Tag: piety

Turning to Almighty God as the One in Whom We Trust

Romans 10:3
For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Most of the Jews at the time of Christ were more interested in an outward show of their piety than to submit to the new freedom and righteousness offered by Jesus. Jesus offered two commandments. Love God above all things and love thy neighbor as thyself. Yet the Jews clung to their traditions. The Pharisees followed 248 commandments and 365 prohibitions. There was no room in their lives for the message of the Gospel for it was crowded out by their obstinance in sticking to their own man made laws. Their lifestyles were dictated by their independence from God.

Move forward some 2000 years. Our nation was born under a call for fierce independence from a government that wanted to control how individuals related to their Creator. The early founders, while becoming fiercely independent of England, became fiercely dependent on Almighty God. But over time, Satan has done his evil work in our nation. Many individuals in America have become arrogantly and selfishly independent of God. They have built their lives around self-manipulated lifestyles that require no God and they have fashioned laws to fit their choices.

As a nation, let us firmly grasp the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus Christ. Let us pray for our leaders to make God’s Word and His commandments the foundation of our legal system. Let us once again look to Almighty God as the God in Whom we trust.

As citizens, let us keep His laws and observe them in our hearts. Let us delight in the path we follow when we follow the Lord’s commandments. Let our lives become living testimonies of His righteousness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing Your laws on our hearts. We praise the name of Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who stands with us to incline our hearts toward the ways of Our Savior and not our own. We pray, Father, that as You touch our hearts with Your laws that You will also touch the hearts of the leaders of this nation. May we once again return to be a nation that has its trust in You. May we once again be a nation whose laws are the same as Your laws. We ask all these things in the name of the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus Christ.

The Treasures That are in Jesus Christ

John 14:26
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Jesus taught His disciples that they would receive far greater powers after He left them. He promised that He would send the Holy Spirit to remind them of His teachings and to release in them the power that He promised to them.

When we receive Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are indwelled by His Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit fulfills His calling to glorify Jesus, He declares the things that are to come into our lives through our relationship with Jesus. Just like the apostles did, we enter into a new phase of our lives. We move from whatever natural level of piety, prayer and devotion that we might have had in the past into a new supernatural level of devotion in our daily lives. We are then directed by the Holy Spirit into a personal, passionate relationship with Jesus.

Simultaneously, the Holy Spirit begins to lead us through the sanctification process. From that first moment of accepting Jesus and until our death, the Holy Spirit is shaping us into the person that God created us to be. As we go through the sanctification process, we go through a supernatural transformation. As we respond to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, our spiritual faculty is quickened so that we may understand and respond to unfathomed treasures that are in Jesus Christ.

Ultimately, as the Holy Spirit reveals the fullness of Jesus Christ to us, our manifest destiny that Jesus has prepared for us is also revealed. As we mature in Christ, we start walking in the life that God had planned for us from the beginning.

Let us invite the Holy Spirit to reveal our callings to us. Let us solicit the Holy Spirit to release the supernatural power that Jesus promised to His disciples of all times and seasons. Let us begin to walk the pathways of our manifest destinies in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Holy Spirit who reveals to us the treasures that are ours through Your Son, Jesus. We rejoice as the Holy Spirit leads us to Jesus to lean on Him for every good thing through time and for all eternity. We pray, Lord, that we may join the Holy Spirit as He glorifies the name of Our Savior. May our work be derived from our devotion to Your Son. May those around us know us by our calling and may they be called in the same manner. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord and Our Sanctifier, Jesus Christ.