Tag: promises of God

Approaching the Throne Room of Almighty God with Confidence

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.

Shedding What the Lord Deems Unworthy

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.

Our Wonderful Counselor Stands Ready to Meet Our Every Need

John 16:31
Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

The apostles spent three years with Jesus. Yet when He was ready to leave them, He had to take a lengthy amount of time explaining to them who He was. When He completed His explanation, He posed a question to them, “Do you now believe?”

Are we not just like the apostles? Even though we have spent years in prayer, years in the reading of the Word, years in worship and years in serving God, we manage to lose our sense of who Almighty God really is and the certainty of all the promises that He has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Sadly, as if Jesus Christ left the earth and left us to our own wiles, we turn toward the world for answers. We somehow find ourselves overlooking that our all-sufficient Lord provided us with a Wonderful Counselor who stands ready to supply our every need.

Let us be reminded that Jesus promised that His Holy Spirit would be with us and would comfort and guide us. To believe otherwise is to have a complete lack of faith. To believe otherwise is to deny what Jesus said He came to earth to do. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Let us take courage as Jesus commands us. Let us believe fully in the promises of Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the comfort and guidance that You provide through Your Holy Spirit. We bless the name of Jesus who came to earth so that we may have peace and we may overcome the tribulations of the world. We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will help us to dig deep into our relationship with You. May we dig so deep that we never again turn to the world for counsel without having gone to You first. Help us, Lord, to believe for more than we can imagine is possible through our own efforts. Teach us how to wait on You for Your good and perfect timing in all things. We ask these things in the name of the One that is with us until the end of the age, Jesus Christ.

Seeking the Simplicity and Satisfaction of a Life in Accordance with the Plans of God

Matthew 6:30
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you–you of little faith?

Gorgeous are the wild flowers that fill our fields in the spring and the summer. They pop up everywhere without a hint of human intervention. They are here with us for only a brief time before succumbing to the seasons. Yet year after year, God raises them up and displays them spectacularly as just one tiny example of His loving providence. How is it possible that we doubt the provision and protection of Our Father in heaven when He is so loyal to even the small plants with their limited life cycles? Do we not have enough faith to see how much more He would provide for His children who He holds so dear as to grant them eternal life?

We have allowed the cares of the world to come in and diminish our faith in the promises of Almighty God. We have followed the world’s lead and put our faith in our own independence instead of in the hands of Our Creator. We have tried to satisfy ourselves in all the things of the world instead of the perfect provision of Our Loving Father in heaven. In the process, we have complicated our lives to the point that we cannot be satisfied.

Let us seek the simplicity and satisfaction of the promised provision that is ours to claim from the One who never breaks His promises. Let us trust that His planned provision for us is more than sufficient and is far more satisfying than anything that the world has to offer.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our every need. We rejoice in knowing that all the treasures of Your kingdom are ours through the eternal inheritance secured for us by Your Son, Jesus. We pray, Father, that you will help us break our worldly appetites that are impossible to satisfy. Strengthen us, O Lord, that we may bear up to our daily troubles, stand up against our temptations and allow none of these things to move us away from You. Help us to seek You, Father God. We pray all these things in the name of our endless fount of provision, Jesus Christ.

He Set Aside His Glory for Our Salvation

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Almighty God, in faithfulness to His promises, releases provisions to supply our needs and answer our prayers. He knows that our way to heaven is through our carnal wilderness. When we become weary, He is ready to provide what the world cannot provide. He insures that our supply is constant and sufficient. Let us set our troubles before Him.

Why is it that we ever doubt for a second that the Lord has a plan already set in place to relieve us of whatever burden that troubles us? Did He not set aside His own glory to become man to have a plan for our salvation? Did He not shed His own blood so that the plan could be executed on our behalf? Does He not hold all power and wisdom in His hand? When He has done so much already, why would He withhold any good thing from us now?

Let us humble ourselves before Almighty God. He reigns over everything in heaven and on earth. Let us trust in Him to fulfill His promises in our lives. Let us rely on Him for our strength and our peace.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithfulness. We bless the name of Jesus who gave up everything so that we could receive the fullness of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We rejoice in knowing that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to comfort us and strengthen us. We pray, Lord, that you forgive us for being so weak in our faith. We ask that You strengthen our spiritual nature so that we are seeking our comfort and provision from You and not from this world. Let us always be mindful that all things are possible through You. We pray these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

An Act of Supernatural Love and Endowment

1 John 4:9
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

Christmas is the celebration of a spectacular supernatural event. Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to this earth so that we might have eternal life through Him. This event was one that could not be accomplished by the efforts of man. Only God could orchestrate such an act of love and supernatural endowment.

There are scoffers around each Christmas season who try to deny the great gift that has been provided for all mankind to receive. They try to logically dissuade others from having faith in the true story of Christmas. Yet to do so, they must try to make others believe that the God who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun and who upholds the entire universe itself will prove unable to fulfill His own promises.

Is it possible that the One who hangs the world on nothing is unable to deliver on His promises to His children? Does He not hold the winds and the clouds and the oceans themselves in His hand? How can He fail His children? We have every reason to be absolutely firm in our faith.

Let us celebrate openly and with great fervor the birth of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let us freely share the love that He has manifest in us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son to live in this world so that we may be supernaturally endowed with His presence in our lives and we may become heirs to Your eternal kingdom. We bless the name of Your Son, Jesus, who became poor so that we may have all the treasures of heaven. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit is with us each day to provide us with the peace that only Jesus can offer. We pray that as we receive these wondrous gifts that we surrender to the reign of Our Savior in our lives. May our lives become our love gifts to You, Father. May the world know us by our fervor for Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of Our New Born King, Jesus Christ.

An Infallible Resource to Overcome Our Frailties

Deuteronomy 30:16
If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

Who does not wish to live and be blessed in the land where they dwell? Almighty God placed these desires in all of our hearts and provided simple instructions for us to attain them – obey My commandments.

All simple and easy enough, right? Well, our all knowing, sovereign God added an interesting wrinkle for us to deal with. He gave us free choice. He allows us to find the unique purpose and plan that He has for our lives through the choices that we make. Unfortunately, more times than we would like to admit to we make the wrong choices. In the flesh, we are ill equipped to make the right choices all the time.

Knowing the inherent weakness in our flesh, our all loving and merciful God included an infallible resource to help us overcome our frailties. He provided through our acceptance of His Son, Jesus, as Our Savior, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit provides us with supernatural assistance in making our choices. The Holy Spirit provides us with gentle urgings toward the path of obedience and clear stop signs when we are veering off the path.

As we learn to listen and respond to the Holy Spirit, our life choices come more into alignment with God’s commandments. The good and right way become more clearly defined in our minds and hearts. Ultimately, our choices will be the same as God’s choices for us. Ultimately through our obedience, we will experience the blessed life that God has set aside for us.

Let us rejoice in knowing that God has provided a Comforter and Counselor to come along side of us to aid us in making our life choices. Let us heed the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we position ourselves through obedience to receive all the blessings that Our Heavenly Father promises us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessings that You promise us if we are obedient to You. We confess our sins that separate us from You and repent of them so that the blessings that have been set aside for us can be released. We rejoice in knowing that You have provided victory for us over our sins through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. We bless His name. We thank You for providing supernatural assistance for us as we make our life choices. We pray that You will open our ears to hear the urgings of the Holy Spirit. We ask for the grace to respond in obedience. We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without blemish, Jesus Christ.

Faithful Obedience Releases God’s Supernatural Plan for Our Lives

Genesis 22:12
He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

We are going to experience trials in our lives. This is as certain in our lives as death and taxes. Some of the trials will be small and some will be so big that we will nearly faint. In each case, no matter the weightiness, the real test will be the test of our faith.

Who of us could have answered God’s request to sacrifice a child like Abraham did? It was his faith that allowed him to go. Notice what Abraham said to the men who were with him before he headed up the mountain to the place of sacrifice. “I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” Abraham was resting on God’s promise to make him the head of many nations. Abraham knew that this was only possible through his son. Abraham had the faith that in some manner God would provide a way through this test.

Trials and tests are God’s way of drawing us close to Him and teaching us His ways. It is through the trials and tests that our faith is built up so that we can become the person that God has intended for us to be. God may not have created us to be a leader of a nation like Abraham, but He does have a specific plan for our lives. We can only fulfill this plan by putting all of our faith in the One in whose hands we rest.

Let us put all of our faith in the hands of Our Creator. Let us fulfill everything that He has set aside for us through our faithful obedience. Let us rejoice as our bountiful faith releases God’s supernatural plan for our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for each trial that You allow in our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we are resting in Your hands as we go through each of these challenges to our faith. We ask, Lord, that we will have the faith of Abraham. We pray that we will not turn away from any test that you set before us. May our character and our faith be built up in accordance with Your perfect plans for our lives. We ask these things in the name of the One upon Whom our faith is built, the Chief Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

Hope for Productive and Fruitful Lives

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

When we are in full submission to Jesus Christ, we have prepared ourselves to allow the bountiful power of the Holy Spirit to be released in our lives and through us to the world around us. At this juncture, we are capable of doing all that God has created and willed for our lives. In this process, we have to learn that God is using us from His personal standpoint. All that He asks is that we trust in Him.

Even when it seems to us that our lives are a tangled mess, there is always the wonderful hope in the promises of Almighty God. Through His grace and His mercy, we will come through whatever trials that we see ourselves caught in.

Let us find our comfort and our strength by listening for and responding to the urgings of the Holy Spirit. Let us be diligent in listening and responding to the Holy Spirit. Let us give the honor and the glory to Almighty God as our lives become productive and our fruit for the kingdom becomes plentiful.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the free grace and mercy that our hopes are based on. We praise the name of Jesus, who is the fountain of all the good that we have hope for. Father, we pray for the strength to overcome our doubtful minds that make us halting in our duties. May You grant us the unwavering faith that we need to set aside our own self-reliance and to learn to trust in Your promises. May we be comforted in our hearts as we await all the good things that You have already set aside for us and our loved ones. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is the complete fulfillment of all of Your promises, Jesus Christ.

The Power is not in Us But is Within Us

1 Corinthians 12:6
There are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

Spiritual gifts are bestowed upon us for the sole purpose of spreading the Gospel. These gifts are freely given to us by Almighty God for the salvation of others. When we try to teach, preach or evangelize by our own strength and capability, we will be unsuccessful. The power is not in us. The power is in the Holy Spirit that is within us. We must let the Holy Spirit lead us and let the outpouring of the Holy Spirit be our product.

It is not our job to convert people. It is our job to have people drawn to us by the way that we live our lives in Jesus Christ. Even though our labors may be ordinary, if they are done as works of faith, labors of love and with persistent hope in Our Savior, the Holy Spirit will carry on and complete the work of Our Heavenly Father in His children.

Once drawn to us by our walk with Jesus, the people around us will have Jesus revealed to them as the way, the truth and the life. The supernatural work of salvation will begin through our simple natural acts of obedience to the Holy Word of God. Through our living testimonies, those around us will be able to receive every good and perfect gift that Our Heavenly Father has prepared for them.

Let us surrender our lives to the work of Our Redeemer. Let us learn to listen to and obey the urgings of the Holy Spirit as He directs us to minister to others. Let us learn to wait with great faith and hope as the Lord prepares the hearts of those that He equips us to serve.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Yourself to the world through the obedient works of Your humble servants who are so undeserving. We thank You, Lord, for assigning to us various gifts, administrations and operations for us to carry out in the name of Jesus. We rejoice, Father, in knowing that the world can learn of Your good and perfect gifts by observing the lives of those who have already accepted Your gift of salvation and are obedient to You in the ordinary things of life. We pray, Lord, that Your grace will fill our hearts so that the world will know You. We ask all these things in the name of the Captain of Our Salvation, Jesus Christ.