Tag: wisdom

Learning to Trust God for Everything

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.

Jesus Asks Us to Draw on Him Not on the World

Hosea 14:8
O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.

The choice to focus on and follow Jesus rather than the world becomes a very practical one. Hosea clearly differentiates for us what our choices are. He instructs that the Lord has no ties to the idols of the world. He then points out that it is through Our Lord that that we gain the fruit of our lives.

As we go through life, we deal with ordinary human stuff. For most of us, the greater part of our days are filled with the labors that provide for us. For all of us, the remainder of our days are portioned out for time with our families and loved ones, time for ourselves and perhaps time for service in our community. All these things make up the fabric of our daily lives.

It is so natural to put all of our focus on the problems, the challenges and the opportunities that the world presents to us each day. It is so easy to reach out to what we think we know and what the world has to offer in order to address the issues of the day. Jesus asks us to take nothing from the world. He asks us to draw on Him and His indwelling Holy Spirit for our strength and our guidance. Where we should differ from the world as disciples of Jesus Christ is in our approach to our daily tasks. Everything that we do each day should be dominated by our devotion to Jesus under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus should be our focus in all things. What the world has to offer has to be considered of little value in comparison. It is very likely that if we choose what the world has to offer that we will find ourselves fighting our way upstream with failure and sorrow as our destiny.

Let us choose to focus on what Our Savior has to offer. Let us rejoice as we benefit from the natural outpouring of His Spirit within us. Let us give God the glory as the world comes to recognize us by our fruit.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Your ways to us to through Your Son, Jesus. We praise the name of Jesus for being the way, the truth and the life…for being all that we need in our lives. We pray, Lord, that You will set us free from leaning on our own ways and the ways of the world. We pray that You provide us the grace and the wisdom to walk in Your ways under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. May we bear much fruit in the name of Your Son. We ask all these things the Wonderful Name of Jesus Christ.

Childlike Acceptance of the Truth and Authority of Jesus Christ

Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

Jesus was well aware that the mindset of the individuals around Him was a critical determinant in their ability and desire to accept His teaching. Jesus knew that many of the people that He was trying to reach set up blockades to learning because they granted authority only to their logic, tradition, culture and emotional feelings. They would not accept the truth and authority of the King of Kings. Thus they closed the door on the truth in His teaching. Ultimately, He closed the door on them.

As parents, teachers or caretakers, we understand the joy and the pleasure of an obedient and respectful child. The obedient child’s constant compliance to our instruction melts our hearts. Their demeanor invites instruction. It is easy and very natural for us to give compliant and respectful children greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle the responsibility appropriately.

So it is when we become new born babes in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Almighty God rejoices when we are obedient and we demonstrate our faithful compliance to His laws, His commands, His Holy Word and His callings on our lives. When we come to Him humbly and in awe of who He is, He rewards us with more knowledge, more wisdom and more responsibility in His kingdom.

Let us seek to sit at the feet of Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, with the same eagerness as children sitting around a story teller. Let us be childlike as we delightfully soak in all that we hear. Let us be even more childlike as we learn to accept all the teachings of Jesus Christ in complete faith.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for receiving us as innocent babes in Christ. We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible that we could stand before You in righteousness. We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to come to You as expectant as young children who go to their fathers eager to learn about the world and anxious for their dreams to be fulfilled. We pray for the grace to please You in all that we do. We ask that You release to us the knowledge that we do not have and the wisdom we seek. May it all be for Your glory and the gain of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of the Author of Our Faith, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Essence of Everything Good…He is the Truth

2 Corinthians 11:3
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

The truth leaves no room for tolerance. There is no room for variance. Something is true or it is not.

Satan’s fingerprints are all over the complexity of issues that we deal with daily in this world. His tactics are simple. Satan builds in layers of grey around the truth. His minions, especially the media, work hard to confuse us. They attempt to build layers of grey around good and evil. They try to make us see elements of evil as good and elements of good as evil.

When our focus is on Jesus Christ, our lives become much simpler. He that dwells within us is the essence of everything good and the absence of evil. He is Truth. Living in Truth is very cut and dry. Simplicity in life is found by living in the light of Christ. From this standpoint, we can see, believe in and adhere to the crystal clear choices offered by the teachings of Jesus.

Let us seek the Truth in all matters. Let us avoid being swayed into believing that the truth lies anywhere in the shades of grey that the world offers. Let us seek the Light of the World to reveal any darkness in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing the way, the truth and the life that is Your Son, Jesus. We praise the name of Jesus for modeling the good and perfect life that we should strive for. We rejoice in knowing that our choices in life are easy when we abide in Our Savior. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will provide the wisdom that we need to discern the proper choices that we need to make in life for ourselves and our families. May we learn to live in the light and shut the door on the darkness that the world offers. We ask all these things in the name of the True Light, Jesus Christ.

Seeking the Counsel and Power of Almighty God

1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, “He traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.”

Satan’s craftiness is witnessed in the way that he gets us to focus on good things that we are good at, knowing that we will find praise in our efforts. Satan in his cleverness knows that if he can get us to stay in our comfort zone, we will never meet our full potential. More importantly, Satan recognizes that in the process of relying on our own capabilities that we will completely by-pass God’s inspiration in our work.

It is easy for us to take on projects that we are comfortable with and ones in which we feel our probability of success is very high. There is nothing wrong with this position as long as we go to God for confirmation that the project is one that He ordains.

God inspired projects, however, are more likely to have us question our abilities to successfully complete them. God is not concerned about our capabilities. If He ordains something, it will be done. God is looking for the opportunity to have His power and His glory, not our capabilities, reflected in the things that we do. May we learn to seek the counsel and the might that He offers.

Let us forsake the wisdom that the world offers, lest we be trapped by our own pride. Let us seek Godly counsel in all things. Let us move forward with the urgings of the Holy Spirit, even if they are outside our comfort zone.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Holy Word that teaches how Jesus was interested in doing only those things that You asked Him to do. In Jesus’ life, every project was carried out in accordance with Your will. We pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit will teach us how to seek You first in all things. We pray for the grace to be able to accept and act upon the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May all that we do be for Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

The Author, the Preacher and the Subject of the Bible is too Precious Not to Share

Colossians 1:27
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

God has chosen to reveal to us the riches that are available to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The fullness of all of God’s riches are complete in Jesus. Jesus Christ is the glory of the Gospel. He is the author, the preacher and the subject of the Bible. The glory of His wisdom and power, His truth and faithfulness, His justice and holiness and His love, grace and mercy are forever manifested in the Holy Word.

Yet all of this was a mystery to men for thousands of years. The hope of glory for those living in earlier times was reliant on the offerings of their high priests. How privileged we are as we live in a time when the hope of our glory has been fully disclosed to us. Our hope is in the form of Our Savior who comes and dwells within us. He is our high priest. We need no other.

With His indwelling, we take on the role of priests ourselves. The blessed hope and assurance that is Jesus Christ is too precious not to share.

Let us make it our duty to share the hope that is within us. Let us joyously share that which naturally flows from us without end.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Blessed Hope and Assurance that is Your Son, Jesus. We praise You for revealing to us the riches that are available through Your Son, our ever present high priest. Help us Lord to faithfully share the hope of glory that is within us. We pray His presence will be manifested in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of Our Glorious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Our Faith is Built Through the Storms of Life

Revelation 1:7
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

This passage calls attention to that great day when all will see the wisdom and happiness of the friends of Christ and the madness and misery of His enemies. Great sorrow and suffering will be ahead for those who wound and crucify Him by their non-belief. Those who have not accepted Jesus as the way, the truth and the life will find out that He is the only way to eternity with the Father in heaven.

Isn’t it ironic that Jesus will arrive in the clouds? It is quite natural to associate the idea of clouds with storm clouds. When storm clouds are building we are likely to think that defeat is near. As we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ, we come to realize that when storm clouds begin to build in our lives that our victory is near.

Just as God used the clouds to guide the Israelites to the promised land, He can use the storm clouds in our lives to turn our focus to Him for guidance. Through this process, He teaches us dependence on Him for providing the pathway through the storms of our lives. Paradoxically, without the storm clouds, we would never develop the faith that we need to completely surrender to Our Savior. The perfect pathway through the storms of life lies in a relationship with Jesus Christ. The only pathway from this life into eternal life is through Jesus Christ.

Let us look to heaven and not to earth for our support when we find storm clouds building in our lives. Let us turn to the Light of the World for our victory when the clouds become the darkest. Let us share each victory with those still in the darkness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Light of the World, Your Son Jesus, to save us from the darkness that comes to devour us. We praise You for the faith that You build in us as Jesus carries us and comforts us through our trials. We pray that we may learn from the trials that we pass through so that we may comfort others who pass the same way. Through the light of our living testimony, may we draw others through the darkness to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. We ask all these things in the name of the Judge of the Living and the Dead, Jesus Christ.

The Only Path That Fulfills God’s Plan for Our Salvation

Mark 14:34
And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”

Through Jesus, we receive the exchanged life of joy for the old life of sin and its miserable consequences. Jesus paid a great price for our redemption. He suffered physically, mentally and emotionally to go to the Cross for us. He knew in advance the bodily torments, the agonizing death and the inconceivable burden of the weight of the sins of all men that He would suffer. To secure our redemption, He chose the only path that fulfilled God’s plan for our salvation.

As Jesus approached His time of great suffering, He was very sorrowful. He was feeling the full agony of knowing that He would be taking on the burden of all sin. His suffering was so great that He took Peter, James and John with Him to stand by Him in prayer as He prayed for strength in His most awful time of distress. Three times He left the apostles to pray. Each time He asked them to remain and watch. Each time He found them asleep when He returned. The apostles in their weakness were not able to provide Jesus with the support that He requested as He prepared to take on His Cross. But even though the apostles left Jesus to take on the Cross alone, Jesus was given the strength that He needed by the Holy Spirit.

Ultimately, we must choose to take up the Cross of Jesus Christ. We must choose the way of Christ or the way of sin. This is an impossible decision for us to make on our own. Just like the apostles, our flesh is too weak. But like Jesus, we have the power and the strength that we need to overcome sin because the Holy Spirit stands by us and prepares our hearts to take our victory over sin.

Let us strive to live the joyous life of holiness. Let us be watchful and persistent in fending off the oppressive life of sin. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to stand by us and strengthen us as we walk on our paths of sanctification.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. We praise the name of Jesus who chose to take all the sorrow and grief that He endured on our behalf. We thank You for the Holy Spirit who guided us in choosing to accept Jesus as Our Savior, so that we might overcome the sin in our lives that separates us from You. We pray for wisdom to always seek the strength and the counsel available to us through the Holy Spirit that stands on watch against sin with us. We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Learning to Pray Properly for the Things that We Need

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.

Trusting in the Source of All Wisdom

James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

What is the first thing that you do when you are puzzled by something or want to know how something works? Most of us go immediately to our favorite internet browser. We are amazed at what we can find and delighted in how the search process often yields the exact information that we are looking for. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this process, if used appropriately. It provides us with knowledge that we do not have…fast.

As amazing and effective as internet search can be, there is a much faster source of knowledge that is instantly available to us without the aid of any man-made device. Our Heavenly Father teaches us that all we have to do is ask and He will give us wisdom.

The internet can provide knowledge, but does not provide wisdom. Wisdom is far superior to knowledge alone. Wisdom provides insight into how we should use the knowledge that we have accumulated. Wisdom from God deepens our insight into how we should apply our skills and our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to Him.

The internet will always provide an answer to the question that we asked. The answers are predetermined by the search engine programming. God will not always answer the question we asked. Omnisciently, He will answer the question that we should have asked. He will uniquely tailor His response to our real needs and to His will and plan for our lives.

Let us learn to trust in the one who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. Let us trust in the one who holds a perfect plan for our lives in His hands, Almighty God.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have inspired and equipped others to provide us with knowledge to help us through our daily activities. We come to You to seek wisdom, so that we may use our knowledge in ways that are pleasing to You and in ways that are used to bear fruit for Your kingdom and bring honor and glory to Your name. We pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to always turn to You first when we are seeking answers. May the world know us and be drawn to Your Son through the wisdom that You provide. We ask these things in the the name of Our Wonderful Counselor, Jesus Christ.