Standing in the Light

Colossians 1:13

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

Sin is our nature.  It never leaves our flesh.  It keeps us in darkness from which there is no escape.  Without Jesus Christ in our lives, we are easy prey for Satan who stands ready to exploit the power of sin in our lives at a moment's notice.

But our merciful Heavenly Father made it part of His plan to give us the light and the power that we need to escape the darkness.  He provided a way for us to be bond servants to His Son and not to be slaves to Satan.  Through our relationship with His Crucified Son, we are rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God.  We receive true spiritual light as Christ is revealed to us, causing the prince of darkness to flee from us and the scales of darkness and blindness to fall from our eyes.

Our only refuge from sin is Jesus Christ.  By faith in Our Savior we are redeemed at the expense of His shed blood.  We are forgiven of our sins so that we may become objects of the Father's love and delight, just as His Son is.

Let us rejoice in knowing that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.  Let us seek to become beacons of His light for the world around us.  Let us humbly accept our roles as vessels of His light so that He may draw others from the darkness into His eternal light.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a way for us to be freed from our sinful natures.  We thank You, Jesus, for giving us victory over sin through Your shed blood and death on the Cross.  We thank You, Holy Spirit, for standing with us and strengthening us to overcome the sin in our lives.  We pray that we will come to the humble place where we recognize that we are incapable of victory over sin without the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that one day we will stand in the light for all eternity and darkness will never again touch us.  We pray that we may become beacons of light for the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Great Light, Jesus Christ.

We Are Not Qualified to Judge

Matthew 7:2

For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

One of the biggest flaws in humanity is the desire to proclaim judgment on one another.  It is part of our human nature.  When we combine the desire to proclaim judgment on others with the fact that we are all so tragically flawed by sin, the opportunity for judging others becomes readily and abundantly available.  This has led us as a society to be cruelly judgmental of all the people that we find in our lives.

Jesus knew that we would struggle in this area.  Thus He provided us with a stern warning about judging others.  He wanted us to recognize that we are not qualified to judge, only He is.  Even more so, He wanted us to understand that in judging others we put ourselves in a position to pay an enormous price.

In addition to the potential of ruining other people's lives because of our judgmental nature, we also risk the following for ourselves:

• If we practice a critical spirit, we are likely to steal our own joy and peace.
• If we assume God's authority to judge, we place ourselves under greater scrutiny.
• If we include malice in our judgement, we pollute our own hearts.
• If we plant seeds of unforgiveness and condemnation, we become vulnerable to hatred. 

Almighty God, through the sacrifice of His Son, chose to see us all as holy and blameless.  He gives us the freedom to choose to see others as He sees them.  He calls us to:

• Forgive others as we let Christ's peace rule in our hearts.
• Comfort others as we manifest the mercy of the Father.
• Honor others above ourselves as we imitate the humility of Our Savior.
• Encourage others as we share in the treasures of Jesus Christ
• Love others as we let the perfect love of God flow through us. 

Let us love God above all things, relying on Him as the Judge over all.  Let us love our neighbors as ourselves, choosing to live in the Spirit of Jesus Christ and not in the spirit of the world.

   

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that our sins have been forgiven and washed away by the sacrificial blood of Your Son.  We praise You for the mercy that You have extended to us through Your Son.  We pray that You will shield us from the desire to judge others when You have kept judgment for Yourself.  May we not seek to find sin in the lives of others, but only seek to help others find the forgiveness that is in the name of Jesus. May we all live our lives as vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We ask all these things in the name of the Judge of the Living and the Dead, Jesus Christ.

The Strength to Take Up Our Watch

Mark 14:34

And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”

Through Jesus, we receive the exchanged life of joy for the old life of sin and its miserable consequences. Jesus paid a great price for our redemption.  He suffered physically, mentally and emotionally to go to the Cross for us. He knew in advance the bodily torments, the agonizing death and the inconceivable burden of the weight of the sins of all men that He would suffer.  To secure our redemption, He chose the only path that fulfilled God's plan for our salvation.

As Jesus approached His time of great suffering, He was very sorrowful.  He was feeling the full agony of knowing that He would be taking on the burden of all sin.  His suffering was so great that He took Peter, James and John with Him to stand by Him in prayer as He prayed for strength in His most awful time of distress. Three times He left the apostles to pray.  Each time He asked them to remain and watch.  Each time He found them asleep when He returned.  The apostles in their weakness were not able to provide Jesus with the support that He requested as He prepared to take on His Cross.  But even though the apostles left Jesus to take on the Cross alone, Jesus was given the strength that He needed by the Holy Spirit.

Ultimately, we must choose to take up the Cross of Jesus Christ.  We must choose the way of Christ or the way of sin.  This is an impossible decision for us to make on our own.  Just like the apostles, our flesh is too weak. But like Jesus, we have the power and the strength that we need to overcome sin because the Holy Spirit stands by us and prepares our hearts to take our victory over sin.

Let us strive to live the joyous life of holiness.  Let us be watchful and persistent in fending off the oppressive life of sin.  Let us seek the Holy Spirit to stand by us and strengthen us as we walk on our paths of sanctification.   

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.  We praise the name of Jesus who chose to take all the sorrow and grief that He endured on our behalf.  We thank You for the Holy Spirit who guided us in choosing to accept Jesus as Our Savior, so that we might overcome the sin in our lives that separates us from You.  We pray for wisdom to always seek the strength and the counsel available to us through the Holy Spirit that stands on watch against sin with us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Seeking Nothing But the Best for Those Around Us

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once we received our salvation, we were called out of the darkness offered by the world.  We were placed into the living light of Jesus Christ. We were called to become priests to spread His light to the world around us.  We were called to intercede on the behalf of others so that they may be taken out of the darkness into the light.

In Numbers, we read that the Lord instructed Moses to have the priests, Aaron and his sons, to bless the people in the following way:  "May the Lord bless you and protect you.  May the Lord smile upon you.  May the Lord show you His favor and give you His peace."

These are the blessings that we should desire for those around us when we have accepted our calling into the royal priesthood.  As we abide in Jesus, these are the blessings that we should take before the Lord without stopping in intercession for those around us that are in need.  We should prayerfully seek nothing but the best of what God has to offer for all of the people in our lives.

Let us pick up our priestly mantle.  Let us stand before the throne of God proclaiming the excellencies of Our Savior. Let us call on His Holy Spirit to intercede for all of those who God has placed in our lives.  Let us become light to a world that is living in darkness.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for taking us out of the darkness of the world and making us part of Your royal priesthood.  We praise the name of Jesus who guides us in our priestly duties.  May we learn to bless the people in our lives through our prayers and through our living testimony.  We ask all these things in the name of the Light of the World, Jesus Christ.

The Immeasurable Work and Power of His Love

Job 26:14

Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him!  But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

It is completely breathtaking to realize that we have only seen a mere portion of Almighty God’s power. It is quite inspiring to know that in Heaven we will be on an endless journey of enjoying and discovering all of God’s divine capacity.

Just think that all that has been revealed to us about Our Heavenly Father through the experiences of the ages and through the writings in His Holy Word is only a foretelling of His omnipotence.  What we see of Him on earth and what we read of Him in the scriptures are illustrative of His awesome nature, but most of what He does each and every day is invisible to us.  To name all the wondrous powers of Almighty God would be as fruitless as trying to count the stars.  

God's never ending works are completely immeasurable.  They extend well beyond our ability to conceive of His might.  We can be certain that what we see or know of Him is nothing in comparison of what we do not know about Him.  Yet, we can be even more certain that all of His mighty wonders were eclipsed when He gave us His Son as the way, the truth and the life.  With that gracious act of mercy and that unfathomable expression of His perfect love, He opened the gateways of heaven for all of His children to become heirs to His kingdom for all of eternity.

Let us press on through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may grow in our knowledge of the Lord and all His ways.  Let us become willing vessels of His power and living testimonies of His love so that others will seek to know Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for drawing us to Yourself through the exhibition of Your divine power throughout the ages.  We exalt the name of Jesus as the most wondrous expression of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We ask that the Holy Spirit instruct us in knowing about You and lead us into a personal relationship with You through Your Son, Jesus.  We pray that we will become instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  May the world know You through our obedience in following Your calling on our lives.  We ask all these things in the name of the dunamis power of God, Jesus Christ.

Our God Controls Everything

Habakkuk 1:3

Why do you make me look at injustice?  Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  

In this passage, Habakkuk is crying out to God in frustration because of the things he is seeing in the society of his day.  Doesn’t this passage sound as if it could have been written today?  Who isn’t totally frustrated and deeply concerned by what we see and read in the news every single day?

Perhaps this frustration is carrying over into our own personal lives.  Who among us hasn’t cried out to God for relief from the struggles of work, relationships, addictions, afflictions or even sin itself? How often do we begin to lose hope when we do not see immediate relief from our circumstances?

God has a response for us just as he had for Habakkuk when He said, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.  For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told".  Habakkuk 1:5

In His Holy Word, God is commanding us to look around us to see where He is working.  He is not an idle, laissez-faire ruler.  He wants us to have faith in who He says He is.  He is actively involved in every single event in the world and in our lives. He is controlling all things for the ultimate perfect good of His children.

Let us look for God working in our lives and working in the world around us.  Let us look for the wondrous works of Almighty God in each and every day.  Let us rejoice in His faithfulness and mercy in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for all that You do to protect us and provide for us.  We thank You for those things that You do that we cannot see. We know that these unseen wonders are never ending for we know that You are faithful to Your promises.  We ask that You teach us how to live in complete faith that Your hand is on this world and on our lives.  We pray that Your Holy Spirit strengthen us when our circumstances lead us to feel that Your hand is not upon us.  May we exalt Your name for all that You do.  We ask all these things in the name Our Most Blessed Wonder, Jesus Christ.   

His Mercies Begin Afresh Each Morning

Job 42:10

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

The Bible records that Job was blameless and upright.  He had a great family and much wealth.  It was written that he was the greatest of all the people in the east.  And then it all changed.  God allowed Satan to take it all away from Job.

As we read about the story of Job's life, we see Job in his anguish.  He not only has lost everything, but he is mocked by his friends and even his wife tells him, "Why don't you curse God and die." Job assumes that God is persecuting him and hiding from him.  He lashes out at God in pain.

Once Job turned from his anger and turned instead to intercessory prayer, the mercies and blessings of Our Lord were released to him.  He found his prayer for others to be profitable for himself.  More importantly, he found that Satan had no more power over him.

No one goes through life without hardship, heartaches, and headaches. Most of us have learned to face the reality that life is difficult. But still it can feel almost intolerable for us to accept and cope with what's seems so unfair at times.  Like Job, our relief will come when we turn our focus away from our pain and on to the wondrous majesty and mercy of Our Creator. When we do this, our concern will be more for others than for ourselves.  At this point, we will receive all that the Lord has prepared for us.

“The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23  

Let us focus on the faithful love of the Lord.  Let us trust in His mercies each day.  

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we lift Your name above all names.  There is no name above Yours.  You are Our Creator and Our Sustainer.  You have given us life and granted us eternal life through Your Son.  We give thanks for the unmerited grace that You pour upon us.  We pray Lord that You strengthen us for the battles that we face in life.  We ask for the divine inspiration to keep our focus on You always. May our days be spent in service to You, free of any anguish that the world tries to bring us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Service Driven by Devotion to Our Father in Heaven

1 Peter 5:2

Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly--not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.

The apostle, Peter, witnessed first hand the servant attitude of His Master, Jesus Christ. Peter saw how Jesus served all people out of the devotion He had for His Father in heaven.  In his writings, he was encouraging His fellow followers of Christ to follow the model that Jesus had provided them.

When we were children, many of us joined our parents in the work that needed to be done around the house. We joined them in obedience to their request for help.  If we served them because we loved them and wanted to honor them, our work was done eagerly and with joy.  If we served them for any other reason - to earn allowance or perhaps avoid punishment - our work probably became tedious quickly.

We may find a similar experience when we seek to serve humanity.  No matter how fulfilling the service may be at first, the humanitarian cause will become exhausting if the root of our service is not our love for Our Savior.  The secret of our joy in service will be our devotion to Jesus Christ.

Jesus was the perfect model of service.  Jesus was able to carry through on His service to mankind all the way to the end because He was driven by His love for His Father first.  Honoring His Father with His obedience was His calling. The service that He provided for mankind was the result of His love for His Father.

Let us willingly serve Our Father in heaven with the same passion that was so evident in Jesus' ministry. Let us eagerly serve those around us out of devotion for Our Savior King.  Let our service to the flock that the Lord has given us be marked by the same sacrificial fervor as the Good Shepherd. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for allowing us to express our love to You through our service to those around us.  We pray that You strengthen us, Lord, for our work by helping us to grow in our relationship with Your Son.  May our devotion to Him be measured by the fruits of our work.  May all that we do to serve Your kingdom bring honor and glory to Your Holy Name, the name of Your Son, Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Servant King and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When We Find Ourselves Sinking

Matthew 14:30

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”

When Peter first stepped out of the boat, all He saw was Jesus.  He saw nothing but the one he desired to be with.  His focus was on His Lord and His Lord alone.  With His focus only on His Lord, he walked on water. But then Peter let his focus shift to his surroundings and down he went.

It is a bit difficult for us to relate to walking on water, but we can all relate to finding ourselves in a place in life where we feel like we are sinking.  In these times, we are weak in faith and our doubts are overwhelming to us.  Too often we get to this place because we are seeking a way out through our own strengths. Our focus is on our problems and not on the promises of Our Savior. 

Peter was rebuked for his lack of faith.  We should know that we share in Peter's weakness.  As disciples of Jesus Christ, there is no valid reason why we should be of doubtful mind.  Even on the stormiest of days, He is always with us as our ever present help.

Let us put all of our focus on Jesus.  Let us learn to follow the life path that He has prepared for us.  Let us walk that path boldly even when the world tries to distract us and the enemy tries to deter us.  Let us be confidently yoked by faith to Jesus all the way to our eternal resting place with Almighty God.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us with a unique purpose through which we serve You and bring honor and glory to Your Name.  We rejoice in knowing that we are destined to fulfill our purposes here on earth as well as in Your eternal kingdom.  We exalt the name of Our Savior, Jesus, who walks along side us to insure that we have the strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy.  May we keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus so we are not distracted or hindered by the things which are trying to pull us away from our purposes.   May we stand before You one day and hear the words, "Well done, My good and faithful servant." We ask all these things in the name of Our Redeemer, Our King, Our Priest and Our Prophet, Jesus Christ.

Laying Down Our Lives for Others

John 15:13

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

The life of Jesus Christ was not the life of a mere man, but the life of a divine man who gave up His deity and His royalty in order to accept the calling of Almighty God to be the blood sacrifice for the sins of all mankind.  Jesus took on this calling freely and voluntarily that He might secure our legal standing in the kingdom of God.

The moment that we accepted the salvation that Jesus made possible when He laid down His life for us, we were given the power and the calling to lay down our lives day after day for the people around us.  This sacrificial calling is contrary to our human nature.  Our flesh will fight us on every occasion, be it large or small, when we seek to emulate Jesus' love for us in our service to others.  And certainly, Satan will do his part to discourage us too.

Yet we can and will overcome the urges of Satan and our flesh, if we learn to rely on the urgings of the Holy Spirit.  For we were not only given the calling to serve, we were also given the power to serve. We were given the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to dwell within us.  All we have to do is let the Spirit within us flow out of us.

Let us learn to love others as we love ourselves.  Let us give up our lives in service to others.  Let us reveal to the world the greater love that dwells within us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son Jesus to die for us so that we would not remain separated from You for all eternity because of our sins.  We praise Your Name for extending Your mercy so that we could accept the salvation that we did not earn and do not deserve.  We pray, Father God, that the fullness of Your Holy Spirit will flow from us each day.  May we learn to lay down our lives each day so that others may see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus.  We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

Exhibiting God's Grace in Our Lives

2 Chronicles 27:6

King Jotham became powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the LORD his God.

Jotham became king at the age of 28.  He was obedient in all things.  Because of his faithfulness, he was given victory in all of his battles and a resting place of honor when he died.

God does not overlook a single thing in our lives.  Everything that we do is examined by Him.  He delights in our obedience in even the simplest of acts.  

On the other hand, we can miss out on the promises of God in our lives simply by not complying to the small things of life that the Holy Spirit may place on our hearts.  How many times have we passed up the opportunity to assist a grouchy neighbor, lend a helping hand to a needy stranger or respond politely and with love when receiving poor service?  Each time we passed on one of these or numerous other Holy Spirit led opportunities, we deprived God of His delight in us.  It is quite possible that we also limited the release of His power in our lives.  It is important that we seek and give full consideration to the will of God concerning all elements of our daily lives.

Let us listen to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we go through our daily activities.  Let us surrender ourselves to being vessels of the perfect love and forgiveness that we have received from Our Heavenly Father. May the fruits of our obedience delight the Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us the opportunity to bring honor and glory to Your Name when we allow the marvel of Your grace to be exhibited in our lives.  Teach us, Father, to recognize You and Your love in the simplest of tasks that are performed in service to others.  Lord, we pray that You release the fullness of Your power in our lives as we learn to share Your perfect love and forgiveness with the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Proclaiming His Promises for Our Children

Isaiah 44:3

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields.  And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children.

No other time in history has produced such a blatant spiritual attack against our children. The indoctrination of the enemy is starting in some school systems as early as pre-K.  The constant peer pressure on our pre-teens and teens is continuous.  Satan is viciously consistent in his efforts to destroy our families and in his efforts to destroy the lives of our children. 

We must be diligent in praying a hedge of protection around our children.   We have the power of protecting them through our prayers.  Our Heavenly Father promises us that He will pour out His Spirit on our descendants and pour out His blessings on our children.

No matter what circumstances that our children may be in, we must not believe the lies of Satan.  We must hold to the promises of Our Father. We must never give in to the evil work of the devil who will urge us to give up on our children.  Satan will do all that he can do to discourage our efforts to pray for our children because he knows the power that we access and release when we pray for our children.

Let us be resolute in fighting the good fight on the behalf of our children.  Let us continuously pray a hedge of protection around them.  Let us proclaim the promises of Our Lord that He will return our children to us and, most importantly, that He will return our children to Himself. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for hearing our prayers of protection for our children.  Thank you for providing a way for us to shield our children from the enemy who is set on destroying them.  Strengthen us, Lord, that we may never falter in covering our children with our prayers.  We rejoice in knowing that You will reward us for our diligent, prayerful efforts on behalf of our children.  We cling to Your promise to return our children to the land that You have set aside for them.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Refuge from the Storm, Jesus Christ.

Abiding in the True Vine

John 15:4

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

Where do we find ourselves today?  Are we happy with our circumstances?  Are we challenged by our trials?  Are we frozen by our fears?  These questions are irrelevant if we are abiding in Jesus.  If we follow His command to abide in Me, we will not have a care about where we are, what we are doing or what is going on around us.  In this place of abiding, we will find our lives filled with the perfect joy, strength and peace of the Lord.  Whatever we find ourselves doing will be completely satisfying and will bear much fruit. What freedom and power we find when we abide in Our Savior!!

On the other hand, if we are leaning on the world or on our own natural abilities, we soon find out how fearful and impotent we are.  Just as the passage suggests, we are destined to experience a withering away when we separate ourselves from the True Vine.  We are sure to enter into a poor, fruitless condition.  Why would we ever consider living in any other way except fully dependent on the True Vine?

Let us bring our fears to the Lord and let Him deal with them.  Let us vanquish the giants in our lives in the name of the Lord.  Let us bow in awe and wonder before Almighty God, acknowledging His great power and might.  Let us become the mighty warriors that He has created us to be.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we bow in awe and wonder before You.  We acknowledge and thank You for the fullness of the joy and the power that we receive when we abide in Your Son.  We pray for the strength to place all of our fears and worries at Your feet.  We ask for the courage to move forward knowing that all things are possible when we place our trust in Our Savior.  May we always seek the grace, nourishment and strength that we need from our all-sufficient source, Jesus Christ.  We ask all these things in His precious, holy and mighty name.

For the Pleasure, Praise and Honor of Almighty God

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We are the handiwork of the creator of the entire universe, but not merely as creatures, but as new creatures in Christ.  We were prepared before hand with the capacity to perform good works for the pleasure, the praise and the honor of Almighty God.  We were created not just to perform one good work but to continue to walk in a series of good works.  We were created to perform righteous and holy work as visible representatives of Our Savior.

There is nothing that we will face in life that is too big or too small for Jesus to overcome for us. He is waiting to comfort us and guide us and intercede for us in every minute detail and in every seemingly insurmountable circumstance in our lives.  Once we receive Jesus as Our Savior, it is His promise that He will insure that we are successful in carrying out His plans for our lives. Why should we try to rely on our own power when we have the power of the creator and sustainer of the universe available to us?  

Let us seek Jesus in every element of our lives.  Let us submit every breathing moment to Him.  Let us rejoice, knowing that He awaits to intercede for us!!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus, who comforts us, guides us and intercedes for us. We pray that You teach us how to put all of our trust in Him.  We ask that You shield us from all the distractions that we bring into our own lives.  May we learn to walk in the ways that Jesus reveals to us in our hearts. May the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us as we seek to endeavor in the righteous and holy work of Your kingdom. We ask all these things in the name of Our Righteous and Holy King, Jesus Christ.

Keeping Our Gifts Under Wraps

Matthew 25:18

But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.

What a shame it is to accept our salvation and then to remain mostly unchanged by the Holy Spirit within us.  In doing so, we are like the servant that took the talent from his master and buried it in the ground without doing anything with it to increase its value to the master.  

When we do not access all that is available to us through the Holy Spirit, like the non-productive servant we will see the flow of the gifts from Our Master cease.  We will see ourselves denied the opportunity to reap from all that God has stored up for us.  Remember Jesus Christ gave everything for us.  He held back nothing.  He expects the same from us in return.

Also remember that Jesus rewards those who are faithful in their service to Him.  If we look for and seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we open our access to all the treasures of heaven.  We enable God to prepare us to serve Him and bear fruit for Him in the manner that He planned for us.  Often we will find that our harvest for the King is well beyond the limits of our imagination.

Let us eagerly seek the instruction and guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Let us hold back nothing from the Lord.  Let us insure through our total submission that we reap all that God has planned for us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the gifts and talents that You have given us.  We call on Your Holy Spirit to take us beyond what we see and understand about our own capabilities to a place where we are releasing things in our lives that are not even imaginable to us now.  May all the gain we see and all the fruit we bear be for Your honor and Your glory.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Bountiful Lord, Jesus Christ.

Exchanging Our Stress for Rest

Matthew 11:28

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

At some level, we all take on the heavy burdens of this world.  We all seek to escape from the stress filled grind that most of us experience in some form from our day to day activities.  Jesus invites all of us who labor and are carrying burdens to come to Him. He promises that He will provide us with the rest that we need. 

But be assured that "I will give you rest" does not mean "I will hold your hand while you lay in bed languishing in your burdens."  It means, "I will pull you out of the darkened state that you are in.  I will pull you from the oppression of the enemy.  I will give you the spirit of a new life, but I expect you to let go of your old life."  

Why do we insist on hanging on to the old things that do nothing but hinder our progress toward finding the rest that is promised to us?  Why do we accept anything less than the full measure that God has set aside for us? It is all about our commitment. When we come to Jesus, we are committing to leave everything of this world behind in exchange for a personal relationship with Our Savior.

Let us abandon the callings of our flesh as we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ and allow His Spirit to guide all that we do.  Let us take victory over all of our trials as we live in submission to Our Savior.  Let us receive the peace that He promises us as we respond to His command, "Come to Me."

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing a refuge for us - a place where we can be free from the burdens that the world tries to lay on us.  We praise You for providing the comfort that we can find nowhere else except through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus.  May we be drawn by the Holy Spirit to respond to the words of promise, "Come unto me."  May we learn to live our lives in the vitality and might that You offer us in Christ. We ask all these things in the name of the One who provides our comfort, Jesus Christ.

He Awaits Our Entreaty

Luke 11:9

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

In this passage, we find a solemn declaration and promise made by Jesus Himself.  The declaration rests on His authority.  He makes the statement with the boldness of knowing it is true.  He opens the way for us to ask for food for the body and nourishment for our souls and He promises that for those that act in accordance with His counsel shall find their requests satisfied.

When we knock at Jesus' door, seeking Him, our lives are changed forever.  Once we have accepted Him as Our Savior, we are new men and women in Christ.  We are new people who are faced with the eye-opening need to let our old selves die, so that our new selves are properly prepared to be in the presence of Our Lord.

Once we establish our relationship with Him, we will be in a place that is greater than anything we have ever experienced before.  We will never want to leave that relationship.  To stay there, we will find that we are forever humbled by our need to cleanse ourselves.  We will find that the experience of first meeting Him is the beginning of our preparation for being in His presence for all eternity.

Let us knock on the door of heaven and let Jesus know that we desire to have an intimate relationship with Him.  Let us humbly accept being yoked to Him.  Let us learn to surrender to the fullness of living in His presence each day.  Let us joyfully anticipate the eternal resting place that He is preparing for us in His Father's house.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before You.  We thank You that we are allowed to approach Your throne because Your Son, Jesus, has prepared the way for us.  Make us forever mindful of His sacrifice which washed away our sins for all eternity. Open our eyes to see the sins that remain in our lives so that we may ask forgiveness of them and repent of them. May Your Holy Spirit guide us in continuously seeking the presence of Your Son in our lives.  May we find all we need in Him.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lord God Omnipotent, Jesus Christ.

Praying Properly is a Powerful Supernatural Process

Luke 11:10

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Whether we lack food, shelter, finances or wisdom, the Lord promises to provide us with our needs. He also promises to provide us with the desires of our hearts.  But in all these things, He provides according to His perfect timing and His will for our lives.

God in His love promises that He will provide ample supply for all of our needs. Quite often, however, we experience a delay between our prayers and the answers to our prayers.  In His infinite wisdom, Our Heavenly Father uses the experience of the delay for the express purpose of our edification.

If there were never any delays between our prayers and God's provision, we would lose sight of the fact that God is controlling the process and not us.  We would also lose the perspective that God wants us to rely on His grace for all things.  We would lose the fervency of our prayers.

Because of the delay experience, we learn to go to the Holy Spirit to get help with our prayers.  We learn that our prayers are too often coming from the desires of our flesh and not the desires of our spirit.  By turning to the Holy Spirit, we learn to put our prayers in line with God's will for our lives.

Let us turn to the Holy Spirit for the inspiration of our prayer content.  Let us learn to rely on the Holy Spirit to align our prayers with the will and plan that Almighty God has for our lives.  Let us rejoice in knowing that every need in our lives will be faithfully met through this powerful supernatural process.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your grace that is the source of all of our provision.  We thank You for the perfect timing of Your answers for our prayers.  We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to help us pray properly for the things that we need.  We pray that You show us Your will for our lives so that our prayers will be in accordance with Your plans for our lives.  May our Holy Spirit inspired prayers touch Your heart so that You release from Your hands all that You have set aside for us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Power of God, Jesus Christ.

What Promised Land Are We Missing?

John 13:17

If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

God told Moses to speak to the rock and it would yield water. But because the water did not come quick enough to suit Moses, in anger he struck the rock. Water came forth for the people to drink, but God was not pleased. Because Moses did not trust in God's timing, he tried to make things happen his own way.  In the process, he disobeyed God.  Moses later suffered the consequences of his disobedience.  He was not permitted to enter into the land of Canaan with his people.

What "promised land" are we missing because we are not being perfectly obedient in what God is asking us to do?  God allows us much room for choice in our lives, but He also changes His rewards when we make poor choices. This is especially true if God has laid out a specific path for us to take, but we choose to take a different path.

Moses missed going into the promised land because he was not perfectly obedient to God's direction in his life.  We certainly risk missing our promised land when we are anything less than fully submitted to God's direction in our lives.

Let us draw near to the Lord.  Let us seek earnestly the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit.  Let us move without hesitation when the Holy Spirit directs us toward our manifest destiny in Christ.  Let us receive the fullness of the rewards that the Lord has in store for His obedient children.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that You direct our ways through the urgings of the Holy Spirit in our lives each day.  Prepare our hearts, Lord, so that we may be alert and obedient to Your calling on our lives.  Teach us how to hear and respond to the Holy Spirit so that we may know the things that You ask of us.  We pray that we will have the strength and wisdom to comply in accordance with Your plans for our lives.  May we receive the fullness of the blessings that You have set aside for us.  We ask all these things in the name of the Lamb without Blemish, Jesus Christ.