All in Daily Devotion
Do you ever wonder if you are effectively serving the Lord? Can you look at your life and see the fruit of your faith, and smell the sweetness of it as it ripens? It is wonderful when this happens and we can see our impact on the kingdom, but more often we serve Him in secret and without causing a ripple on the surface of life to show for it.
Do you find yourself longing for God? Are you at a place in your life where you feel separated from him and sit in darkness waiting on His light to shine on you once again? Maybe you have asked for His Holy Spirit to fill you, and are waiting expectantly for it, or you need an answer to some other prayer that is yet to come. However you wait upon God remember that He is already with you; that your realization of His presence is what you truly await. Remember also that you are not alone, even in this feeling.
Are you unsatisfied in your prayer life? Do you ask in prayer, and yet feel unfulfilled when you rise from your knees? Do you recite scripture in your prayers and cry out, yet leave your prayer closet feeling as though God might not have heard you? Well, perhaps you are missing a key lesson that was taught by Jesus. Maybe you need to listen as he teaches us to pray in spirit and truth.
When we look at our children, what do we see, and how do we see it? We look on them with our eyes, and see their physical characteristics, we observe their actions, and come to know by studying them with our minds, their character. We go further, and see their heart through the eyes of our own, and come to know their love as it mixes with ours and grows, but there is one other way we should look at our children... one that many neglect, we should see them spiritually.
Do you have a desire to be Holy? Are you on a quest for sanctification, or is just leading the life of a believer enough? We can exist on the margins of faith by simply believing God to be the one true God, and Jesus to be His Son, but if we want to move past this milk toast existence, we must fully open ourselves up to them. We must become all that Jesus teaches us of the nature of God, and we must allow God Himself to make us Holy. Holiness, this is God’s true desire for us.
What is the state of your faith today? Is it strong, well trained, and ready to run the race; or does it become winded, and lose stamina during the long marathon of life? Do you tell yourself that your faith is able to withstand anything, but lose hope at the least of life’s difficulties? If you find your faithfulness lacking, let’s talk about selecting a coach, and placing ourselves in spiritual training.
Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, but continue to sin? If so, how is it that you sin; is it in the midst of great regret, remorse, tears, and sweating, or freely as if you hold the king’s pardon in your hand and feel immune to penalty? How does Jesus expect us to treat sin once we have come to Him and been healed of it?
Has Jesus called you to the mountain? Have you travelled there but still have doubts about who He truly is? If this is true, then don’t feel alone. Jesus will reassure you, and He has a mission for you as well. Today we will look at the eleven original disciples that He called to the mountain, but more specifically... those that doubted once they arrived.
You read your Bible, you teach Sunday school, or you might even preach sermons, but does this make you spiritual? Are you a spiritual Christian, or are you a carnal Christian at heart? So many who follow Jesus Christ do so motivated by a worldly desire; they seek Him with their minds, and intellect... much more than relationship, and meekness, not with a spiritual inclination. Which are you, and do you even know?
Are you a practicer of the Spirit? Do you do those things of faith by utilizing spiritual gifts, and then once complete set those gifts aside, to be used another day? Or, do you possess Spiritual Grace, a state in which the gifts of the Spirit have become who you are?
You have heard of the gift of the Holy Spirit, And you see the results of it in believers around you, but despite your desire for it, you remain barren and unfilled. Perhaps you have been a Christian for a long time, and in all those years have not received the Spirit. You may have consoled yourself by saying that it will never be yours and that you will suffer on without it, but listen as God tells you to take heart, and that it is your gift as well.
Are you a sinner of the worst kind? Do you think that there is no way that someone like you can be washed clean, and forgiven? Well if so, you are not the first to have felt this way, and as a matter of fact, the Apostle Paul felt just as you do. To say that you are too far gone for salvation is to deny the saving grace of God.
How is your faith? Are you strong in it, or is it lacking in some regard? Can you move a mountain, or do you think your faith is too small to move even a grain of sand? The disciples were chastised by Jesus on more than one occasion for their lack of faith, so do not lose heart, but ask God why you can’t do a thing, or why you don’t receive. You may find that in some cases it has less to do with faith than you think.
Are you a servant to all those surrounding you? Have you humbled yourself sufficiently in order to put your own desires behind you, so that you can be obedient to the example that Jesus has placed before you? If so then God Bless you, but if not then take a long look at who you truly are. Do you see much difference in the person you once were and the one you are now?
More likely than not, if you are reading this, you know Jesus; who He is, and about His life. If you are reading this you may have asked Him to come into your life, confessed Him to be your Savior, and gone down in the waters of baptism. My question to you this morning is two fold today... how deep has your relationship with Him become, and, have you asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit?