The Wondrous Nature of Jesus

Isaiah 11:2

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

In this passage, Isaiah was prophesying of the nature of our coming Savior.  Because we are indwelled by Jesus Christ when we accept Him as Our Savior, we inherit this wondrous nature for ourselves.  Some summarize our inheritance as the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

To receive the full benefits of an inheritance of any type, one must be alive at the time of the death of the one who leaves the inheritance behind.  To receive the full benefits of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we must allow our old man to die and allow our new man to come alive in Christ.  

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the wondrous nature that You have given us in Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.  We pray that the fullness of the Holy Spirit will rest upon us.  We seek Your wisdom so that we may have understanding in all matters.  We seek your counsel that we may become mighty warriors for Your kingdom.  We ask Lord that You inspire us to take the knowledge that we have of You and turn into a reverent awe that changes how we live every moment of our lives. 

Standing Before the Throne for Others

Isaiah 59:16

He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.

Jesus is the perfect intercessor for all mankind.  He takes the mantle that no one else can take.  He stands before the Father in righteousness on behalf of all men.

Intercessory prayer is the perfect service for each of us to enter.  We communicate with God on behalf of others.  We go before the Father in worship and solicitation for His divine assistance.  We seek His will for those that we pray for.   Through the process, the needs of many or met and our relationship with the Father grows to be like the relationship that the Father has with The Son.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Son to stand before Your Throne on our behalf.  We pray that You will teach us how to stand before You on the behalf of those that You have placed around us.  May You open our eyes and hearts so that we may see their needs and prayerfully respond to them.  May You strengthen us so that we will not falter in our prayer life.  May our relationship with You become like the relationship that You have with Your Son, Jesus.

Preparation for the Kingdom Through Service on Earth

Luke 12:40

You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

God's Holy Word inspires us to turn our thoughts toward the day that Jesus will return to the earth.  This will be a great and magnificent day for which all of us should prepare ourselves.  On this day the Lord will separate those who knew Him and served Him from those that did not.  We certainly want to be in the group that inherits His Kingdom.  

But our human nature makes it difficult for us to prepare for an uncertain date and time.  We may even be uncertain about how we should prepare for the King of Kings.  The Lord in His mercy gives us simple ways to prepare.  He teaches us that those who feed Him when He is hungry, give Him drink when He is thirsty, clothe Him when He is in need and visit Him when He is sick or in prison will be the ones that inherit His Kingdom.  He adds that even though we may not see Him in these conditions that when we serve those who are in these conditions we are serving Him.  Conversely, He adds,  "Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me."

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that Your Holy Word prepares us to receive Our King, Jesus Christ.  Open our eyes, Lord, so that we may see the opportunities to serve Our King everyday.  Prepare our hearts, Lord, to freely give of ourselves to others just as we would if we were serving Jesus Himself.  May the presence of the Holy Spirit within us by Our Guiding Light.

The Fullness of His Love

Ephesians 3:19

May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Jesus loves each one of us unconditionally.  He loves us so much that He gave up His position as Son of God to become Son of Man.  He endured the pain and shame of the Cross so that He could become the sacrificial lamb that was necessary to provide the blood to wash away our sins, to make us acceptable to the Father.  

He extended His unconditional love by sending the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sins, so that we would understand His offer of salvation and accept it.  He continues to extend His unconditional love by dwelling within each of us that have accepted Him as Our Savior, so that we may have the strength and the power to overcome the sinful nature that still tries to rule in our lives.

He continuously pours out His perfect love and forgiveness to each of us.  He places no limit on the love that He pours into us because He wants it to overflow our cups.  He wants us to become living vessels of His perfect love and forgiveness so that the world will know Him and know the fullness of His love.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the perfect love and forgiveness that You have poured out into our lives.  We pray that we may become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness for the world around us.

No Man is Strong Enough

Matthew 26:56

Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Imagine.  The men who had lived with Jesus for three years, sat under His teaching and witnessed all the signs and wonders of His ministry abandoned Him in His time of trial.  How could this happen?

It is the weakness of the flesh that failed the disciples.  They did not yet have the strength of the Holy Spirit to overcome their weaknesses.  What a dramatic difference the Holy Spirit made in their lives.  After their baptism of the Holy Spirit, all of the apostles boldly proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ.  All but one, John, died as a martyr while sharing the salvation plan.

We can be sure that in the flesh we are no stronger than the apostles.  If we try to live by the flesh without calling on the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us, we will fail in following Our Savior.  Thankfully, God promises us in His Holy Word that He will perfect His strength in our weakness if we abide in Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided Your Wonderful Counselor to be with us, to guide us and to strengthen us in our weaknesses.  We proclaim our weakness before You, Lord.  We ask forgiveness for straying from You.  We boldly claim Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness as we surrender to Your reign in our lives. 

Purity of Heart

Matthew 5:8

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The beatitudes are often referred to as the the "be happy attitudes."  In relationship to "Blessed are the pure in heart," it really applies to our attitudes.  We will never be pure in heart as long as we live on this earth.  Only Jesus Christ was pure in heart.  We can, however, maintain an attitude of purity as we seek to please Our Heavenly Father.

We can submit our lives to the One that was 100% pure. We can make the desire of our hearts to be pure.  Even though we may fail from time to time, we  can turn our minds over to Him to be constantly renewed.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Jesus to this earth as our model of purity.  We ask that You mold our hearts so that we may submit to Your Son to rule and reign in our lives.  May the power of the Holy Spirit constantly renew our minds.   May You provide the armor of protection that we need to shield us from the impurities that the world so freely throws at us.    

Extending Invitations to the Feast

John 3:29

It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.

John the Baptist was absolutely secure in his role as the best man to introduce the Bridegroom.  He was quick to let everyone know that it was the Bridegroom that was worthy of all the praise, honor and glory.

The promises/vows of Jesus Christ are the foundation upon which we stand as Christians.  Our responsibility is to go forth and share His vows with the world.  We are not to take one iota away from His message in order to make ourselves the center of attention or perhaps to shape the message in a way that is more appealing to the masses.  We are simply to allow the joy that we have received as a result of His vows to be poured out from us on to the world around us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have provided a Bridegroom to come to get us to be His bride at the wedding feast of the Lamb.  We rejoice in knowing that we have the privilege of extending invitations to the eternal event.  Prepare us, O Lord, to humbly extend Jesus Christ's invitations to those around us.  May all praise, honor and glory go to Our King.

Turning All Eyes to Jesus Christ

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.

John the Baptist had the perfect understanding of His relationship with Jesus Christ.  He knew that he was a sinful man who was created, prepared and sent to show the way to the One from Above who was coming to save the world.  He understood that he had no power.  All the power belonged to Jesus.

From John the Baptist we learn a great model for bringing others to salvation.  It is our job to bring others to Christ.  It is not our job to save them.  The saving work of the Cross will be done by Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We also learn from the words of John the Baptist the model for our spiritual maturation.  We must increase our life in Christ as we allow our life in the flesh to decrease.  We must allow our new man to rise and our old man to die.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Holy Word which lays out the models for our lives through the lives of Your servants.  Help us, Lord, to understand the depth of the teachings that come from each of the servants.  Open our eyes, Lord, so that we may surrender our lives completely to Your Son, Jesus.  Help us, Lord, to live our lives in such a way that others are drawn to Your Son and we become modern models for their new lives in Christ.   

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

Psalm 34:3

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!  

Throughout the Psalms, we read David's prayers of praise.  He praised God to help overcome his fears and to call on his all-sufficient Lord.  David recognized God's faithfulness in meeting his needs and he also recognized that God was bigger than any problem or fear that he had.

It is time for us to magnify God in our lives.  He is much bigger than we allow Him to be.  We need to downsize our problems, upsize our view of who God is and rightsize our relationship with Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we exalt Your name.  We lift You up above all others.  There is not a single name that approaches the majesty and power of who You are.  Teach us, Lord, to have the faith of the Virgin Mary who said, "My soul magnifies the Lord," as she prepared to receive something that she did not believe to be possible.  Allow us, Lord, to live in reverent awe of who You are.

The Fire in Our Hearts

Luke 24:32

They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Two men walking on the road to Emmaus were met by Jesus, who accompanied them on the journey and joined them in their discussions about the recent events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. They did not recognize Him, but marveled in His knowledge of the events.  Later Jesus revealed Himself to the men, resulting in their realization of how stirring that His words had been earlier.

We are joined each day by the Holy Spirit.  He whispers gentle urgings into our hearts.  He directs us along the path that God has created for us.  If we are obedient to the urgings, they will become stronger and stronger and will release great wonders in our lives.  If we do not tune in to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, the urgings of our flesh will become dominant.  The urgings of our flesh will always keep moving us further and further away from the fire in our hearts that the Holy Spirit is stirring.

Living by the Faith of the Son of God

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Our Savior, we go beyond the knowledge of Jesus and all of His teachings.  We go beyond adhering to the commandments that He gave us.  We give up our rights to our old life in exchange for a renewed life lived in faith through the Son of God.

Our faith is no longer our own faith.  Our faith is the faith that the Son of God has in the Father.  Whatever faith we had before in the flesh was destined to die at some point.  It was burdened by the death sentence associated with all sin.  With the acceptance of our salvation, it died on the Cross with Jesus Christ.  It was replaced by Christ's living spirit within us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the lives that You have given us.  We embrace each day and live it for Your honor and Your glory.  We thank You for providing Your Son so that we may be freed from the death sentence assigned to our flesh.  We rejoice in our new eternal life in Christ.  May we live each day in the fullness of His Spirit within us.  May we live in obedience to You just as Your Son lives in obedience to You. 

Seeking the Presence of God in Our Lives

Philippians 4:6

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

One of the things that we cling to is our privilege to be able to go to the Throne Room of God with our prayers.  We learn quickly to seek His hand of provision and protection.  If only we would use these occasions to seek His face as well.

God gave us prayer that we might communicate with Him without ceasing.  It was not His intention that we merely run to Him for our needs.  In fact, He teaches us that He knows our needs and has a plan for providing them without us asking.  So why do we put so much energy in our solicitations and not so much in our ongoing communication with Our Heavenly Father.  Our own earthly fathers likely grew weary of the "I wants" when they were not mixed with the "I love yous."  It is the same with God.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your unconditional love and Your forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus.  We ask forgiveness for coming to You so often with our needs alone accompanied by a stark absence of our professed love for You.  Teach us, Lord, how to seek Your presence in our lives.  Teach us how to seek You throughout each and every day.  Teach us how to use our prayer life to build our relationship with You.  

Our Table Has Been Set

Hebrews 11:8

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Faith is believing that which we cannot see today will be ours one day in accordance with God's promises.  Faith is taking hold of our blessings even though we have not received them yet.  Faith is overcoming the terror of our circumstances in exchange for the comfort that only God can bring to us.  Faith is following paths that we do not understand yet.  Faith is allowing ourselves to fully accept the what Jesus has to offer when our flesh wants to take it piece by logical piece.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us the grace that we need to receive in faith all that You have set aside for us through the sacrifice of the Precious Lamb, Jesus Christ.  We pray that You show us the path of obedience that we need to follow to submit to Your Son as Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  May Your Holy Spirit aid us in our journey of discovery.  May we leave not a crumb on the table that You have set for us.

Open Our Eyes, Lord

2 Corinthians 7:1

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

When we accepted Jesus into our lives, it is likely that we were in bondage to one or more things that were of the world and not entirely pleasing to God.  Once we received the Holy Spirit, we began the process of shedding those things that the Lord found unworthy.

We will not change all things in our lives instantly, nor completely.  But we can begin the process of shedding our fleshly bonds one at a time as the Holy Spirit convicts and strengthens us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for providing Your wisdom so that we may understand Your ways and learn to live in awesome reverence for who You are.  We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see all the ways in our lives that displease You.  Convict us of our sinful nature.  Prepare a path for us to walk in the process of sanctification aided by the power of Your Holy Spirit.

My Soul Waits for You, Lord

Psalm 130:5

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

There is all-sufficient fullness in Our Savior.  He is able to meet every single need of each and everyone of us. As He pours Himself out to us, His storehouse remains full of loving kindness, mercy and grace.  His fount is always open to those who wait on His promises.  

Why then would we choose to run ahead of Him?  Why would we choose to turn to a deteriorating world that is always in short supply when it comes to meeting our real needs?  Why? Why? Why?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the all-sufficient Savior that You have given us through Your perfect love and forgiveness.  Our souls wait for You, longing for Your gifts of grace and the evidence of Your power working in our lives.  Strengthen us Lord through our trials and afflictions. We look forward to Your deliverance in accordance with Your good and perfect plans for our lives.

Strangers in Our Own Land

Psalm 119:19

I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me.

God has given us His commandments and He has given us His inerrant Holy Word to confirm His guidelines for our lives.   Yet we have allowed our fellow man to take the laws of Almighty God and hide them from us by replacing them with the laws of fallible men. 

The laws of fallible men invariably turn toward tolerance of things that are not pleasing to God and these same laws are used to pressure one another into accepting wrongful behavior as truth.  We must guard against becoming citizens of this earth and foreigners in God's kingdom.  In this day and time, we must dare to be strangers in our own land.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the way, the truth and the life that is revealed to us in Your Holy Word.  Father, we repent of the things in our lives that are not pleasing to You.  We ask for the strength to turn away from these things and the grace to turn toward all that is pleasing to You.  Equip us, Lord, to reveal Your kingdom to those around us.

  

The Promise of His Word and the Power of His Presence

2 Timothy 2:1

Timothy, my dear son, be strong through the grace that God gives you in Christ Jesus.

Paul wrote to his helper, Timothy, to prepare him for everything that the world was going to throw at him.  Paul alerted him that there would be many trials that he would endure.  He encouraged him by reminding him that he would be strengthened by the One who sent them out to preach to the people.  Paul exhorted Timothy to rely completely on the grace of God and not to turn to his own ways to find his strength.

As we find ourselves challenged by life, we can be comforted by Paul's instruction to Timothy.  Jesus Christ never leaves us.  When we turn to Him for our direction and our strength, our path is secure.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing our understanding of who You are through the teachings in Your Holy Word.  Raise up a desire in us to devour Your Holy Word so that we may find the comfort, peace and strength that we need in our lives daily.  Free us, Lord, from our inclinations to rely on ourselves instead of Our Savior.