Tag: promises of God

Developing an Intimate Relationship with Almighty God

John 14:9
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?” He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”?

Philip had seen Jesus with His eyes, but he had not fully discovered Him with his heart. We must be aware of the importance of truly seeking a relationship with Almighty God. He is our loving Father. He is eager for us to approach Him as Our Father in heaven. While He is pleased when we study His Word and we sit at the feet of His teachers to learn about Him, He desires for us to have so much more. He longs for us to seek intimacy with Him and He provides the way for us to do so through His salvation plan.

The greatest treasure of all time is ours. The treasure of knowing Almighty God will satisfy our hearts forever. It is ours for the taking. Magnificent gifts of grace and anointing are awaiting us. All we have to do is step beyond being satisfied with head knowledge about our treasure and into the world of a discovery of the heart.

Our Heavenly Father reserved a place in heaven for all who believe in His Son and surrender to Him to rule and reign in their lives, but that was not all that He did. Almighty God also opened up access to His throne when His Son died on the Cross. He gave us access to His Kingdom even while we are on earth.

Let us seek the Holy Spirit to inspire us to be driven by our hunger for a deep personal relationship with Almighty God through His beloved Son. Let us strive to go past head knowledge of the Father and His eternal promises. Let us enter into an intimate relationship with Him and His Son as we walk our paths of sanctification here on this earth.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son as the gateway to Your kingdom. Open our eyes, Lord, that we may not only seek our salvation through Your Son, but that we may also seek the fullness of His presence in our lives. We pray that the Holy Spirit take us beyond the knowledge of Your Son to the high places where we experience an intimate relationship with Him daily. Help us, Father, deepen our relationship withYour Son so that we may know You according to the fullness of heart that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of Your Living Testimony, Jesus Christ.

Securing the Promises of God Through Obedience to His Call Upon Our Lives

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus fulfilled everything that He was called to do. Even though He was tested beyond human imagination, He never faltered once in His obedience to the plans of God for His life. Through the process, it was a blessing to us all that Jesus did not listen to the voice of others around Him. Peter specifically rebuked Jesus for proclaiming such a tragic ending to His life. Jesus let Peter know that he spoke Satan’s language when he suggested that Jesus step away from His mission.

It is very easy to say, “I give up. I cannot do it.” This is especially true when we allow others in our lives to suggest that the values of man should be given more weight than the callings of God upon our lives. In essence, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.

Jesus overcame all of His trials because He was one with the Father and He trusted in the promises of the Father. And indeed, He did rise on the third day, fulfilling all of God’s promises for mankind. In the same way, we are to be anxious in nothing for God promises to take care of our every need and He promises to finish anything that He has called us to do. Our victories are in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to their pursuit.

Let us stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty. Just as Jesus did, let us surrender in complete obedience to God’s calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the guarantor of Your promise of eternal life available to each of us. We exalt the name of Jesus for His complete obedience to His calling as Our Savior. We pray for the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be obedient to the completed purpose and plans that You have set aside for our lives. May we stand firmly on Your promises. We ask these things in the name of the One who secured our victories on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

The Danger of Bending God’s Holy Word to Make it More Pleasing

1 Corinthians 3:11
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

When laying tile, one of the first things that is done is snapping a chalk line to establish a true 90 degree angle to the two walls. If the chalk line is one degree off, it is not true. There is no tolerance for this measure. The line is either a true 90 degrees or it is not true. A mistake in setting a true line will doom the project.

The world would like to teach us that there are many ways to heaven besides accepting Jesus Christ as Savior. It is sad to say that Satan has done a remarkable job selling this line of thinking, putting a large portion of mankind in danger of missing the way, the truth and the life that is only found in Jesus.

We Christians must be extremely careful not to bend the Word of God to fit today’s culture. The Word of God is the truth. God’s Word is the same today as it was yesterday and as it will be tomorrow. Jesus Christ alone is the firm, abiding and immovable Rock of Ages. In every way, He is able to bear all the weight of the sins of mankind that has been placed upon Him. He alone can bear this load. He alone is the trustworthy foundation. Anyone who aligns their lives with anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ will find eternal doom in their future.

Making God’s Word more pleasing to others is not being tolerant. It is abandoning what is true. More importantly, massaging God’s Word to make it more acceptable to the world endangers the eternal lives of those that we may be trying to appease.

Let us stand firm on the Word of God. Let us make the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ, our foundation. Let us boldly proclaim the promises that only He can deliver.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Word is true and that Your promises are certain. May You open our hearts to receive the fullness and truth in the precepts that You reveal to us through Your Holy Word. May You embolden us to speak the truth about Your Son as the world around us rejects Him. May You strengthen us to stand firmly on the foundation that only He provides. We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Surrendering to the Will of God

Matthew 26:39
And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Jesus fully accepted His assignment of death on the Cross. He knew that His sacrifice was necessary for the salvation of all men. He knew that His death on the Cross was the reason He was sent to earth. The thing that overwhelmed Jesus was the impending separation from the Father when He would take on the sins of all men. Yet Jesus was fully obedient to the will of the Father for the good of all mankind. And He was received in all His glory by the Father.

According to this example of Christ, we must drink of the most bitter cup which God puts into our hands. Even though our flesh will seek immediate relief from all trial in our lives, we must recognize and accept the will of Our Father as we go through our trials. For, as God allowed the unspeakable trial of the Cross for the benefit of all mankind, He allows each of us to go through our trials for our ultimate eternal gain. Through our faithful obedience, one day we will be standing sinless before Almighty God and we will be received into glory by Him.

Let us face each cup of bitterness in our lives with hope and confidence in the promises of the Cross. Let us rejoice that Almighty God loves us so much that He works every detail in our lives for our eternal good. Let us exalt the name of Jesus for accepting His cup of bitterness so that we may have victory over every trial in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You allow the trials in our lives that prepare us to be received by You. May You provide the grace we need for our spiritual maturation so that we are able to take our cup of bitterness and rejoice in our submission to Your will and plan for our lives. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us and strengthen us so that we may overcome the weakness of our flesh. We surrender to Our Savior and ask that we live in the fullness that He has made available to us through His sacrifice on the Cross. We ask all these things in the name of the Word made flesh on our eternal behalf, Jesus Christ.

Resting on the Providence and Promises of Our All-Sufficient Lord

Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

It is obvious from this verse that we are to have burdens in our lives. But God in His mercy promises us that He will not give a burden that is larger that the provision that He will grant to overcome the burden.

God gave His own Son a cup of sorrow and suffering that was so intense that Jesus sweat blood as He faced His upcoming crucifixion. But Jesus did as the verse commands, He cast His burden upon the Father. Thus He was provided with all He needed to face the Cross and rise from His trial in victory.

No affliction or tribulation is joyous. They are all troublesome. Some are much heavier than others. At times they even seem to gather together or to extend much longer that we would care to bear. The total of it all adds up to the burden we face. Our relief is to look to Jesus Christ who bore it all on the Cross and took it away from us.

Let us cast our burdens upon the Lord. Let us claim the promise of Our Heavenly Father that He will not let His righteous children fail. Let us rest upon His providence and promise. Let us rejoice in His faithfulness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promises that we can lean on as we deal with the cups of sorrow and suffering that we must swallow. We thank You for using our trials to build our faith in who You are. We thank You for insuring our victory through Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for insuring our righteousness through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We pray for Your mercies to be granted us each day as You release fresh supplies of strength and comfort just as we need them to overcome our trials. We ask these things in the name of the One who gave His life for the ransom of many, our all sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

Waiting on the Hand of God to Move in Our Lives

Habakkuk 2:3
For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

As we wait to see the providence of God in answers to our prayers, we must be careful not to become impatient with God. His ways are greater than our ways. His timing is perfect. He has the perfect appointment set for the resolution of our prayerful solicitations.

The prophet, Habakkuk, was frustrated that God was not dealing with the iniquities that he saw in the world around him. He was impatient because those that he prophesied to were not responding to the Word of God. In this scripture, the Lord reminds Habakkuk that he must be patient because the visions and promises that God gives are sure to come.

We probably have not had a vision like Habakkuk had. But if we have been diligent in seeking the Lord’s hand in our lives, we are likely to have found some type of confirmation of God’s providence through His Word, through urgings of His Holy Spirit or through the progress we see in our own lives or in the lives of those that we have been praying for. Let us be joyful. The things that we pray for in the will of God and in accordance with His promises will come to us. Though the fruit of our prayers may be deferred for a time, whether long or short our wait may be, the fruit will come at last. And, hallelujah, the longer wait usually means a greater harvest.

Let us pray in confidence and wait with faith for the perfect answer to our prayers. Let us rejoice for Almighty God hears and answers ever single prayer – perfectly.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your providence in our lives. We exalt the name of Jesus who has insured that the favor of Your promises will never be withheld from us. We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will teach us how to rest on Your Word and that He will strengthen us when the promise of the Word is long in coming. May we persevere to the end through the graces that You provide. We ask all these things in the name of the Alpha and the Omega, Jesus Christ.

Carrying the Salvation Message to the World

John 3:29
It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.

John the Baptist was joyful and absolutely secure in his role as the best man to introduce the Bridegroom to the world, Jesus Christ. He was quick to let everyone know that it was the Bridegroom that was worthy of all the praise, honor and glory.

The promises/vows of Jesus Christ are the foundation upon which we stand as Christians. Our responsibility is to go forth and share His vows with the world. We are not to take one iota away from His message in order to make ourselves the center of attention or perhaps to shape the message in a way that is more appealing to hardened hearts. We are simply to allow the joy that we have received as a result of His vows to be poured out from us on to the world around us.

As it was for John, we should find great pleasure in being ministers of the Gospel. To be able to carry the message of salvation within us and allow it to flow out to the world around us should be the perfection of our joy. It should be the greatest desire of our hearts just as it was for John.

Let us boldly proclaim the sacred vows that Jesus has taken for His bride. Let us go out and invite the world to the coming wedding feast.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided the Bridegroom to come to get us to be His bride at the wedding feast of the Lamb. We rejoice in knowing that we have the privilege of extending invitations to the greatest of all marriage ceremonies. Prepare us, O Lord, to humbly extend Jesus Christ’s invitations to those around us. We pray, Father, that none shall reject the sweetest of all invitations. May all praise, honor and glory go to Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of Our Coming Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.

God is Much Bigger than We Allow Him to Be

Psalm 34:3
Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!

Throughout the Psalms, we read David’s prayers of praise. He praised God to help overcome his fears and to call on his all-sufficient Lord. David recognized God’s faithfulness in meeting his needs and he also recognized that God was bigger than any problem or fear that he had.

We will spend all eternity praising Our Heavenly Father. Why not practice our imperfect praise here on earth in preparation for the unspeakable joy we will receive from our perfect praise forever?

It is time for us to magnify God in our lives. He is much bigger than we allow Him to be. He promises us in John 16:33 that He has overcome everything that the world throws at us in the way of trials and tribulation. We can gain much by joining Paul in exalting the name of Our Lord.

Let us proclaim the glorious perfection of Our Father in heaven. Let us join together in bringing glory to the Most High God. Let us open the gateways of heaven through our worship of the King. Let us rest in peace as the Lord overcomes the things of this world that challenge us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of exalting Your name here on earth and in heaven for all eternity. We lift You up above all others. There is not a single name that approaches the majesty and power of who You are. Teach us, Lord, to have the faith of the Virgin Mary who said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” as she prepared to receive something that she did not believe to be possible. May Your grace cover us, Lord, so that we may live in reverent awe of who You are. We pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us and inspire us to pour out praise to You each day. We ask all these things in the name of the One worthy of all praise, Jesus Christ.

Trusting in God for Everything

Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

It is easy to read Philippians 4:6 and come away with the simple thought that God encourages us and desires for us to bring Him our prayer requests. This interpretation is absolutely true. But when we break it down, we find that God is saying much, much more to us.

First, and foremost, we are being taught to be anxious in nothing. Does that make any sense? Surely we all have daily concerns and cares that we need to attend to as good stewards of our provisions, our relationships and our own spiritual condition. God is aware of these due concerns, but He is giving us the command to trust in Him. He knows our needs better than we know our needs. He is actually calling on us to have peace and comfort when the world would suggest otherwise.

After first resting in the comfort of His promise, then we are urged to go to Him in prayer with our requests. But there is a stipulation attached as He commands that we bring our thanksgiving in advance of our requests. Why does He ask us to come with thanksgiving? Again, it is for our peace and comfort. When we bring our thanksgiving, we are reconciling with Him all the favor and blessing that He has provided in the past. This positions us to approach His Throne with the confidence that everything we ask for will be addressed and answered perfectly according to our needs, our real needs.

If we are in line with the passage to this point, then our thankful, angst free mindset will help us to meet the last command in this passage which is to let our requests be known to God – not to men. This is a not so subtle reminder that it is not our job to manipulate our circumstances through our own capability. Instead we are to depend on Our Heavenly Father for everything in our lives. In exchange for following His supplication process, peace will be our companion.

Let us go to Him in thanksgiving, adoration and trust. Let us rest in His peace as we wait for His provision.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your unconditional love and Your forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus. We ask forgiveness for coming to You so often with our needs alone, accompanied by a stark absence of our professed love for You and our expression of our sincere thanks for all that You provide. Teach us, Lord, how to seek Your presence in our lives. Teach us how to fully trust in You throughout each and every day. Teach us how to use our prayer lives to build our relationships with You. We ask all these things in the name of the One whose mercies and miracles never come to an end, Jesus Christ.

The Perfecting Process of Sanctification

2 Corinthians 7:1
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

When we accept Jesus into our lives, we are sure to find that we are in bondage to one or more things that are of the world and not entirely pleasing to God. Once we receive the Holy Spirit, we will be lead into a process of shedding those things that the Lord deems unworthy. We will discover that we will not be able to change all things in our lives instantly, nor completely. Through faith, however, we will be able to confidently begin the process of shedding our fleshly bonds one at a time as the Holy Spirit convicts and strengthens us.

We can be certain that the work of sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It is wholly the work of the Holy Spirit and not a work that we will pursue on our own. We can be just as certain that for the Holy Spirit to work in us that we will need to surrender to the perfecting process. It will be particularly important that we position ourselves through prayer and the study of God’s Holy Word onto a path of faith that allows us to live soberly, righteously and holy until the end of our days.

If we are steadfast in pursuing and surrendering to a path of sanctification, we will be benefactors of the strength of Jesus Christ and the assistance of His Holy Spirit. We will be enabled to perform acts of holiness and religious duty in fear of God. It will not be because of a fear of hell and damnation, but will be because of a reverential love and affection for Our Heavenly Father and a deep and complete trust in Him.

Let us bring holiness to completion in our lives. Let us surrender to the work of sanctification that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Let us rejoice in knowing that this is all made possible through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your wisdom so that we may understand Your ways and learn to live in awesome reverence of who You are. We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see all the ways in our lives that displease You. Convict us of our sinful nature. Prepare a path for us to walk in the process of sanctification aided by the power of Your Holy Spirit. Lord, may we learn to lean on the Holy Spirit so that we may live soberly, righteously and holy. By Your grace, Father, and by the strength of Christ and the assistance of the Holy Spirit may we be delivered from our sinful lives. May the world know us by the fullness of Jesus Christ within us. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases You, Your Son, Jesus Christ.