How we do to begin our conversation with the Lord. If I were to ask you to answer that question right now how would you respond? Would you say that you begin by calling the name Father? Abba? God? Jesus? Emanuel? Or one of the many other names by which we refer to our Savior and Father? Or do you begin by thanking Him, asking for forgiveness, or to feel His touch?
Believing is not simply a passive understanding of the divine nature of God, faith isn’t a seed that grows in us without our thinking and moving towards Jesus who we can feel but is our unseen Savior, and prayer isn’t a mindless chant or babble that we do while sleepily lost in a trance. No. Believing is the active pursuit of seeing more clearly while truly understanding our God. Faith is purposefully living and walking towards an unseen spiritual destination and Jesus Christ. As for praying, it is a conversation with God; speaking, listening, and finally, trusting in a response from Him. All of these things require us to be active in our pursuit of the Lord, Jesus, and a righteous life. These activities are what we do as Christian’s while actively seeking God, and our Lord Jesus.
Are you suffering today? Is your life full of hardship that has brought you to your knees... not in the abandonment of life and faith, but in a desperate need to submit yourself to God? If so, then you have been brought to the right place and frame of mind. In this state your soul will call out to God and your humanity will not get in the way of the Holy Spirit’s work in you.
During my time of devotion today I read Oswald Chambers. He wrote of giving ourselves to Jesus Christ and what that means. It is a surrender of not just our bodies, but our sinful lives and all we are. As I contemplated the relief that comes from this conversion, I also thought of the pain that the process brings, because as the new person is born, the old must die. The apostle Paul understood what yielding ourselves truly meant. In his letter to the Galatians he spoke of being crucified, of Jesus living in him, and of who he became after his acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
Today let’s contemplate how we can remain joyful in God while in the midst of our daily distresses. Let’s seek the source of our victory, certainty, and amazement during the trials and tribulations we face. Let’s try to understand how it is possible to feel comfort and joy in Jesus even when we are in the grips of staggering loss, or struggling through painful problems and dire crises.
Today let's contemplate one of the longer sentences in the Bible. It gives us instruction on how to conduct ourselves as Christians and ministers of the gospel, and if we ever have a question regarding good spiritual behavior then we can probably find it listed in this sentence. But, what would it take to live out these attributes to the pleasure of God, and Jesus Christ? How much guidance and understanding from every source available to us, and especially from the Holy Spirit, will be required before we can achieve this level of sanctity?
We don't choose our calling but we do choose to be obey it. This is my concentration today, and one of my greatest fears in failing Jesus. Will I find joy in serving Him, or experience drudgery in performing a service that was once my calling but has since been supplanted by a new one; one I haven't yet grasped, or made myself submissive to?
Are we being busy for Jesus, so busy we never stop to hear what He is really calling us to do? I worry about this often. I fill my life with the things that I know are those which Jesus did, or has told us in scripture to do, but are these things what He is asking of me right now? Today? Every day is new, and the Lord's mercies and compassions are new as well. So how is it that we feel inclined to latch onto a single thing that the Lord has told us to do and revisit it every day?
Do we pray alone? Well, it is good to pray by ourselves, and also in secret, because this is required to maintain the intimacy of our relationship with God, but are there also times when praying together is called for? The answer to this question is a resounding “Yes!” There is power in joining together in certain prayers, whether we are physically together or scattered around the world as we are praying. When a unified prayer is offered by many it carries much weight before the throne of God.
This morning let’s explore why Peter was grieved when Jesus asked him three times if he loved Him. I am also considering Peter's response; "Lord, thou knowest all things." This is a powerful moment and fuels Peter's ability to answer his calling.
Do we love Jesus without wavering? Do we love Jesus as much as He would like for us to? This is what I am dwelling on this morning. I am asking myself if my faith is sufficient, and my love for Christ deep enough. I am also contemplating how I could possibly face failure, and if Jesus could still love me?
We say that we believe in Jesus Christ. This is what I am contemplating this morning... do we simply acknowledge Him, or do we really believe in Him for who He is? This sounds like a dangerous question, but it is one the Jesus Himself asked His apostles when they told Him that they believed. Listen to their words and the answer Jesus gave them...
Proverbs tells us that words are sweetness to the soul, but for this to be true our words need to be gracious. Bitter or hurtful words have quite the opposite effect, and harm the spirit of both the person who utters them and the one to whom they are directed. We know that hurtful words generate hatred and anxiety, and we know that these two negative feelings not only harm our bodies and mental health, but our spiritual well-being as well. So how do we receive the words of others, and deliver, or respond to them with our own?
As Christian’s we like to refer to ourselves as the children of God, but before we first believed we were something quite different. The Bible refers to those who live in the flesh and carry out the desires of the body and mind as being children of wrath. And, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that even as Christians there are still those times when we find ourselves slipping away from righteousness and back towards wrath. Yes, even after we have come to believe we can find ourselves behaving less like children of God and more like the children of wrath once again. So, let’s ask ourselves a very important question today, “Which of these children are we right now?”
When we are called by God do we respond with reservation in our voices? Do we tremble as we step forward? Or, does our fear prohibit us from stepping forward at all? These are the things we will contemplate this morning. In order to gauge our own willingness to serve God with total confidence in His provision, we only need to look at the life of Jesus. He chose to live a life of nothing and had nothing. God provided for Him... He sent the Magi with gifts that might sustain Him in His youth, and thus began God's provision. Jesus received as He needed... all this He did that we too might receive riches in glory.