All in Prayer, Armor, and Wrestling
Have you received the Holy Spirit? Do you really understand what this means to us? Why did the apostles have to wait for this filling and what did they do as they waited? The answers to these questions might just surprise you. So let's have a brief lesson.
Am I praying continuously and without ceasing? How can I possibly do this with all of the happenings in my life every day? Yet this is precisely what Jesus is telling me to do and he never asks of me those things I am incapable of.
Does God visit with us day and night? Do we allow Him full reign over both our waking and sleeping hours? Have you ever had a heavenly visitation while sleeping, and if so, did you consider it real? That is the subject of my thought today.
Is my relationship with God close enough? Am I one with other believers and with Jesus? These are my thoughts as I go through this day. Will you join me in searching the answer to these questions within ourselves?
Am I seeking those things which are important in life? This is my thought today. I am contemplating what I actually hold as highest in my life and asking myself if those things are really as valuable as I believe they are. Am I placing value on fleeting things at the expense of those eternal treasures?
Do I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to be like Jesus and too little time just living like Him? Am I wrapped up in searching for some hidden meaning in His words at the expense of just living out the obvious things He teaches? Our goal should be to follow Jesus and learn at His feet, but we can't do that unless we are walking with Him and making camp where He makes camp.
Following Jesus into Transfiguration and on to Ascension is my thought this morning, but beyond that I also look forward towards Pentecost. Will I, can I, understand what Jesus felt and became during His transfiguration, at Gethsemane, and His Ascension into heaven? Perhaps not, perhaps not yet, but I can feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. The promise of "another", a comforter that is very real to us.
Troubles are a part of our lives. In daily life we face many trials, but as Christians and believers in God the Father, we face them from a point of great advantage and strength. We find confidence in God's ability to bring us through them, and they strengthen our faith, but what of the good times?
We share in the death and resurrection of Jesus to obtain salvation, but we also share in the life of Christ, and that gives us great joy, peace, and holiness in our everyday lives. How can we be Christian and not manifest The essence of His living?
We will all be resurrected into judgement, so is our conscience clear as we live out ourlives in faith? This morning I am concerned with allowing my own conscience to help guide me in following God's commandments, and preparing me for judgement.
We are all inclined to work for the kingdom when we are in the middle of a calling, but how do we spend our time after God has called us out, after a calling is complete, and we are waiting for God to reinsert us into his service? Is this simply a time of rest?
We have been faithful in resisting and defeating the large challenges of faith, but will the small things that go nearly unnoticed trip us up? That is what our thought focuses on this morning.
When we serve others and do small things of good in our day it should become a sermon, but only if we will allow ourselves to receive the blessing of that deed. Equally, when we see God at work around us, or his majesty in creation, it becomes a prayer.
God hears our prayers and leads us to high places where He can easily defend us, and then provides for our every need. In what, or whom, should we fear? We should fear nothing and No one, for God is with us.
Heavenly Father, lead us through this life, direct us in our prayers, and prepare us for eternity with You. We thank you for the example of your son Jesus Christ as, even on the cross, He taught us to not only follow your teaching, but to pray in your Word... unto His dying breath when after "He cried again in a loud voice, yielded up the ghost."