All in Christian
Satan would have you think that obeying God’s will means that yours must be destroyed, and that you must become some kind of automaton to God. He would have you think that if you are in God’s will then yours has been done away with. This couldn’t be further from the truth; your will is valued by the Lord. He desires your obedience to His Will and plan for you, but that obedience must come by choice, and in concert with your own. Jesus chose to do God’s will.
How pure is your life? Are you cleansed and holy, or still allowing something to tarnish your relationship with God? Is His will paramount in your life, or are you still the center of your universe? Where are you in the process of holiness? Perhaps you think you are basically doing well and that your faith is flourishing, and yet things keep popping up in your day to day life that cause you to stumble. So you repent, ask forgiveness, and begin again. You are not alone in your labor.
We all love our children; Mary loved Jesus, but raising a child means more than just love... it is a challenge. Do your children bring you more than love and joy? Sometimes our children are foolish, and can cause us pain, suffering, or even disappointment during their lifetimes. If you are a new parent, prepare yourself, if you have older children you know this to be true, so was Mary, the mother of Jesus, different, and immune from pain?
How would you classify yourself; are you a giver, or a receiver? When you pray your morning prayers do you ask the Lord to show where you can be of service to Him, or for a need to be filled? When I asked if you were a giver or receiver I’ll bet you immediately felt that being a giver was good, but had a negative feeling about being a receiver. The fact is that both are good.
Your prayers are not powerless. When you enter into prayer you are not alone, but are joined there by the Holy Spirt, and Jesus Christ. When you don’t know how to pray the Holy Spirit will pray for you, and when we pray in the name of Jesus Christ it gives Him joint authorship with us in that prayer. Suddenly, what had been a knee shaking event as we stood alone before the throne of God, has become more than just that. I ask you... are you alone before God in prayer?
How strong are you, and how strong is your faith? Does the strength of your physical body reflect the power of your faith? To answer this let’s consider the apostle Paul. Perhaps you are battling an illness, or a deformity that cripples you, and your prayer for this to be removed is seemingly falling on deaf ears. When our bodies suffer and become frail this can actually be our time of greatest dependence on God, and as such the height of our faith.
Over the past few days many of you have prayed for me as I have battled to throw off the head and chest cold I have been suffering with, but today I wish to pray for you, and ask that you join me by praying for me and those around you. My prayer today is not for your physical body, but rather for your spirit and faith. Have you ever prayed such a prayer? If you haven’t then you are missing the greatest opportunity in prayer... to pray for the will of God to be manifest in all its power within another person.
Are you in the midst of some trauma in your life? Are you looking to God and asking “Why Lord? Aren’t I your child?” Of course the answer to this question is that He loves you too much not to discipline, or teach, you. The storms in the life of a Christian are meant to teach and perfect us, but they sure feel like pure punishment don’t they? Yet, amidst the hardships and discipline, never lose sight of the fact that you are indeed a child of God.
Where do your blessings come from? Are you busy trying to earn them? Is your goal in doing God’s will to be blessed, or is your blessing simply that of being in His will? Where does our spiritual blessing truly come from, and how do you come by it? Do we really know what blessed means? Let’s look at the role of Christ in our blessings, and then ask again how we earn being blessed.
Do you pray alone? It is good to pray alone, and in secret, because that is required for the intimacy of our relationship with God, but are there times when praying together are necessary? The answer to my question is a resounding “Yes!” There is power in joining together in certain prayers, whether we are physically together, or praying in unison apart. A common cause prayed by many carries much weight before the throne of God.
Do you have the blood of Jesus on the sides, and above the door of your life? Is your lintel smeared with the promise of eternal life? If we were to walk back in time, and down the streets of Egypt, we would see the very real blood of Passover lambs on the doorways of houses, but the Holy Spirit reveals to us the spiritual reality of that act; it shows us the power of the blood of Jesus Christ to in our lives; it makes tangible the promises of God... grace, forgiveness, and everlasting life.
Do you wait patiently for God’s provision and direction? Have you become practiced in allowing Him to do all things in your life, or does He teach you over and over again how to wait? Have you set your spiritual clock, and your expectations to divine time, the time of heaven? As the length of an earthly day is constantly changing, and our bodies acclimate to that change, we must also acclimate spiritually to the natural variation in the will of God... the day of heaven.
Do you dwell on who Jesus Christ is? When asked about Him do you tell of what He did, how He redeemed you, and taught you things like loving your neighbor as yourself? These things are all true, but do you also tell them that He is the jar that holds the essence of your life, the container in which you dwell? Do you reveal to them that He has so changed you that He has become engrained in your very DNA; so completely intertwined that to extract Him would certainly certainly destroy you? If you can tell them this, then your faith has become the fullness of Christ, and you are no longer about Christ, but in Him.
Do you speak with God in prayer? Does His voice come to you and direct you, or do you approach Him with a list of wants and a proclamation then follow them quickly with “Amen” without listening? If God isn’t speaking to you then perhaps you need to first believe that He will, and that He desires to. Not believing that God wants to speak with you is an indication that you don’t really know Him.
When we look at life we know that there is only room for one God, person, or thing at the pentacle of it. When we look at ourselves we don’t see a Mesa, or a plateau, we see a peak... the spire that is our ultimate point of existence. So what will we place there? What will occupy the highest point in our life, will it be the God of Abraham, Jesus Christ, some created form of mock spirituality, financial success, physical prowess, or another worldly desire? The decision must be made, and the champion of our lives placed at the crest.