Tag: Savior

The Summation of All of Our Blessings

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In this passage we are given the summation of all of our blessings. God the Father is the author and giver of all blessings. Jesus Christ is the medium that God the Father uses to dispense His blessings. The sphere of coverage is every single blessing in heavenly places.

The fullness of everything that we need and the fullness of everything that will satisfy us originates with God the Father. Every iota of these blessings is held in the hands of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ. And His Holy Spirit dwells in us as the dispensing fount that we may draw on at any time.

Why should we ever look elsewhere? Man can never be counted on to stand by us through all circumstances. At some point, all men will fail one another. The Lord, Jesus, never fails us. He is with us even under the direst circumstances, even the ones that we have created ourselves.

Let us surrender ourselves to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us prepare to receive all that He can bestow, all that His Son can provide and all that the Holy Spirit can apply in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the loving kindness, the mercy and the grace that You provide to us through Your Son. We pray that You show us how to turn to Jesus first in all things. Strengthen us, Lord, so that we may leave behind our reliance on a fallen world. Prepare us, Father, to stand before You one day and receive the fullness of Your kingdom in heaven. We ask all these things in the name of Our Mediator, Jesus Christ.

The Way, the Truth and the Life That is Jesus

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.

Living in the Light of the Resurrected King

Mark 15:33-38
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” … And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

The story at the Cross, as written in this sequence of verses provided by Mark, paints a perfect picture of the salvation message. The supernatural darkness that came over the entire world in the middle of the day represents our personal sin and the sin that engulfs all of mankind.

Jesus’ crying out to the Father “why have you forsaken me?” was sure confirmation of what had been prophesied in the old testament in Psalm 22. The combination of these fearful words and the darkness that ensued illustrates Jesus being separated from the Father, who cannot have sin in His presence. Perhaps poetically speaking, the sun withdrew its rays because the Father could not bear to watch what was being done to His Son.

And then, the tearing away of the veil reveals that the death of Christ opened up heaven to all of us. The veil of the old covenant had represented the separation of God from the people, except through the intercession of the assigned high priests. Instantly and gloriously, the new covenant of salvation was opened up to all mankind with Jesus Christ as our perpetual High Priest before the Father. A heaven that had been closed to all was laid open to all for all eternity.

Let us repent of the darkness in our lives so that we may live in the light of the Resurrected King. Let us take up our crosses and move forward boldly. Let us surrender to the Light in our lives so that we may reveal the covenant of salvation to those who surround us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for establishing the blessed hope and assurance of the new covenant through Your Son, Jesus. May the eyes of the world be opened to see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son. May the hearts of the world be prepared to receive Your Son as their Savior. May the hearts of the world be molded so that they may surrender to Your Son as their Lord, Master, and King. May it all be for Your honor and glory, for the honor and glory of Your Son, Jesus, and for the honor and glory of the Holy Spirit. Father, we pray that You will allow our lives to be living testimony to this glorious message. We ask these things in the name of the Resurrection and the Life, Jesus Christ.

The Offer for Endless Joy

Matthew 11:29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

In days of old, the yoke was used to pair field animals together. The yoke enabled the pair to work together more efficiently. In this passage, Jesus invites us to join Him in His yoke. He then points out that He is gentle and lowly in heart. Thus, He is telling us that He is a willing servant that welcomes us along side, where He will teach us about His demeanor and bring us rest. How could we pass on such an offer from our Servant King? How could we pass on the opportunity to learn from the only man who ever lived in perfection? How could we pass on being paired side by side in all things with the Son of God, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ?

And consider this…to make the offer even greater, Jesus places no limits on the time He will allow us to come along side of Him. Nor does He place any limits on the burdens that He would share with us. His invitation to be at His side is available 24-7 regardless of the burden we are carrying. He is always along side us to bring us comfort when we are under the greatest level of stress or experiencing pain at the limits of our ability to endure. Truly He offers us the endless joy that He shares with the Father. When we surrender to the yoke of Our Lord, the joy of the Lord is our strength when we would have none otherwise. When we take up His yoke, we take on His meekness, His humility, His lowliness and, most of all, His complete subjection to His Father.

Let us free ourselves from being yoked to anything of this earth. Let us humble ourselves and seek to be yoked to Our Servant King. Let us join Our Savior in His complete submission to His Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing all that we need to get through our troubles. We rejoice in knowing that we can find joy in the heaviest of burdens when we accept the yoke that is offered by Your Son, Jesus. We pray that You teach us how to be lowly in heart so that we readily accept our place in the yoke. We ask all these things in the name of Our Comforter who rescues those who are crushed in spirit, Jesus Christ.

The Abundant Life that Dwells Within Us

Luke 23:31
For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

As the women were weeping for the suffering of Jesus as He was on His way to be crucified, He prophesied the terrible judgement that awaits those that do not accept the new life that He offers them. He emphasized the message of His prophecy by using Himself as the standard against which judgement will be made.

Jesus compared Himself to a green tree, full of life, flourishing in every aspect of its existence. Such a tree is not proper to be cut down before its time, nor is it fit to be fuel for the fire. The metaphor was designed to express the righteousness and innocence of Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, Jesus was comparing the sinner to dry, dead wood. Such wood is rotten and deserving to be fuel for the fire. The metaphor was designed to express the depravity and worthlessness of the sinner.

If He, who is pure and perfect in every measure and is the essence of life itself, had to suffer beyond the human capacity for pain and then die for our sins, why then should we, the driest of woods, not expect to die for our sins? We should expect death for the wages of sins is death. We can only escape the punishment for our sins and claim our inheritance as children of God by accepting the offer of eternal life through Our Savior.

Let us become vessels of the life of Christ within us. Let us look deep inside and make sure that we are not dry wood, bearing no fruit, showing no sign of allowing the life of Christ within us to be released to the world around us. Let us submit and surrender to the abundant life that dwells within us. Let us then seek out those around us who are living in the driest places. Let us present them with the Living Water that has taken us out of our dry places so that they might also experience life in Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is found only in Your Son, Jesus. We praise the name of Jesus for all that He suffered on our behalf. We rejoice in the inheritance that awaits us. We pray that You will raise us up to be living testimonies to the new life that we have in Christ so that others may join us in our eternal places in Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the life giving spirit, Jesus Christ.

Leaving the Old Man Behind Forever

Romans 6:5
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

When Jesus chose to accept the will of His Father, He chose to die on the Cross for the sins of all mankind. Jesus’ death did not come quickly. It was necessary for Jesus to suffer every scourge mark, to suffer every ounce of pain and to suffer the loss of every drop of blood for His sacrifice for mankind to be made complete.

When we chose to accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we chose to let our old sinful man die. Just as Jesus’ death was not carried out quickly, our old sinful nature will not be completely put to rest in short fashion. For the old sinful man in us to die completely, we will have to endure trials, tribulations and sufferings of all type that will transform us to be completely in the will of Our Father in heaven.

With the sacrifice of His human body complete, the Holy Spirit resurrected Jesus’ spirit from His body to return in His glorified body to the Father. When we die in Christ, the same power of His resurrection will lift us from our old lives in the flesh and enable us to stand sinless before the Father in our glorified bodies. It will not be because we became better people. It will be because we will have become completely new people in Christ. It will be because we have been united with Him through His resurrection for all eternity.

Let us joyfully claim our victory over death and sin. Let us exalt the name of Our Resurrected Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for raising Your Son to meet You in heaven after His death on the Cross. Thank You for preparing the way for us to gain our eternal inheritance as Your children through the power of the Resurrection. Father, release the full power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we can surrender completely to our new lives in Christ, leaving behind forever the old man that torments us daily. We ask all these things in the name of Our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Bondage to Sin Done Away with Forever

Romans 6:6
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Our corrupt nature, called the old man, is crucified with Jesus Christ by the grace granted from the Cross. Accepting the crucified Christ as Our Savior allows us to accept the crucifixion of our old selves. As Christ submitted totally to the Father, we also submit totally to the Father through the power of the new spirit of Jesus Christ that lives within us.

The power of evil within us was nailed to the Cross by the sacrifice of Our Savior so that the damning power of that evil might be subdued, weakened and put under restraint. But we must recognize that the old man continues to exist in a weakened and dying state, struggling to stay alive within us. So it is important that we develop an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our ruling King. In doing so, we will shut down any place for the old man to rule. We will see the old man completely destroyed, abolished and done away with. Our bondage to sin will be done away with forever.

Let us claim our freedom from sin. Let us take firm hold of our victory over the callings of the old man. Let us rejoice in knowing that our union with our crucified Savior ensures that one day we will see the complete and total death of our old selves. Let us celebrate our daily walk of sanctification with the Holy Spirit as our guide.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Precious Lamb, Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for our sins. We accept our co-crucifixion with Jesus. We stand before You to ask for the Holy Spirit to strengthen us as our old man tries to pull us back into sin. We pray that the Holy Spirit will urge us to keep our eyes on the Cross and not on the world. May it all be for the glory of the Precious Lamb. We ask all these things in the name of the One who suffered so much for us, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Wondrous Endowments of Christ

Isaiah 11:2
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

In this passage, Isaiah was prophesying of the nature of our coming Savior. The scripture foretold that Jesus would be given extraordinary endowments through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Because we are indwelled by Jesus Christ when we accept Him as Our Savior, we inherit these same wondrous endowments for ourselves. The inheritance that we receive is not temporary or occasional. It is a permanent and enduring influence on our lives.

With our inheritance, we receive three pairs of spiritual influences to assist us in being holy, pure and wise. Each pairing is made up of a spiritual gift and the resulting impact of that gift in our lives:
1) We are provided wisdom from which comes the understanding to perceive moral and intellectual truths.
2) We are provided counsel from which comes the might that gives us the direction and the power that we need to carry out the plans that emerge from our spiritual insight.
3) We are provided knowledge from which comes the fear of the Lord which establishes the foundation of our relationship with the one true God, Our Father in heaven.

Let us be mindful of all the gifts that Christ made available for us when He died on the Cross. Let us seek the fullness of the Spirit of the Lord to overwhelm us each day. Let us use our gifts to produce great fruit for the Kingdom of Almighty God and bring honor and glory to Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the wondrous nature that You have given us in Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will rest upon us. We seek Your wisdom so that we may have understanding in all matters. We seek your counsel that we may become mighty warriors for Your kingdom. We ask, Lord, that You inspire us to take the knowledge that we have of You and turn it into a reverent awe that changes how we live every moment of our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gives power to the faint and might to those without strength, Jesus Christ.

Responsibility to Rescue the Unworthy

Acts 9:17
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

And in an instant, Paul not only received his physical sight, he also received the filling of the Holy Spirit. Thus, he received wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge of God and a holy reverence for God. All of these gifts came on him at once. His vision of who He was in Christ, along with all of its associated power, served to allow him to replace the evil man that he had become with the new, righteous man that he was to become.

From this passage, we learn that for those of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we become new men and women in Christ, just as the sinner and prosecutor of the early church, Saul, became the new man Paul. As new men and women in Christ, the Holy Spirit is given to us to reveal the lies of this world. The power of the Holy Spirit within us allows us to become new creatures who proclaim the Good News and serve as conduits of God’s love.

But do not miss the second message of this passage. There would have been no conversion for Paul without the obedience of Ananias to got out and deliver the message of God, even though He questioned the righteousness of the one that he was called to minister to. We must be careful not to withhold the message of hope from anyone because we feel they are not worthy.

Let us make ourselves seekers of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us learn to overcome the world through the power of Our Wonderful Counselor. Let us make ourselves deliverers of the truth to others who God places around us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the anointing that we receive as disciples of Jesus Christ. We pray that You will open our eyes to the things of the world that are creating ignorance and pride in our lives so that we may turn away from them. We ask that You release the gifts of the Holy Spirit into our lives so that we may see the vision that You have for our lives and be empowered to go out as messengers of hope in the world that surrounds us. We pray that our hearts are prepared to view every person as worthy to receive the Good News that we possess. We ask all these things in the name of the One who rescues those whose spirits are crushed, Jesus Christ.

May the Presence of the Lord be With Us

Isaiah 52:12
For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

As the glorious Easter celebration approaches, our thoughts are likely to turn toward a new path ahead in our lives. Let us not rush out to make decisions. Let us move forward toward our new path, not in a disorderly fashion, but under the leading hand, instruction and protection of the Holy Spirit.

Let us move on to our new path knowing that God will be with us. Through His Son, His Holy Spirit has been sent to guide us. Under submission to Our Savior, we can let loose of the things of this earth and grasp on to the things of God’s kingdom. We can shake ourselves from the dust of our doubts and our fears. Our victory was settled on the Cross. May the presence of the Lord be constantly before us and behind us.

Let us live each day knowing that the Lord Jesus reigns in our lives. Let us live in the fullness of the good tidings that came in with His birth and move ahead confidently under the promises of His death and Resurrection. Let us place our futures firmly in His hand. Let us live today in freedom, in peace and in service to His calling on our lives. Let us move forward boldly into our manifest destiny in Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your constant presence in our lives. We thank You that You go before us to prepare our path forward and that You stand behind us to protect us on our journey. We bless the name of Jesus whose victory on the Cross allows us to live our lives without fears or doubts. We pray that the Holy Spirt will guide us as we seek the new lives that You have set aside for us. May those around us in the world be drawn to Your Son as they see us living our lives under His reign. We ask all these things in the name of our ever present shield, Jesus Christ.