Jesus laid down his life for all of us collectively, but to a much finer point, he died for each of us individually. It is easy to disavow personal ownership in the ramifications of something when we are part of a crowd, but it becomes very clearly an individual matter when we form a personal attachment, or take a leadership role. Jesus died to save each of us as individuals, and we are each responsible for our own actions, salvation, and in maintaining covenant with Him.
Prayer and living make up a two-lane road. When we pray, we know enough to listen for God to answer, but that conversation isn’t the two-lane road we will speak of today... instead we will consider the impact our life is having on our faith, and prayers. How we pray influences how we live, and how we live has an incredible effect on how we pray. Can you have a terrible fight with someone, and then pray a sweet prayer over them? What we do in life each day also sets the tone for our relationship with the Lord.
One morning I was contemplating the humility and love I had for my fellowman. I asked myself a simple question to get at the heart of it... “do I humble myself before God in prayer, only to leave that humility in my prayer closet when I leave it?” So often I would see someone perform a single act of love or kindness for another and watch as they thought that by doing this one thing it defined them, but it takes more than that... loving our neighbors should be the rule of our life, not a one-off exception within it. We should show humility and love to all people… always.
When we enter our time of devotion and read the scriptures, is our intention to study the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God, like a scientist would study a specimen in a lab? If we are pastors or teachers are we simply looking for eloquence and inspiration that can be used in our sermons and lessons? If so then we are treating our faith and our relationships with God like a tool, or as if they were something we might own, and not like the precious manna and love of our life that nourishes our soul and which we long, with all our heart, to be immersed in, and changed by.
As a Christian, are we meant to be sick? What does the Bible tell us about what we should do if we are ill? Well, it isn’t a mystery and is spelled out very clearly. We are meant to be healed. Yet so many of us think that although Jesus and the disciples healed, that this is a dead practice today... well it isn’t. The gift of healing is just as alive today as it was in the time of Jesus, and it continues to happen in the Church today.
Are you a wanderer in Christ? By that I mean, did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, go down in the waters and spirit of baptism and then walk off into a spiritual desert? Well, if you did then it is time to come back from where you have been and rejoin the household, and the kingdom, of God. Like our savior, we are not meant to remain alone in the desert... are your 40 days up?
Do you think that you are too far gone to be salvaged? Are you too embarrassed to come before Jesus and ask for His forgiveness and a new life? When you look at your past do you think it is too filthy and torn to ever be made new once more? Well think again because the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away any stain, and mend the holes in every garment in life.
Reading and remembering the Word of God is very important, but unless we actually do those things we have read then we have gathered nothing but useless knowledge. To be enamored by the words contained in the Bible without putting them to good use by doing God’s will in them is sheer foolishness. Do you live out the life you read? Do you not only hear God’s voice, but obey it?
As you move through your day do you feel God’s presence there with you? And, as you work to obey and perfect the character of Christ in your life can you sense Him abiding inside you as well? If you listen carefully you will find that the Holy Spirit is speaking to you of this closeness. Is your fear relieved at the very thought that all three of these are there with you right now? These questions should guide you, and the mere thought of the divine closeness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, should change how you live your life today, and cause you to refocus your priorities, and restructure your life, from this moment on.
04/28/2026
Giving God the glory for those things He does through us can be a difficult thing to accomplish, and has been the undoing of many... including pastors. It seems the more gifts we have been given, and especially the more our natural gifts are, the harder it becomes for us to reflect the fullness of light back to its rightful star. You see, no matter how brightly a planet shines in the night sky, it is never truly the origin of the light... and likewise, no matter how great God’s will is manifest in us... we too are just His reflection.
The conflicts and troubles in which we are most uncertain will all be won by our Lord because He is great beyond measure. How patient and faithful are we in His victory? Are we waiting in total confidence for Him to act? When those around us are challenging our patience in God we can be tempted to take matters into our own hands, and to abandon our assurance in His promise. However, in such times I look to scripture and hold tight to it… you should too.
When you look at who we are in a mirror we probably see a family resemblance that confirms us to be a member of our earthly family, but when we look at the reflection of ourselves that is being returned to us through the eyes of God, or those of the lost souls around us, who do they recognize us to be? Do they see the image of Jesus Christ or are we just another lost and helpless creature?
We begin our journey with Jesus by believing in God because if we have no faith in the Father then how could we possibly believe He has a Son? Then, as our faith in God increases, and we believe the scripture is His Word regarding our existence with Him, we see the prophecy of the coming Messiah and find the promise of Jesus Christ. Every Jew in the day of Jesus had made it this far, but it is here that they were separated; some believing that the scriptures were alive, and some that they were at best stagnant, and that they would remain in eternal expectation of a Messiah who, although prophesied, might never be accepted by them to have come. In what state is our faith? How far has our belief come? Where is it going from here?
Do you pray as you should, and when you Listen now, Is God’s Voice Calling?do pray, does God meet you there? When He does, people have a great deal to ask of Him and begin to do so immediately, but the most important aspect of our time of prayer is not what we say to Him, but what God says to us. The most powerful moment in most biblical accounts begins when the Lord speaks, but do we hear Him when He speaks to us personally? Are we even listening? Then, if we listen, how do we answer Him? Do we acknowledge Him at all, or just sit dumb in silence? So, if we do hear, how is it that we respond? Do we say, “Yes Lord!”, or “Here am I Lord.”?
As Christians, do we love one another, or do we divide ourselves so completely in our perceived love for Jesus, that we distance ourselves from each other? I look around Christendom and see one head and many bodies. I see one cup, one bread, and one table, being bitterly contested over and claimed by each body to the point of refusing to serve another family member at the one table that Jesus set and provided for. Is this the way He meant for us to behave?