Our Victory Has Been Set Aside for Us

Psalm 27:1

The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Many of the Psalms were written by David.  David was proclaimed by God to be "a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do".  Because David proved himself to be obedient to the Lord's calling on his life, sought God in all things and trusted God in all things, God made him king of Israel.

The first we read about David, we see him as a young man who believed God would give him victory over the giant, Goliath, when everyone else cowered in the face of the giant.  The men of the day tried to provide David with their armor to fight the giant.  David refused.  He knew he only needed God on his side.

The same God that helped David slay Goliath is the God that helps us to slay the giants in our lives.  The giants in our lives are not named Goliath.  They are named such things as addiction, fear, worry, depression, confusion, manipulation, control, bitterness and anger.  We do not need to turn to the world to defeat our giants.  We only need to go to Our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.  

Let us not be fearful in any battle that we are fighting.  Just as David did, we can go to the Father to be perfectly prepared for the battle.  Let us confidently proclaim victory against whatever giant or giants we are facing.  Our ultimate victory has already been set aside for us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, whose death on the Cross gave us victory over all things.  We exalt the name of Our Savior King who opened the gateway to heaven for us.  We are so grateful that Jesus stands beside us as we face our giants. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to trust in You, Lord, just as David trusted in You.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord Mighty in Battle, Jesus Christ.

The Purifying Conviction of the Holy Spirit

Philippians 2:12-13

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he knew that they were struggling with sin in their lives just as we all are.  He knew that they found it easier "to behave" when they were in his presence, just as we are more on guard in the presence of others.  He exhorted them to be constant in their battle against sin whether He was there or not.

He was not telling them that they were working to earn their salvation.  He was telling them how to overcome the ongoing attacks of the flesh which would try to lead them back to the sin that had been washed away forever by their Savior.  He was reminding them that their victory had already been set aside by the One who had died for their sins and dwells within them.  He was emphasizing that they must live in reverent awe of their Savior and not be lead by the whims of their flesh.

So it is with us.  We do not work to earn our salvation.  If we have received Jesus as Our Savior, we have been redeemed and washed clean of all of our sin.  The work of salvation that Paul speaks of is really the work of sanctification.  It is the process that we go through as we learn to lean on Jesus and not our own strength to overcome the work of the enemy in our lives.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to inspect us and to reveal to us the sin that we are holding on to.  Let us surrender to the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Let us rejoice in pleasing the Lord as He strengthens us to walk the path of sanctification.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we proclaim our sin before You and ask for Your forgiveness. We thank You that this issue has been settled on our behalf for all eternity.  We pray that we may be continually washed by the blood of Your Son and strengthened daily by His presence in our lives.  We ask to live in reverent awe of who You are so that we will come under the purifying conviction of the Holy Spirit.  We ask all these things in the name of the Tower of Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Leaning On The Help That Never Fails Us

Hebrews 13:6

So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

The Lord is our helper.  He is our mighty King, but He is also our humble servant because of His promises to us.  He is able to help in ways that we cannot imagine.  He is our helper when there is no one else there to help.  His help is always suitable, seasonable and sufficient.

Jesus promises to be Our Helper, but He also commands that we hold Him to His promises.  As written in Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

As the Lord commands, do we see Him in all that we do?  If we do, there should be no doubt or drudgery in any task.  For in every task we should find the power and the joy of Jesus.  If we are experiencing a lack of joy in our circumstances, then we are not believing Jesus for His promise to take our burdens.  If we are doubting the outcome of our efforts, then we are not believing Jesus for His promise to never forsake us.

Let us be strong and courageous.  Let us make Jesus Christ our foundation.  Let us learn to trust in and call on all the promises that God has revealed to us.  Let us rejoice in knowing without doubt that He is working out all things for our eternal good.  Let us find peace and comfort in the victory that is promised to us. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us so much that You promise never to leave us or forget about us.  We rejoice in knowing that You know every single thing that is going on in our lives and that You are working out all the details necessary for us to experience the fullness of joy through our relationship with Your Son.  Teach us, Lord, how to rely on the Holy Spirit to be our helper in every element of our lives.  Through our reliance on Your promises, may we find joy and find victory in our roles as grandparents, parents, children, citizens, employees, friends and neighbors.  Through all these things may we celebrate serving You.  Through all these things may we be light to the world around us.  We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.

Humility That Surpasses All Imagination

Philippians 2:8

Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The fact that Jesus left His divine state to become a man illustrates an act of humility that surpasses anything that any human could ever imagine.  Accepting the lowliness of man, it would have been reasonable by any human standard that He would a least appear as a king. Not so for this divine man, He took not a royal station but accepted a position in a lowly manger.  His state within humankind never advanced to any level above the lowest elements of society.  He worked His entire ministry in the streets and hillsides among the common people.

His splendor was never to be seen by man until He ascended to His seat beside His Father in Heaven. In the meantime, He endured a life of poverty and suffering which ended in an exposition of public hatred, ridicule and scorn.  Then, having no place for personal pride, He accepted death so that we may have life.

Let us lie at the foot of His Cross each day and learn from Our Savior King.  Let us take note of His complete obedience to the Father under all circumstances.  May we allow our personal pride to dissolve in the face of knowing why He made these choices - to save us from our sinful and prideful nature.  Let us be inspired by His faithfulness and His promises.  Let us humble ourselves to the point of putting the old man in our lives to death so that our new man in Christ may live.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we humbly bow before Your throne, asking Your forgiveness for our sins.  We thank You for providing the way for us to overcome our sinful nature.  May we cling to the Cross of Our Savior.  May we learn to set aside our pride and serve those around us in the manner that You call us.  May we ignore the scorn of the world as we are obedient to Your calling on our lives. We ask all these things in the name of The Captain of Our Salvation, Jesus Christ.

Let Us Praise Our King

Psalm 150:6

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

We are stirred up in our hearts to praise God.  We are first moved to praise Him for the magnificence of His creation.  We are inspired by the Holy Spirit to praise Him for His holiness and His love expressed through the redemptive work of His Son, Jesus.  We learn to praise Him because of His power and His glory that we see expressed in our lives every day.  

Let us praise God out of the faith that He has built in us through His Holy Spirit.  Let us praise God as we are comforted by His goodness and His grace.  Let us praise God with the joy of the expectation of life in His eternal kingdom.  Let us praise God with the unshakeable confidence that the victory is ours through God's greatest gift to us, His Son, Jesus. 

Let us praise God with the love and delight that He alone has placed in our hearts.  Let our every breath be filled with praise for Our Savior, Our Redeemer, Our King.  May our lives be living testimonies of the Son of God who has come to dwell within us.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we lift our voices toward You in high praise.  We bring our thanksgiving for Your precious Lamb, Jesus.  We proclaim His holiness and His righteousness.  We give thanks for His presence in our lives.  We pray Father that You open our eyes so that we may see the presence of Your Son in the tiny things in life as well as the large things.  May our every breath praise Him as we come know just how dear He is to You and to us.  We ask all these things in the name of the One whose steadfast love never ceases, Jesus Christ.

The Fear That Keeps Rein Over Us

Psalm 25:12

Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.

Fear of God can be compared in some regards to our relationship with our earthly fathers.  While we may have feared punishment from our earthly fathers, it was the fear of offending the one we loved so dearly that held such power over us.  The fear of disappointing the one that we wanted to please the most provided enormous influence over us.  The fear of not living up to the expectations of the one that we held in the highest place in our lives impacted our lives.  The fear of losing closeness with the one we desired to be closest to kept a rein on our lives.  It was this fear that held us in line when the world was trying to pull us out of line.

As disciples of Jesus Christ and as good sons and daughters, we benefitted greatly from living in awe of the highest authority figures in our lives - Our Heavenly Father and our earthly father.  We were shaped and continue to be shaped throughout our entire lives by these relationships.  

Our earthly fathers took us through the follies of our youth as they provided for us in our formative years and prepared us for life in this world.  Our Heavenly Father has provided for our every need in preparing us for our eternal lives with Him.  He made us aware of our sinful nature.  He called us to repentance.  Through His mercy and His perfect love, He gave us His Son as our Redeemer.  To those of us that humbled ourselves before His Son, He set aside a path of sanctification.  He guided us and provided for all our needs in accordance with His promises.  To this day, He continues to give us rest in our souls as He leads us to our journey's end in His eternal kingdom.

Let us submit in reverent fear to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  Let us seek to live every day in awe of who He is.  Let us seek His Holy Spirit in directing every moment in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we exalt Your name as the name that holds the highest place in our lives and we exalt the name of Your Son, Jesus, who shed His blood for our sins.  We thank You that we can live in the shadow of His love, His protection and His provision.  We seek to deepen our relationship with Your Son.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to understand who He is so that we may live our lives in reverent awe of Him. We ask all these things in the name of Our Refiner and Purifier, Jesus Christ.

Making Our Savior Our Foundation

John 2:24

But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people.

Jesus knew that He could not put His trust in any man.  He knew their nature, their dispositions, their affections and their evil schemes.  Jesus knew what we need to know.  Simply put, man cannot be trusted, especially ourselves.  The evil within the heart of each man is a snare that cannot be overcome without the grace of Our Savior.

We must put our trust in Jesus Christ alone.  If we put our trust in Him, we will find it appropriate to love Him above all things.  If we put our trust in Him, we will be drawn to love our neighbors as ourselves.  If we put our trust in Him, we will be guided and equipped to tell others about Him and to give Him all the glory.  If we put our trust in Jesus, we will live according to the plans that He has set aside for us.

If we doubt the Lord in any area and put our trust in man instead,  we will fall short of God's plans for our lives.  For the fullness of life, we must trust the grace of God in all things.

Let us put our trust completely in the Son of God.  Let us make Our Savior the foundation of our lives.  Let us make Jesus the center point of all that we do.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for providing Your Son, Jesus, to be the foundation of our trust in You and Your promises to us.  May we live each day in complete faith that Your Word is the foundation upon which our lives are built and sustained.  May we face each day knowing that Your Son is the source of everything we need.  May we lean not on anything from man, but seek everything from Your grace.  We ask all these things in the name of our all-sufficient Lord, Jesus Christ.