Jesus said that He would do anything we ask in His name. What do you think that means? Are we the type people who gets an offer of a free dinner and orders the most expensive thing on the menu? Is it an open invitation to ask for the moon, or something quite different? Why is Jesus making this offer?
Working out our own salvation; this is my contemplation this morning. What is my role in salvation, and has God been working in me willfully to His good pleasure?
I will not be afraid today. My God stands with me, and in trusting this, I fear nothing. Are you facing the world alone? Do you come up against trouble and then seek God? Try walking with Him before hardship arrives!
God never forsakes us, but this morning we will contemplate the fear of His abandonment. We will think about a particular time of doubt... the routine nature of our lives.
Today I am mulling over what it means to really know God. What should a life be like that is fully engaged with the will of God? I am considering that place in faith where the struggle is less and the comfort has settled over us.
So many time I have felt the hands of Jesus as He washed my feet. I have come to Him for forgiveness only to find that His response would be “Sit down Rich.”, and He would proceed to wash my feet as He spoke with me. In my most unworthy moments He washes me clean.
If left to our own devices, what would we be like? If God was withdrawn from our equation what would the solution of our life be? I don't know if I really want to contemplate this or not because something tells me I won't like what I find.
Trusting solely in God, this is my contemplation this morning. There is none but Him who is true and always dependable. He is worthy of our trust and His Word never wavers.
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.