Compelled to Serve

1 Corinthians 9:16

For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

It is certain that not every follower of Jesus Christ is called to stand in the pulpit to preach the gospel.  It is just as certain that every follower of Jesus Christ is called to live the gospel and to serve their Master in the manner in which He has called them.  

There will be no peace in our hearts if we take a different direction than the one the Lord set aside for us.  Just as Paul was compelled to preach, we are compelled to proclaim the gospel through our obedient response to Our Lord's calling on our lives.

If we are gifted with a beautiful singing voice, we should be using it for God's glory.  If we are gifted with organizational skills, we should be using them to help with the administration of the church.  If we have been given teaching skills, we should be leading bible studies.  The list goes on and on.  There are no skills that cannot be used by God for the advance of His kingdom.  We should search for guidance from the Holy Spirit to find out the skill or skills that God has planned uniquely for each of us.  If we neglect the calling that God has placed on our lives, we may not face His wrath, but we are likely to lose the gifts that He has blessed us with.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us unique skills so that we can be vital parts of the Body of Christ.   We pray that You will help us discover and develop our identity in Christ.  May Your Holy Spirit guide us and train us in our calling.  May we find peace in our service to Your Kingdom.  We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.

Servants of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:17

For Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News--and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.

Paul served the emerging church in a number of ways, but he understood that God had called him and equipped him specifically to preach the Good News.  Paul teaches us that, as we serve our churches and communities, it is important that we call on the Holy Spirit to help us to find out what God has specifically equipped us to do in service to His Kingdom.  No role is too big, nor is any role too small, when we are doing what Our Creator called us to do.

Paul made it clear to his audience that the redemptive power of the Cross did not rely on anything that he did, nor would it rely on anything that they did or said.  It is not our enticing words or the strength of our presentation that wins hearts.  We are simply vessels of the divine truth of God's mercy on all of us.  We should never consider ourselves to be the reason that a soul came to Christ. The redemptive process is totally reliant on the supernatural work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You equip us to do Your work.  We praise You for allowing us to participate in the work of redemption made possible by the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Lord, that you open our eyes so that we can see the unique ways that you have endowed us to serve you.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts so that we may serve You as humble vessels of Your divine, redemptive power.  We pray all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Separated From the World

Romans 1:1

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

Paul points out three things about himself as he addresses the Romans.  These three things apply to all Christians.  1. We are called to be servants of Jesus Christ.  2. We were all called to some specific purpose for which God created us.  3. We are all separated unto the gospel of God.

When studying the original writings it is suggested that the word that was used for servant was actually quite a bit stronger.  It was rendered in the original text as "bond servant" which means someone who is subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of another.  Thus, we are called not only as servants to Jesus Christ, but as bond servants to Our King.

As His bond servants, each of us are called to a specific purpose in service to His kingdom.  But according to His will we are also "separated unto the gospel of God."   We must realize that the redemption that we have received through the grace and mercy of Almighty God has separated us from who we were.  We are now righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  We are proclaimers of the Good News through our spoken words and our living testimony.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for separating us from the world through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We bless His name for the blood that He shed so that we could live in the spirit and not in the flesh.  We pray, Father, for the grace to abandon our old lives.  We ask that You help us to understand the fullness of the redemption that You have provided us through Your Son.  We beseech You to give us the courage and the strength to proclaim Your Good News to those that you have placed in our lives.  May the world see that we have been separated unto You, Lord.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Blessed Hope and Assurance.

Speak to Me, Lord

John 16:13

But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and He will tell you what is yet to come.

Our Heavenly Father has given all of us Christians the Holy Spirit to teach us the Truth.  The Holy Spirit takes us beyond head knowledge of God into a personal relationship with Our Creator.  If we submit the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will not only learn about Our Savior, but we will learn to relish and savor all things that glorify Jesus Christ. 

In order to profit from this awesome gift of the Holy Spirit, we must train ourselves to listen for God's voice in our lives.  Listening to God is an acquired gift.  It is a byproduct of discipline and obedience.  We must set aside time to tune into God's voice.  The tuning comes from setting aside time for reading the Word, prayer and meditation on the Word, as well as, personal praise and worship.  When we are obedient in all these things, God will reveal Himself to us in all aspects of our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth.  We rejoice in knowing that the Holy Spirit will speak to us if we learn to listen for His voice.  Help us, Lord, to overcome the voice of our flesh.  We pray, Father, that You open our ears so that we can hear you at all times.  We ask that Your Holy Spirit help us to overcome the distractions of the world so that Your voice is not drowned out.  We beseech You, Father God, that You would strengthen us so that we can be diligent in the small things that we need to do to prepare ourselves to hear your voice.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the way, the truth and the life.

Who Are You Lord?

Acts 26:15

Then I asked, “Who are you, Lord?”

God has placed this question in all of our hearts.  When we come to a time in our lives when we are challenged to ask the question, He responds with an answer that convicts of our ignorance and our weakness.  He shows us the way, the truth and the life that is in His Son, Jesus.  He shows us a void in our hearts that can only be filled by accepting the His Son as Our Savior.

To get to this place and through this place of self-discovery and redemption, we must rely on the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is a divine gift.  The Holy Spirit is the presence of the Lord with us continuously.  The Holy Spirit never leaves us.  It is only us who choose to leave the Spirit to live in the flesh.

Let us make a commitment today to let go of our lives in the flesh.  Let us become humbled, broken and repentant.  Let us allow the Holy Spirit to show us who we really are.  May the new condition of our hearts lead us to and keep us in the presence of Our Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us Your Son, Jesus.  We praise You for revealing to us that Our Lord is always present with us.  We bless the name of Jesus who brings us peace to fill our minds and His love to be our daily portion.  We pray, Father, that you will open our eyes to the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that the Holy Spirit reveal to us the depths of our ignorance and our iniquity.  We cry out, Lord, for the strength and the wisdom to give up our own convictions and delight in doing Your will in our lives.  We humbly plead that we will abandon our flesh and live our lives in Your presence.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our ever present Savior.

To Be Like Paul

Acts 9:4

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?"

Just like Paul, as Christians we have all faced the day when the Lord challenged us.  Just like Paul, Our Lord had grounds to accuse us.  Perhaps not of persecuting His church, but He certainly had grounds to rebuke us for the obstinacy and self-will of our sinful nature.  

Just like Paul, as Christians we decided to denounce our old lives and accept our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ.  Unfortunately, unlike Paul, most of us have not taken our calling with the same fervency that Paul did.  We have allowed our own plans to overshadow God's plans for our lives.

Let us set aside our own plans.  Let us seek God's plan for our lives.  Let us submit to God's plans for our lives with the same fervor that Paul did.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Your Son.  We praise You for setting aside a perfect plan for our lives in Your kingdom here on earth and in heaven.  We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity.  We pray, Lord, that we will not be directed by our own ambitions, but be led by Your Holy Spirit.  We claim Your promise that through Your Holy Spirit, Your strength will be perfected in our weakness.  We beseech You, Father, that You grant us a double portion of Paul's fervor for proclaiming Your Good News to the world.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Blessed Hope and Assurance.

The Fullness of Jesus Christ

John 1:16

And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

There is nothing more complete, more sufficient or more perfect than the fullness of Jesus Christ.   To borrow from the teachings of Charles Spurgeon, the fullness of Christ is reflected in His Diety, His manhood, the atoning power of His Blood, His righteousness, His power over death and His endless grace to pardon, to regenerate, to sanctify, to preserve and to perfect.

The fullness of what we have received from God can be summed up in one word grace.  It is the great gift that we receive through His Son, Jesus, that we do not deserve and could never earn.  It is the unmerited good will of God directed toward us.  It is the gift that cannot be received by sinners.  It can only be received by those that have been washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.  It is all that has been perfectly and completely prepared for all men by Our Savior.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the unmerited favor that You bestow on us through Your Son, Jesus.  We bless the name of Our Savior for making it possible for us to receive Your unlimited flow of grace in our lives.  We pray, Father, that You will open our hearts to receive the fullness of Your Son, Jesus.  We ask that You show us how to tap into the inexhaustible treasure that He holds in His hands for us.  We pray all these things in His precious, holy and mighty name.

The "Much More" that God Promises

Matthew 6:30

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?

Gorgeous are the wild flowers that fill our fields.  They surpass the beauty of all human invention.  They are here with us for only a brief time before succumbing to the seasons.  Yet God clothes them spectacularly.  Shall he not then provide for every need for those who He holds so dear as to grant them eternal life?

We have allowed the cares of the world to come in and we have lost our faith in the "much more" that God promises us.  We have followed the world's lead and put our faith in our own independence.  We have tried to satisfy ourselves in all the things of the world, complicating our lives to the point that we cannot be satisfied.  Why not seek the simplicity and satisfaction of the "much more" that is ours to claim from the One who never breaks His promises?

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing for our every need.  We rejoice in knowing that all the treasures of Your kingdom are ours through the eternal inheritance secured for us by Your Son, Jesus.  We pray, Father, that you will help us break our worldly appetites that are impossible to satisfy.  Strengthen us, O Lord, that we may bear up to our daily troubles, stand up against our temptations and allow none of these things to move us away from You.  Help us to seek You, Father God.  We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, our endless fount of provision.

When It Pleases God

Galatians 1:15

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

When it pleased God, He called us from darkness, blindness and ignorance into the light and knowledge of the Gospel.  When it pleased God, He called us out of bondage to sin into the liberty of Christ.  When it pleased God, He called us from the fellowship of men into fellowship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  When it pleased God, He called us from dependence on our own righteousness to trusting in His Son, Jesus Christ.  It was all through His grace.  It was all in His timing.  

In our arrogance and our ignorance, we often expect God to show up exactly when we want Him to and in what manner we want Him to.  In doing so, we often miss Him when He shows up in the birds, in the trees and in the smiles and words of those around us.  The facets of Our Almighty God are beyond our understanding.  Most of His good work goes unseen and unappreciated by us.  It is the shallowness of our relationship that creates this phenomenon.  As we begin to focus entirely on Him and less on ourselves, our eyes are opened to see how everything He does is done in perfect timing when it is pleasing to Him. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the never ending flow of Your grace in our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that You have a perfect plan for our lives and that You will release it according to Your perfect timing.  We pray, Father, that you will help us to turn our focus away from ourselves and turn our attention to You.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes so that the fullness of Your grace is revealed to us in every aspect of our lives.  We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Resurrection and the Life.

Get to Your Feet

Acts 26:16
Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. You are to tell the world what you have seen and what I will show you in the future.

After the Lord struck Paul down, He called him to action (get to your feet), He revealed his assignment to him (servant and witness) and He told where to go (the world) to fulfill his calling.  The Lord, who is a respecter on no man, will take each of His followers through the same process.  

He will strike us down or allow us to be taken down so that we will turn to Him and not to the world.  He will call us to action. He will reveal to us in our spirits how he wishes to use us and direct us to where He wants us to take up His good work.  Through our supernatural relationship with Jesus, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will receive the direction that we need to fulfill the unique purposes for which God has created us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for appointing us to be Your servants and Your witnesses.  We humbly accept Your appointments as we confess that we are not worthy or capable to carry out our assignments without the supernatural aid of the Holy Spirit.  We bless the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to have the Holy Spirit indwell within us.  We rejoice in knowing that You will strike us down when we are taking a path that is different than the one that You have set aside for us.  We praise Your name as we celebrate each victory that comes from each time that You have to take us down.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will show us how to draw our strength and direction from each trial in our lives.  We pray, Father, that we will bear much fruit as we rise to our feet in service to Your kingdom.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the precious and perfect Lamb.

Transformed in His Image

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

We were all created in the image of Our Heavenly Father.  We were created to be with Him and be one with Him, one with Jesus Christ and one with the Holy Spirit.  Even though we are burdened by our sins which God cannot accept in His presence, we can still look forward to the day that we will stand in glory in His presence because of the atoning work of His Son, Jesus.  As Christians, the stench of our sin is removed by the blood of Our Savior for all eternity. 

Yet, day to day, we remain in a battle with our flesh that seeks to remain in sin.  We must rely on the strength promised to us by Our Savior.  We must claim His promise to perfect His strength in our weakness. We must seek the aid of His Holy Spirit to help us overcome the daily torments of our flesh and the regular attacks of the enemy.  We must submit to the sanctifying process of being transformed into the image of Our Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us in Your image.  We come before You to confess our sins to You, to repent of our sins and to thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to redeem us from our sins.  We pray, Lord, that You will provide the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may turn away from everything that displeases you and turn toward everything that is pleasing to you.  May we stand before You one day in the image of Your Son and hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior.  

The Zeal of the Child

Jeremiah 2:2

Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says: "I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.

Any parent who has grown kids has fond memories of how their young children delighted in being in their presence.  They also remember how the zeal of the children being with them diminished as the children grew older and formed their network of friends.  What parent at some point doesn't say, "how I miss those early years." 

So it is with Our Heavenly Father.  He remembers how hungry we were to know Him when we first received His Son as Our Savior.  He feels sorrow when He sees our knowledge of Him increasing while our zeal for Him is becoming stale.  He is sad when He sees us spending so much time in the world and so little time with Him.  He longs for us to return to the energy and enthusiasm that we showed Him when we were first born again in Christ.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for pouring out Your perfect love to us so that we are able to return that love to You.  We rejoice in knowing that Your throne is always open to us and You eagerly wait for us to come to be in Your presence.  We pray, Father, that you will fill us with the zeal of young children who run to their earthly parents to express their love and their joy in being in their presence.  May the fire of Your Holy Spirit rekindle our devotion and fervency for You.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord of our righteousness.  

Vessels of Refreshing

Ezekiel 36:26

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

When we accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord and Savior, we are given a new heart.  We are given a heart that senses sin and danger.  We are given a penitent heart, keenly aware of the things that offend our Lord.  We are given a sanctified heart, submissive to the will of God.  We are born again into a renewed life.

Being born again is the unmistakeable work of the Holy Spirit. We are given a new vision of life - kingdom vs. carnal.  We are taught, directed and sanctified by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We are equipped to walk in the ways of Our Savior.  We are given ongoing access to the Living Water which is infinitely superior to anything that the world has to offer.  

How can we allow ourselves to grow stale when the continuous fount of refreshing is readily available?  Let us drink deeply.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the new hearts that You have given us through the redeeming work of Your Son, Jesus.  We praise the name of Jesus for the renewed lives we are given through His sacrifice.  We pray, Lord, that You will keep our hearts soft.  We beseech you to protect us against the world that tries to harden our hearts.  We humbly ask that You release the living waters in our lives so that we may stay refreshed in Christ and be vessels of refreshing to those around us.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Going Back to Where We Were

Luke 15:8

Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 

Where will the woman look first for her lost coin?  She will go back to the place where she thinks that she lost the coin.  If the coin is not there, she will go back to all the other familiar places that she can think of until she finds the coin.  Even if her search takes her into darkness, she will find the light she needs to guide her to the object of her longing. 

So it is with us when we have lost our zeal for Christ.  We should go back to the place where we lost it.  Did we lose it because we cut back on our prayer time?  We need to return to our most robust prayer habits.  Did we lose it because we stopped studying the Word of God?  We should return to our diligent studies.  Did we lose it because of our habitual sin?  We need to repent and surrender to Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the most awesome treasure known to mankind, Your Son, Jesus Christ.  In our weakness, Father, we find that we have drifted away from our zeal for Your Son.  We pray that You will help us return to the place where we lost Him.  We ask that You show us how to invigorate the good discipline in our lives that we once had.  We beseech You to give us the strength we need to walk away from the torments of our flesh. Lord, bring us back to the Light of the World, our first love, Jesus Christ.  We pray these things in His holy name. 

Nothing Left to See

John 20:28

Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Thomas, once seeing the wounds of Jesus, proclaimed both his complete belief and complete submission to his Master when he spoke the words, "My Lord and My God."  All in one burst, Thomas asserts his interest in Jesus as his Lord, espouses his affection for Him and denotes his submission to Him.

We are all called to come to the same place where we finally "see" the total redemptive work of Jesus and fully submit to Him as Our Lord and Savior.  Nothing less is acceptable.  Anything less and our salvation is not attainable.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the loving kindness, mercy and grace that You have provided us through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that you will open our eyes so that we can see and fully appreciate the eternal value of Your Gift to us.  Lord, take us to a place in our lives where we tremble at the thought of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  May the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us so that there is nothing left in us that competes with our attention, our love, our praise or our service for Our Savior.  We pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus.

Set Apart by Our Creator

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

As it was with Jeremiah, so it is with each of us.  God created us and has a plan for our lives.  He has set us apart to serve Him in a way that only we can do because of the unique nature and capabilities that He has given to each of us.  God draws each of us into a relationship with Him so that we can understand what He has prepared us to do.  We do the things that we are called to do in response to the outpouring of love that we receive from Our Creator.

As we grow in our loving relationship with Our Heavenly Father, our primary focus needs to be on finding the answer to the question, "why was I created?", and responding accordingly.  The good news is that we do not have to answer the question nor respond on our own.  Our Heavenly Father has given us a Helper to guide us through the process of finding and accepting the calling that He has placed on our lives.  As long as we set aside time to be in the presence of Almighty God and surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will discover our "why" and rejoice in our opportunity to serve Our King.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us to fill a specific need on this earth and in Your eternal kingdom.  We thank You for providing a Helper to guide us in finding and following the path that You have set aside for us.  We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will help us to dig deep into our relationship with you.  May the Holy Spirit show us the special things that you have created us to do in Your Name.  We ask, Lord, that you teach us how to become vessels of the perfect love and forgiveness that you have poured into our lives.  May it all be done in the name of, Jesus, the One who redeemed us so that we could one day be designated as good and faithful servants.

Our Source of Comfort and Provision

Isaiah 41:14

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Why is it that we ever doubt for a second that the Lord has a plan already set in place to relieve us of whatever burden that troubles us?  Did He not set aside His own glory to become man to have a plan for our salvation?  Did He not shed His own blood so that the plan could be executed on our behalf?  Does He not hold all power and wisdom in His hand?  When He has done so much already, why would He withhold any good thing from us now?

As sure as the sun rises and sets each day, 

As sure as four seasons come our way, 

As sure as each wave comes ashore, 

He will be our provision and protection forever more.

Let us set our troubles before Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your faithfulness.  We bless the name of Jesus who gave up everything so that we could receive the fullness of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We rejoice in knowing that Your Holy Spirit is always with us to comfort us and strengthen us.  We pray, Lord, that you forgive us for being so weak in our faith.  Strengthen our spiritual nature so that we are seeking our comfort and provision from You and not from this world.  Let us always be mindful that all things are possible through You.  We pray these things in the name of Our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

The Struggle of the Balancing Act

Romans 6:4

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

The struggle for most Christians is realizing and adjusting the way we live by the spiritual fact that we are new men in Christ with the power to walk away from our old sin nature.  Our old flesh and our new spirit are in a battle.  The flesh wants to keep us in the world.  The Spirit wants to lead us on our path to sanctification.  There is no peace when trying to live in both worlds.

The perfect mercy and loving kindness of Our Father set aside a helper for us to manage through our daily struggles to overcome the calling of our flesh and the world.  We were given the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us and we were given God's promise that He would perfect His strength in our weakness. 2 Cor 12:9

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect plan and provision for us to overcome our sin natures.  We praise the name of Jesus for sacrificing His life so that we can have victory over sin.  We bless the name of the Holy Spirit who comes alongside us to guide us and strengthen us.  We pray, Lord, that You will show us how to end our struggle to balance our lives.  May the Holy Spirit assist us and give us the strength to walk away from the world and commit everything in our lives to Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  We pray these things in His precious and holy name.

Here I Am, Send Me

Acts 26:16
Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.

These are the words that Jesus spoke to Paul when He struck him down on the trail to Damascus.  Being the respecter of no man, these are the same words that Jesus speaks to every man.  By the loving kindness, mercy and grace of Our Savior, each one of us have been taken down in the flesh to be raised up anew in the spirit to serve Our Lord.  He is just waiting on us to say, "Here I am, send me."

Saul was an enemy of the early church.  He was doing all he could to shut down the early Christians.  If God would use such a man for His good purposes, can He not use each of us?  Just as the Lord lifted Saul from his blindness to be Paul, a beacon of light to the world, He can also lift us from whatever darkness is holding us down.  He can change us into new men and women in Christ, witnesses to the way, the truth and the life that is Jesus.  All we have to do is respond to the One that is calling us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking down the old man and raising up a new man in Christ.  We praise the name of Jesus who made it possible for us to escape the darkness in our lives and empowered us to be lights on a hill for the world to see.  We rejoice in knowing that we will be bondservants to Our Savior for all eternity.  We ask that the Holy Spirit prepare us for our work, Lord.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will show us how to make our lives living testimonies to Your glory.  We pray these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

Applying God's Holy Word to Our Lives

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 

No matter how intelligent we might be, the teachings of the Bible will remain a mystery to us without the influence of the Holy Spirit to aid us.  Our understanding is no better than the early listeners to Jesus' parables who "did not have ears to hear".  We cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ without the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is the work and business of the Holy Spirit, to teach, interpret, and explain all things to us which Christ had taught to His disciples. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make the Bible plain and easy to for us to understand.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to draw us to and instruct us in all things necessary for salvation.  It is the work of the Holy Spirit to prepare us to teach what we have learned to others. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to be Our Helper, Our Comforter and Our Guide on our journey of sanctification.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will instruct us in all things necessary for our salvation.  We ask, Lord, for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives help us to interpret Your Holy Word.  May Your teachings become easy for us to understand and apply to our lives.  May the Holy Spirit show us how to share this precious gift with others.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Alone with Our Savior

Mark 4:34

He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Jesus used examples of everyday life events to explain kingdom principles to the crowds.  Often the crowds did not understand.  His disciples did not understand either.  So Jesus would take His disciples aside and reveal the truth to them.

Jesus does the same with us.  He reveals His truths to us through the everyday events in our lives.  Much of which we do not understand because we do not truly understand ourselves.  At least, not until we are willing to go to Jesus and spend time with Him alone.  At these times, His Holy Spirit will reveal to us all that has been hidden from us because of our own spiritual immaturity or sinfulness.

While the treasures of the kingdom are present in the world, we often over look them or simply take them for granted.  It is important that we set aside a private time with Jesus or we may miss His treasures all together. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for revealing Yourself and Your treasures in this world.  We praise the name of Jesus who represents the highest order of Your benevolence to all humanity.  We pray, Father, that you will draw us unto Yourself so that we will seek Your Holy Spirit to guide us into precious, private time with Jesus Christ, Our Savior.  We ask, Lord, that You reveal all of Your truths and mysteries to us as we learn to build an intimate relationship with You.  We pray these things in the holy, might and righteous name of Jesus.  

When Our Obedience Costs Others

Luke 23:26

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.

Because Jesus was obedient to His Father's calling, it cost others around Him.  In this case, it was Simon of Cyrene who bore a portion of the costs of Jesus' obedience.

Whenever we choose to be obedient to God's calling on our lives, it is likely to cost other people.  Suppose the Lord asks us to give up something we love doing because He wants more time with us.  It is likely that we shared our beloved activity with others who will suffer from our withdrawal from the activity.  Or it may be that our faithful service at church creates an internal challenge to those who are shunning a calling of their own.  We must beware of the inclination to move away from our calling in order to avoid costing others.  We simply must obey and leave the consequences with Our Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us to fulfill unique plans and purposes in Your kingdom.  We pray that you keep us steadfast in our obedience to Your calling on our lives.  We ask, Lord, that You provide the strength we need to overcome the pressure that may come from others as they bear the costs of our obedience.  Show us, Father, how to forgive those that persecute us for serving You.  We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ who gave His life so that we may have eternal life.