Experiencing the Glory of Jesus Christ

John 17:24

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

This passage is part of the prayer that Jesus prayed to the Father on behalf of His disciples prior to His eminent death and resurrection.  Jesus was confirming with the Father that His disciples and all of the new believers in the good news of the salvation story who followed Him in discipleship would join Him in glory for all eternity.

Jesus prayed that all that choose to follow Him would see the fullness of His grace and beauty.  He prayed that all His followers would see His standing with the Father on the grandest scale in heaven without the obstructive hindrances of the flesh.  He prayed that His disciples would experience the full capacity and infinite power of His glory.  He prayed that all of His disciples would join Him at the right hand of the Father for all eternity.

Jesus' prayer to the Father in heaven provides us with the strength that we need to endure all that comes against us in life because we know there will be the ultimate victory in the end.  To paraphrase 2 Cor 4:8-9, we may be afflicted in every way, but not crushed; we may be perplexed, but not driven to despair; we may be persecuted, but not forsaken; we may be struck down, but not destroyed because we are one with Jesus Christ.  Our place in heaven has been secured.

Let us seek the fullness of Jesus Christ in our lives.  Let us experience being one with the Son so that we may access the power and the victory that He has set aside for us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we come to You exalt the name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Our Master and Our King.  We thank You Father that we may be one with Jesus as He is one with You.  We praise You as we receive in faith all of the promises that come with being a disciple of Your Son.  We pray that the Holy Spirit will keep us steadfast in all aspects of our discipleship.  We ask all these things in the name of the Son of the Most High God, Jesus Christ.

Joy On Earth As It Is In Heaven

Matthew 25:21

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are called to join Our Master as He walks along side us in our journey toward sanctification.  We can be certain that we will encounter the following along the way:

• Jesus will set our hearts to burning for Him as He opens the scriptures to us, just as he did for the two disciples when He joined them as they were walking on the road to Emmaus.
• The Holy Spirit will reveal to us who we are without Jesus in our lives.
• The Holy Spirit will convict us of the darkness in our lives and urge us to be obedient in changing our ways and helping others to change their ways.
• Satan will attack us all along the way.  As we grow in Christ, the intensity of the attacks will increase.

We can be just as certain that the victory is ours if we rely on the One who died for our sins.  We will enter into the joy of Our Master for all eternity.  Can you even imagine the joy that Jesus holds?  He is the essence of everything good.  He is the absence of anything evil.  He is perfect in every measure.  This is all ours when we stand before Him one day to take our place as His eternal servants.

Let us enter into the joy of the Master.  As He dwells within us, may His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we praise You and thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to redeem us from our sins and that You provided Your Holy Spirit to guide us along our path of preparation for receiving our place in heaven for all eternity.  We pray that Your countenance will shine up us.  We pray that Your grace will be with us always.  We pray that You will protect us from harm and evil.  We pray that You will protect us from the evil one and all of His temptations.  We pray that You will raise us up to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  May we stand before You one day and hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant."  We ask all these things in the name of the Joy of the World, Jesus Christ.

Turning Our Upside Down Lives Upright

Matthew 6:33

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We have been raised in a world where goals, objectives and top line results are everything.  We feel measured by the things we have and the things that we have accomplished.  We have been trained to be independent and self-reliant.  This is absolutely upside down from the kingdom of God.

Although God promises us that He will provide all that we need and all the desires of our hearts, we must realize that these promises are conditional.  We must first seek His kingdom and the righteousness that living in His kingdom requires.  Then all of these things will be given to us.  Food, drink, clothing or whatever other worldly sustenance that we need will be given to us freely and liberally.  We are able to receive these gifts without having to think about how they will come, without having to concern ourselves about the timeliness of their arrival and, most importantly, without due consideration of our merit.

Let our great goals in life be set based on our relationship with Jesus Christ.  Let all of our objectives be directed toward putting our relationship with God first.  Let us set aside our need to worry over our results.  Let us receive the truly abundant life that has been promised to us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for the abundant life that awaits us when we seek You first.  We bring You all the honor and glory for being Our Provider.  We ask Your forgiveness for seeking the things of the world before You.  Teach us, Lord, how to prioritize our lives according to the principles of Your kingdom.  May the Holy Spirit enlighten us so that we may live in Christ and not in the world.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Promised and Abundant Provision, Jesus Christ.

Putting Up the Do Not Disturb Sign

Luke 21:19

By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Jesus warned His apostles of the hard times to come.  He foretold the trials and persecution that they would suffer after He left.  He comforted them with His promise that if they persevered in the ways of God and in the truths that He had given them, they would possess peace and joy in their souls.  They would always have the joy of His presence that the world could not take away.

So it is with us.  We have our own trials to bear in our lives.  The Lord teaches us to let nothing disturb or distress us.  He instructs us not to submit to the moodiness that might come upon us due to our circumstances.  We must take on the Spirit of the One who dwells within us.  We must endure, knowing that we have already been given victory over our circumstances.  We must allow Jesus to do His work in us, overcoming the moodiness that our flesh would like to lay on us, so that we can press on and do the work that He calls us to do in the world.  May we learn to patiently bear all afflictions on our bodies, bear all attacks and indignities tossed our way by our critics and bear all difficulties dealt to us by the world.  

Through it all, let us be determined to allow nothing to disturb us, distress us or steal our peace.  Let us learn to live joyfully in the presence of Jesus Christ under all circumstances.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for granting us victory through Jesus over everything in the world that tries to take our joy away.  We rejoice in knowing that we can have joy even when happiness eludes us.  We pray that You will teach us how to seek the strength we need when our mood turns us toward our problems instead of our solution, Your Son, Jesus.  May the world see our joy in all circumstances so that they may be drawn to the One who provides it.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Stronghold, Jesus Christ.

Finding Strength in Good Times and in Bad Times

2 Corinthians 12:10

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When our family relationships are at the breaking point, when the bill collectors are knocking at our door or when serious afflictions are threatening us, we run to Jesus for a supernatural remedy to our maladies.  When we are weak and near defeat, perhaps even near death, we run to Jesus for His grace to strengthen us and comfort us as we go through our trials. 

He promises to be our strength in every one of our times of weakness or trial.  He promises to lighten our burdens as we surrender to His yoke.  It is during these times that we feel His presence so clearly.  It is during these times of pain that we experience the fullness of His love.  It becomes a blessing to have tribulation in our lives.

Unfortunately without trial, we tend to lean away from God.  We tend to move out of His presence.  We tend to let the joy of life overshadow the true and perfect joy that is available to us through an ongoing, intimate relationship with Our Savior.  

As we enjoy the blessings that we have been provided in our lives, let us be mindful of the presence and power of Jesus Christ.  Let us turn to Him for our strength even in the good times.  Let us allow Jesus to be our all-sufficient Lord.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to perfect Your strength in our weakness.  We thank You for the comfort of knowing that You are always there.  We praise You for providing Your Son, Jesus, so that through Him and in Him we can experience the fullness of Your love.  Help us, Father, to find contentment in all things as we seek to live in Your shadow and not under the influence of the world.  We pray, Lord, that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to develop an ongoing, intimate relationship with Your Son that is not affected by our circumstances.  We ask all these things in the name of Our Rock and Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

The Intricate Pieces of His Divine Handiwork

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

It is undeniable.  The heavens proclaim the glory of God.  Every facet of God's existence, power, wisdom and goodness are revealed in the starry canopy above us.  Peering into the vast heavens gives us a sense of our infinite Lord, a sense of His control over all things and a sense of the magnitude of His power to hold it all together.

Our Creator provided the sun, the moon and the stars to provide light in our world.  He provided His Son to be the Light of the World.  Just as the Lord declares His glory through the display of His handiwork in the heavens, He also declares His glory through His Son.  And the glory that He receives through His Son is multiplied over and over again through His children.  He reveals His glorious Holy Spirit to the world through every single child that He has created.

The Lord uses powerful men of God to deliver His messages, but He does not use them alone.  He chooses to use everyone of His children - of every age and every time - to declare His perfect love and forgiveness.  He certainly does not need any of us to accomplish anything, but He loves to use all of us to reveal Himself to those who are in our everyday lives.  We are the instruments of God's perfect love.

Let us take time to consider how awesome our God is.  Let us take time to marvel at all of His creation.  Let us recognize we are intricate pieces in His divine handiwork.  Let us insure that our lives reflect His glory.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You and praise You for the magnificent universe that You have created.  We proclaim Your glory in all that we see before us.  Father, we pray that You will use us as instruments of Your good work.  May the world see the magnificence of who You are through our living testimony.  May we be daily expressions of Your perfect love and forgiveness.  We ask all these things in the name of Your Everlasting Light, Jesus Christ.

He Holds Open the Doors to Heaven

Luke 24:51

While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

In the old testament, each person needed a priest to represent him or her before the throne of God.  Through their high priest and the accompanying sacrifices, each person's sins were atoned for.  Without the intercession of the high priest, the individual person had no hope for salvation nor for their prayers to be answered.

Jesus changed it all when He ascended into heaven after His death on the Cross.  He was welcomed by His Father, by all the glorified saints and holy angels.  He was seated at the Father's right hand.  He remains there forever as Our Mediator in restitution for all of our sins.

He rules eternally from His seat next to the Father so that our fears may be silenced, our sorrows may be sweetened and our hopes may be kept up.  He holds open the doors of heaven so that we can go directly to the throne of God with our praise, our worship, our prayers and our solicitations.  More importantly, He holds a place for us because we are His redeemed lambs.

Let us go to the throne of grace.  Let us call on the promises of Our Risen King.  Let us set our affections on the high things above.  Let us expect Our Savior to complete His good work in us.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You that you allowed Your Son to ascend into heaven to sit at Your right side and stand in intercession for all of us that call Him Lord. We thank You that You allowed Your Son to return to earth after His resurrection to confirm to the world the victory over sin and death that we, who have received Him as Our Savior, partake in.  We ask that we will receive the fullness of His blessings as Our High Priest.  We pray that we may share those blessings with those people who You place around us.  We ask all these things in the name of our Risen Savior and King, Jesus Christ.