory to Your Holy Name, the name of Your Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of Our Servant King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Calling and the Power to Serve

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

The life of Jesus Christ was not the life of a mere man, but the life of a divine man who gave up His deity and His royalty in order to accept the calling of Almighty God to be the blood sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Jesus took on this calling freely and voluntarily that He might secure our legal standing in the kingdom of God.

The moment that we accepted the salvation that Jesus made possible when He laid down His life for us, we were given the power and the calling to lay down our lives day after day for the people around us. This sacrificial calling is contrary to our human nature. Our flesh will fight us on every occasion, be it large or small, when we seek to emulate Jesus’ love for us in our service to others. And certainly, Satan will do his part to discourage us too.

Yet we can and will overcome the urges of Satan and our flesh, if we learn to rely on the urgings of the Holy Spirit. For we were not only given the calling to serve, we were also given the power to serve. We were given the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to dwell within us. All we have to do is let the Spirit within us flow out of us.

Let us learn to love others as we love ourselves. Let us give up our lives in service to others. Let us reveal to the world the greater love that dwells within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son Jesus to die for us so that we would not remain separated from You for all eternity because of our sins. We praise Your Name for extending Your mercy so that we could accept the salvation that we did not earn and do not deserve. We pray, Father God, that the fullness of Your Holy Spirit will flow from us each day. May we learn to lay down our lives each day so that others may see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Opening Access to All the Treasures of Heaven

Matthew 25:18
But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

What a shame it is to accept our salvation and then to remain mostly unchanged by the Holy Spirit within us. In doing so, we are like the servant that took the talent from his master and buried it in the ground without doing anything with it to increase its value to the master.

When we do not access all that is available to us through the Holy Spirit, like the non-productive servant we will see the flow of the gifts from Our Master cease. We will see ourselves denied the opportunity to reap from all that God has stored up for us. Remember Jesus Christ gave everything for us. He held back nothing. He expects the same from us in return.

Also remember that Jesus rewards those who are faithful in their service to Him. If we look for and seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we open our access to all the treasures of heaven. We enable God to prepare us to serve Him and bear fruit for Him in the manner that He planned for us. Often we will find that our harvest for the King is well beyond the limits of our imagination.

Let us eagerly seek the instruction and guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us hold back nothing from the Lord. Let us insure through our total submission that we reap all that God has planned for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gifts and talents that You have given us. We call on Your Holy Spirit to take us beyond what we see and understand about our own capabilities to a place where we are releasing things in our lives that are not even imaginable to us now. May all the gain we see and all the fruit we bear be for Your honor and Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Bountiful Lord, Jesus Christ.

Seeking an Intimate Relationship with Jesus

Luke 11:9
And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

In this passage, we find a solemn declaration and promise made by Jesus Himself. The declaration rests on His authority. He makes the statement with the boldness of knowing it is true. He opens the way for us to ask for food for the body and nourishment for our souls and He promises that for those that act in accordance with His counsel shall find their requests satisfied.

When we knock at Jesus’ door, seeking Him, our lives are changed forever. Once we have accepted Him as Our Savior, we are new men and women in Christ. We are new people who are faced with the eye-opening need to let our old selves die, so that our new selves are properly prepared to be in the presence of Our Lord.

Once we establish our relationship with Him, we will be in a place that is greater than anything we have ever experienced before. We will never want to leave that relationship. To stay there, we will find that we are forever humbled by our need to cleanse ourselves. We will find that the experience of first meeting Him is the beginning of our preparation for being in His presence for all eternity.

Let us knock on the door of heaven and let Jesus know that we desire to have an intimate relationship with Him. Let us humbly accept being yoked to Him. Let us learn to surrender to the fullness of living in His presence each day. Let us joyfully anticipate the eternal resting place that He is preparing for us in His Father’s house.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before You. We thank You that we are allowed to approach Your throne because Your Son, Jesus, has prepared the way for us. Make us forever mindful of His sacrifice which washed away our sins for all eternity. Open our eyes to see the sins that remain in our lives so that we may ask forgiveness of them and repent of them. May Your Holy Spirit guide us in continuously seeking the presence of Your Son in our lives. May we find all we need in Him. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord God Omnipotent, 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 Purifying Conviction of the Holy Spirit

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he knew that they were struggling with sin in their lives just as we all are. He knew that they found it easier “to behave” when they were in his presence, just as we are more on guard in the presence of others. He exhorted them to be constant in their battle against sin whether He was there or not.

He was not telling them that they were working to earn their salvation. He was telling them how to overcome the ongoing attacks of the flesh which would try to lead them back to the sin that had been washed away forever by their Savior. He was reminding them that their victory had already been set aside by the One who had died for their sins and dwells within them. He was emphasizing that they must live in reverent awe of their Savior and not be lead by the whims of their flesh.

So it is with us. We do not work to earn our salvation. If we have received Jesus as Our Savior, we have been redeemed and washed clean of all of our sin. The work of salvation that Paul speaks of is really the work of sanctification. It is the process that we go through as we learn to lean on Jesus and not our own strength to overcome the work of the enemy in our lives.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to inspect us and to reveal to us the sin that we are holding on to. Let us surrender to the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Let us rejoice in pleasing the Lord as He strengthens us to walk the path of sanctification.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we proclaim our sin before You and ask for Your forgiveness. We thank You that this issue has been settled on our behalf for all eternity. We pray that we may be continually washed by the blood of Your Son and strengthened daily by His presence in our lives. We ask to live in reverent awe of who You are so that we will come under the purifying conviction of the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the Tower of Salvation, Jesus Christ.