The Lord is Our Counsel

The Lord is our wonderful counsel, available 24 hours a day.  Why then do we insist on moving forward without Him?  Why do we not include Him in every decision that we have to make - whether it be big or small.  Is it because we don't have an intimate relationship with Him?  Are we not close enough to Him that we can feel comfortable in addressing all things with Him?  Draw close to Our Savior and move not one step without His wonderful counsel.  

There Are No Limits

We are so quick to limit Jesus.  Our faith is so shallow.  We think of ourselves as we used to be before we accepted Him as our Savior.  We try to limit Jesus to our known capabilities.  The truth is that Jesus dwells within us and the depth of His almighty power is ours to tap into.  How sorrowful it is to know that we limit our ability to serve the King because we limit the King Himself by our self-reliance.  If we would look to Jesus instead of ourselves, there would be no limits to what we could do for the kingdom of Our Lord.  Look to Jesus!

All of His Power

We seem to try to put limits on the power that Jesus has to offer us.  On one hand, we are skeptical to think that He would do something way outside the realm of the natural for us.  On the other hand, we think it foolish to bother Him with the small needs in our life.  All we seem to trust Jesus with are the things that we believe we could control, but currently we cannot.  If we would open our minds to understand and receive all that Jesus is willing and able to provide us, we would discover that His powers and His willingness to come to our aid are without limits - regardless of the scope, scale or timing of our needs.

Sharing His Love

Jesus Christ showed us the ultimate in service to mankind.  With His sacrifice, He poured out upon us His perfect love.  Now it is our duty to receive His perfect love and pour it out on to mankind in His name.  This outpouring need not be a magnificent display.  It can be as simple as doing something loving for our spouses, our friends or for a neighbor.  The Lord waits to see us pour out His Spirit freely as we shed the old man and become the new man that He has created us to be.

The Sacrifices that Purify

Once we have accepted Jesus and His calling on our lives, we are no longer able to choose what we would like to do.  We must lay down anything and everything that interferes with the things that He calls us to do.  The process is for us, not for Him.  He does not need us to accomplish His work.  We need Him and gain everything by setting aside those things in our lives that do not fit the purposes that He has for our lives.  Our gain is based in our sacrifices which purify us to do His work.

The Value of Our Service

Not one of us deserves the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us to prepare our way to heaven.  So how can we be offended by others who would dishonor us or not give us proper recognition for our good deeds.  It is not them that we serve.  It is the Lord and Master alone that we serve.  If it be otherwise, we will quickly lose our desire to serve anyone.  Only when our service is done for the Lord and pleases God does it have any value.  Whether it pleases man or not has no real value.

Tenacity

God will give us the desires of our heart, but He will not give them to us until we are ready to receive His best.  To prepare us He takes us through trials and tribulations that build our faith in Him.  We will recognize His hand in our lives when He takes us to places where everyone else has given up or given in, yet we are driving forward in confident faith.

Vessels of His Love

God does not need any of us to do His work.  He allows us to join Him in His work because it nourishes our souls.  It is His perfect loving flowing through us that refreshes us and flows on to those that we are serving.  

We do not need to concern ourselves with our personal shortcomings as we do the work that the Lord called us to do.  His perfect love and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives will be sufficient for us.  He will provide all the strength and resources that we need to be His vessels.

His Good Work

Arise and join God in His good work.  His good work is all around us.  Surely the Lord has called us to some place where He is working.  It matters not whether we feel prepared  to do the work for He prepares the way.  Once He has called us to join Him in any work, it is not our battle.  It is His.  Go boldly and know that the work of the Lord will be done.  Praise God!

Count It All Joy

Count it all joy.  There is no drudgery in the Lord.  No matter how small or insignificant a task seems, if it is done in conjunction with the purpose God has for our lives, the performance of that task brings joy to Our Heavenly Father.  If we do things that delight the Master, surely these same things will lift our spirits.  Always be mindful that God has promised to give us great responsibility in Heaven, if we are obedient in the small things here on earth.

Getting Back Up

On life's roller coaster ride, there are many falls all the way to the bottom.  Sometimes the fall is so sudden or so unexpected that we are rendered helpless.  It feels like our heart has been ripped out and our breath has been taken away.  It becomes seemingly impossible to head up the next hill.  Satan, of course, is right there doing everything he can to keep us down.  With loving kindness, mercy and grace,  the Lord is always there to lift us up if we seek Him.

The Great Elixir

Obedience is the greatest elixir in the world.  Even a child gains heightened spirits when the child knows that he/she is in accord with the parents' wishes.  This is particularly true if the child's desires were originally contrary to the parents' wishes.  Similarly, we experience spiritual highs  when we are obedient to God's calling.  We are lifted up out of any stagnant or depressed state that we might be in and raised to a new level of relationship with God.

Can Dreams Come True?

For most people, life includes a constant updating of personal dreams of better times - always hoping for a greater sense of contentment in life.  Unfortunately, the flesh is never fully satisfied.  The flesh always wants more.  

Because of the weakness of the flesh, the fruition of our dreams never provides the full satisfaction that we seek.   There is hope in our dreams, however, if we allow Our Heavenly Father to inspire our plans.  Our spirit is fully satiated by the presence of God.  When we invite God to provide the inspiration for our plans, our dreams come true beyond our imagination.

Teach and Be Taught

You often hear teachers reveal that they learn more than their students by preparing the lesson properly.  This works in the carnal world and it also works in a similar fashion in the kingdom life.  What we learn from God's Word and His work in our lives is living water.  It is meant to be poured out to those around us.  As we pour into the lives of others, we find that we also receive the full refreshment of the living water.  

When you need counsel, help someone else.  You will be surprised how often you become your own counsel through the work of the Holy Spirit.

His Throne Awaits

God allows times of trial in our lives.  These trials can be a measure of discipline, but more often are a measure of pruning.  Without the trials, we lose our zeal to go to the Throne of Almighty God.  In the times of trial, we run to the Throne Room.

The Throne Room is the place for us to express our needs and our pains.  We do not have to elaborate on anything, God already knows our needs better than we do.  All we have to do is state our concerns briefly and then wait and listen.  God will fill us with His peace, let us know the areas of our lives that need pruning and reveal His plans for us.  His Throne awaits and longs for our presence. 

He Speaks

Overly busy life styles are the norm in our culture.  There is very little time for reflection of any type.  The din of our activity becomes so loud that we cannot sense God's presence in everything around us.  He speaks to us through all of nature.  He speaks to us through His Word.  He speaks to us through those that He has placed around us.  He even speaks to us through our own conversations with ourselves.  Sometimes He speaks to us directly.  Listen!  He is speaking now.

Comfort in Listening

We love to listen to the world because the world always moves toward leniency relative to any wayward behavior.  The messages of the world do not convict us.  They only serve to make us comfortable.  When God speaks the truth, we must come in line with His words or we will become very uncomfortable.  The good news is that when we align ourselves with the Truth, we are comfortable for all eternity.  Listen to God for lasting comfort.

The Spark

Where do good ideas come from?  They come from the source of all knowledge.  God, Our Father in heaven, inspires all ideas of value.  If we are not seeking God in every decision and in every effort we undertake, we are missing out on tapping into the greatest possible source of wisdom and creative spark.  Why not consider seeking favor for even the smallest project?  It might turn into the biggest thing you ever did.

A Higher Thought

We generally do not take the time to enjoy life to the fullest.  We are too busy doing earthly things to take the time to praise God in every breath we take, to exalt Him in every provision we enjoy and to worship Him through our every activity.  God's presence surrounds us in every aspect of our lives.  Why go through life in a blur, missing the essence of our being that is only a higher thought away?  

HALT

When the flesh is weak, we put ourselves in a position of becoming weak spiritually.  When we are weak, we are more likely to succumb to the calling of our flesh.  It is during these time periods when Satan will successfully attack us.  

During times when we are hungry, angry, lustful or tired, we need to HALT and call on God for strength.   Only by drawing on His Spirit within us are we able to gain victory over Satan and the evil that the world has to offer.

The Pasture of the Lamb

Once we truly seek our personal satisfaction through the power of the Holy Spirit, we have leaped off of the proverbial "fence."  We no longer can identify with the agenda that the world puts out and at the same time claim to be wholly sold out to Jesus.  When we move to the kingdom side of the fence, there is nothing that appears greener on the other side.  Our home is now the pasture of the Lamb of God.

Living Like a Child

Did you ever notice the love and joy that small children exhibit in all that they do?  They naturally reflect the love of God in their lives without the influence of the world affecting them.  They express absolute joy in even the smallest things.  

As we grow older, we lose sight of the purity of God in all things because we let the world overshadow the truth.  Once the world has overshadowed what we see, it is necessary for God to capture our attention before we can again see His glory in everything.  No wonder He calls us to be childlike.

God is Near

When we submit our lives to God, we can expect that the devil will do his best to make us give up on our relationship with Our Lord.  God, Himself, will allow trials to test our faith in Him.  Through it all, we will learn perseverance.  Through perseverance, we will gain character.  It is through our new character that we are able to weather every storm.  Our faith assures us that God is near.

The Servant King

Jesus reigned on this earth as a servant king.   It was the power of His love that commanded His disciples to follow Him.  It was the example of His servanthood that gave the apostles their model of behavior.  

Jesus went to the Cross in service to all mankind.  He would not even defend Himself against false accusations.  He showed us that the value is in the service and not in the recognition.

His Righteousness

The love of Jesus in our lives is what allows us to show the world what living for Christ is all about.  If we ever try to show the world how righteous we are in order to reveal Christ to them, we will fail.  There is nothing about us that is righteous.  It is Jesus in us that is righteous.  When we give Him the proper place in our lives, the world will see the light. 

Lost in the Mire

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are cleansed of all of our filth in the sight of God.  On the other hand, Satan takes every opportunity to turn us away from Our Lord and back toward the filth that we left behind.  When we are sufficiently strengthened by the Spirit, we may be called to go back into the filth to find and rescue those hopelessly lost in the mire.

Compelled to Preach

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Cor 9:16 NIV

The call of God to preach His gospel is a compelling command that cannot be denied.  Once God has called us to obedience in any area of our lives, there is no peace unless the call is answered.  The restlessness is even more compelling if the call to obedience is a call to preach.  It is central to God's plan that the gospel reach all hearts.  God cannot let this calling go unfulfilled.  Otherwise, He would be a liar. 

Proclaim the Good News

Jesus, the Lamb of God, was crucified so that all sin would be atoned for and salvation would be available to all people.  Without our Savior, heaven would be void of any souls that had once lived on earth.  According to God's word, not a single person could earn the right to heaven except through the acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior.  God thus commanded His children to tell this story to the world.  We are called to proclaim this truth no matter where we find ourselves throughout our lives.