All in Daily Devotion
When you look at Jesus, do you see Him sitting at the right hand of God radiating light, do you see Him hanging on the cross at Calvary, or do you see Him carrying, and dragging that Cross down the Via Dolorosa? What is the Cross of Jesus Christ to you? If you really don’t know then you had best decide because it is by the Cross that we follow Jesus.
Have you sought after the blessing of Pentecost and yet it has eluded you? Have you prayed, wept, and pleaded for the Holy Spirit to reveal himself in you through tongues or other gifts... yet you feel unfulfilled? Or, maybe, you suddenly feel separated from the Spirit. When this happens it is not necessarily that you are unworthy, or no longer the child of God, but that the Lord has a lesson for you that can only come by a continued and determined seeking within yourself.
Can we pray like Elijah? Do our prayers have the ability to reach up to the heavens and let not just drought come and go, but answered prayer rain down? Well, scripture tells us that Elijah’s nature is the same as ours... so how is it that his prayers are so powerful? Elijah had one more characteristic... righteousness. When we pray, do we possess that fullness of faith? How is our righteousness? How is our prayer life?
When you gave your life to Christ, did you become a changed person? Did you join with all those who had come before you in reestablishing your life, and allowing Jesus to give you a fresh start? Did you follow Jesus into a righteous and holy life of worshipping God with a His saints? We are meant to leave behind those things that once defined us and become like Christ... Godly, righteous, Holy. Are you wandering alone?
Where does my help come from? Understanding the nature of God is more than important, and we can see it best in those things for which we praise and thank Him. The Psalms are a wonderful place to turn as we look for God, and search out His impact in our lives. Do you praise Him enough? Do you see Him in every corner of your life?
Jesus, is our sole path to eternity, and the bearer of God’s holiness, who, in dwelling in us brings that holiness to us. Are we ready to accept Him into ourselves? Are we prepared to allow Him to abide in us, and to take His body, and His blood as our sustenance? Many have not been, and have walked away; thus the question becomes this... “Who are we?”, and not “Who is He?”
What gives us the comfort and power needed to testify of Jesus Christ, and how is it that we witness to others? Some of us go into the world and deliver the gospel message verbally to those who haven’t heard it, or to those whose heart has been prepared to receive it, and then there are others of us who quietly go about preaching of Jesus simply by their day to day lives... witnessing by how they live them.
Do we feel that we are threatened because of our faith today; are we treated as though our beliefs are bland and harmless, without danger to those who rule and practice sinfulness with impunity, or perhaps placated by those who pretend to be Friends of Jesus? Strong enemies are confronted carefully in battle by an opponent’s strengths, subtle enemies by discernment, so where does the Church stand today... not just externally, but on the internal battlefields of righteousness?
Are you living for the here and now? So many people go through life looking at the world as if what were happening at this instant in their life was of the utmost importance. They say that they plan, but they are making plans for tomorrow, and for how they will live out their life... seeing no further than the grave. God wants so much more for us than that; He wants to spend eternity with us.
Are you one who has been waiting on the promised Christ to return? Do you rise every morning and go to church throughout the week in anticipation of His arrival? If so, what will you say to Him, and when He presents Himself will you know for certain that it is Him? We like to believe that we will easily recognize him, but will we? If you aren’t immediately lifted to join Him in the sky, or if you aren’t privy to a miracle... will you know Him? Will you believe this man is Jesus? If an everyday carpenter dressed in work clothes introduced Himself... would you believe He was Jesus... or just disturbed?
We pray to the Father, the Holy Spirit guides us, and we ask in the name of Jesus. Have you ever felt so loved? Have you ever felt so cared for? In this way, has your joy ever felt so full before? In Jesus, our prayers are now complete as He intercedes for us before the Father. Do you ask in His name when you pray? It is not just a formality, but the grasping hold of His promise.
Is there a doctor in the house!? Is there a doctor in the house!? These are words we all dread to hear, and especially if they are being called out on our behalf, but when Jesus came into the world that was exactly who He was; he was the good doctor who had come to heal us of our sins, and pull us back from the brink of death! Do you need a doctor? Do you need Him to come running into the room to treat you... to pull you back from death’s door?
Have you allowed Jesus to lead you into full and abundant life, or are you satisfied with merely existing in Him? Do you allow Him to own you completely, and have full reign in your life, or have you only leant yourself to Him, and become like a sheep under the watch of a hired hand? Have you given yourself to Him as a prized possession, or merely treat him as a servant; a sheep that is His to watch for a day, but in which there is no joy of ownership? Are you a sheep that follows a stranger, or one that follows a loving master who would lay down a His life for you?
How do you treat your sexual body, and how does it impact your spirituality? The greatest bodily temptation is sexual immorality, and God understands this... He is no prude, and knows the desire that we have; after all, He created us with it. Sex is meant to be pleasurable, and by so being, to insure procreation, but when Satan gets hold of it then it loses the purpose that God intended, and becomes misdirected and immoral. Do you have control over your body, your desires, and your sexuality?
How diligent are we in our faith? Do we only set aside time in the morning to study the Bible, and to pray undisturbed each day? If we do, I certainly hope that Jesus returns to claim His bride in the morning. Routine times of study help us to insure that we spend time in contemplation and prayer, but we should dwell on those things we have studied in the morning as we travel through our day. In this way we remain at the ready, and those around us will see Christ in us.