Tag: joy

We Are to Withhold Love and Forgiveness from No Man

1 John 2:2
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for the sins of all of mankind. In this one act, we see the perfect love and the perfect forgiveness of both the Father and the Son. The advocacy of the Son is limited to believers, but the propitiation for sin extends as far and as wide and as deep as the evidence of sin in all people.

When we receive the Son, Jesus Christ, as Our Savior, we are receiving the fullness of His perfect love and forgiveness. We also receive the indwelling Holy Spirit who instills in us this perfect love and forgiveness to share with the world around us. As it is with the Father and the Son, we are to withhold love and forgiveness from no man.

With all the anger and bitterness that is spewed every day in our society, we should not withhold even the smallest portion of love and forgiveness from any man anywhere. Our ability to love and forgive under all circumstances is what marks us as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Let us set aside the anger that the world stirs in us. Let us refuse to partner with the bitterness that our flesh demands. Let us live in the fullness of joy and peace that is only found through perfect love and forgiveness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unlimited flow of love and forgiveness that comes from Your Throne. We bless the name of Jesus for becoming sin for every man so that we all could receive the eternal gift of salvation. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will guide us as we learn to become free flowing vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask for the grace to overcome all bitterness, anger and unforgiveness in our lives so that we may in no way hinder the provision of Your love to the world around us. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Treating All of Our Labor as Sacred

Genesis 5:24
Enoch walked with God;

“Enoch walked with God.” Good for old Enoch, but what about us? Does it seem possible that at any given time that the ruler and creator of the universe would dial us up and invite us for a walk or we could dial Him and ask Him to join us for a walk? In the flesh, it certainly seems impossible, perhaps even unimaginable.

While it all may seem illogical to us, it is absolutely within the plans that Almighty God has for each of us. He is always ready to hear from us. He is eager to come along side of us. His line is always open. The only issue is that in order to connect to God’s line, we have to be on the same line. We must disconnect ourselves from all of the lines of distraction in our lives. This is hard work, but it is well worth the effort. Profound peace and joy awaits.

Let us begin the task of separating ourselves from the distractions of the world. Let us devote every task, no matter how mundane, to the Lord. Let us treat all of our labor as sacred. Let us learn to stay in the presence of Almighty God throughout the day.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us the privilege to be in Your presence. We praise You for making Your throne accessible to us. We bless the name of Jesus for dying on the cross for us so that we are worthy to come before You. We pray, Lord, that You would teach us how to shed the distractions of the world and make You the center of all that we do. May we all learn to rejoice in complete comfort in Your sweet presence. We ask all these things in the name of Our Ever Present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Childlike Acceptance of the Truth and Authority of Jesus Christ

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

Jesus was well aware that the mindset of the individuals around Him was a critical determinant in their ability and desire to accept His teaching. Jesus knew that many of the people that He was trying to reach set up blockades to learning because they granted authority only to their logic, tradition, culture and emotional feelings. They would not accept the truth and authority of the King of Kings. Thus they closed the door on the truth in His teaching. Ultimately, He closed the door on them.

As parents, teachers or caretakers, we understand the joy and the pleasure of an obedient and respectful child. The obedient child’s constant compliance to our instruction melts our hearts. Their demeanor invites instruction. It is easy and very natural for us to give compliant and respectful children greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle the responsibility appropriately.

So it is when we become new born babes in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Almighty God rejoices when we are obedient and we demonstrate our faithful compliance to His laws, His commands, His Holy Word and His callings on our lives. When we come to Him humbly and in awe of who He is, He rewards us with more knowledge, more wisdom and more responsibility in His kingdom.

Let us seek to sit at the feet of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, with the same eagerness as children sitting around a story teller. Let us be childlike as we delightfully soak in all that we hear. Let us be even more childlike as we learn to accept all the teachings of Jesus Christ in complete faith.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for receiving us as innocent babes in Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible that we could stand before You in righteousness. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to come to You as expectant as young children who go to their fathers eager to learn about the world and anxious for their dreams to be fulfilled. We pray for the grace to please You in all that we do. We ask that You release to us the knowledge that we do not have and the wisdom we seek. May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the Author of Our Faith, Jesus Christ.

When Jesus Came to Earth He Issued an Invitation to All Men

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 Unshakeable Confidence that the Victory is Ours Through Jesus Christ

Psalm 145:21
My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

We are stirred up in our hearts to praise God. We praise Him because of His power and His glory. We praise Him for His holiness and His love expressed through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus.

Our Lord, Jesus, is the fullness of the love and forgiveness that we have been so graciously provided by Our Father in Heaven. Let our every breath be filled for praise for the Father and the Son. May our lives be living testimonies of the Son of God who has come to dwell within us.

Let us praise God out of the faith that He has built in us through His Holy Spirit. Let us praise God with the love and delight that He has placed in our hearts. Let us praise God as we are comforted by His goodness, His grace and His holiness. Let us praise God with the joy of the expectation of life in His eternal kingdom. Let us praise God with the unshakeable confidence that the victory is ours through God’s greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus. Let us bless the name of His Son forever. Let us praise God for He is worthy.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we exalt Your name above all others for You are worthy. We pray Father that You open our eyes so that we may see Your glory in the tiny things in life as well as the large things. We lift our voices up in high praise for Your precious Lamb, Jesus. We bless His name and proclaim His holiness and His righteousness. We give thanks for His presence in our lives. May our every breath praise Him as we come know just how dear He is to us. We ask all these things in the name of the One whose steadfast love never ceases, Jesus Christ.

Having a Higher Purpose Leads to Greater Stick-to-itiveness

Psalm 40:8
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

When David spoke of his desire to follow God’s will for his life, he was patterning himself after Jesus. Jesus did nothing without giving full consideration to the will of the Father. Both Jesus’ and David’s hearts were set on pleasing the Father. Each complied cheerfully.

If we start a new exercise regimen because we want the quick body changes “guaranteed” in the rave reviews, we may find ourselves struggling to maintain the new regimen for any extended period of time. On the other hand, if we start the new exercise program because we have a passion for a happier, extended life to enjoy with our loved ones, we are more likely to get into the new regimen eagerly and consistently because of the higher purpose that drives our success.

When we seek to be faithful in following all of the commandments with the single purpose of avoiding sin, we are certain to struggle because our purpose is not high enough. We must find our passion in the higher purpose of establishing our covenant with Jesus not with the law.

Let us seek to know Jesus so intimately that we can enjoy His peace, His beauty, His mercy, His loving kindness and most of all share in His delight in pleasing His Father in heaven. Let us learn to count it as joy to give up the things of the world for the glory of Our Heavenly Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to come down from heaven to fulfill the law. We bless the name of Jesus for His perfect obedience in doing Your will. We ask that the Holy Spirit will help us to set our hearts upon Jesus instead of upon the law. Oh Lord, we pray that we may take up our crosses daily with the same delight and pleasure that Jesus did when He fulfilled Your will for His life. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

For to Suffer for Christ’s Sake is to Have Joy in All Things.

2 Timothy 2:3
Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

There is no happiness in suffering. No sane person chooses to suffer. But even when we are under the heaviest of burdens, it is possible to maintain the joy in our lives. For to suffer for Christ’s sake is to have joy in all things. To embrace Our Comforter during the times of our suffering is to have constant joy in the midst of our trials. If we continuously seek the comfort of Our Savior as our suffering goes on, our joy will increase even though our happiness may be in decline. Through it all, our resolution to suffer for Christ’s sake will become stronger and our love of God and Jesus Christ will grow.

If we view our suffering in any other way than through the will of God, our lives are guaranteed to be roller coaster rides with many highs and many lows. On the other hand, if we keep our focus on Jesus through our suffering, our lives will be on steadied paths toward completed sainthood in heaven for all eternity. Our lives will be filled with joy even in unhappy circumstances. The world will know us by our peace through Jesus Christ.

Let us seek the joy of Christ in every event in our lives, whether they be easy or challenging. Let us seek the peace of Our Comforter in all of our trials. Let us endure in accordance with the promises of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to overcome the suffering that the world brings us. We bless the name of Jesus for bringing us joy even when everything around us in the world brings some level of unhappiness. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us to endure our trials so that our love for You and for Our Savior, Jesus, becomes greater with each moment that we endure our suffering. As we find joy in Christ, we pray that our example will make others strong and mature in their relationship with You. We ask all these things in the name of the One who suffered for us, Jesus Christ.

Almighty God Takes Us Through a Process to Prepare Us for a Place at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb

Revelation 21:2
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Most of us were taught to set goals and to develop step-by-step plans to reach our goals, so that the end of our lives will be joyful and satisfying. For many of us, attaining the goals that we set for ourselves has become the driving force that directs the course of our lives. Thus are the ways of man.

In God’s supernatural world, things are totally different. Goals are not set for this world, because God did not create this world to be about our accomplishments. God created this world to prepare us for the eternal life that we will spend in heaven for all eternity. Everything we go through here on earth is part of the process that God puts us through or allows us to go through in order to prepare us for life in new Jerusalem.

We go up to new Jerusalem, not to fulfill our own purposes, but to fulfill the purposes that Almighty God has for us. We are being prepared to go to a place where all things are new. There will be no trouble or tumult. The new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state. It is a holy church without blemish and we will be there fully prepared for our place at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Let us prepare ourselves for our new lives in the kingdom of God. Let us surrender to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives. Let us repent of the things that the Holy Spirit reveals to us. Let us be obedient to the things that the Holy Spirit urges us to do. Let us rejoice in our new lives in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us at the wedding feast of the Lamb. We praise You and worship You for providing a way for us to be made acceptable to take our place at this great banquet. Father, open our eyes that we may see Your perspective of what our lives are meant to be. We pray that you show us how to set aside all that this world offers in exchange for the eternal life that we will spend with You for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of the True Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ.

Becoming Living Testimonies of the One Who Dwells Within Us

1 John 3:18
Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

There is an old adage that states that actions speaker louder than words. Nowhere is the old adage more applicable than in our living testimony. No one wants to learn about Jesus from us if they have not seen Jesus in our lives.

Our greatest orations will never win a soul without a visible expression in our lives that we are living what we are preaching and teaching. Let those around us see the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When others see these things, they will seek the source. We will not have to say a word to entice them.

Jesus understood human nature completely. Thus He labored constantly among the people, showing them His perfect love and forgiveness. His living testimony drew people to the message that He had come to deliver. We can do the same if we labor in deed and in truth.

Let us serve one another and bear one another’s burdens. Let us build up one another in faith and minister to those around us with cheerfulness. Let us draw others to Jesus through our living testimony.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your Son as a living example of the way, the truth and the life that You intend for us to accept and to proclaim. Blessed is the name of Jesus who surrendered all so that we may be drawn to Him, receive Him as Our Savior and allow His presence to flow through us to the world around us. We pray that our lives will become living testimonies of the One who dwells within us. We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Life and Peace, Jesus Christ.

In Christ, the Father in Heaven Will Only See Our Holiness

Matthew 5:20
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

No man can make himself pure enough to enter heaven by obeying the laws. The Pharisees created laws upon laws that were supposedly put in place to prepare them for their way to heaven. Jesus put to rest the folly in their thinking. Jesus taught that there was no possibility for anyone to enter heaven without accepting Him as Savior.

It is also revealed to us in the Holy Word that no one can stand before the eternal light and consummate holiness of Almighty God with the slightest taint of sin. Thus there is the need for us to accept Our Savior, Jesus Christ. It is He, and He alone, that washes us clean of our sin. It is His shed blood that makes us worthy to stand before the Most Holy, Almighty God of the Universe. It is the Son of God that secures our eternal destination in heaven.

As babes in Christ, we joyfully celebrate our eternal gift as heirs to the kingdom of God. But our joy is quickly challenged when we realize that we must still deal with the sin nature within us. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we become cognizant of how wretched we are in our carnal nature. We also come to the place we recognize that we are incapable of overcoming our wretchedness on our own. But we must not let this steal our joy. In fact, we should experience an even greater joy as the Holy Spirit teaches us just how essential our decision was to accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior.

Let us not lose our joy as we struggle with our carnal nature. Let us remain in the joy that we experienced as new babes in Christ. Let us rejoice in knowing that we will stand before Almighty God with the assurance in Christ that the Father in heaven will only see our holiness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making it possible for us to stand in Your presence one day. We praise You for making The Word flesh so that we could be inheritors of the only bloodline without sin. We rejoice in knowing that one day our holiness will be complete as we shed our earthly bodies and take on the pure, supernatural bodies that You have set aside for us. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us as we learn to shed the corruption of our flesh here on earth in preparation for the time that we go to our full glory with You in heaven. We ask all these things in the name of the Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.