Tag: Word of God

Trusting in God’s Timing

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God! I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Almighty God is omnipotent. He is able to deliver us from the most extreme trials. Almighty God is omniscient. He knows every little detail about us and our troubles. Almighty God is unchangeable, forever faithful to His promises. He makes all things work together for those that abide in Him. So why is it that we are so impatient when it comes to waiting on God?

Is there anything that we have learned to hate more than waiting? What is it about traffic lights, grocery lines, call centers, etc. that create such angst? Has patience disappeared completely in our lives? Is there anything that frustrates us more than lack of success when something we are working on is in stall mode? Even when we know we are doing everything right and in the right way, the results become more important to us than the process. When did we lose sight of the fact that God is in control of everything?

The frustration of waiting for something to happen and the pain of waiting on success both stem from the same issue. We are focusing on self gratification and not focusing on the plans that God has for our lives and His perfect will for our lives. In our impatience, we foolishly rush ahead of God in our efforts to make things happen on our timetable.

Let us reach out to the Holy Spirit for guidance and instruction when we are so anxious to move before God moves. Let us learn to trust in God’s timing. Let us rejoice as we reap the unimaginable rewards of waiting on God’s divine will for our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the good plan for our lives that You promise us in Your Holy Word. We praise You for Your Holy Spirit who guides us and strengthens us so that we can overcome the desires of our flesh that are not in accordance with Your plans. We pray, Father, that You renew our minds so that we will know Your will for our lives. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to learn to be still and wait on the all sufficient grace and provision that You promise us. We ask all these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

He Promises Exceedingly More

Luke 5:5
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

It is important to realize that there is power for us in the Word of God. The power that we can access is held in the promises that are revealed to us in the Holy Bible. The promises are the keys to our victory over all the forces of this earth and all the forces of evil that might try to come against us. No matter what we think the promises of this world hold in store for us, the Word of God promises exceedingly more.

Peter exhibited faith in the spoken words of His Master, Jesus. Even though his instincts told him that it was highly questionable to expect a worthwhile catch, he dropped his nets. He had faith that Jesus’ words were more powerful than the forces of nature that he knew were unlikely to deliver a decent catch at this place and time of day. His faith was rewarded. His nets were filled beyond the point of bursting.

Whether we are toiling in a ministry that is not fruitful, laboring in a vocation that is not productive or simply struggling with the issues of life, we should look toward the promises in God’s Holy Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Our victory is guaranteed and is waiting upon us if we have faith in the Lord.

Let us dig into the Holy Word of God and find those scriptures that best fit our time of need. If we are diligent in our search, we will find the promises that will provide the power that we will need to overcome what the world has laid upon us. Let us rejoice in knowing that His Word is more powerful than anything that the evil one or this world can bring against us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Holy Word to teach us the things that we are promised as inheritors of Your kingdom. We pray that the Holy Spirit shows us how to live our lives in accordance with Your Word and in reliance upon Your promises. We ask that the Holy Spirit strengthen us to stand against everything that comes against us, knowing that through Our Savior we have victory over every circumstance. We ask all these things in the name of the One who gave us victory over all things when He died on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Open Our Hearts to the Word of God

Exodus 20:19
Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”

The Jewish people were not accustomed to going directly to God. They only approached God through their high priest mediators. They were quite comfortable in allowing Moses to declare to them what God had spoken to him. They committed to doing whatever Moses revealed to them. They were certain that they would be consumed by fire if they were to be in direct communication with the living God.

What an awesome privilege that we have to be able to go directly to the throne room of Almighty God. What an unspeakable blessing that we have been provided by Our Mediator, Jesus Christ, who opened the doors of heaven for us.

Yet we often delight in and rely on the spoken and written words of men rather than digging into God’s Holy Word ourselves. We tend to look for our own Moses. We find that the words of men lean toward messages that are meant to comfort us and not to convict us. They also tend to require less work to digest.

By shying away from God’s Holy Word, we seek to avoid the discomfort that comes with having our weaknesses brought to light by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Even more so, we shy away from a personal relationship with Our Creator. Unlike the early Jewish people, we may not fear being consumed by fire, but we may fear having to let go of the things of this world. In doing so, we delay the sanctifying work that prepares us for a life of eternal comfort with Our Savior and we miss out on having an intimate relationship with Him here on earth.

Let us be more earnest in our reading of the Scriptures. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to open our minds to receive all that has been prepared for us in God’s Holy Word. Let us seek and experience the joys of an intimate relationship with Our Savior.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for speaking to us through Your Holy Spirit and Your Holy Word. We rejoice in knowing that we can hear Your voice if we dig deeply into Your Word. We pray, Lord, that we will be set on fire by Your Holy Word. We ask, Father, that You strengthen us to close our ears to the messages of leniency that the world espouses and to open our hearts to Your Holy Word so that we may bring our lives into alignment with Your laws. We ask that the Holy Spirit teach us how to listen to You. May we seek and find an intimate relationship with You through Your Son. We pray all these things through Our Great Mediator, 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.

Training to Hear the Voice of God

John 16:13
But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.

Our Heavenly Father has given all of us Christians the Holy Spirit to teach us the Truth. The Holy Spirit takes us beyond head knowledge of God into a personal relationship with Our Creator. If we submit to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will not only learn about Our Savior, but we will learn to relish and savor all things that glorify Jesus Christ.

Additionally, we will find that the Holy Spirit goes before us as a guide. He clears our path of obstacles as He opens our understanding. He leads us on the path that we should follow. He makes things plain and clear for us as never before.

In order to profit from this awesome gift of the Holy Spirit, we must train ourselves to listen for God’s voice in our lives. Listening to God is an acquired gift. It is a byproduct of discipline and obedience. We must set aside time to tune into God’s voice. The tuning comes from setting aside time for prayer, reading the Word, and meditation on the Word, as well as, personal praise and worship. When we are obedient in all these things, God will reveal Himself to us in all aspects of our lives.

Let us turn off the world and tune in to the Holy Spirit. Let us learn to listen for the urgings of the Holy Spirit in all matters. Let us be diligent in following the path that the Holy Spirit lays out for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth. We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit will speak to us if we learn to listen for His voice. Help us, Lord, to overcome the voice of our flesh. We pray, Father, that You open our ears so that we can hear You at all times. We ask that Your Holy Spirit help us to overcome the distractions of the world so that Your voice is not drowned out. We beseech You, Father God, that You would strengthen us so that we can be diligent in the small things that we need to do to prepare ourselves to hear Your voice. We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

When We Drift from Our Relationship with Jesus

Luke 15:8
Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it?

Where will the woman look for her lost coin? This passage infers that she will look everywhere. How long will she look? She will look carefully and extensively until she finds her coin. How will she look? The passage does not specifically reveal how she will look, but it is likely that she would follow the same process that we follow upon losing something. She will go back to the place where she thinks that she lost the coin. If the coin is not there, she will go back to all the other familiar places that she can think of until she finds the coin.

Aren’t we all just as diligent as this woman whenever we lose something that is of value to us? Do we not employ an exhaustive effort to find anything lost that we consider a personal treasure? Of course, we do.

So why do we delay even a second when we recognize that we have lost even a fraction of our zeal for Christ? We should go back immediately to the place where we lost it. Did we lose it because we cut back on our prayer time? We need to return to our most robust prayer habits. Did we lose it because we stopped studying the Word of God? We should return to our diligent studies. Did we lose it because of the sin in our lives? We need to repent and surrender to Christ.

Jesus Christ is our greatest treasure. When the world works overtime to distract us from Our Treasure and our awareness of the presence of Our Treasure dims one iota, let us run quickly to return to the fullness of His Light. If we practice to stay in the fullness of His light, we guard against losing even a portion of Our Treasure.

Let us be fierce protectors of the treasures that we have been given in Jesus Christ. Let us fight mightily against any distraction that comes to diminish the value of the fullness of Our Savior in our lives. Let us seek the Holy Spirit to heighten our awareness of our ever present Treasure and quicken our resolve in keeping Our Treasure above all things in our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the most awesome treasure known to mankind, Your Son, Jesus Christ. In our weakness, Father, we find that we have drifted away from our zeal for Your Son. We pray that You will help us return to the place where we lost Him. We ask that You show us how to invigorate the good discipline in our lives that we once had. We beseech You to give us the strength we need to walk away from the torments of our flesh. Lord, bring us back to the fullness of the Light of Our World, Your Son Jesus. We ask all these things in the precious, precious name of Jesus Christ.

The Ongoing Need to Honor God Through Worship

Genesis 12:8
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.

Through our study of the Word, we find that Abraham was a forerunner in establishing a culture of worship. At the end of each of his journey segments, Abraham built an altar for the Lord from which he worshiped. He built the altars to set up and keep up the worship of God in his family. He maintained the ceremonial part of religion, the offering of sacrifice and he nurtured the practice of seeking his God. He preached concerning the name of the Lord. He taught his family and neighbors the knowledge of the true God.

Abraham showed us that the practice of honoring God through worship is an ongoing need. As he moved from station to station, at times unsettled in the midst of enemies, wherever he pitched his tent, he built an altar to worship Almighty God.

We can learn great lessons from Abraham by applying his worship principles to our own daily lives. If we consider each day a journey, we should conclude each journey by finding a quiet place to worship God. If our daily journey takes us away from our homes, let us not fail to take our worship practices along with us.

As Abraham did, let us establish a place of worship at the end of each journey no matter where we are located. At the end of each day’s journey, let us practice to separate ourselves from all of our daily activities and spend our time in worship with Our Lord.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for placing a desire in our hearts to worship You. We pray that You show us how to come to you each day to worship you in a manner that pleases you. Strengthen us and guide us, Lord, so that we are able to find a quiet place and time each day. We ask that the Holy Spirit help us separate our minds from all of the daily issues of the world so that we may focus on You alone. We pray these things in the name of the author of our faith, Jesus Christ.

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.

Gaining Access to Almighty God

2 Chronicles 5:7
Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim.

The Holy of Holies, also known as the Most Holy Place, was the inner room of the Jewish Temple in which was kept the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Cherubim, manna, Aaron’s rod and a copy of the 10 Commandments. It was the place where blood was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat (the lid on top of the Ark) as an atonement for the sins of Israel. The single high priest designated for duty on the day of atonement was the only person allowed to enter the Holy of Holies. That was the only time in the entire year that anyone could enter. It was the only path and process that the Jewish people had in order to gain access to Almighty God.

Jesus changed all of that. Upon His death on the Cross, the veil that separated the people from the Most Holy Place was torn in two. In one divine moment access to the throne of God was opened to all people for all time.

As we prepare to enter the new year ahead, let us consider what a wondrous privilege we have been given. We no longer have to wait on anyone to enter into a direct, intimate relationship with Our Father in heaven. Our High Priest, Jesus Christ, permanently opened the way for us to enter the Holy of Holies.

As we take advantage of our blessing, let us remember that it is pleasing to God when we enter His throne room. But let us be sure to learn from the actions of the high priest in approaching the Most Holy Place. As we approach Almighty God, let us enter His presence with awe and reverence. Let us enter His gates with thanksgiving and with praise. Let us seek personal cleansing and forgiveness through the confession of our sins.

Let us pray under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Let us pray in accordance with the Holy Word of God. Let us make a personal commitment to surrender to His will for our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us access to Your throne through Your Son, Jesus Christ. We bless the name of Your Son for providing the pathway for us to have a personal relationship with You. We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will help us to approach Your throne in the manner that is pleasing to You. We ask that we be given the grace that we need to pay the price necessary to gain the intimacy that we seek with You. We ask all these things in the name of our High Priest and Mediator, Jesus Christ.

Our Final Destination is a Testimony to God’s Faithfulness

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

As we move toward the new year, let us follow the instruction of God’s Holy Word and set our minds on things that are above in heaven where Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. Let us intentionally replace the images of sorrow, suffering, personal horror and overwhelming struggles continuing to pile up in the daily news from the world, and perhaps even in our own personal worlds, with images of goodness such as the the joyous images of the Christmas season that are fresh in our minds. Let us recognize that our current reality is in God’s future plan for us and not in today’s news. Let us grasp with hope and faith that God has a good and perfect plan for every broken person and for every painful situation. Let us reorder our thinking so that the power of Heaven can be released in our lives.

Know that it will not be easy to take the higher path. The pathway to fear and despair are easy roads directed downward by emotion and logic. Certainly the world will be ready to mock us if we dare to take the higher road when our destination cannot be seen with the natural eye.

Let us be strengthened by the knowledge that we are always secure in Jesus Christ no matter what is happening around us. Let us rejoice in knowing that our final destination will be our testimony of God’s faithfulness.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the blessed hope and assurance that we have in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We bless His name for He is our anchor, firm and secure. We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we may see Your goodness in the dark world that surrounds us. We ask that the Holy Spirit renew and reorder our thinking so that we may align our thinking with Your heart and Your kingdom purpose. We ask all these things in the name of Our Hope that springs eternal, Jesus Christ.