Tag: servant

Becoming Ready Instruments to Share the Love of God

Luke 9:61
Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

In the final passage in Luke 9, there are a number of verses which point out the costs of following Jesus. In essence, each cost mentioned really applies to the type of excuses we will come up with to delay following what the Lord is calling us to do.

One of the most common excuses for many of us is “I am not capable or I am not ready to take on such a task.” There is a faith gap that prevents us from believing that we can do what the Lord is asking of us. We question the calling because it goes against our natural instincts.

Other common excuses seem to come from our friends and our family. The world is eager to step in and divert us from any calling of the Lord. It is remarkable how quickly those around us can cause us to step away from what God has ordained for us.

When we finally move forward with what God has asked us to do, we find out it never was about our ability nor about our worldly affairs. It was about our faith in God. When God calls us to do anything, large or small, we should leap into action with confidence in the One who called us. It is through Him that the good work is done. We are only instruments of His love.

Let us block out the questioning of those around us. Let us shield ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. Let us step out in faith upon the path of service that the Lord has prepared for us for He has already secured our way.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to be instruments of Your good work. We rejoice in knowing that we can share Your love with the world around us in so many different and powerful ways. We pray that You open our eyes and prepare our hearts so that we do not delay any good work that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the One that determines our steps, Jesus Christ.

Walking with Jesus in the Journey to Sanctification

Matthew 25:21
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification. We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:
1) Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
2) The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
3) The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
4) Satan will attack us intensely all along the way as we grow in Christ.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins. We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity.

Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds? He is the essence of everything good. He is the absence of anything evil. He is perfect in every measure. This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master. As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity. We pray that Your countenance will shine up us. We pray that Your grace will be with us always. We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil. We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations. We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. May we stand before You one day and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

Becoming Bold Ambassadors of the Infallible Word of God

Acts 24:16
So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

Paul spoke these words when he was giving an account of himself to his followers. He was under attack from his enemies at the time. He wanted his followers to know that he was under attack because he was leading a life that conflicted with how his attackers wanted to live their lives. Paul may have been the first to warn us about living our lives according to political correctness and not according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

How many of us take the comfortable silent path of “tolerance” in order to avoid being accused of being a fervent believer and devoted servant of Jesus Christ? Unfortunately, this is exactly where the world wants us. Much of what we see, hear and read that comes from the world is designed to desensitize us to evil and to move us away from the holy life style to which Jesus Christ calls us. When we give in to what the world wants to hear, we give in to Satan. We diminish our testimony that goes out to those who need to hear the truth.

It has become all too common to hear of the slaughter of Christians around the world. In most of these heinous cases, the martyrs are asked to deny Christ. Those who proclaim their loyalty to their Savior are subsequently beheaded or otherwise mercilessly killed. What is remarkable is how many continue to proclaim their faith in the face of the slaughter. Be certain that the faith of the first victim works to strengthen all the way to the last victim. One after another they lift and strengthen each other.

We will be held accountable for our testimony. What we stand for does make a difference.

Let us stand on the infallible Word of Almighty God. Let us strengthen one another through the bold expression of our faith.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to keep us mindful of the truths that You have revealed to us through the life of Your Son, Jesus, and through the writings in Your Holy Word. We pray that You enlighten us so that we may avoid the tricks of the wicked designed to get us to accept the self-serving ways of the flesh. As we live by your Word, Lord, we ask that You strengthen us to stand up to the ridicule and hatred of the world. Teach us, Lord, to rely on the Holy Spirit to help us to become bold ambassadors for Our Savior. May those around us be strengthened by our faith. We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

An Invitation to 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.

Learning to Pour Ourselves Out in Service to Others

Matthew 20:28
For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus Christ, The Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords came to earth as the Son of Man. He gave up all of His royal rights to become a servant of every man. His servanthood was so complete that He gave up His own life and He separated Himself from the Father in order to take on all of our sins so that we might have life with the Father.

Once we claim our eternal inheritance as children of God, we accept that which we do not deserve and could not possibly earn except through the grace and mercy of Our Savior. When we recognize that Jesus Christ served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness and our sin, we should exhaust ourselves serving all men for His sake.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, should we not follow the model of Our Master? We should be in constant communion with the Father, just as Jesus was, so that we can determine the will and plan that Our Heavenly Father has for our lives. We should then be servants to all men in accordance to the will and plan that the Father reveals to us.

Let us model the servant heart of Jesus for the world to see. Let us draw those around us to the Son of Man through our living testimonies. Let our modeling of the life of the Son of God be what draws those around us to Our Savior King.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for allowing us to be bond servants in Your kingdom. We praise the name of Jesus who came as Son of Man to show us the model for living in accordance with Your will. We come before You to proclaim how unworthy we are of all that You have set aside for us to do in service to Your kingdom. We bless the name of Jesus who has made us worthy servants through the shedding of His blood. We pray, Father, that You fill us with the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may pour ourselves out to all men. May the hearts of those around us be prepared to receive what we have to offer in the name of Our Savior. We pray all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

A Lifetime Journey Toward the Throne of God

1 Thessalonians 5:23
Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

Once we are washed clean by the blood of Our Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells within us to assist us in our journey toward complete sanctification. We will never reach complete sanctification in this life. Our full transformation is reserved for the time when we stand in the presence of God in His throne of glory and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.

Until that time, the Holy Spirit will take us through an intense narrowing of our interests. Less and less will the things of the world call us. More and more we will hear the voice of Our Savior as we press toward complete holiness.

Through it all, we are sure to fail from time to time. But we can be confident by virtue of the faith and promises given to us by Our Creator that He will do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He will provide an ever flowing fountain of grace that will enlighten us, encourage us, strengthen us and prepare us to stand before Him without spot or wrinkle.

Let us yield to all that God is doing to lead us into rich encounters with His Son. Let us ask the Holy Spirit’s help in ushering us into a new season in which we seek a new brokenness and a deeper dependence upon Him in all that we do. Let us learn to put the heart of Jesus on the top of every agenda that we have.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us blameless and holy in Your sight. We bless the name of Jesus who washes away all of our sins. We live our lives full of thanksgiving for the constant presence of the Holy Spirit. We pray for the grace to walk in the holiness that has been given to us through Our Savior. May we learn to ignore the world’s agenda and to surrender completely to the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus. May we leave the green grass of earth to rest forever in the pasture of the Lamb of God. We ask all this things in the Holy Name of Jesus Christ.

Called to Serve the World as Jesus Served the World

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

The life of Jesus Christ was the epitome of servanthood. He poured Himself out upon the needs of the people, especially the need for salvation from sin. He was willing to be the sacrificial lamb. He was willing to be the door mat under people’s feet. He sought no recognition. He sought to show us what love is. He is the precious Lamb of God. He is love.

More than that, Jesus is the perfect model of love. He represents the ideal standard for us to imitate. As His disciples, we are called to be His bondservants. We are called to serve the will of Our Master. We are called to serve the world as He served the world, sacrificing all that we are and all that we have for the good of all mankind and for the honor and glory of the Father. We are to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. And like Jesus, we must extend ourselves on behalf of others whether or not they merit our services.

Let us define our lives by the continuous extension of ourselves to others. Let the accumulation of our smiles for the downhearted, our encouraging words for the downtrodden and our charitable services for those who are down and out be the ultimate measure of our sacrifice for our brothers and sisters. Let the accumulation of our small sacrifices and acts of love be for the honor and glory of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to be the blood sacrifice required to atone for the sins of all mankind. We praise the name of the Precious Lamb of God who gave His life so that we may all have eternal life with You, Father. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take us to the foot of the Cross to seek a life of service to all men. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to minister in love to those around us just as Jesus did. We ask, Lord, that you provide the grace that we need to forsake the need for recognition, except in Your eyes. We ask all these things in the holy and mighty name of Our Servant King, Jesus Christ.

We Are All Called to Boldly Proclaim the Gospel

Acts 26:16
Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

These are the words that Jesus spoke to Paul when He struck him down on the trail to Damascus. Being the respecter of no man, these are the same words that Jesus speaks to every man. By the loving kindness, mercy and grace of Our Savior, each one of us have been taken down in the flesh to be raised up anew in the spirit to serve Our Lord. He is just waiting on us to say, “Here I am, send me.”

Saul was an enemy of the early church. He was doing all he could to shut down the early Christians. If God would use such a man for His good purposes, can He not use each of us? Just as the Lord lifted Saul from his blindness to be Paul, a beacon of light to the world, He can also lift us from whatever darkness is holding us down. He can change us into new men and women in Christ, witnesses to the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus.

All we have to do is respond to the One that is calling us to stand up and serve. He will give us our commission. He will equip us for our mission. He will lift us up from whatever may be holding us down. He will make us true ministers and witnesses to His Gospel.

Let us respond to the One that calls us. Let us learn to live under the power of the Cross as we take up the crosses that we have been given to carry. Let us stand up and boldly proclaim the Good News.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking down the old man and raising up a new man in Christ. We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to escape the darkness in our lives and empowered us to be lights on a hill for the world to see. We rejoice in knowing that we will be bondservants to Our Savior for all eternity. Lord, we ask that the Holy Spirit prepare us for our work. We pray that the Holy Spirit will show us how to make our lives living testimonies to Your glory. We pray these things in the name of the One who calls us, Jesus Christ.

The Unique Skills That God Has Planned for Each of Us

1 Corinthians 9:16
For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Not everyone is called in the same manner that Paul was called. It is certain, in fact, that most of us were not called to stand in the pulpit to preach the gospel. It is just as certain, however, that every one of us has been called to live the gospel and to serve our Master by being good stewards of His presence in our lives.

There will be no peace in our hearts if we take a direction other than the one the Lord set aside for us. Just as Paul was compelled to preach, we are compelled to proclaim the gospel through our obedient response to Our Lord’s calling on our lives. To neglect the calling of God on our lives shows contempt for the divine will of the Father and opens us up to the torment of a wounded conscience.

If we are gifted with a beautiful singing voice, we should be considering how to use it for God’s glory. If we are gifted with organizational skills, we should be considering how to use those skills to help with the administration of the church or perhaps a ministry. If we have been given teaching skills, we should consider leading bible studies or other studies needed in the community. The list goes on and on. There are no skills that cannot be used by God for the advance of His kingdom. We should search for guidance from the Holy Spirit to find out the skill or skills that God has planned uniquely for each of us. If we neglect the calling that God has placed on our lives, we may not face His wrath, but we are likely to lose the gifts that He has blessed us with.

Let us make certain that we are not neglecting the skills that we have been given. Yet, let us lean not on our own perception of our skills when we seek to serve God. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us discover the unique skills that God has prepared for each of us. Let us be surprised by our new abilities and improved capabilities when we enter into a covenant relationship with Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us unique skills so that we can be vital parts of the Body of Christ. We pray that You will help us discover and develop our identity in Christ. May Your Holy Spirit guide us and train us in our calling. May we find peace of mind and great satisfaction in our service to Your Kingdom. May we be good stewards of Your presence in our lives. We ask these things in the name of the Head over all things, Jesus Christ.

“Kingdom First” Plans for the New Year

Matthew 25:23
His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”

The start of the New Year is often kicked off with many articles and speeches about new beginnings, new year’s resolutions and plans to start anew. What if we focused on the finish instead of the start? After all, when life comes to the finish line, who does not want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

We work our entire lives for rewards here on earth, yet ultimately our greatest rewards will come in the eternal place that has been prepared for us by Our Savior King. Almighty God reserves special reward and special honor for that day when “each man’s work will become evident” and “he shall receive a reward.” 1 Cor 3:13-14

These rewards are referred to as “crowns” that are being set aside for God’s servants. The Bible speaks of at least five crowns:

  • The imperishable crown awarded to those believers who consistently bring the flesh under the Holy Spirit’s control. (1 Cor 9:25)
  • The crown of exultation awarded to those servants who are faithful to declare the gospel. (Phil 4:1,1 Thess 2:19-20)
  • The crown of righteousness awarded to those who live each day with eternity’s values in view. (2 Tim 4:7-8)
  • The crown of life awarded to those who endure trials, loving the Savior all the way. (James 1:12)
  • The crown of glory awarded to those who faithfully shepherd the flock. (1 Peter 5:1-4)

There is no reward on earth that can compare to earning crowns from Almighty God that we can lay at the feet of Jesus when we enter our eternal homes. There is no joy on earth that can compare to the joy of being in heaven with Our Lord.

Let us set our hearts on finishing well. Let us place our earthly desires for rewards in proper relationship with our desires to have Almighty God recognize us for the evidence or our works as we put His kingdom first in all matters of the heart. Let us make our New Year’s plans around joining the joy of Our Master.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for setting aside special rewards for us in Your kingdom. We thank you, Jesus, for making it possible for us to stand before the Father to receive our rewards. Precious Savior, we long for the time when we will be able to place our crowns at Your feet and join You in Your joy. As we move into our new year, may Your grace, O Lord, provide the wisdom and strength that we need to seek Your kingdom first in all things that concern us in this world. We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to set our minds on finishing well. We ask all these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.