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,

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 more 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 pray that you will help us to turn our focus away from ourselves and turn our attention to you.  Open our eyes so that the fullness of your grace is revealed to us in every aspect of our lives.

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 relationship with Jesus, we will receive the direction that we need to fulfill the unique purposes for which God has created us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, give us the strength to rejoice and respond in victory to all the events in our lives.  Show us how to draw our strength and direction from you each day.  Make all these things possible by drawing us deeper and deeper into our relationship with Your Son. 

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 have been burdened by the stench of the sin of the flesh that God cannot accept in His presence, we can still look forward to the day that we will shed our burden and join Our Father in all of His glory.  As Christians, the stench of our flesh has been removed by the blood of Our Savior for all eternity.    

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come before you reeking of the stench of sin.  We have sinned against you in every measure.  We seek the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we may repent of our sins, we may turn away from everything that displeases you and turn toward everything that is pleasing to you.  

Father, we seek your strength to be perfected in our weakness.  Give us the strength of the Holy Spirit to overcome the daily torments of our flesh and the regular attacks of the enemy.  As Your redeemed children, we claim Your promise that we will stand before you one day in the image of Your Son and hear the words, "Well done good and faithful servant."

Your Throne Alone

Isaiah 45:22

Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other.

Just as small children rush to their parents' laps to find joy, they rush to them with the same fervor for all of their needs.  They would not think of going anywhere else to satisfy what they are seeking.  They go without an ounce of hesitation whether they are seeking comfort, seeking a basic need or seeking the fantasy of their dreams.  They approach their parents with absolute faith that their every need will be met.  No wonder Jesus taught that we need to be like the little children.  

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, we pray that you show us how to come to you at all times...not just our times of need.  Show us how to come to you in the fullness of our blessings to seek to go deeper in our relationship with you.  Show us how to find the fullness of who we are in Christ through our visits to Your throne.  Release all that You are in us to the world around us.  Help us to understand that it is Your throne alone that holds all that we will ever need.

The Zeal of Children for Their Father

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.

God remembers each day that we delight in His presence in our lives.  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 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 pray that you will fill us with the zeal of young children who run to their earthly Father to express their love and their joy in being in his presence.  May the fire of Your Holy Spirit rekindle our devotion and fervency for You.   

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.

Being born again is the unmistakeable work of the Holy Spirit. We are given a new vision of life, kingdom vs. carnal, and we are taught, directed and sanctified by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are equipped to choose the Living Water over anything the world has to offer.  How can we allow ourselves to grow stale when the continuous fount of refreshing is readily available?

Prayer

Heavenly Father, keep our hearts soft.  Protect us against the world that tries to harden our hearts.  Release the living waters in our lives so that we may stay refreshed in Christ and be vessels of refreshing to those around us.