Our Wonderful Counselor

John 16:31

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?

After all the time that Jesus spent with the apostles, He had to take a lengthy amount of time explaining to them who He was.  When He completed His explanation, He posed a question to them, "Do you now believe?"

Somehow as we pray, read the Word, worship and serve God, we manage to lose our sense of who He really is and the certainty of all the promises that He has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.  We turn toward the world for answers when our all-sufficient Lord has provided us with a Wonderful Counselor who can supply our every need.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help us to dig deep into our relationship with You.  Help us to dig so deep that we never again turn to the world for counsel without having gone to You first.  Help us to believe for more than we believe is possible through our own efforts.  Teach us how to wait on You for Your good and perfect timing in all things.

Under the Shadow of Almighty God

Psalm 91:1

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Loving faith on our part will always be met by faithful love, protection and provision on God's part.  His covering of us is much greater than we can imagine.  If we are abiding in Him, there is no limit to His shadow that is over us.  He protects us at all times from natural and supernatural enemies.  He makes our homes secure.  He is our refuge in every storm.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the shadow of protection and provision that You place over us when we surrender our lives to You.  Draw us into Your cover by the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Prepare us to help others who need to learn to how to access Your grace.

Trusting in God for Everything

John 4:11

"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep.

It is amazing how often we struggle, wondering how our particular situation is going to get resolved.  How little faith we have in Almighty God through whom all things are possible.  But what may be even more amazing is how we have no faith that Almighty God is interested in the smallest needs in our lives when His Word proclaims that He knows the count of every hair on our heads.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, grant us the faith to trust in You for everything in our lives.  Teach us to come to You boldly with what seems impossible and also come to You confidently with the smallest things that are troubling us.  May Your grace and power never be diminished because of our lack of understanding.

Awaiting God's Showers

Ezekiel 34:26

And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing.

Everything on earth, whether man, beast or plant, is under the hand of God.  Our all sufficient Lord sends out everything required for sustenance and growth.  And when the timing is right, He sends showers.  When God is ready to spread His grace, be certain that you will not receive drops or droplets.  You will receive showers, not a shower, but plentiful showers.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are our all sufficient Lord. We come humbly before You to praise You for Your abundant nature.  Help us to learn to wait on Your provision.  Help us to learn to wait on the showers of grace that You have already set aside for us.  Help us to prepare our ground so that we will bear much fruit when the showers arrive.

Serving All Men for His Sake

Matthew 20:28

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.

The Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords came to earth as the Son of Man.  He gave up all of His royal rights to become a servant of every man.  His servanthood was so complete that He gave up His own life and He separated Himself from the Father in order to take on all of our sins so that we might have life with the Father.

Once we claim our eternal inheritance as children of God, we accept that which we do not deserve and could not possibly earn except through the grace and mercy of Our Savior.  When we recognize that Jesus Christ served us to the end of our meanness, our selfishness and our sin, we should exhaust ourselves serving all men for His sake.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come before You to proclaim how unworthy we are of all that You have bestowed on us through Your Son, Jesus.  We do not deserve the inheritance that You have set aside.  We could never earn what You have provided.  Fill us with the power of Your Holy Spirit so that we may pour ourselves to all men.  We rejoice in knowing that we will be in Your service for all eternity.

Waiting on the Lord

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God!

One of the greatest traits that we Christians can have is a spirit of tenacity to overcome and endure everything that comes our way in life.  This trait is readily available to us through the guidance and the strength of the Holy Spirit.

One of the greatest dangers that we Christians face in the modern culture is allowing the spirit of endurance to be overtaken by a spirit to succeed (in man's eyes).  This condition occurs when we live according to the desires of our flesh instead of relying on the direction of Almighty God.  This condition gets out of control when we make our own plans for our lives without seeking the will of Our Father.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the good plan for our lives that You promise us in Your Holy Word.  We pray that You will feed our spirits so that we can overcome the desires of our flesh that are not in accordance with Your plans.  We pray that You renew our minds so that we will know Your will for our lives.  We pray that You will teach us to learn to be still and wait on the all sufficient grace and provision that You promise us.

Releasing It All for Our Savior

Mark 14:6

But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me?

When Jesus was dining with a group at Simon's home, a woman with an alabaster jar full of very expensive perfume came up to Jesus, broke the jar open and poured it's costly contents on Him.  She was criticized by the group at the table for such an extravagant gesture.  Jesus quickly scolded the group for not seeing the value of what she was doing.  

When we become broken vessels and pour out everything we have to glorify Our Savior, we can be assured that the world will demean us for our efforts.  We can find comfort in knowing that Our Lord is greatly pleased and glorified by our expressions of love.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come before You to bring all of our love, our praises and our blessings to bestow them upon Your Son, Jesus.  Teach us how to release all that we are, all that we will ever be, all that we have and all that we will ever have in surrender to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.