Tag: promises of God

Worthy of Eternal Reward

John 13:13
You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

In every other religion in the world, except Christianity, the final goal is to have done enough to satisfy a god who provides eternal rewards for those who fulfill the demands. The followers of these gods live under a task master who has nothing to offer to those who bow before him.

For followers of Jesus Christ, the servitude to the Master is totally different. The Master has taken care of everything that is necessary for the servant to be worthy of eternal reward with Almighty God. The Master promises to perfect His strength in the weaknesses of every follower so that they are healed of their wounds, redeemed from their transgressions and made holy and worthy to stand before The Father for all eternity.

Sitting under this Teacher and Lord, Jesus Christ, means that we have someone who knows us better than ourselves, who is closer to us than our friends and family, who understands the deepest desires of our hearts and fulfills them. Through this Master, the Son of God, we have the security that our eternal destination is settled. There is no need to question whether we have done enough. In the words of Jesus himself, “It is finished.”

Let us follow closely the teaching of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Let us receive in faith every promise that He reveals to us in His Holy Word. Let us rejoice in all the eternal provision that He has made for us. Let us show the world our joy.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that everything that was required for us to meet You in heaven for all eternity was finished on the Cross. We bless the name of Jesus who completed it all on our behalf. We pray, Lord, that we may sit humbly at the feet of Your Son and surrender to the way, the truth and the life that is in Him. May we become vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness. May we become instruments of His good work. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Free to Focus on God

Matthew 6:6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Without question, one of Satan’s greatest skills is his ability to keep us distracted from building our relationship with God by keeping us focused on the business of life. One of his greatest lies is planting the seed in our minds that God does not want to hear about everything in our lives. Through the perfect work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can turn both of Satan’s tactics against him.

The first thing that we should do each day in the privacy of the morning is to invite the Holy Spirit to join us throughout the day. Then everything public in our busy lives will be marked by His presence. Everything that comes our way as a challenge or a trial can be handed to Him immediately through brief and constant prayer.

Because through the Holy Spirit, we have already given Jesus the burdens of life throughout the day, in the evening we can shut the door on all the cares of the day. Those cares are no longer there to distract us as we try to pray at night because they are in Jesus’ hands, not ours. Instead of focusing on our cares, we are free to focus on Our God. We can worship Him, we can praise Him and we can soak in His love. We can grow in our relationship with Him according to His good and perfect plan for our lives.

Let us learn to slam the door on the daily trials and distractions that life brings our way. Let us claim the rewards that Our Father in heaven promises us for going to Him in secret. Let us give all of our burdens to Jesus in the morning and thank Him and praise Him in the evening.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Holy Spirit to be the helper that we can call on to make our burdens light. We rejoice in His presence with us throughout the day and night. We pray for the wisdom and the grace to release our cares and concerns to Our Savior throughout the day. With our burdens in Jesus mighty hands, we ask, Lord, that You teach us how to come to You without distraction in the evening. May we learn to spend our private prayer time in the evening growing in our relationship with You and refreshing ourselves for the next day to be spent in the yoke of Our Savior. We ask all these things in the name of the One who lightens our burdens, Jesus Christ.

The Lord’s Promise of Victory and Peace

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

When Israel had been under the hand of the Midianites for seven years, the Lord came to Gideon. He promised to bring Israel peace and victory over the Midianites. He asked Gideon to lead the way. Gideon questioned the strength of his people and he questioned his own ability to lead the people against the Midianites. After the Lord provided Gideon with a sign confirming His promise, Gideon led the Israelites in battle.

After the Lord provided the victory, Gideon built an altar to celebrate the victory and to praise God for His fulfilled promise of victory and peace. Gideon named the altar Jehovah Shalom to honor the one who brought the victory. Jehovah Shalom means the Lord is peace.

Jehovah Shalom is the name that we can call on when our faith is weak because our world is out of sorts or all odds seem stacked against us. What a magnificent gift we have in the promise of victory and peace offered by Our Savior. Jesus promises not any peace, but His peace. He promises us the same peace that allowed Him to face and overcome the tremendous unsettling in His spirit when He knew the certainty of His upcoming death and agony. Every unsettling event in our lives can be calmed simply by calling on the name of Jehovah Shalom for He promises us His peace.

Let us claim the peace that Jesus promises us. Let us show the turbulent world around us that there is peace in His mighty name. Let us draw others to Him because of the peace in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that we can be certain of peace in our lives even when turmoil surrounds us. We rejoice in knowing that the Prince of Peace is with us always. We pray, Father, that our faith will be strong in the face of all adversity. May we be steadfast in all that You call us to do. May we be certain to look to Your Son, Jesus, to be our rock and our foundation when we need to overcome our fear. We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah Shalom, Jesus Christ.

Standing Confidently in the Storm

Matthew 8:26
And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

One thing that we can all be certain of is that during the course of our lives we will encounter storms. We can even expect at times that the winds and the waves of our personal storms will be overwhelming to us. But the Lord, as He did with the apostles during their storms, challenges us to fear not and to live by faith in Him.

God expects us to be so confident in Him that in any crisis we are the reliable ones. What a great statement we make to the world when we stand confidently and peacefully during our greatest times of trial. When the worldly see us under stress with an utter lack of fear and uncertainty, how can they not be moved? As faithful Christians, when we respond with confidence in Our Lord’s promises to make us conquerors over all things, we turn our trials into wonderful testimonies to the world around us.

Let us commit to standing tall when God allows us to be tried. Let us be resolute in our faith. Let us decree the promises of Our most faithful Lord that He will provide us with the strength to endure every storm we encounter.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the faith to face all of our trials with confidence in the victory that You will provide. We praise You for sending Your Son to die on the Cross for us so that we can be victorious over all the evil that comes against us. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will strengthen us so that we may live our lives in the fullness of the faith that You have given us. May those around us be moved by our faith. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

Claiming Our Eternal Privileges

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

God’s Word contains literally thousands of promises waiting to be claimed by faith. Everyone of them are fulfilled in Jesus Christ and everyone of them can be fulfilled in our lives as we come into agreement with Our Savior.

Each of the promises of God are meant for our good. All of His promises are waiting for us to discover and claim in His Holy Word. Each promise, as we find them, delights us and strengthens us. Yet within the thousands of promises in God’s Word, the seven promises below could be given consideration as the basis for our faith in the hope and assurance that is ours in Jesus Christ.

  • God has promised to supply every need we have. Philippians 4:19
  • God has promised that His grace is sufficient for us. 2 Corinthians 12:9
  • God has promised that His children will not be overtaken with temptation. 1 Corinthians 10:13
  • God has promised us victory over sin and death. 1 Corinthians 15:56-57
  • God has promised that all things work together for good to those who love and serve Him faithfully. Romans 8:28
  • God has promised that those who believe in Jesus and are baptized will be saved. Mark 16:16
  • God has promised His people eternal life. John 10:28

As we cling to Our Savior, all of the promises of heaven pour out on us. We then become living vessels created to deliver on the promises of Almighty God.

Let us use what God has given us to contribute to the Body of Christ. Let us receive from the Body of Christ what God has prepared for us. Let us live in the fullness of all that has been set aside for us through Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that all of Your promises to us have been secured by Your Son, Jesus. We ask that the Holy Spirit may inspire us to search Your Holy Word for all the promises that have been set aside for us. We seek to wield the power of these promises in our lives and in the lives of those around us. May the Holy Spirit show us how to claim our eternal privileges by proclaiming Your Holy Word. May the Body of Christ be truly alive because we are alive in Christ. We ask all these things in the name of the Word of God, Jesus Christ.

The Pursuit of a Blameless Life

Psalm 101:2
I will be careful to lead a blameless life– when will you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.

In Psalm 101, David is proclaiming his desire to lead a blameless life and to lead his family in a blameless lifestyle. As Christians, we all try to do what David proclaimed. We plan to be in church whenever the doors are open, we plan to study the Bible daily, we plan to pray more often and we plan to love our neighbors, co-workers, strangers and even our enemies. We plan to have our families follow our good example. Yet we fail just as David failed. At best, we can usually claim limited success.

David sought God passionately, yet he often failed. Because of His love for David, God stood by David and saw to it that His perfect will and plan for David’s life was fulfilled. God loves us with the same perfect love that He had for David. If we seek Him passionately as David did, Our Father in heaven will see to it that His perfect will and plan for our lives is fulfilled just as David’s was. In accordance with His Word in 2 Corinthians 12, He promises to provide us with a way to overcome the frailty and sinfulness of our flesh. “My grace is sufficient. My strength is perfected in your weakness.” When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, the promises of the Father are assured.

Unfortunately, our flesh will continually torment us. Moment by moment as our flesh confronts us, we will also be attacked by the enemy. To maintain a blameless heart, we will have to seek and rely on our promised shelter.

Let us choose to submit to the will of Jesus in our lives. Let us learn to ignore the desires of our flesh. Let us strive to have a blameless heart. Let us be determined to seek and receive the perfect gift of grace that has been promised to provide our victory.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gift of grace that allows us to overcome the torments of our flesh. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit remains with us always to provide the strength we need to overcome the attacks of the enemy. As we make our choices in life, Father, we pray that our allegiance is always to You. We pray that we do not waver a moment as we choose to serve You in accordance with Your will and purpose for our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the Great Rock in a Weary Land, Jesus Christ.

Resting in the Joy of the Lord

Matthew 6:34
So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

God has a perfect plan and purpose for our lives. He commands us not to fret or worry about our circumstances. He promises that He will work out all things for our eternal good if we seek first His kingdom. It is His plan that we come to Him daily with our prayers so that He may give us the strength we need to overcome our trials and so that He may set a hedge for us against the temptations that will be flung our way.

We must seek to find hope and joy in our circumstances as we learn to trust in God to fulfill His promises in our lives. We should avoid seeing ourselves trapped by our worldly trials. Instead, we should seek the comfort and peace of seeing ourselves gripped firmly in the hand of God – the only secure place in the universe.

Let us rejoice in the Lord Our God. Let us trust in His promises. Let us seek all that He makes available to us through His Son, Jesus. Let rest in the joy that is provided for those that trust in the Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for being the author and finisher of our lives. We rejoice in knowing that Your hand is always upon us as long as we abide in You. Teach us, Father, how to look past our troubles in this world and look to the source of our solutions, Jesus Christ. We pray that our focus will always be on Our Savior and not on our problems. We ask all these things in the name of Our All Sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.

Living in the Constant Flow of Grace

James 1:4
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

We have all, whether a parent or not, probably had the opportunity to instruct young children. We likely recognized the need to stay right near them as they learned the new teaching. It was also likely that we had to encourage them and console them each time they fell short of completely grasping the instruction. We may have needed to bring to their attention the errors of their ways and remind them of the proper process. We persevered with them time and again, rejoicing in each moment of progress, until they had mastered the new instruction. The process required our patience and the patience of the child. We never considered ultimate failure. We always had faith that in the end the numerous trials would be worth the effort.

Thank the Lord for His salvation promise to complete every good work that He starts in us. He will let nothing in our lives escape His attention. He will steadfastly stand by us even as we stumble over and over. He will pick us up as many times as we fall, even though He knows that we will never get it completely right on this earth. He will continue to show us the error in our ways and point out the path that He has set aside for us. He will continue to pick us up until that glorious day when we stand before Him in the image of His Son and He welcomes us into heaven as good and faithful servants.

Let us learn to be patient with the process of sanctification. Let us find joy in the constant grace that Our Father extends to us during each of our trials. Let us prepare ourselves for the perfection in glory that is coming.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, blessed be the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Thank You for His steadfast work in our lives. We pray that we will be quick to see the error in our ways and be even quicker to respond to Your correction. May we completely surrender our lives to the perfect ways of Your Son. As we rise and fall in our frailty, may we rejoice in knowing that Your presence is always with us and You will not leave us before Your perfecting work is done. We ask all these things in the name of our Sure Foundation, Jesus

Our God is not Idle

Habakkuk 1:3
Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

In this passage, Habakkuk is crying out to God in frustration because of the things he is seeing in the society of his day. Doesn’t this passage sound as if it could have been written today? Who isn’t totally frustrated and deeply concerned by what we see and read in the news every single day?

Perhaps this frustration is carrying over into our own personal lives. Who among us hasn’t cried out to God for relief from the struggles of work, relationships, addictions, afflictions or even sin itself? How often do we begin to lose hope when we do not see immediate relief from our circumstances?

God has a response for us just as he had for Habakkuk when He said, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told”. Habakkuk 1:5

In His Holy Word, God is commanding us to look around us to see where He is working. He is not an idle, laissez-faire ruler. He wants us to have faith in who He says He is. He is actively involved in every single event in the world and in our lives. He is controlling all things for the ultimate perfect good of His children.

Let us look for God working in our lives and working in the world around us. Let us look for the wondrous works of Almighty God in each and every day. Let us rejoice in His faithfulness and mercy in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for all that You do to protect us and provide for us. We thank You for those things that You do that we cannot see. We know that these unseen wonders are never ending for we know that You are faithful to Your promises. We ask that You teach us how to live in complete faith that Your hand is on this world and on our lives. We pray that Your Holy Spirit strengthen us when our circumstances lead us to feel that Your hand is not upon us. May we exalt Your name for all that You do. We ask all these things in the name Our Most Blessed Wonder, 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.