Security for Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Praise God.  He is so good.  Through the sacrifice of His Son, He provides our security for yesterday, today and tomorrow.  

He forgives our sins, providing propitiation for our past.  He sets our future securely in His hand.  He allows us to live today in freedom, in peace and in service to His calling on our lives.  We can move into every new year knowing that God will be with us and that His Holy Spirit will help us let loose of the things of this world so that we can grasp the things of His kingdom.

The Humbling Process of Sanctification

The sanctification process is not for the proud.  It is a humbling experience as God reveals to us everything in our lives that falls short of His perfect plan for our lives.  As we mature as Christians, it is generally not the "don't do" sins that are most often exposed.   It is the revelation that we are falling short of what God has called us to do that really comes to light.

Jesus only did in His life what the Father called Him to do.  So it will be in our lives as we die of self and become like the one that dwells within us.

Have Faith for He is Worthy

What is it that God is pressing on your heart?  You may not have a gigantic vision, but there is always something that God places as a desire in our hearts.  In all likelihood, it is something that we keep to ourselves.  In all likelihood, we have been waiting faithfully to see the fulfillment of our vision.  In all likelihood, it is challenging our faith that it will ever happen.

We cannot give up on the visions that God has given us for our God is a faithful God.  If He has placed a vision or desire on our hearts, He will deliver it in His perfect timing.  Have faith for He is worthy.

"Become as Little Children"

Small children run to their parents for everything.  Whether they need comfort, provision or direction, they immediately seek the arms of their parents.

They do not question the authority or power of their parents.  They assume the parents to be the ones in control and that their parents have the power to provide whatever is needed or desired.  More than anything, they do not see themselves as capable of doing more for themselves than their parents can do for them.  This complete reliance on the parents by their children is what God seeks from all of His children.

Where the Battle is Won

Receiving one's salvation is a nexus point in life.  It is the point at which the individual settles his or her destiny for all eternity.  It is the point from which many battles of good versus evil will take place.  It is the point from which every victory over sin is anchored.

Once the individual selects Christ as Savior, the attacks of the enemy are relentless.  Every day the Christian battles with the flesh over the issue of submission.  Will it be submission to the flesh or will it be submission to Jesus as Lord, Master and King?  Aided and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, continually choosing submission to Jesus leads to a life of victory and kingdom living here on earth.

Exposed by the Light

Sin lurks in the darkness.  It destroys us even when we are unable to see its ravaging effects on our lives.

When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, supernatural light comes into our lives.  Sin is no longer able to hide in the darkness.  The Light of Christ exposes it for what it is.  We are able to see it for what it is, what it does to us and how offensive it is to Almighty God.  Most importantly, the light of Christ opens our eyes so that we can rejoice in receiving what we did not earn and do not deserve - our sins washed away forever by the blood of Christ.

The Gift of Christmas

We could not go to God, so He came to us in the flesh.  He came to show us the way to join Him for all eternity.  He gave us the perfect gift...a gift so rare and wonderful that the world has celebrated His birth year after year for centuries.

Christ departed His heavenly throne and was born in the flesh.  He died and rose from the dead, returning to His place in heaven.  In so doing, He prepared a way for those born of the flesh with no rights to the eternal kingdom of God to be able to claim an eternal inheritance in heaven.   This gift beyond compare is ours when we die of self and accept the gift of salvation from Our Savior King.

Climbing God's Holy Mountain

As Christians, the Holy Spirit dwells within us.  Each day He is perfecting His strength in our weaknesses.  This is promised according to God's Holy Word in 2 Corinthians 12:9.

And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

As time moves along, we continuously climb up God's holy mountain.  We move from one high spot to another, stopping along the way to gain the strength provided by the Holy Spirit.  Our only delays are when Jesus knows that we are not strong enough to move higher.  If we remain in submission to Our Lord's reign in our lives, there will be nothing to stop us from reaching the top.

A Wonderful Gift

As written in Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a Child is born.  Unto us a Son is given.  And the government will be on His shoulders.  And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."  King James is one of the few translations that separates "Wonderful" from "Counselor".   It thereby attaches wonderful to all of the other names and attributes of Jesus Christ.  In Hebrew, the word wonderful means "of miracles, of wonders".

There is much that is wonderful about the the gift that we receive in Christ.  We are given our salvation which provides the miraculous cleansing of our souls and the miraculous ability to die to self and to self-identify with Jesus.  What a wonderful gift that we have been given - one that we cannot receive apart from Jesus.

Our Heavenly Father Calls Us

We can love God because He loved us first.  We can reach out to God to form an intimate relationship because He drew us unto Himself first.  We can bear fruit for the kingdom of God because He instilled in us the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.  We can spend eternity with Our Heavenly Father because He gave us His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for our sins.

Everything that we have comes from the provision of God.  How can we not heed His call on our lives?

Releasing the Power of the Holy Spirit

Through our redemption in Christ, we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  We do not get a mere piece of Our Savior within us or a replica of Our Savior within us.  We get the full power and person of His Holy Spirit within us.

If our lives are in submission to Jesus, the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is available for us to tap into at all times .  If our lives are not fully submitted to Jesus, we will find neither the full power of the Holy Spirit nor the faith to access His power.  When our submission to Jesus is complete, the power and faith to use this extraordinary gift is released in its fullness.

The Reason for the Season

There is sin in every human's life.  Even the tiniest of which separates the individual from ever entering into the presence of God.  While feeling true sorrow for transgressions and making an earnest attempt at not failing again are good things, they are not enough to bridge the gap from God that is caused by sin.

Only the Cross of Jesus is sufficient to reconcile the separation created by sin.  Only through Jesus Christ can anyone prepare their place in heaven.  He is the reason for celebrating the Christmas season.

A Life of Dependence or Independence?

America was born by our founding fathers under a call for fierce independence from a government that wanted to control their citizens' relationship with Almighty God.  As our founding fathers fought to be independent of  England, they were steadfastly dependent on the God of the bible who aided and blessed their movement to freedom. 

Over time, Satan has done his work on many of America's citizens.  Many have become arrogantly and selfishly independent and have built their lives around self-manipulated lifestyles that require no God - at least in their minds.  Perhaps the only way that they will ever recognize God is by seeing Him in the lives of fulfilled Christians.  May our lives testify to the power and the glory of Our Heavenly Father and the true freedom that is promised through His Son.

Rejoice and Grow

If we find that we have a boss or co-worker that we do not get along with, we have reason to rejoice.  God has put him or her there for our growth.  If we find that we have a neighbor or a family member that we have issues with, we have reason to rejoice.  God has put him or her there for our growth.  God has purposely placed all the people that surround us.  They are in our lives for us to learn how to forgive them, love them and serve them just as Jesus Christ forgives, loves and serves us all.

For many of us, the hard part is that it all starts with forgiving.  If we have trouble with forgiveness, we need to ask Jesus to show us how.  In His Word, He promises to perfect His strength in our weakness.

Our All Sufficient Lord

It is easy to see why Jesus said it was so hard for the rich man to get to heaven.  In the comfort of his riches, the rich man felt no need for a Savior.  He thought he had everything he needed.  The rich man could not foresee the upcoming problem.  The hunger of his flesh would never be satisfied.  His flesh would always seek more than he had.  But more importantly, nothing that he could do in the flesh could prepare him a place in heaven.

For all of us, whether we be rich by the world's standards or not, there is only one source that can satisfy the hunger within us and can provide our access into our eternal resting place in heaven.  Only Jesus can satisfy the hunger that is placed in our hearts by Our Creator.  Only Jesus can satisfy the redemptive needs of our souls.  Jesus is our all sufficient Lord.

  



 

Wrestling with Decisions

Even though God has a specific plan for our lives, He allows us to make our own choices all along the way.  He has given us the free will to decide what path we take each day.  

Along with this right comes the burden of making an endless stream of decisions.  Some of the decisions we make are big and some are small, but they all have an impact on the paths we take.  Thus we often wrestle with our choices, creating a lot of stress in our lives.  We can make our decision process much easier by seeking God's counsel through prayer.  By following the urgings of the Holy Spirit instead of our own impulses, we will make better life decisions with a minimal amount of stress.

The Comfort and Power of His Word

God promises us in His Word that He will comfort us in our struggles.  But the teaching in His Word adds, "so that we may be a comfort to others who go through the same struggles".

Reading, understanding and then applying the lessons of the bible to our lives can be a struggle.  Be assured that God's promise "to comfort us in our struggles so that we can comfort others" applies here as it does for any other part of our lives.  God calls us to be diligent in our bible study so that He can expand our learning of His ways, so that we can apply the learning to our lives and so that we can share our revelation with those that God has placed around us. 

Living the Great Life

We live in a world where strife and chaos are more prevalent than peace.  We create a portion of this chaos ourselves by trusting in ourselves and focusing on ourselves as we seek the path to the "great life" promised by the world.

The path to the true, great life is found when we put all of our trust in God and focus our lives on Our Savior - not on our problems or our current circumstances.  On this path, we separate ourselves from the chaos in the world and find ourselves resting in the presence of Almighty God at all times.  This resting place holds for us the peace that surpasses all human understanding.

True Intercession

Every Christian is filled with a desire to pray for the needs of those around them.  The heart of the true intercessor, however, is focused on praying for the primary need of redemption in the lives of the people surrounding him or her.  All other needs, while perhaps urgent in the physical and material sense, are needs of the flesh.  The true intercessor will certainly pray for these natural needs, but only with the collaboration of the redemptive needs on the prayer table at the same time.

Being Our Best

In Psalm 139, the psalmist writes that he knows that he was wonderfully made by God.  And so it is for each of us.  As surely as God created every aspect of the universe, He created each of us to be a unique and powerful element in His plan for all eternity.

We can only reach the outer limits of our God given capabilities by submitting to Him.  Our flesh and our human constraints will never take us to the limits of our capability.  Only God can take us there and only when we are in His will for our lives.

Denying Our Rebellious Nature

All of us have gone through that wonderful self-development period known as the "terrible twos."  During this time period, we began expressing our own individuality.  We recognized for the first time that we were our own person and could make choices for ourselves.  Our favorite word was "no".  Our rebellious nature was evident as we regularly rejected the good counsel of our parents in order to have our own way.

This rebellious (sin) nature carried right over into our adult lives as we rejected the laws of God and the good counsel of His Holy Word.  Fortunately, our loving Father provided us with a way to overcome the weaknesses that He knew we had.  He provided a His Son to die for our sins and He sent the Holy Spirit to inspire us to receive His Son as Our Savior. Then He allowed the Holy Spirit to dwell within us so that we would be able to die of self, giving up our choices of the flesh in exchange for the will of God in our lives. 

Exchanging Natural for Supernatural

Our sinful nature separates us from God.  God gave His Son, Jesus, as a living sacrifice so that our sins could be forgiven and our inheritance as heirs to the Kingdom of God could be provided.  

In turn, we are called to sacrifice our own lives in the flesh by surrendering all that we are to Jesus.  When we keep our flesh in submission to the laws of God, we allow the Holy Spirit to work supernaturally in our lives.  In doing so, we receive the full measure of our redemptive blessings.

Pursuing Self or Pursuing God

The endless pursuit of self leads to a constant and unavoidable destiny that will be deviant from the way, the truth and the life of Jesus.  The flesh is unable to maintain a course of positive growth.  Destruction and deterioration are inevitable.

Only by turning to God and focusing on Him instead of ourselves can we avoid destruction.  We may find interim good without God.  We will never find God when we are focused on ourselves.

There is No Other Way

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  No man can get into heaven without recognizing the sacrifice of the precious Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.  There is no other way.  

Yet every man, no matter how vile, corrupt and sinful he may be today, can receive the eternal life with God that is promised through His Son.  The shed blood of Jesus has the power to wash all repentant sinners clean of their sins.   Every man that is willing to call on the name of Jesus can claim this miraculous gift of grace. 

Sorrow-filled Enlightenment

Repentance comes from the Holy Spirit within us.  The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, past and present, as we go through the sanctification process.  For the first time, we see our sins in the light of the pain and suffering that they caused Our Savior to endure.

This new sorrow-filled enlightenment inspires us to dig deeper into our relationship with Our Savior.  We yearn to bring to light the sins in our lives that we are not aware of or have learned to overlook through our worn conscience.  Through new found desires to repent of anything in us that displeases Our Heavenly Father, we seek to relieve that which sent Our Savior to the Cross. 

Trading Frustration for Joy

The Christian life can be frustrating because we are trying to be "good Christians" instead of "God led" Christians.  The things that we are trying to attain or achieve are probably good things.  But if they are not God things, they will not bring lasting satisfaction.

We need to focus first on our relationship with Our Savior before we set our paths.  The process is simple.  All we have to do is pray, "Jesus, I seek you.  Jesus, I want to walk with you.  Jesus, I want to serve your needs."  Then prepare to receive the overwhelming sense of peace and joy that comes from being in union with Our Savior and not from our own merits.

The Apex of Obedience

Once saved, the sanctification process begins.  Every blemish on our soul is brought to light to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  We are constantly being led by the Holy Spirit to come to our highest point of obedience.   We are being prepared to love God above all things with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength.

Until the day we die, we must submit the control of our lives over to God so that the Holy Spirit can assist us in walking the ascending path of sanctification.  We will reach our apex 
when we stand before the Lord in heaven.

The Building Blocks of Life

We all produce activity in three areas - physical, emotional and spiritual.  The proficiency of what we produce is based on our strength, emotional stability and holiness.  

The levels of our proficiency are built up by the way in which we consistently respond to the choices that we have to make daily.  Good responses build proficiency.  We become stronger and more proficient in each area when we choose exercise over idleness, patience over anger and righteousness over sin.  We become weaker and less proficient when we select the alternatives.  By the grace of God, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us to make the right choices.

The Truth and Power of the Word of God

One of the biggest mistakes that we can make is to try to deliver the Good News of the gospel with a manipulated salvation message.  We do a disservice to the listener when we word the salvation message in such a way that it sounds politically correct instead of biblically accurate.

We can be certain that political correctness will get no one into heaven or keep anyone out of hell.  The truth and power of the salvation message is found in the exact Word of God and not in our own politically correct version.

Yielding Perfect Fruit

When we observe beauty in nature, knowingly or unknowingly, we are usually not looking at a single object.   We are looking at a group of objects gathered within a larger picture.  Within the observed area, none of the individual objects are perfect.  But when we consider the individual objects within their setting, we see a perfectly beautiful site.

Similarly, God creates beauty in our own lives.  Even though we are not perfect, God can use us perfectly within the environment that we live in.  In the flesh, our imperfections will limit us.  In union with Jesus, perfect fruit will be yielded.

"Good Enough" to Get Into Heaven

According to Jesus, "Love God above all things with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind and with all your strength," is the first and greatest commandment.  Stop!!  Without looking into any other commandments, we find that we are incapable of meeting the requirements for getting into heaven.  For entry into heaven, God requires perfect holiness.  Only one person who ever lived on earth could measure up to the standards of the greatest commandment.  Of course, that was Jesus, Our Holy and Precious Savior.

We cannot earn our way into heaven if we are covered in sin - even one.  Nothing short of a sinless life is good enough to merit heaven.  Our best is not good enough.  Fortunately for us, "good enough" was provided for us in the only way that would be acceptable to God.  The perfect lamb had to be sacrificed to atone for our sins.  Our hope and our salvation were finished on the Cross by the only person who could meet the requirements of the first and greatest commandment. 

His Grace is Sufficient

Everything that we are and everything that we possess has come from Almighty God.  In His eyes, through the cleansing blood and constant mediation of Jesus, we are like His Son.

Through the grace of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are capable of living lives that meet the standards of our standard bearer, Jesus Christ.  To talk about our inabilities is an insult to the One that created us.  We must learn to rely on the supernatural strength within us to overcome the world.  We were made to bring honor and glory to Our Heavenly Father.  Our lives are of priceless value to God's plans for all eternity.

Supernatural Transformation

As Christians, we are continuously going through the process of sanctification.  From the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit is shaping us into the person that God created us to be.  The process does not stop until our death and we are brought into the presence of the Lord.  We will be perfectly holy when we hear Our Heavenly Father say, "Well done good and faithful servant."

By the time that we stand before Our Creator, we will have undergone a supernatural transformation made possible by the shed blood of His Son.  If we tune into the urgings of the Holy Spirit and develop a personal, passionate devotion to Our Redeemer, the world will see much of our transformation here on earth.   

By the Grace of God

Not one of us would accept the gift of salvation without the grace of God.  Our human nature rejects the idea that a Savior is needed to get to heaven.  Thus it is imperative that we have Our Heavenly Father, through His grace, reveal to us the truth, the way and the life that is in His Son, Jesus.

This revelation will come to us through spiritual hunger induced by the urgings of the Holy Spirit and often brought on by the prayers of family and friends.  We did not earn it and do not deserve it.  It is all ours by the grace of God.

Spiritual Energy

Once we are born again, we receive a new energy source - the Holy Spirit.   Our new energy source is always on, ready to be dispensed.  The Holy Spirit can assist us mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually.  We are no longer limited by our own physical and mental abilities.

There is nothing that can interfere with the flow of the Holy Spirit in our lives except our own negative interaction with the Holy Spirit.  Our sins can limit the flow and we can refuse the flow, but the Holy Spirit will always be there for us when we are ready to make ourselves living founts of Jesus' love.

The Power Within Us

The wooden cross that became the instrument of death for Jesus contained no life.  Yet that wooden cross was able to meet its responsibilities because of a tree that gave its life for the formation of the cross.

In a similar fashion, Jesus Christ gave His life so that we might become instruments capable of meeting kingdom responsibilities.  Without Jesus giving His life, we would not be able to do the things that God created us to do for all eternity.

Creating a Better Life

Man throughout the ages has tried to define what will make him a better person in order to create for himself a better life.  From a secular standpoint, many of the devised programs, processes and religions have been deemed suitable for a life model.  

The truth of the matter is that there is only one life model that has merit - the plan of salvation.  It is a plan that is offered to all but must be accepted to be received.  

It is well stated here in an excerpt from the Nicene Creed which was written in 325AD:

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.  Through him all things were made.  For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.  For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.  On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

Reliance on the Holy Spirit

If we place our focus on our vision, our job or our problem, without including the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will set expectations that will not be in perfect alignment with God's plans for our lives.  We will be setting ourselves up for burn out or disappointment because our results will not be satisfying to us nor pleasing to God.

Our focus needs to be on God at all times.  If our focus is on Him, He will direct our ways.  He will establish how high He is ready for us to go.  He knows exactly what we are capable of through His Holy Spirit.

Losing It

Whenever we are out in the world, we are challenged by many things (bad drivers, rude cashiers, uncaring service attendants, etc.) that annoy us.  We need to learn to turn these things over to the Lord.  If we don't, we are likely to lose our testimony quickly.

It only takes one quick, nasty comment to destroy our ability to deliver the Good News.  After all, who would want to be a Christian if it leaves the person with a nasty attitude.  This is what the non-believer will see when we react in the flesh instead of letting the Lord handle it.

Serving the Body of Christ

Most of us are not called by God to be theologians or full time ministers.  We are called by God to be secular laborers who bring His Good News to our homes and our workplaces.  

Aside from our working career, we may have a calling for some type of spiritual service at church such as teaching bible study, singing in the choir, etc.  For most of the rest of us, our service for the church will probably be limited to simple services such as child care giver, parking attendant, usher or perhaps greeter.  We may view these services as quite mundane.  But God sees these things completely differently.  Each of these tasks are ordained for assignment in fulfilling the needs of the Body of Christ and are held in high esteem by Him.  His rewards are not based on what job we serve, but how we respond to His calling to serve His church.

Our Sins Are Washed Away Forever

God loves us so much that He forgives our sins is a misstatement of the truth.  God by His nature cannot forgive our sins without the redemptive work of the Cross.  The proper statement is that God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the Cross as a living sacrifice for our sins.  

The blood of Jesus washes away our sins.  It is the complete sacrificial work of Jesus that allows God to receive us as heirs into His kingdom.  This understanding of sin emphasizes how grievous sin is to God.  God simply cannot tolerate sin.  Sin cannot exist in His presence.

The Process of Forgiveness

The process of forgiveness on the human level is fairly straight forward.  When we are lightly offended by another person, we may simply forgive them because we love them so much or because the offense was so light that it is easily forgotten.  For more grievous offenses, we may find it harder to forgive, but we may decide to do so because the offender admits guilt and the offender's expression of sorrow and regret is sufficient to ease our pain.  Of course, the process is always easier if the offender offers to compensate us for our losses and/or promises never to do it again.

The process of forgiveness on the supernatural level is more complex.  For God, every sin is a grievous offense.  For the sin to be forgiven requires more than an admission of guilt, an expression of regret, a reconciliation of damages and a desire to turn away from the sin forever.  God requires that Jesus mediates on our behalf.  He can only be our mediator if we have received Him as Our Savior.  The process of supernatural forgiveness is a miracle made possible by the death of Jesus on the Cross. 

Only Through the Cross

We know that God forgives our sins when we confess them before Him and repent.  What we often overlook when we confess our sins is that the process of forgiveness is only possible because Jesus died on the Cross for our sins.  

Had Jesus not taken away our sins, God in His righteousness could not forgive us for our sins.  Because of the blood sacrifice of His Son, God is able to both forgive our sins and retain His holy nature.  We must not miss the opportunity to bring thanks to Our Savior for His sacrifice when we approach Our Heavenly Father for forgiveness.

The Freedom of Choice

With the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, we hold the promises of God's Word that He will perfect His strength in our weakness.  We must be aware, however, that through this process Our Heavenly Father does not take away our right to choose.

The bottom line is that we have to make choice to either follow the urgings of the Creator of the Universe or follow our own carnal desires.  We shall be free indeed if we choose submission to the callings of Our Lord.

His Provision is Measured

As parents, we want all the best for our children.  We want them to have a wonderful life.  Because of our higher level of understanding and our life experiences, we know that children should only be given certain gifts and responsibilities when they have shown that they are ready to handle them.  Our children prove their readiness for more through obedience to our instructions.

God uses our experiences as parents to reveal to us the way in which He will release His blessings into our lives and how He will call us to greater responsibilities in His kingdom.  Just as we provided more for our children based on their readiness, Our Heavenly Father measures the amount of His release to us based on our obedience to His instructions and callings on our lives.

Our Aim in Life

If life were a business, it would be all about the bottom line results.  In truth, this is how most people approach life.  Even people in ministry are often too heavily focused on the results (the number of members, funds collected, funds distributed, etc.) of their ministries.

In God's kingdom on earth, it is all about the process.  God takes full responsibility for the results.  He looks to us to follow His primary processes - love Him above all things and love our neighbors as ourselves.  Through our efforts done for His glory, He takes care of all the rest.

Breaking Our Independent Spirit

Most of us in America were raised to be fiercely independent.  Our level of independence was often the measure of our maturity.  

That admirable trait, in the eyes of the world, impacts how we are able to build intimacy with God.  When we fall short of full surrender to Jesus Christ because of our independent spirit, we end up living on the fence - half in a spiritual life and have in a carnal life.  

Only a Holy Spirit led lifestyle that fosters our intimacy with Our Heavenly Father will enable us to completely surrender our lives to Jesus.  We will have reached spiritual maturity when we get off the fence and become consciously devoted to God in all that we do.

Making Devine Choices

From the beginning, God gave man free choice.  While God has a plan for our lives, He allows us to discover it through the life choices that we make.  He will provide urgings in our spirit through His Holy Spirit.  He will provide stop signs in the same fashion.  But through it all, our free choice will remain.

The closer we are to Our Heavenly Father will dictate how closely our choices mirror His choices for our lives.  Our intimacy with Him will ultimately lead us to a place where our choices will be the same as His.

Releasing God's Power Through Faith

The living water is within us when we receive Jesus Christ as Our Savior.  The living water is never turned off.  It is always available to us and to those around us.

Only the level of our faith restricts the flow of the living water.  Without faith, we build a dam.  With a little faith, we allow a measured flow.  With much faith, we release an unlimited torrent of absolute power.  Our faith must be in the One from whom our experience flows.

The Identity of a New Man in Christ

A new man in Christ is identified by his obedience to God's commands and by the fruit that he bears.  His life is an expression of the gifts that he has received - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  In everything he does, he shares with the world around him the perfect love and forgiveness that he received from the Father.  He pleases the Father by bringing honor and glory to His name, the name of Jesus and to the Holy Spirit.

Building Spiritual Maturity

One thing is as certain as death and taxes.  We are going to experience trials in our lives.  Some of the trials will be small while others will be so big we will nearly faint.  In each, we must learn to rejoice for trials are God's way of drawing us close and teaching us His ways.

Through our faith we will have our character built up so that we may become the person God intended us to be.  And as our character builds, our faith will grow stronger to facilitate even more spiritual maturity.

Plentiful Fruit

When we are in full submission to Jesus as Lord of our lives, we have prepared ourselves to allow the full power of the Holy Spirit to be released into the world around us.  At this juncture, we are fully capable of doing all that God has planned and willed for our lives.  All we need to do is listen for and respond to the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  If we do this, our path will be perfect and our fruit will be plentiful.

The Work of Converting Souls

When we try to teach, preach or evangelize through our own strength and capability, we will not be successful in delivering the true message of redemption.  The work of revealing Jesus is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit within us.  If we let the Holy Spirit lead us, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be our product.

Fundamentally, it is not our job to convert people.  It is our job to have people drawn to us through our living testimony.  Once drawn to us, then Jesus is revealed to them as the way, the truth and the life.  The conversion of souls is the work of Jesus Christ.  To Him goes all the glory.

Temples of the Holy Spirit

We are the vessels of the living water that dwells within us.  We are the lanterns for the light that shines from us.  We are the place that others can go to share in the fruits of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  We are temples of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Nothing that flows through us to others is of ourselves.  It all originates from the perfection of the Holy Spirit within us.  Our responsibility is to keep the temple undefiled so that the Holy Spirit can operate freely in our lives.

God's Plans for Our Lives Unfold Around Us Each Day

New government leader, new boss, new co-worker, new neighbor, new acquaintance, new friend - not a single one of them are new in our lives by chance.  God has placed them all in our lives to teach us new things about ourselves. 

It seems impossible that all the people placed around us are there for our good.  But our God is the God of the impossible and He loves us so much that He goes to all lengths to meet our needs.  He places people all around us to mold us into who He created us to be.  Some of the people will challenge us, some will aid us or support us and some will need our aid or support.  All of the people around us can benefit us if we take the time to realize that they are not there by chance.  They are there as part of God's plan for our lives.

For the Good of Those Who Love Him

Have you ever heard someone say, "I am not worried, things always work out for the best"?  Whether that person has looked at that statement from a spiritual perspective is unknown.  What is known is that if that person is a Christian, a look back from a spiritual standpoint will reveal the hand of God in each circumstance that "worked out".

God is faithful to His Word.  In accordance with Romans 8:28,  "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  No matter what today looks like, we can trust in The Lord to work out all the details for our eternal good.

The Fabric of Our Lives

We see our lives through the fabric of time.  All we see is one thread at a time.  God works in the fabric of eternity.  He is constantly weaving our entire life for us.  He sees the finished product, while we only see the singular threads coming together one at a time.

Because God is who He is, the final product will be much more beautiful and useful than we could ever imagine or hope for.  We will realize the extraordinary value of His work in our lives when we stand before Him and see for ourselves who we have become.

As We Draw Near to Him

When we were without Christ, we were not capable of standing against the powers that sought to destroy us.  In the darkness, we could not see that we were being led into a life that would never be totally satisfying.  We could not understand that by settling for what the world had to offer, we fell short of receiving all the riches of Our Heavenly Father.

But now that we have allowed the light of Jesus to come into our lives, we can see the new man for the first time and see all the potential that he has.  We can understand that our renewal was made available to us through Our Savior.  As we draw near to Him, we realize that He will help us to receive all that Our Heavenly Father has prepared for us here on earth and in heaven.

A Good and Perfect Master

In the days of slavery, the slave was keenly aware of who his owner was and what his owner expected of him.  When the slave had a good master, he could see the value in the provision he was given in exchange for his service.  The well treated slave often delighted in pleasing the good master.

As Christians, we not only have a good master, but a perfect Master in Jesus.  We should delight in meeting every calling that He places on our lives.

The Do's and Don'ts of Obedience

Most diets are built on "dos" and "don'ts".  Don't eat this type of food.  Do eat another type.  Don't eat at certain times.  Do eat at other specified times.  Don't eat too much of this.  Do eat more of that.  For many this regimen is only sustainable for a short period of time.  Ultimately the diet fails.  The flesh is not capable of overcoming the desire to satisfy self.  The people who win at dieting are generally the ones who diet for a higher purpose than losing weight, e. g., "I want to be healthy so I can enjoy my family more."  

Similarly, obedience to God for obedience sake is doomed for failure.  Obedience to God based on our love for The Lord and our desire to please Him is the way.  We must learn to lean on His Spirit and not our own.

Transformation by Trial and Heartbreak

Once we accept Christ as Our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us.  The Lord then begins to use us as vessels to carry and share His perfect love and forgiveness.  But first, we must be broken of those things in our lives that would hinder the flow of God's love through us.

As we submit to the reign of Christ in our lives, we will experience trials and heartbreak.  These trials are allowed by God to create brokenness in our lives.  These same trials will be used by God to create the cracks in us as living vessels of the Lord's love.  These cracks will then become the portals from which His love will flow through us unhindered by our frailties.

Experiencing Unabated Joy and Peace

"Because of our faith, Christ has brought us to this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory." Romans 5:2

Consequently we can approach every moment of our life, whether it be fraught with good or bad news, with unabated joy and peace.  We can experience this level of supernatural joy by building up our faith in Almighty God through our reading of His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us.

A Place of Trust

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

God wants us to turn to Him first in all matters of our lives.  He wants us to grow into a place where we trust Him for everything we need.  We will only reach this place of trust by seeking an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

The New Man

We are able to stand before Our Heavenly Father in a righteous state because Jesus took on all of our sins on the Cross.  The sins of the old man are no more.  All that remains before the Father is the new man, indwelled by the spirit of Jesus Christ, without blemish.

The new man that stands before the Throne of God is made in His image.  The new man is the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.  He is worthy to dwell with the Father for all eternity.

It Was All Done on the Cross

God is so holy that sin cannot exist in His presence.  Thus every saint in heaven will be completely free of any type of sin.  To have any sin remaining means eternal separation from God.

The Good News is that God provided for our complete cleansing through the death of His Son on the Cross.  It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ that washes us clean of all of our sin.  All we have to do is believe and accept Jesus as Our Savior.  All the necessary work was done on the Cross.

Life's Great Challenge

How many did you win?  How many did you sell?  How much profit did you make?  These are the questions that the world asks.  This world is all about measuring bottom line results.

Do we have the ultimate relationship with Jesus Christ that God desires for us to have?  Are we following the processes and plans that the Holy Spirit has given us for our lives?  Have we abandoned or ignored supernatural guidance in order to follow our own plans?  These are the questions that God asks.  God's kingdom is not about results.  God's kingdom is based on relationship and spiritual process.  

Life's great challenge is to choose our master.  Are we wise enough  in God's sight and foolish enough according to the world to choose Jesus as Our Master?

The Priorities of Service

We should not overwhelm ourselves by doing good things while missing the things God has planned for us.  We tend to overload ourselves with "good" activities while leaving ourselves with too little time to commune with God.  How can we hear His calling if we are not spending time listening to Him?

We should also be alert to the possibility that we are doing so many "good" things that we are neglecting the needs of our own families.  As we listen for God's calling, there is one certain aspect that will always be there.  Our Heavenly Father will insure that we have time to adequately care for the needs of our families first before we are extended any further. 

Men and Women of God

God calls people to all walks of life.  Some are called to full time ministries, but most are not.  Most people are called to traditional occupations.  All people are called to let Christ show through them wherever they are and in whatever they are doing.

When we live our lives fully submitted to Jesus, He will surely draw spiritual production through us within the structure of our natural lives.  And we will be called men and women of God and the glory will go to Him.

We Reflect Christ Within Us

As Christians, we are living testimonies of Christ within us.  It is not enough that we have a compelling story to share with the world about how we were saved and what it means to us.  While this is good news to share, the world needs to see more.  

The world needs to see us living a life that reflects Christ's presence in us.  Those around us need to see our living testimony revealed through every single action we take and every single word we speak.

How Far We Are From Perfection

The two greatest commandments, as given to us by Jesus, are:  1)  Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.  2)  Love thy neighbor as thyself.  He then said all other commandments hang off of these two.

No man, not one, can fully meet the requirements of these two great commandments - not in the flesh.  Only through our new nature in Christ can we meet these standards.  Even when we approach meeting them on occasion, we are reminded in the spirit how far we are from perfection in these two basic areas.

Preparing a Holy Place

Wherever God appears is a holy place.  (When Moses approached the burning bush, he was told to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.)  So if we are looking for God to reveal Himself to us, we must prepare a holy place for Him.  We prepare that holy place by accepting Jesus as Our Savior.  With our sins washed away by the blood of Jesus and His Spirit indwelling in us, we become a holy temple ready to receive the witness and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.


To receive the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit and to build the depth of our relationship with Almighty God, we must be in complete surrender to our new life in Christ.  Anything that we hold on to from the world that diminishes our surrender to Christ will restrict the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Responding to Personal Conflicts

Strike back.  Respond in defense.  Prove that I am right.  All of these are natural human responses during personal conflict.

When we are followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to a different standard - "Love thy neighbor as thyself."  Choosing this standard requires a supernatural response when we run into personal conflicts.  We are to express the love of Christ in every instance.  Often this will include forgiving the other party in the heat of the conflict.  Only our strength through Jesus allows us to meet His standard.

We Will Be Made Holy

Once we have accepted Jesus as Our Savior, our salvation is assured and our sanctification process begins.  It is God's will that we will be made holy like He is holy.  Through the atonement process, Jesus has provided us with that which we did not earn and certainly do not deserve.

According to His promises, Jesus will complete in us that which we could not do without His constant grace.  He will make us holy.  All we have to do is to humbly submit to His work in our lives.

The Value of Our Works

The world is all about results.  The Lord is all about process.  

What does this mean to us as Christians?  It means that God is more concerned about our relationship and intimacy with Jesus than He is in our public usefulness to men.  For all good work will flow supernaturally from our Christian lives as a result of our relationship with Jesus.  If any good work emanates from any other source, it is of no real value to God.  God receives the praise and glory that is His alone through our works that are done as a result of our relationship with our Savior.

Navigating Through Life's Challenges

To successfully wade through life's challenges, we must turn our focus on Jesus.  His ways, not ours, are the ways we need to follow in every circumstance.  By following His nature, and not our own, we will be able to successfully navigate through all of our problems and opportunities.

By going with the flow of His living water instead of always fighting our own way upstream, we will find life to be easier and much more satisfying.  Additionally, when we are in communion with Jesus, the world around us will see and benefit from the natural outpouring of His Spirit within us.

Releasing the Divine Light

Most of us will never set foot on foreign soil in an effort to win souls for Jesus.  Nor will we step to a podium to stir a great revival.  But each one of us can pray continuously for the Lord to extend His loving kindness, mercy and grace to a darkened world so that His light can be revealed to those who are living in darkness.

In some cases, the Lord may ask us to be the laborer bringing in the harvest of a soul.  But in most cases, our calling will be to serve the Lord by praying for His divine light to be released to those around us and by living in such a way that others would want to follow us in our walk with Jesus.

Extending the Good News to All the World

God creates every single living person in His image.  It is His will that none shall perish.  He loves each one with the fullness of His perfect love.  To each He extends His forgiveness for their sin through His Son, Jesus Christ.  

To each that receive His Son as their Savior, He gives His Holy Spirit to dwell within them so that they can proclaim the Good News of salvation and provide a living testimony to the unsaved around them.  Thus the Lord sends His laborers throughout the world.

The Expression of Love and Forgiveness

God so loved the world that He gave His Son to die for all the sins of every person.  In this one act, we see the full expression of God's perfect love and forgiveness. 

When we receive Jesus as Our Savior, we receive His perfect love and forgiveness.  We also receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which leads us to share this perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us.  We are called to make this full expression of love and forgiveness to every man in every place without withholding even the smallest portion.

We Are Defined by Our Obedience

There is not a single work that we do that has God saying, "Thanks, I could not have accomplished my plans without you."  If God has anything that He would like to see done through human efforts, He can always find a replacement for us if we refuse to follow His calling.

The loss will never be His.  The loss is always ours when we are not obedient to what the Lord is calling us to do.  The work that we do for the Lord does more for our sanctification than anything else.  Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience.

Leading the Family Spiritually

Every man is called to lead his family spiritually.  When the fullness of the calling hits him, he soon realizes how ill equipped he is for the work and how ill prepared his family is to receive him.

This is all part of the God-work that begins once the man expresses his desire to God to meet his calling.  God has complete control of all aspects of the work to be done in the man and in his family.  God will overcome all the individual disappointment and provide for all the personal enlargement needed to fulfill the calling.

Walking With God

"Enoch walked with God."  (Genesis 5:24)  How cool would that be?  At any given time, just dial up the ruler and creator of the universe and invite Him for a walk.  It sounds impossible and nearly unimaginable.  Yet it is absolutely within our reach.

The only obstacle to dialing up God is that we have to be on the same line with Him.  We can only get on the same line by shedding all the old lines of distraction in our lives.  Certainly a lot of personal work to be done there, but well worth the effort considering the benefit.

Just Like Mommy's Cake

"Mommy, I really want a chocolate cake," is a child's simple request.  Mommy says, "OK, but not now.  I will do it later when I have all the ingredients and I can make the cake exactly how you like it".

This is how God works with each of us.  He hears our prayers and He prepares the perfect answer.  He does not rush to provide an answer to our prayers.  He waits for all the best "ingredients" to be in place.  He wants to prepare only the best for us - just like Mommy.

Obedience Brings Favor

As parents, we understand the joy of an obedient child.  The obedient child's constant compliance melts our hearts.  It is likely that we extend special favor to the obedient child.  It is also easier for us to give the child greater responsibility because we are confident that they will handle it appropriately.  

So it is with God.  He rejoices in His obedient children who are compliant to His Word, His laws and His calling on their lives.  He rewards them with more knowledge and greater responsibility in the Kingdom.

We Receive What We Could Not Earn

When we are born, we inherit the sin nature brought to us through the bloodlines of Adam and Eve.  Through the grace of God we are given the choice to keep the sin which separates us from Him or receive the atonement for our sin provided by the shed blood of His Son, Jesus.

If we accept the precious gift of salvation, we are then sanctified through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.  We become righteous, holy and fully acceptable to the Lord in heaven.  Through His grace we receive what we could not otherwise earn.

The Ultimate Invitation

"Come to me," is the ultimate invitation. It was issued by Our Lord, Our Savior and Our King, Jesus Christ.  Thus it allows 24-7 access to the greatest person who ever lived on this earth.  

The invitation has no expiration date.  Acceptance of this invitation allows access to the unimaginable favor of almighty God for all eternity.

There is only one requirement to accepting this invitation.  We must acknowledge Jesus as Our Savior and we must acknowledge ourselves as a sinners that require His cleansing blood to make us acceptable to live in His Father's kingdom.

Washed Clean by Our Savior

When we hear the word sin, we think of a single transgression which breaks God's law.  In reality, sin is a complete condition that separates us from God.  It is a chasm that we cannot cross on our own.

When Adam and Eve sinned, we inherited a condition that separated us from God for all eternity.  Thankfully, our merciful Father provided the way for us to cross the chasm created by sin.  He provided His Son, who knew no sin, to take on all of our sin on the Cross.  By the shed blood of Jesus, all who accept Him as their Savior, are washed clean of their sin for all eternity.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

Without the aid of the Holy Spirit we would live our entire lives in darkness.  We could not recognize the light, the truth and the way that is in Jesus Christ.  Our hearts could not be molded so that we could submit to Jesus as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  

Only through the loving kindness, mercy and grace of God are our eyes opened by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only through this precious gift can God do His good work in us.

Redemption from Our Sin Nature

When we say that man is born with a sin nature, we are indicating that man puts himself above all things.  Our nature without Christ is to put ourselves before God in our decisions.  

"I am the Lord thy God.  Have no false gods before me," is the first commandment sinned against by each of us.  There is no recovery from this sin except through the redemption provided by Jesus Christ.  

God does not hold us responsible for our sin nature.  He does hold us responsible for recognizing and accepting that Jesus is the only way that we can be redeemed from our sin nature.

The Pursuit of Our Vision

Once we have Jesus in our lives, He will begin to reveal His plans for our lives.  Most of us will not have a big vision from God, at least not in the eyes of the world.  But rest assured that God has a very special plan for each of us.

The Lord will reveal His plan through gentle urgings in our spirit, through our prayers and through our reading of His Word.  Along the way, He will send others who will confirm the vision.  We can also be certain that Satan will send challengers and obstructors to to destroy the plans that God has for us.

But God will use the confirmers and the challengers to insure we fulfill our vision.  The confirmers will be there to encourage us, assist us and mentor us.  The challengers will be there to strengthen our resolution and to build character in us as we follow God's plan for our lives.

Our Power Provision

Whatever we are doing as a result of God's calling on our lives is reliant on His power provision.  The flow of the power provision is reliant on our relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  As long as we are in a good relationship with Our Lord,  every power that we need to produce good works in accordance with His plan for our lives is provided through the Holy Spirit. 

If we break fellowship with the Lord, our power provision will cease.  We may be able to manipulate some things through the power of our own flesh, but the things that we are working on for the kingdom will not endure under the burden of broken fellowship with God. 

Returning to the Father

The prodigal son left home thinking he could conquer the world on his own.  It did not take long for him to exhaust his resources and then realize everything he would ever need had always been available to him at his father's house.

We all experience the same journey relative to our relationship with Our Heavenly Father.  We set out on our own way, thinking that we are self-sufficient.  As we meet our failures, the Lord awaits our return to Him.  Once we recognize the foolishness of living our lives in the flesh, we turn to Him for divine guidance and provision.  He always celebrates our return.

Moments in the Presence of God

Throughout our Christian lives, we will experience "moments" in the presence of God.  The moments may come in different forms.  In some cases, they may be in the dramatic form of an audible voice, a dream or a visitation.  In most cases, they will be in the form of gentle urgings from the Holy Spirit into our spirits.

Each moment is meant to lift us up from day-to-day living into a kingdom experience.  Each moment can be very exciting and pleasing.  But God does not intend for us to stay in the moment.   Nor does He want us to seek continued residence there.  He simply uses the moment to show us a path, to build us up, to strengthen us and, most importantly, to prepare us to be with Him for all eternity.

Called To Be Comforters

God's Holy Word tells us that we should rejoice in our trials because they are character builders in our lives.  The trials that we go through certainly do build character if we turn to the Lord for our strength during the trials.

Beyond the character building process, we gain more - much more.  We gain life experiences that we are able to share with others who find themselves going through similar trials.  God prepares us to be comforters for others in their times of need. 

Proclaimers of the Good News

Every Christian is called to preach the gospel. We all have that calling.  Yet the calling is very different for each of us.  For we are each called according the equipping of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Some of us will be called to be evangelists or missionaries.  Some of us will be called to be preachers or teachers.  Some of us will be called to support the spreading of the gospel through prayer, through service and through financial provision.  All of us will be called to be proclaimers of the Good News by the daily testimony of how we live our lives.

The calling to proclaim the gospel is a necessity that God lays on each of us.  The fullness of joy in our lives will be experienced by finding out how God is calling us and following His calling.

Finding Our Place with Jesus

When we reach heaven, having shed our earthly bodies, we will be fully submitted to Jesus.  We will have released every single remaining carnal desire that we carried on earth.

Jesus is the only man that ever achieved absolute abandonment to the Father while on earth.   He is looking for disciples that are willing to engage in the constant shedding of their carnal desires while still in their earthly bodies.  The Holy Spirit is provided to guide and strengthen each disciple in this process until the time when they find their place in heaven with their Master, Jesus Christ.    

The Influence of the Holy Spirit

Every logical consideration of receiving Jesus Christ as a personal Savior without the influence of the Holy Spirit will end up in a decision of "no" or "not now".  Without the influence of the Holy Spirit, man will follow the callings of his flesh which is never ready to be laid down in submission at the feet of Jesus.  

Praise God.   In His endless mercy, knowing our eternally fatal weakness, He gives us the Holy Spirit to provide us with the faith that we need to receive Jesus as Our Savior.

Love and Forgiveness

Jesus Christ is the essence of perfect love and forgiveness.  He is the standard to which He is calling all people.  

The principle of love and forgiveness is so important in God's kingdom that Jesus teaches us that we should go to reconcile our grievances with others before we come to His altar with our offerings.  If we are the offender, we should go and ask for forgiveness for our act and be willing to make retribution for the wrong.  If we are the offended, we should forgive the one that has wronged us.  In both cases, we should waive our own, perceived rights and obey the Lord's call to pour out His love that is in us to the other party. 

Perfectly Fitted Through Grace

Love God with your all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.  Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Jesus called these the two greatest commandments.  He taught that these are the things that we must do to inherit eternal life in heaven.  

But clearly these things are beyond human capability.  That which is demanded of us is impossible without supernatural intervention.  Thus, Our Heavenly Father through his endless grace and mercy provided the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to provide the supernatural assistance that we all need to fulfill our requirements for entry into heaven.

So it is with God's calling on our lives.  God does not ask us to do that which is possible for us naturally.   He asks us to do that which we are perfectly fitted for through His grace.

Clinging to the Cross

There is but one Cross, one atonement for our sins.  Our time on earth is meant as a reconciling of ourselves to the Cross.  Nothing that we do in our lives has value with the Lord unless it has been put in proper order.

The Heavenly Father must be the first consideration of every conscious moment in our lives.  If there is anything or any person that comes before the Father, He will ask us to give up our improper disposition.  This will be a continuous process in our lives until we have released our last wayward conviction and have only the Cross left to cling to. 

Praise God for His mercy.  Praise God for providing His Son to allow us to reconcile our lives with the Father.

Seeking God's Will for Each Season in Our Lives

Jesus lived His entire time on earth focused on doing the will of the Father.  He did not care if He preached to one or to ten thousand.  He was not interested in seeking the recognition of man for the good that He did.  He only sought to do the things that would please the Father.

Jesus faithfully followed God's plan for His life.   He was the obedient son of Joseph and Mary.  He was a skilled carpenter in His home town.  He was a great teacher.  He was a miracle worker.  He died on the Cross to be Our Savior.  In every season of His life, He did exactly what God called Him to do.

Jesus is our role model.  We should do as He did.  We should seek and be obedient to the will of the Father for each of the seasons in our lives.     

Our Relationship with Our Master

In every religion other than Christianity, the final goal is to have done enough in life to satisfy a god who rewards the deserving individual for all eternity.  For the non-Christian believer, their god is a task master.

For Christians, servitude to the Master is totally different.  The Master took care of everything required for the servant to receive his or her eternal reward.

As Christians, we serve a loving God who demands nothing but for us to have a living relationship with Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.  Jesus stands before the Father on our behalf testifying to our worthiness to receive our eternal destiny in heaven.  His Holy Spirit dwells within us perfecting us for that glorious day.

Glorifying Our Heavenly Father

Christ Jesus dwelling in us is our blessed hope for glory and the revelation of God's creative purpose for our lives - to glorify Him.  As we submit to Christ's reign in our lives, we learn to overcome all the challenges and obstacles that the enemy sends our way to keep us from glorifying Our Heavenly Father.

We were all created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.  Through Jesus' constant presence with us, we are led into our earthly calling.  We are provided the gifts of the Holy Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These gifts prepare us to serve and glorify God here on earth and in the heaven for all eternity.

How Are We Recognized?

We are most comfortable in life when we are around people we like and when we are asked to do things that come easily to us.  In these times, our personality and our capabilities shine.  We are recognized by many for these things.

But these times do not necessarily reveal the One that lives within us.  Jesus is revealed in our lives when we exhibit unusual grace, mercy, gentleness, faithfulness, loving kindness, goodness, patience and self-control during the times in which we are being taxed by our situation.  At these times, we exhibit the fullness of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.  We are recognized by Our Heavenly Father for these things.

He Never Leaves Us

During times of severe trial, we have several paths we can take.  One well worn path is the path of anger toward God which is accompanied by withdrawal from Him.  Another less traveled path is the path of joy in Lord with pressing into Him.  For most of us, we end up somewhere in the middle.  As we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we will learn how to find the path of joy in all of our trials.

The well known poem, "Footprints in the Sand", adds further insight into our walk with the Lord.  The writer sets the stage of seeing two sets of foot prints in the sand when walking with Jesus.  Then during a severe trial she reports seeing only one set of footprints.  She thinks Jesus has left her.  But the Lord responds, "The times when you see only one set of footprints is when I am carrying you."  We may withdraw from the Lord during trials, but He never leaves us.

Our Indwelling Strength

Before we receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit at our salvation, Satan does not have to work at tempting us.  Our sins are sufficient to separate us from God.  We are already in line with Satan's plans to keep us from our eternal destiny with Our Lord.

Once we receive the living spirit of God within us, then Satan goes to work.  His temptations become relentless.  He is obsessed with destroying our lives.  Thank God that He promises to perfect His strength in our weakness when we are under attack.  He gives us the Holy Spirit to fulfill this promise.

Temptation Is Not Sin

All men and women on earth are tempted regularly.  Satan attempts to separate each of us from God through our sin.  Satan knows that God will never stop loving us, but we will draw away from Our Heavenly Father when we sin.  

We must understand that the temptation is never a sin.  Jesus, the only man without sin, was tempted by Satan.  Jesus overcame each temptation to keep Himself sinless.  Jesus was able to overcome the temptations through the power of the Word of God.  This is our weapon against Satan as well to defeat him in his relentless strategy to separate us from Our Lord.

In the Lap of the Father

What parent's heart doesn't melt when their child comes to them and just wants to be held or to rest in the comfort of the parent's lap.  At that point, the child is asking for nothing except to feel the love and comfort and strength of the parent.

This is exactly what Our Heavenly Father longs for.  He wants His children to come to Him to find the love, comfort and peace that can be found nowhere else.  

Our Sufficiency

There seems to be a thread of jealousy in each of us.  For some it is a monster that devours them.  For most of us, it is the slight murmur of discontent when someone else has something that we do not have - fame, success, recognition, money, etc.  The murmur will never go away until we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ.  He alone is our sufficiency.

Living a Simple Life

The world we live in today is very complex.  There is a lot of "stuff" that we have to deal with.  Much of the "stuff" is of our own doing as we continue to pile up toys and activities that end up overwhelming us.  Just to be sure we have plenty to divert our focus away from Our Savior, Satan makes his own contribution to the "stuff" that creates our spiritual muddle.  We stay constantly in stress trying to deal with the clutter in our lives.

Simplicity in our lives is the secret to seeing things clearly and living in serenity.  When we focus our lives on Jesus, our lives become much simpler.  Jesus is the essence of everything good and the absence of anything evil.   As our focus turns to Him, we are able to perceive God's will for our lives and to live our lives in simple balance. 

Our Joyful Destiny

There is no joy on earth that can compare with the joy we will experience when we finally have full union with Jesus Christ.  We will not experience the fullness of this relationship until we meet Our Savior in heaven.  At that glorious time, the joy of being fully united with Jesus will exceed any expectation that we might be able to imagine.  

In the meantime, it is possible to experience a portion of Our Savior's joy here on earth - a portion larger than anything this earth can offer us.  We can do so by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the enemy's efforts to keep us from our joy filled destiny.

So It Is with Our Heavenly Father

God gave us parenthood so that we could better understand our relationship with Him.  We can use the experiences of our relationship with our children and our parents to help us when God is taking us by a way that we do not understand.

When God seems at a distance from us, we can call on the memories of the times that we stood away from our children so that they could learn on their own and grow from the experience.   Although our children did not realize it, we were always there for them if they needed us.  So it is with our Heavenly Father.

When God is calling us to be obedient is some area of our lives, we can call on the memories of the times that we were given specific instructions by our parents.  It was not easy for them.  They felt the pain of our anger as we were sure that their directives were way out of line with what was being done in the world of our friends.  Our parents loved us through our anger.  They knew that we were better off following their instruction than going our own way.  So it is with our Heavenly Father.

Our Comfort in Christ

As we draw in closer to the Lord, His light will reveal every iniquity in us and His fire will begin to burn away that which offends Him.  As we grow in our walk with Him, the time in the purification process will become more intense.

The Lord will test us to see how close we are willing to walk near Him.  The level of our comfort as we approach Him will be determined by our level of preparation to reach Him.  Unless we are fully submitted to the rule and reign of Jesus in our lives, we will not feel comfortable at all.

Mental and Spiritual Fitness

In today's workplace, our daily work environments are likely to be stress filled pits.  To make matters worse, many of us will experience a mental carryover into our personal lives.  Without a doubt, our workplaces can take a grueling toll on us.  Can we avoid it?

Changing jobs may be a solution in some cases.  In most cases, the new job is likely to bring as much or more stress.  So avoiding stress on the job is probably unavoidable for most of us.  Avoiding the affects of stress on the job is within the reach of all of us.  It will require that we build up our mental fitness.

We build our mental fitness by building our spiritual fitness.  Throughout the day we should include intermittent times of prayer and worship.  These times of prayer and worship can be a matter of seconds.  They will serve the purpose of directing our focus away from our problems and onto our solution - Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Not surprisingly, when we learn to rely on Our Lord for our strength during the day, He will become our greater strength when the work day is over.  As a result, we will find more time for deeper prayer and worship.  We will begin to take our mental and spiritual fitness to an all new level.

Success Measured by the Standards of His Kingdom

Satan loves to keep us tied up in activities that we take on without even looking for God's perspective. Under Satan's trickery, we take on tasks, jobs and even ministries that we know we are capable of handling and that we know will likely bring us success.  And often, we will be successful by the world's standards.

But God is looking for the opportunity to have His glory, and not our capabilities, reflected in the things that we do.  He is looking for a renewal of our minds so that we make choices by seeking His counsel through prayer, the reading of His Word and the advice of spirit-filled men and women.  Making choices in this transformed way will take us beyond our capabilities and our imagination.  Our accomplishments will then be for His glory and our success will be measured by the standards of His kingdom.

Guaranteed Victory

The guaranteed formula for our personal defeat is to cast ourselves against Satan, against sin or against our own flesh. Carnal man will lose this battle every time.

The guaranteed formula for personal victory is to cast all of our cares upon the Lord.  Through Him, we have victory in everything.  The process of sanctification, which will signify our ultimate victory, comes as a result of us giving up our own ability to compete and placing the battle in the hands of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Abundant Fount

The living water provided by Our Savior is available to all people as a constant flow.   The flow cannot stop nor will it ever stop.  The abundant fount of Jesus Christ is eternal.

This living water is also available to pass through us as vessels of Our Lord's love.  When we put our trust in Jesus and submit to His calling on our lives, the living water flows freely through us on to others.  On the other hand, when we turn to the world for our direction, we hinder the productive flow that the Lord intends for us to share. 

Rest assured.  The well of water never goes away.  The eternal reservoir is always ready to be tapped.  The Lord waits patiently to release His abundance through His children when they turn to Him in obedience.

Our Shining Light

As Christians, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, our demeanor is engaging to the observer.  Without even being aware of it, our smiles or kind words delivered somewhat casually can become  day changers, or even life changers, for the receivers of the acts of kindness.  

At times, our acts of kindness are delivered to the receiver purposely.  Often they are not.  They are simply representative of the gift of living water that is passing through us as obedient and submissive vessels. They are the reflection of Jesus Christ, the Lord of all peace, comfort and healing, that is shining through to those that need Him.  

Understanding the Nature of Our Blessed Hope

Before accepting Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we are not able to see the way, the truth and the life that is in Him.  Our sin nature blinds us to who He is and the salvation plan that He offers.  It is only by the aid of the Holy Spirit preparing our hearts that we are able to receive and submit to Our Lord, Jesus Christ.  

When we take the step of salvation, the Holy Spirit dwells within us to continue to be our helper.  The Holy Spirit will take us through the process of becoming disciples of Jesus.  We will learn to accept Our Lord's teachings and share them with others.  We will grow spiritually and develop an intimate relationship with Our Savior.  We will be prepared to meet Our Lord in heaven.  

When we get to heaven, we will finally fully understand the perfect nature and depth of character of Our Blessed Hope.  With our sin nature completely removed, all of His Glory will be revealed to us.   

Standards for Successful Selling

All successful companies have sales personnel that stand up to established standards for representing the company's goods and services.  The one standard that will be found in each of these companies is that the sales personnel must have a full understanding of their products and be able to present the products in an exemplary fashion.  

Other standards are likely to include codes for appearance and behavior and a requirement to always exhibit a passion for the company and the products in the marketplace.  And then, to insure that all the standards are met, each sales person will have a manager to train them, motivate them and monitor their performance.

As the representatives of the greatest product of all times, the Good News, our standards are basically the same.  We have several huge advantages in the marketplace.  1) There is no other product that delivers like ours.  2) Our manager is the infallible Holy Spirit that dwells within us. 3) Our reward program is the best.

A Healthy Vessel

We are mere vessels on this earth.  Whatever we receive from The Lord needs to be poured out into the world.  The healthy vessel has a constant stream flowing from it.  

To restrict or dam up the outflow from the vessel is to damage the vessel in some way.  The vessel that receives without allowing for an outpouring will fill to the point of being unable to receive more.  If the stream from the vessel stops completely, the vessel will become stagnant and will no longer be useful.

The Living Waters That Flow Through Us

By faith, we receive Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior.  When we receive Him and He dwells within us, we become vessels from which living waters flow from our lives out to others.  If we stay in submission to Our Lord and do not let our old selves interfere, the flow will be continuous.

The flow can manifest itself in many ways.  It can be a trickle or it can be a flood.  It can range from the smallest, unseen act of kindness to a massive outpouring on a grand stage.  But it can also be greatly restricted or stopped completely, if we begin to rely on ourselves rather than relying fully on the power within us.