Our Inseparable Partner in Victory

1Peter 4:12

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Jesus makes it completely clear in His teaching that we should expect trials if we follow Him.  We should not be surprised by any painful trial that we may be going through.  Trials are part of the necessary process of growing our faith and our intimacy with Our Lord. 

Our faith must be tested.  Without trials, we would soon believe that all of our good fortune was of our own making.  Through the trials, we build our confidence in Our Savior who faithfully delivers us from each and every challenging period in our lives.  His grace is always sufficient if we trust in Him.

Lifelong friendships and close personal relationships are usually the hallmarks of great sports teams.  The time that the players spend together in battle on the athletic playing fields relying on one another result in bonds that are unbreakable.  So it will be with us in our relationship with Jesus Christ.  When we learn to rely on Him to take us through our battles in life, He will become our anchor during the mightiest of storms.  He will become our inseparable partner in victory.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our rock and our foundation.  We thank You for Your faithfulness in delivering us from the fiery trials in our lives.  We pray that we will come to a place where we trust in Our Savior, Jesus Christ, in all things.   May our trust become so complete that we actually learn to rejoice in the face of our trials, knowing the victory is ours in all matters even unto death.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, Our Refuge from the Storm.

The Illumined Path

John 12:35

So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

In the darkness, no work can be done and unseen pitfalls are perilously close by.  Left in the darkness, we will find ourselves wandering aimlessly on with no measure of progress.  Jesus warned that such a place was eminent for those who did not take advantage of the light that He provided. 

Jesus is the light, the truth and the way.  When we let Him into our lives, His light reveals all the darkness in our flesh that stands ready to trap us.  His light illumines our way so that we can turn from the things in our lives that displease Our Heavenly Father.  His light frees us from the darkness where we are sure to find affliction, calamity and distress.  His light allows us to act as wise men and not as fools. 

Jesus came and died on the Cross so that many may live in His light.  Those that choose to live in His light, He allows to be beacons to call others to His light and to be vessels for sharing the peace and protection that His light provides.  May we all be lamps that carry His glory.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.  We bless the name of Jesus who frees us from living in the blindness and darkness created and cultivated by our sin natures.  We thank You, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit illumines our paths each day.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide and strengthen us as we choose to live in the Light.  We ask all these things in the name of the way, the truth and the life, Jesus Christ.

Seeking the Only True Peace

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Just before Jesus entered His final days on earth, He told His disciples He would be leaving them His peace after He was gone.  He instructed them that His peace was different from the world's peace.  He assured them that His peace was sufficient to carry them through anything that the world brought against them.

Earlier Jesus had told the apostles, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come and make Our home with him."  The presence of the Father and the Son (our peace) is thus based on our relationship with Jesus.  So it is easy to see that if we are not in good relationship with Our Savior, we will be left with the peace of the world and not His peace.

Why would we settle for anything less than the perfect peace that only Jesus can provide us?  Trusting in ourselves or in the world will lead us down a very bumpy path at best.  Let us set ourselves straight with Our Savior so that we may receive the peace in our lives that He promises - His peace.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for supernatural peace that we have through Your Son, Jesus.  We rejoice in knowing that we can have peace even when everything in the world is coming against us.  We bless the name of Jesus because His peace is sufficient to carry us through all of our trials.  We ask the Holy Spirit to keep us mindful to always seek the peace of Jesus first and not the peace of the world.  We pray for the grace to keep us in an intimate relationship with Our Savior and the wisdom and the strength to work on making that relationship closer each day.  We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Passion for the Commander, Not the Commandments

Psalm 40:8

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

When David spoke of his desire to follow God's will for his life, he was patterning himself after Jesus.  Jesus did nothing without giving full consideration to the will of the Father.  Both Jesus' and David's hearts were set on pleasing the Father.  Each complied cheerfully.

When we pass on food that we love because we have a single purpose of trying to lose weight, we are likely to struggle from the onset.  When we strive to lose weight so that we may have a happier, extended life to enjoy with our loved ones, we are more likely to sacrifice the pleasure of our favorite foods because of the higher purpose that drives our success.

When we seek to be faithful in following all of the commandments with the single purpose of avoiding sin, we are certain to struggle because our purpose is not high enough.  We must find our passion in our covenant with Jesus not in the law.  We must seek to know Jesus so intimately that we can enjoy His peace, His beauty, His mercy, His loving kindness and most of all His forgiveness.  When we have reached this place of passion for Jesus Christ, then we will delight in doing the will of The Father, just as Jesus delighted in doing His Father's will.  We will count it as joy to give up the things of the world for the glory of Our Heavenly Father.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to come down from heaven to fulfill the law.  We bless the name of Jesus for His perfect obedience in doing Your will.  We ask that the Holy Spirit will help us to set our hearts upon Your law with cheerful compliance.  Oh Lord, we pray that we may take up our crosses daily with the same delight and pleasure that Jesus did when He fulfilled Your will for His life.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

Perfectly Answered Prayers

Matthew 7:9

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Prayer is an appointed means for obtaining what we need.  We are commanded in the Holy Word to pray often and to be persistent in praying for our needs.  Almighty God promises to hear our prayers in order to fulfill our needs in accordance with His will for our lives.  If this were not so, then we would not be instructed to make praying a daily habit. 

We may be confused when it seems that our prayers are not answered.  On the other hand, we should have many examples in our carnal lives in how needs are properly met.  As parents, one of our strongest desires is to feed our children when they are hungry.  It is also one of our greatest responsibilities.  Yet, if our children ask for ice cream when it is dinner time, our answer is usually "no" or "not now".   While our commitment to them is to feed them, our larger commitment is to see them grow up and become healthy adults.

While the Lord promises to hear and answer all of our prayers of need, His promises are bound by the higher covenant of preparing us for our eternal life in heaven with Him.  So while He always hears our prayers, sometimes His answers will be "no" or "not now."  Each case will be determined by Him based on where we are or where those that we are praying for are in the path of sanctification.  He will answer in perfect timing in accordance with His will for the lives of all involved.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing and answering all of our prayers.  We thank You that You often protect us by not giving us what we ask for when it will take us off the path that You have set aside for our lives.  We pray for the strength to endure when the "nos" and the "not nows" seem so painful.  We ask, Lord, that You help us to keep seeking You so that our prayers will come into alignment with Your will for our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of El Shaddai, our mighty and all sufficient provider, Jesus Christ.

The Yoke of Jesus Christ

Matthew 6:6

But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Without question, one of Satan's greatest skills is his ability to keep us distracted from building our relationship with God by keeping us focused on the business of life.  One of his greatest lies is planting the seed in our minds that God does not want to hear about everything in our lives.  Through the perfect work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can turn both of Satan's tactics against him.

The first thing that we should do each day in the privacy of the morning is to invite Jesus to join us throughout the day.  Then everything public in our busy lives will be marked by His presence.  Everything that comes our way as a challenge or a trial can be handed to Him immediately through brief and constant prayer.

Because we have given Jesus the burdens of life throughout the day, we can shut the door on all the cares of the day that usually distract us as we try to pray at night.  Instead of focusing on our cares, we are free to focus on Our God.  We can worship Him, we can praise Him and we can soak in His love.  We can grow in our relationship with Him according to His good and perfect plan for our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the yoke that we can take to make our burdens light.  We rejoice in His presence with us throughout the day and night.  We pray for the wisdom and the grace to share all of our cares with Our Savior throughout the day.  We ask, Lord, that You teach us how to come to You without distraction in the evening so that we may spend the time growing in our relationship with You and refreshing ourselves for the next day to be spent in the yoke of Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who lightens our burdens, Jesus Christ.

Let the Light of Jesus Christ Shine In Us

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.

As light was the first work in the creation of the earth, so has light been the first work in the creation of new men or women in Christ.  In both cases the light was brought forth to overcome the pre-existing chaotic darkness that existed.  

Jesus is the light, the truth and the way.  No darkness can exist in His presence.  When we accept Him as Our Savior, He comes to dwell within us and the process of removing all the darkness from our lives begins.  All of our sins are brought into the light by the Holy Spirit.  Repentance is required.  To do otherwise is to suggest that we are sufficient in our own ways.  It is not enough to be sorry for our sins.  We must recognize our unworthiness.  We must recognize our need to be cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb.  We must fully submit to Jesus so that we will have the strength to turn away from the darkness, so that we may live in the light.  This process will continue as long as we are in our corrupted bodies.  It will not be completed until we stand before Our Father in heaven at His Throne.  

From the beginning of time, darkness has been allowed to exist with light.  When the new earth is perfected for all eternity and comes into place with the new heaven, the darkness will be put aside forever.  When we take our place in God's kingdom, the darkness in our lives will also be set aside forever.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for exposing all the darkness in our lives.  We pray that we will fully submit to the cleansing process.  May Your Light extend to the outer margins of our lives.  May no element of our lives be untouched.  We pray that the complete work of the Blood of the Lamb will prepare us to take our place in heaven for all eternity.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great Eternal Light, Jesus Christ. 

The Lord is Peace

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

When Israel had been under the hand of the Midianites for seven years, the Lord came to Gideon.  He promised to bring Israel peace and victory over the Midianites.  He asked Gideon to lead the way.  Gideon questioned the strength of his people and he questioned his own ability to lead the people against the Midianites.  After the Lord provided Gideon with a sign confirming His promise, Gideon led the Israelites in battle. 

After the Lord provided the victory, Gideon built an altar to celebrate the victory and to praise God for His fulfilled promise of victory and peace.  Gideon named the altar Jehovah Shalom to honor the one who brought the victory.  Jehovah Shalom means the Lord is peace.

Jehovah Shalom is the name that we can call on when our faith is weak because our world is out of sorts or all odds seem stacked against us.  What a magnificent gift we have in the promise of victory and peace offered by Our Savior.   Jesus promises not any peace, but His peace.  He promises us the same peace that allowed Him to face and overcome the tremendous unsettling in His spirit when He knew the certainty of His upcoming death and agony.   Every unsettling event in our lives can be calmed simply by calling on the name of Jehovah Shalom for He promises us His peace.

  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that we can be certain of peace in our lives even when turmoil surrounds us.  We rejoice in knowing that the Prince of Peace is with us always.  We pray, Father, that our faith will be strong in the face of all adversity.  May we be steadfast in all that You call us to do.  May we be certain to look to Your Son, Jesus, to be our rock and our foundation when we need to overcome our fear.  We ask all these things in the name of Jehovah Shalom, Jesus Christ.

Our Place of Rest

Matthew 11:28

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

God's plan for our lives calls for total surrender to Him.  The enemy has a different plan.  The enemy uses all the facets of our lives on earth as areas of distraction from our full surrender to Our Lord.  Often our work is the biggest distraction.  Recreation, hobbies and even family activities can be other big areas of distraction for us.  Ironically, the work that we do as a ministry to support the Body of Christ may also become a distraction that keeps us from digging deep into the fount of rest, Jesus Christ. All of these activities can certainly be deemed good and are likely extremely productive.  That is why Satan is so successful in distracting us from God.  Satan entices us to replace God with good things.

Aside from the issue of distraction, Satan weaves in another common hurdle as we pursue good things over God things.  Unfortunately, it can be possible that all the good things that we are pursuing are generating much of the stress and struggles that we face in life.  In an effort to do all these good things, we create time, financial and relationship pressures that burden us.

Oneness with Jesus Christ is the only way for us to successfully balance all that we deal with in life.  Jesus is the fulcrum.  He balances our load by providing the right foundation for all that we do.  When we stay in balance by following the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we can reside in a place of rest and satisfaction unlike anything that the we can derive from our own plans.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our refuge.  We bless the name of Jesus for being our port in the storm, our deliverer from our sins, our shield against the enemy and our comforter for all of our cares, fears and sorrows.  We pray, Lord, that You will draw us into full surrender to Your Son, not only in the words of our lips, but in the actions that come from our hearts.  We seek to find the rest for our souls that is only available through Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Resting Place, Jesus Christ.

Exchanging One Treasure for Another

Luke 18:22

When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

The young ruler, as he is often called, was given the directive to sell what He had and follow Jesus.  It was a hard word for the young man to take.  He walked away from all that Jesus had offered because he could not give up his earthly treasures in exchange for the treasures that Jesus offered to him.

For most all of us, God's words do not come to us in such a direct manner as the words spoken to the young man.  They do not come in clear audible context.  God's directives come to us in the faint internal whisperings of the Holy Spirit.  We receive more of a gentle urging of the spirit rather than an anything audible.  Nonetheless, we are challenged just like the young ruler to decide if God is the most important thing in our lives.

Maybe, unlike the young ruler, it is not our treasures that we are holding on to.  Maybe we are holding on to a job that keeps us away from our family.  Maybe we are holding on to an outside interest that keeps us out of church on Sunday.  Maybe we are holding on to a habit that limits our ability to draw closer to God.  Maybe it is simply pride that is keeping us from fully surrendering to Our Savior.

Whatever it is, it is clear to Our Lord what we are holding on to.  In His loving kindness, He will insure that which we are clinging to is exposed.  The Holy Spirit will reveal the things of the flesh that we are clinging to.  The Holy Spirit will send us urgings that are designed to test our obedience.  If we ignore the urgings, they will become weaker and weaker until they eventually cease.  If we are obedient to the urgings, they will become clearer and clearer to us.  God's inspiration will become a greater part of our lives as we begin to seek the urgings of the Holy Spirit in all of our endeavors.  Through the process of obedience and surrender, we will learn to walk in the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the gentle urgings of the Holy Spirit.  We praise You for  providing the ever present Counselor in our daily lives.  We pray that our minds and hearts will be receptive to all that the Holy Spirit brings to us.  We ask for the strength to release the trappings of our flesh that are keeping us from surrendering fully to Your Son.  May our obedience bring richness to our daily walk with Our Savior.  We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Treasure on earth and in heaven.