All tagged life

The result of our faith is a realignment of our lives and those within it. Are you seeing this occur, and are you willing to let it happen? Are you being transformed into a new person? At the moment when we first confess our faith in Jesus and ask Him to be the Lord of our life something incredible is released in us and our entire world begins to change. The friends who were once so dear to us begin to withdraw and the places we used to frequent suddenly lose their appeal to us. A change is beginning in us that is reshuffling our lives.

We have looked at John 21:17 to explore the love and equipping of Peter as Jesus questioned him, but this morning let's look at what He was being told to do when Jesus said "Feed my sheep." I find it interesting that when Jesus questioned Peter and told him to "Feed his sheep" that all the apostles (including Peter) had already received the Holy Spirit and directions, but here Peter was being given more. Let's review what happened and what they were told when the Holy Spirit was breathed onto them...

Are you depressed about something this morning? Do you feel that the Lord has backed away or allowed some tragedy to befall you? Are you mired in a season of hopelessness? If so, you are not alone. This happened to others throughout the Bible, and is happening in the lives of many today, but here is a word of wisdom and hope for you that I personally cling to, and which will see you through such seasons too... “Just keep living!”

Today’s topic deals with what is expected of us in regard to our lives. There are some who believe that the ultimate offering of our life is to sacrifice it in death or lay it down in service to God; but that isn't the case. That sacrifice has been made; Jesus was the one perfect offering for the redemption of sin. God loved us enough to do this for us… not for Himself, nor to lead us into death for any other reason. We have been saved once, and for all, by Christ alone.

On many Fridays at work someone will ask me what my plans are for the weekend, and more often than not I will respond with "I don't know, I will have to check with my social coordinator." Of course I am referring to my wife, Ann, who keeps my life in order. Well, when I was recovering from Cancer surgery in 2015 she assumed a new role; she became my healthcare coordinator. Speaking of which, if she knew how often I wasn’t in bed during my recovery, when I should have been, I would most certainly have be in trouble!

My devotional reading in “The Power of Prayer” this morning was titled "God Called Men", and it was wonderful. Pastor E. M. Bounds wrote that all things are truly possible through God. Which I believe firmly, and that prayer leads us there. He was profound when he wrote these words:

"If God's people would pray as they ought to pray, the great things that happened in the past would happen again and again." E. M. Bounds

Our lives and troubles in life are as varied between us as the variety of snowflakes during a winter snow, and yet The Lord is able to deal with us all uniquely. In our lives we find that the troubles and trials which any individual faces are as varied as the DNA that sets the pattern for their physical bodies. Yet, despite this incredible diversity The Holy Spirit is able to lead each of us to Jesus Christ, and through Him to God, where He loves us the same, even while interacting with us in a personally unique way.

What is it about The Golden Rule, and God's Law of Love that make them so hard for us to adhere to in certain situations? Perhaps we have forgotten what makes them so precious, or maybe they have faded in our memories. Just in case we might be unfamiliar, confused, or have forgotten what these rules are comprised of let’s revisit them by taking a refresher course this morning (I need one myself from time to time)... love is like all things, we must practice it if we are to keep it fresh in our lives.

Most Christians envision themselves standing on a mountaintop with their arms stretched up towards the sky, and there is nothing wrong with that because it is a Holy place, but when it comes right down to it, we live out our everyday lives in the valleys. We go to the mountain, but we return home to the valley, and yet we spiritually seem to have this idea engrained in us that valleys are bad places to be. Perhaps it is because whenever we think of a valley we recall the 23rd Psalm and its reference to the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but scripture has much more to say about valleys than to tell us that death resides there too. After all, death can only reside where first there is life.