Blessed Hope and Assurance

Romans 8:32

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Is it hope that we need today?  Are we seeking hope to relieve the pain that we are suffering, or hope to relieve the concern over the financial woes that are hounding us or perhaps hope to ease the torment of conflict in a relationship that we are feeling?  

In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.  There is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God.  He sent the fallen angels from His kingdom forever because of their sins.  He flooded the earth because of the violence and evil of all mankind.  He destroyed all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness.  Yet He spared us from our sins by giving us His Son.  Through His Son, He provides us with all our temporal needs and all of our spiritual blessings.  It is all given freely according to His good will and pleasure.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing us with all of our needs, both temporal and spiritual.  We exalt the name of Jesus for providing us with that which we do not deserve and could never earn except through His death for our sins.  We praise You for the blessed hope and assurance of Our Savior.  He is all that we need.   We pray that You will help us find peace and strength in Him through all circumstances.

  

Ready to Be Instruments of His Love

Luke 9:61

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

In the final passage in Luke 9, there are a number of verses which point out the costs of following Jesus.  In essence, each cost mentioned really applies to the type of excuses we will come up with to delay following what the Lord is calling us to do.

One of the most common excuses for many of us is "I am not capable or I am not ready to take on such a task."  There is a faith gap that prevents us from believing that we can do what the Lord is asking of us.  We question the calling because it goes against our natural instincts. 

When we finally move forward with what God has asked us to do, we find out it never was about our ability.  It was about our faith in God.  When God calls us to do anything, large or small, we should leap into action with confidence in the One who called us.  It is through Him that the good work is done.  We are only instruments of His love.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to be instruments of Your good work.  We rejoice in knowing that we can share Your love with the world around us in so many different and powerful ways.  We pray that You open our eyes and prepare our hearts so that we do not delay any good work that You have set aside for us.

Take Heart

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.  

Jesus spoke directly to the apostles before He left the earth.  He wanted the apostles to know that even though He would be leaving them in the flesh that He would still be with them in spirit.  He wanted them to understand that He would be with them always as He is with the Father always.  He wanted them go forward in peace, without fear, having faith that the victory was theirs through Him.   He wanted them to be empowered by knowing that He had already overcome all the tribulation that the world and Satan himself had to offer. Through His indwelling with them, they would have the power that they needed to endure all things.

And so it is with us.  When we accept Jesus as Our Savior, His Spirit indwells with us.  We become one with Him as He is one with the Father.  We receive all that the apostles were promised.  When we surrender to Jesus, we have all that we need to overcome the temptations of Satan, the infirmities of our own flesh and the carnal offerings of the world.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we humbly come before You in thanksgiving for the power that You have granted us through Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that You teach us how to develop and enjoy our relationship with Jesus.  May we find our strength in Jesus, just as Jesus found His strength in You when He was in the flesh.  May our victories over our tribulations bring honor and glory to You, to Your Son and to the Holy Spirit.

In the Name of Jesus

John 16:23

In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.

Why is it that we do not have enough faith to believe in all the promises that God has given us through His Son, Jesus.  There is certainly an overwhelming amount of evidence to prove that God has power over all things.  Why can't we believe in His simple promises to meet our every need and to work out all things for our eternal good?

When we fully surrender our lives to Jesus, we will no longer be of weak faith.  Although we may find a number of things we do not fully understand, we will not have anything in our heart that comes between us and Our Heavenly Father.  Fully surrendered to Jesus, we will be one with Him and one with the Father.

Fully surrendered to Jesus, our prayers to the Father in the name of His Son cannot be refused.  Jesus Christ is the medium of access to the Father.  He is our mediator.  The account of His blood, righteousness and sacrifice speaks loudly in heaven.  In His name, all prayers are heard and all blessings are bestowed.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we come before You in the name of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We thank You for every blessing that we receive in His holy, mighty and precious name.  We ask you for the wisdom and the strength to surrender all that we are and all that we have to You in His Name.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity with never a need again.  

When God "Remembers" Us

Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.

Genesis 8:1 might seem to suggest that God had let His promises to Moses slip His mind for some period of time before He fulfilled them.  That interpretation would be inconsistent with who God is.  God had not forgotten Noah for He does not and cannot forget His promises to His children.  

But it is quite possible that Noah, a man of extraordinary faith, may have been wondering if God had forgotten about him and his family.  Surely Noah became a bit anxious when the doves he sent out returned to the ark without having found a landing place.  But God remembered Noah (as interpreted by Noah) and the promises that He had made to Noah, Noah's family, and all the living creatures in the ark were fulfilled.

Noah and his family surely wanted off the boat before it was time.  God was not going to let them leave the boat until the earth around them was properly prepared.  As we go through life, our expectations often lead us to question whether God has remembered us.  We are simply placing our desires ahead of God's perfect plan for our lives.  The God of Faithfulness never forgets us or His promises to us.  We must have faith in His perfect timing.

Prayer  
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithfulness to Your promises.  We rejoice in knowing that You will not let a single promise return void.  We pray that You will give us the grace we need to build our faith when we are waiting on Your perfect timing for our lives.  May we never doubt You.

A Life of Prayer

1Thessalonians 5:16-17

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to pray without ceasing.  Is this possible?  Let us consider what prayer is.

Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant.  It may be formal or in the form of an outburst. It may be offered in secret or in public.  It may be a personal solicitation or it may be intercessory.

Prayer presupposes a belief in a God who wants to hear from us and wants to extend His perfect control over our lives.  Prayer is offered in reverence with a humble sense of inadequacy and unworthiness as we bow before the holy and righteous God of heaven.  Prayer is offered in thanksgiving for everything we already have been provided and are currently experiencing.  Prayer is rejoicing in every moment as we recognize the presence of Our Savior and the fullness of what He has done for us. 

If Jesus Christ is the foundation of our lives, prayer is as natural as breathing.  Indeed, we can pray without ceasing.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we praise You for who You are.  We thank You for all that You have provided and continue to provide.  We submit to Your control over our lives.  We pray that You will teach us how to make prayer to You as normal and as regular as breathing.  May our lives be a continuous flow of our reverent acknowledgement of Your presence and power in our lives.  

Wake Up

Revelation 3:2
Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

The message to the church of Sardis in the book of Revelation was, "You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead."  They were urged to wakeup and strengthen what remains or they would see their relationship with God disappear.

Today we are often guilty of sitting back and watching as the enemy tries to destroy our marriages, our homes and our extended families.  These institutions were created by Almighty God.  These institutions should be the bedrock of our lives.  The enemy knows this well and does everything possible to "divide and conquer".  

Divide and conquer can be very subtle...at least at first.  Divide and conquer appears as meals eaten alone because the family is so busy.  Divide and conquer is going to bed angry with a spouse.  Divide and conquer is skipping the family reunion because of some prior squabble.

We cannot be passive.  We must wake up and be constantly on guard to protect our relationships.  Our marriages, our homes and our extended families are treasures.  When conflicts occur, we need to move swiftly to repair the damages and rebuild what the enemy is trying to destroy.  We must be proactive in nurturing activities that keep the relationships alive.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the treasures in life that You have provided through our marriages, our homes and our extended families.  We pray that You will provide us with the armor that we need to fight against the enemy that seeks to take away our treasures.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us to make Jesus Christ the foundation of our lives so that we can build indestructible walls of protection around our treasures.

Fear Not Ever Again

Revelation 1:17-18

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

Once we have felt the power of God in our lives, we have no reason to fear anything.  Why would we?

When we have a relationship with the God who created the universe and still controls every minute detail of its existence, how could we lack the confidence that He will overcome any person or evil in the universe that comes to harm us.  It just does not make sense to question His power and sovereign rule.  Fear not!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we fall at Your feet in utter awe of who You are.  We proclaim Your Name above all other names.  We praise You and we surrender to Your power in our lives.  We pray that You will show us Your power in the struggles that we are currently experiencing.  May we find joy in our circumstances knowing that You have already settled the matters for our good for all eternity.

Enter Into the Joy of Your Master

Matthew 25:21

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification.  We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way.

• Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
• The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
• The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
• Satan will attack us all along the way.  As we grow in Christ, the intensity of the attacks will increase.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins.  We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity.  May Your countenance shine up us.  May Your grace be with us always.  May You protect us from harm and evil.  May You protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations.  May You raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  May we stand before You one day and hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

One with Jesus Christ

John 17:20

I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,

John 17:24

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

These scriptures were part of the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of His disciples prior to His eminent death and resurrection.  Jesus was confirming with the Father that His disciples and all of the new believers in the good news of the salvation story who followed in discipleship would join Him in glory for all eternity.

Jesus reveals in His prayer to the Father the final chapter in the lives of all of His disciples.  All of the disciples of Jesus Christ will join Him at the right hand of the Father for all eternity.

Have you ever watched a taped version of a sporting event in which you knew the result of the game in advance...a victory for the home team?  Didn't knowing the final score make it easier to absorb the anguish of the bad calls by the officials, the mistakes by the players and the bonehead decisions of the head coach?  Jesus' confirmation provides us with the strength that we need to endure all that comes against us in life because we know there will be the ultimate victory in the end.  To paraphrase 2 Cor 4:8-9, we may be afflicted in every way, but not crushed; we may be perplexed, but not driven to despair; we may be persecuted, but not forsaken; we may be struck down, but not destroyed because we are one with Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come to You in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  We thank You Father that we may be one with Jesus as He is one with You.  We praise You as we receive in faith all of the promises that come with being a disciple of Your Son.  May the Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in all aspects of our discipleship.

Kingdom Living

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We have been raised in a world where performance/results are everything.  We feel measured by the things we have and the things that we have accomplished.  We have been trained to be independent and self-reliant.  This is absolutely upside down from the kingdom of God.

God promises us that He will provide all that we need and all the desires of our hearts.  We must realize that these promises are conditional.  We must seek His kingdom first and we must seek the righteousness that living in His kingdom requires.  Then all of these things will be given to us.

Our great efforts in life should be directed toward putting our relationship with God first.  Everything else should be second.  The truly abundant life awaits.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the abundant life that awaits us when we seek You first.  We bring You all the honor and glory for being Our Provider.  We ask Your forgiveness for seeking the things of the world before You.  Teach us, Lord, how to prioritize our lives according to the principles of Your kingdom.  May the Holy Spirit enlighten us so that we may live in Christ and not in the world.

Overcoming the World

Luke 21:19

By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Jesus warned His apostles of the hard times to come.  He foretold the trials and persecution that they would suffer after He left.  He comforted them with His promise that if they persevered in the ways of God and in the truths that He had given them, they would possess peace and joy in their souls that the world could not take away.

So it is with us.  We have our own trials to bear in our lives.  The Lord teaches us to let nothing disturb or distress us.  He instructs us not to submit to the moodiness that might come upon us due to our circumstances.  We must take on the Spirit of the One who dwells within us.  We must endure, knowing that we have already been given victory over our circumstances.  We must allow Jesus to do His work in us despite of our mood, so that we can press on and do the work that He calls us to do in the world.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us victory through Jesus over everything in the world that tries to take our joy away.  We rejoice in knowing that we can have joy even when happiness eludes us.  We pray that You will teach us how to seek the strength we need when our mood turns us toward our problems instead of our solution, Your Son, Jesus.  May the world see our joy in all circumstances so that they may be drawn to the One who provides it. 

Finding Joy in All Things

2 Corinthians 12:10

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When we are weak and near defeat, perhaps even near death, we run to Jesus.  He promises to be our strength in every one of our times of weakness or trial.  It is during these times that we feel His presence so clearly.  It is during these times of pain that we experience the fullness of His love.  It becomes a blessing to have tribulation in our lives. 

Unfortunately without trial, we tend to lean away from God.  We tend to move out of His presence.  We tend to let the joy of life overshadow the true and perfect joy that is available to us.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness.  We thank you for the comfort of knowing that You are always there.  We praise You for providing Your Son, Jesus, so that through Him and in Him we can experience the fullness of Your love.  Help us, Father, to find contentment in all things as we seek to live in Your shadow and not under the influence of the world.

  

Our Lives Proclaim His Handiwork

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Just as the Lord declares His glory through the display of His handiwork in the heavens, He also declares His glory through His children.  He seeks to show His Holy Spirit to the world through every single child that He has created.  

The Lord uses powerful men of God to deliver His messages, but He does not use them alone.  He chooses to use everyone of His children - of every age and every time - to declare His perfect love and forgiveness.

He does not need any of us to accomplish anything, but He loves to use all of us to reveal Himself to those who are in our everyday lives.  We are the instruments of God's perfect love.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for the magnificent universe that You have created.  We proclaim Your glory in all that we see before us.  Father, we pray that You will use us as instruments of Your good work.  May the world see the magnificence of who You are through our living testimony.  May we be daily expressions of Your perfect love and forgiveness.

The Ascension of Our High Priest

Luke 24:51

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

In the old testament, each person needed a priest to represent him or her before the throne of God.  Through their high priest and the accompanying sacrifices, each person's sins were atoned for.  Without the intercession of the high priest, the individual person had no hope for salvation nor for their prayers to be answered.

Jesus changed it all.  Each one of us can receive our salvation through Jesus and can go directly to the throne of God with our prayers because His shed blood cleansed us and because He stands at the right hand of the Father in intercession for us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You allowed Your Son to return to earth after His resurrection to confirm the victory over sin and death that we, who have received Him as Our Savior, partake in.  We thank You that you allowed Your Son to ascend back into heaven to sit at Your right side and stand in intercession for all of us that call Him Lord.  May we receive the fullness of His blessings as Our High Priest.  May we share those blessings with those people who You place around us.

Partakers of the Divine Nature

2 Peter 1:3-4
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Whether our faith be weak or strong right now, we can find hope in claiming what has already been granted to us.  Through Our Savior, Jesus Christ, we have been granted all things that pertain to life and godliness.  And just in case that is not enough to store hope within us, we have been granted His precious and very great promises that allow us to become partakers of the divine nature.

What does it matter if times are tough?  We know the tough times will end.  We know the King of the Universe dwells within us, preparing us to spend the rest of eternity with Him, partaking in His divine nature.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.  We praise You, worship You and exalt Your Name for all that You have set aside for us.  We pray that You teach us how to submit to Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus so that we may be fully prepared to receive our eternal inheritance.  May Your majesty, Your grace and Your power be manifested in us here on earth as it is in heaven.  May it all be for Your glory and the gain of the kingdom.

Lampposts of the Light

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

One of the greatest beauties in all of nature is the full moon.  Yet the moon does nothing by itself.  It is a worthless body of dirt.  It only reflects the light of the sun as it moves into its proper position in concert with the earth.

We share similarities with the moon.  We are worthless collections of dirt without the light of the Son in our lives.  Yet if we keep ourselves in proper position with the Son of God, the light of the Son will shine through us for the world to see.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing light at the beginning of creation so that we could see.  We thank You for providing the light of the world, Your Son Jesus, so that we could see and accept the way to our eternal glory with You.  We pray, Father God, that You will shield us from the enemy who tries to take the Light out of our lives.  We ask, Lord, that You cleanse us and purify us so that we may be lampposts of Christ for all to see.

Knock, Knock, Knock

2 Samuel 7:22

Therefore you are great, O LORD God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

What if a man appeared at your door, a man of immense power and wealth, a man who everyone around the world recognized and praised, how would you greet him?   Would you welcome him in?  What if he said, "I know you.  I have been watching you.  I have a plan for you.  I want to make you the inheritor of all the riches of my estate."  How would you respond?

This man has knocked on all of our doors.  His name is Jesus.  He exceeds beyond our imagination any man that walks on this earth.  There is no one like Him.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  There is no other way to the riches of our eternal inheritance except through Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You and exalt You.  We thank You for providing Your Son as Our Redeemer.  We humbly receive the riches that He has set aside for us through His sacrifice.  May we fully submit to Jesus as Our Savior and Lord over our lives.  May we become living testimony to His presence in our lives so that others may know Him.

Accused of Being a Christ Follower!

Acts 24:16

So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.

Paul spoke these words when he was giving an account of himself to his followers.  He was under attack from his enemies at the time.  He wanted his followers to know that he was under attack because he was leading a life that conflicted with how his attackers wanted to live their lives.  Paul may have been the first to warn us about living our lives according to political correctness and not according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

How many of us would feel more comfortable being accused of any weakness rather than be accused of being a fervent believer in Jesus Christ, devoted to His service?  Unfortunately, this is exactly where the world wants us.  Everything we see, hear and read that comes from the world is designed to desensitize us to evil and to move us away from the holy life style that Jesus Christ call us to.

In the flesh, we are destined to fall for the tricks of the enemy.  We must call on the Holy Spirit to help us to live in the spirit of the one who dwells within us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to keep us mindful of the truths that You have revealed to us through the life of Your Son, Jesus, and through the writings in Your Holy Word.  Strengthen us, Lord, to stand up to the ridicule and hatred of the world.  May it be the passion of our hearts to please You and not the world.