Tag: wisdom

Delighting in the Living Word of God

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.

As human beings, we all attain some level of learning, understanding and wisdom. Too often, however, we are satisfied with gaining this insight through the counsel of men. Is it possible that there is more for us to learn? Is it possible for us to delve deeply into the riches and inconceivable perfection of Almighty God? Is it possible for us to grasp the mind of the Lord?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world. Let us be aware that we are given the opportunity to be enlightened beyond our normal human capability. Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries through His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

To expose ourselves to the treasures of the mind that await, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us. We have to prepare ourselves through the reading and study of the Bible. We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.

Let us seek our counsel from the One who is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. Let us ask Him to reveal all of His mysteries to us. Let us go to him daily with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to reveal to me today?”

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to study Your Holy Word and to commune with You each day. Lord, may we learn to delight in Your Word and delight in Your presence. We ask that through Your Holy Spirit that we learn how to experience the revelations of who You are. Through Your grace, may we begin to understand all of Your wonderful mysteries. We pray these things in the name of the living revelation of Your Word, Jesus Christ.

A Life of Trials Prepares Us for Our Place in the Kingdom of God

Genesis 41:40
You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”

The Pharaoh gave Joseph great power and responsibility in his kingdom. He proclaimed Joseph to be his equal except in the final level of authority. In a sudden change of condition, Joseph went from imprisoned slave to a ruler of great standing.

So it will be for us one day as we take our places in the kingdom of God. We will escape our carnal lives where we are enslaved to sin. We will then stand before God in the image of His Son with the same glorified body. We will be given the power and responsibility to rule and reign under the authority of Jesus Christ for all eternity.

Joseph went through many trials and tribulations in his life that prepared him to rule over Egypt. None of it was easy, nor was it brief. Joseph went from the pit to the prison to the throne room all under the hand of Almighty God. All of it was necessary for Joseph to be able to handle all that he would be given by the Pharaoh.

So it is with us. We have a lifetime of trial and tribulation. God uses all of it to prepare us for our place in His kingdom. We will grow in wisdom and discernment just as Joseph did. All we have to do is submit to the will of God in our lives, just as Joseph did.

Let us follow in Joseph’s footsteps. Let us take hold of the vision that God has given us for our lives. Let us trust completely in Our Lord as we encounter challenges that would seem to deter us. Let us work our way obediently along the pathway of sanctification that the Holy Spirit has laid out for us. Let us rejoice in knowing that one day we will rule and reign with Jesus at the Throne of Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for preparing a place for us in Your kingdom. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to be rescued from the prison that is this earth. We pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us into submission to Our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we learn to lean on Him in all things. May we learn to live under His absolute control. May we claim our rightful places in Your kingdom. We rejoice in knowing that one day we will escape our slavery in this world to become bond servants of the King of Kings for all eternity. We ask all these things in the name of our mighty and holy King, Jesus Christ.

The Gifts of Our Constant Companion – Holy Spirit

Romans 8:11
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Once we have accepted Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are immediately and permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit of the Lord. The Holy Spirit works in and through us to accomplish the will of God. His power leads us, convicts us, teaches us, and equips us to do the work that God has set aside for us.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive all of His gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We are provided these gifts so that we may proclaim the Good News of the Gospel through our living testimony.

The Holy Spirit’s powerful indwelling is an amazing gift we should never take lightly. Because the Spirit of the Lord is within us, we also receive the powers that Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would receive by way of the Spirit of God resting upon Him. The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that Jesus would be endowed by the Holy Spirit. “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him–the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Isaiah 11:2

Let us live in the confidence and the power that the Holy Spirit gives us. Let us use the wisdom and understanding we are given to perceive the truth that God reveals to us so that we are able to convey it to others. Let us use the counsel and might that we have been given to originate, plan and execute the work that God calls us to do. Let us take our new found knowledge and fear of the Lord so we are able to live our lives surrendered to Jesus Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gifts and the power that we receive through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to receive this supernatural blessing that empowers us far beyond our natural capabilities. We pray that the influence and power of the Holy Spirit will be manifest in all that we do. We ask that we may be made fruitful vessels of the fullness of Your Holy Spirit working in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Keeper and Our King, Jesus Christ.

In God We Trust

Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Our faith comes into play whenever we encounter pain, conflict or disorder in our lives. Our natural reaction is to try to fix everything ourselves. All too often, we do not turn to God until we have exhausted all of our own failed initiatives.

God wants us to turn to Him first. He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything, whether it be big or small. We grow into this place through our relationship with Jesus. The Psalmist David captured the relationship perfectly in Psalm 18:2

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior; my God is my rock, in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the power that saves me, and my place of safety.

Let us believe that God is who He says He is. Let us trust in His promises to reward those who seek Him. Let our faith draw us near to Him.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the endless fount of faith that you make available to us through Your Son, Jesus. We praise Your name for the comfort that we enjoy because of the faith that we have in Your promises. Lord, we ask for the wisdom to turn to You first in all things. May You provide the grace for us to free ourselves from the need to try to fix everything ourselves. We humbly ask that all of our earthly efforts be in obedience to Your will and plan for our lives. We pray that through the love of Jesus all that we do will be as worship to You. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

Turning Satan’s Tactics Against Him

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 busyness 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.

Delay for the Express Purpose of Our Edification

Luke 11:10
For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Whether we lack food, shelter, finances or wisdom, the Lord promises to provide us with our needs. He also promises to provide us with the desires of our hearts. But in all these things, He provides according to His perfect timing and His will for our lives.

God in His love promises that He will provide ample supply for all of our needs. Quite often, however, we experience a delay between our prayers and the answers to our prayers. In His infinite wisdom, Our Heavenly Father uses the experience of the delay for the express purpose of our edification.

If there were never any delays between our prayers and God’s provision, we would lose sight of the fact that God is controlling the process and not us. We would also lose the perspective that God wants us to rely on His grace for all things. We would lose the fervency of our prayers.

Because of the delay experience, we learn to go to the Holy Spirit to get help with our prayers. We learn that our prayers are too often coming from the desires of our flesh and not the desires of our spirit. By turning to the Holy Spirit, we learn to put our prayers in line with God’s will for our lives.

Let us turn to the Holy Spirit for the inspiration of our prayer content. Let us learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to align our prayers with the will and plan that Almighty God has for our lives. Let us rejoice in knowing that every need in our lives will be faithfully met through this powerful supernatural process.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace that is the source of all of our provision. We thank You for the perfect timing of Your answers for our prayers. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to help us pray properly for the things that we need. We pray that You show us Your will for our lives so that our prayers will be in accordance with Your plans for our lives. May our Holy Spirit inspired prayers touch Your heart so that You release from Your hands all that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the Power of God, Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Influences That Assist Us in Being Holy, Pure and Wise

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.

God Will Gives Us Answers for All Things, Big and Small, If We Ask Him

Jeremiah 33:3
Call to me and I’ll answer you, and will tell you about great and hidden things that you don’t know.

The Word of God is very specific. He spoke the words in today’s passage directly to Jeremiah, but His promises are relevant for all men. Wisdom and understanding concerning all matters of life are available to us. All we have to do is ask Our Heavenly Father who loves us more than we can imagine.

Did you notice the little detail in the passage that He will give us answers to things that we do not know? Did you consider this works for things big and small? Need to know how to make a certain household repair that you find challenging, ask Him. Need to know what direction to take your business or your career, ask Him. Need some help in unravelling a complicated family issue, ask Him. He promises to provide answers that have been hidden from us. He will deliver answers for all these things at the time that He knows is perfect for us.

Did you notice that He requires us to call on Him to receive the promised blessing. Our responsibility in receiving this awesome blessing is being persistent in asking for wisdom. If we wait to call on Him when everything comes crashing down on us, we may not be able to handle all that God has ready for us. It is a building process. The Lord knows that we are not able to digest too much information at one time. He will feed us slowly as a baby is fed liquids until it is ready to move on to more solid foods. He will feed us in accordance to His will and plan for our lives. His “new knowledge” for us will be dispensed at the perfect time.

Let us be bold and persistent in asking for “great and hidden things.” Relying on what has been promised to us by Almighty God, in faith, let us give thanks for what is set aside for us before we receive it.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for providing the Holy Spirit to teach us all things, including secret things and inaccessible things. We humbly ask You to provide us the wisdom that we need to get through each day. We ask that each day You will build our understanding of who You are and what Your plan is for our lives. We rejoice in knowing that all things are possible through Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the One who determines our steps, Jesus Christ.

Gaining Enlightenment Beyond Human Capability

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

As human beings, we all attain some level of learning, understanding and wisdom. Too often, however, we are satisfied with gaining this insight through the counsel of men. Is it possible that there is more for us to learn? Is it possible for us to delve deeply into the riches and inconceivable perfection of Almighty God? Is it possible for us to grasp the mind of the Lord?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world. Let us be aware that we are given the opportunity to be enlightened beyond our normal human capability. Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

To expose ourselves to the treasures of the mind that await, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us. We have to prepare ourselves through the reading and study of the Bible. We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.

Let us seek our counsel from the One who is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. Let us ask Him to reveal all of His mysteries to us. Let us go to him daily with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to reveal to me today?”

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to study Your Holy Word and to commune with You each day. Lord, may we learn to delight in Your Word and delight in Your presence. We ask that through Your Holy Spirit that we learn how to experience the revelations of who You are. Through Your grace, may we begin to understand all of Your wonderful mysteries. We pray these things in the name of the living revelation of Your Word, Jesus Christ.

Father, What Do You Want to Reveal to Me Today?

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

As human beings, we all attain some level of learning, understanding and wisdom. Too often, however, we are satisfied with gaining this insight through the counsel of men. Is it possible that there is more for us to learn? Is it possible for us to delve deeply into the riches and inconceivable perfection of Almighty God? Is it possible for us to grasp the mind of the Lord?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world. Let us be aware that we are given the opportunity to be enlightened beyond our normal human capability. Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

To expose ourselves to the treasures of the mind that await, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us. We have to prepare ourselves through the reading and study of the Bible. We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.

Let us seek our counsel from the One who is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. Let us ask Him to reveal all of His mysteries to us. Let us go to him daily with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to reveal to me today?”

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to study Your Holy Word and to commune with You each day. Lord, may we learn to delight in Your Word and delight in Your presence. We ask that through Your Holy Spirit that we learn how to experience the revelations of who You are. Through Your grace, may we begin to understand all of Your wonderful mysteries. We pray these things in the name of the living revelation of Your Word, Jesus Christ.