Do you place a bit of yourself before God when He asks something of you? Do you use such language as "I will but", or, "just let me do this first", or perhaps you ask "what about this?" Do you place your own conditions on following God's will for you? Maybe it's time to just responded "here am I."
Yesterday we discussed being one with Jesus and the fact that thispromise is for today and not some future time. We talked about knowing God's will for us and being in submission to Christ. Today let's ask ourselves why we are offered this relationship.
I want to live the resurrection life of Jesus. I want to be one with Him and in Him with God. My heart is set on this now... not some time in the distant future. Are you living this life, and if not, are you striving for it every day, and with each breath you take?
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.
This morning we consider the decisions in our lives. Who makes our choices; are we making them based on logic and reasoning, or is God making them for us out of His wisdom? Have we turned our lives over to God, or are we still holding tight to the tiller of our lives and plotting our own course?
God is indescribably great and we are so utterly lost without His love and grace. We realize our faults and shortcomings, but rarely do we compare ourselves with the magnificence of God's glory, or the perfection of Jesus.
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?
What does it mean to "seek first the kingdom of God?" Some believe this is to seek God totally and that all else will miraculously be provided, others feel it means to seek Him first and foremost, but then continue to live life by His commandments, and then some think it is to live as they always have and roll God into the cracks of our existing life. Which are you? Which do you seek?
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?
I am thinking today on the timeless nature of my relationship with Jesus; not on being either in or outside of time itself, but the unending nature of it. Do I truly understand His faithfulness and how incredibly deep His love is for me? Is my love for Him as far reaching?
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.
To consider yourself consecrated requires a complete dedication of yourself to God. He does not give a measure of Himself to us; He gives us Himself totally. This morning I contemplate the path to consecration and what that actually means.