The American Martin Luther King said: “If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
The salvation Jesus brought to this world cost Him His life. He died on a cursed cross, outside the city walls, there where lepers, the unclean, criminals and outcasts lived and died. He paid the full price. What price must you pay for the Gospel? What does Christianity cost you? The answer is that it costs nothing to receive. There is nothing owing on that which Christ did for you and me on the cross. But when you start living the Gospel, it does come with a price. The price you pay for the Gospel is not by receiving it, but for spreading it, for putting it into practice. The Gospel of Jesus Christ always gives rise to resistance…always…Without exception. In spite of the wonderful message of grace, forgiveness, reconciliation and abundant life that goes with it. Irrespective of how loving, merciful, broken and holy your life is, it is often these qualities in Christianity that frustrate others. Yet we persist because of the One who did it all. Here is the thought for today: The signs of the Christian church were always the Lamb, the Fish and the Dove…never the Chameleon. Prayer: Father, I ask that You help me remain steadfast in my belief in Jesus name…amen Ephesians 4:26-27 says, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity!”
The word opportunity in this verse means territory or ground. In other words, anger givesground to the devil. Bitterness invites him to occupy a space in your heart, to rent a room. Believe me, he’ll move in and stink up the place. Gossip, slander, temper—anytime you see these, Satan has claimed a bunk. Don’t even give him the time of day. Tell him to pack his bags and hit the road! Begin the process of forgiveness. Keep no list of wrongs. Pray for your antagonists rather than plot against them. Outrageous as it may seem, Jesus died for them, too. If he thinks they’re worth forgiving, they are. Does that make forgiveness easy? No. Quick? Seldom. Forgive your enemies? Forgive them. You’ll get through this! From You’ll Get Through This LEVITICUS 1:6 And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.
Do you know who first clothed man with coats of skin? It was God Almighty Himself, when He found Adam and Eve hiding behind the bushes because they were afraid of Him. They had become fearful and conscious that they had sinned against God. In their sin-consciousness, they realized that they were naked and that the glory of God, which had been their covering, was gone. So God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve with coats of skin. (Genesis 3:21) An animal had to die and its bloodied skin became their covering. This speaks of the blood of Jesus that covers you when He became your burnt offering. The Lamb of God did not just take away your sins. He also gave you His righteousness. Beloved, you are covered by Jesus’ blood. You are righteous by His blood. God has clothed you with the robe of righteousness, which was paid for by Jesus’ blood. I am not talking about a physical robe made of cloth. I am talking about the robe of righteousness that was on Jesus when He said to the storm, “Peace, be still!” and there came a perfect calm (Matthew 8:23–27), when healing flowed from Him to the sick and when He raised Lazarus from the dead. (John11:38–44) When you believe that you are righteous because of Jesus’ blood, you will see the effects of wearing His robe of righteousness. You will see miracles happening before your very eyes. You become a blessing magnet, a favor or grace magnet. It is not your own righteousness, but the righteousness of Jesus which you have put on, that is attracting all these blessings of God into your life. My friend, have the consciousness of being clothed with Jesus’ robe of righteousness. Every day, come to God and say, “Father, I thank You that Jesus is my burnt offering. He covers me from head to toe with His righteousness. What He is to You, I am. As He is now, so am I. I am in Him.” And you will see the manifestations of the blessings of health, wholeness, protection and provision that the robe attracts! I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. Jeremiah 29:11
Last night during family devotions, I called my daughters to the table and set a plate in front of each. In the center of the table I placed a collection of food: some fruit, some raw vegetables, and some Oreo cookies. "Every day," I explained, "God prepares for us a plate of experiences. What kind of plate do you most enjoy?" The answer was easy. Sara put three cookies on her plate. Some days are like that, aren't they? Some days are "three-cookie days." Many are not. Sometimes our plate has nothing but vegetables—twenty-four hours of celery, carrots, and squash. Apparently God knows we need some strength, and though the portion may be hard to swallow, isn't it for our own good? Most days, however, have a bit of it all… The next time your plate has more broccoli than apple pie, remember who prepared the meal. And the next time your plate has a portion you find hard to swallow, talk to God about it. Jesus did. The Great House of God (Max Lucado) Our little granddaughter is a Mickey Mouse fan. So the other day I got her a big helium Mickey balloon. It's gone through three pretty distinct phases. First, Mickey was totally flat and folded up into a little square. Then the lady at the store gave him a shot of helium that's made Mickey big and flying high. In fact, without a string to tie him down, he'd fly away and end up somewhere in Bolivia. I know from past experience, though, that there's another phase coming. His flying high days can't last forever. One day, we're going to find him all soft, mushy, and slowly shriveling up on the floor.
The life and times of a helium balloon aren't all that different from the life and times of folks like you and me. We start out flat, we open our lives to Jesus Christ, He enlarges our life, gives us some victorious seasons where we're flying high, and then often overnight, we've gone flat and we've hit the ground. It doesn't have to be that way. If you know that cycle all too well, you need to see how this cycle worked in the life of one of God's great servants in the Bible. Elijah was one of the most powerful of God's ancient prophets. And he was flying high in God that day on Mount Carmel when he single-handedly challenged 450 prophets of the idol Baal to a spiritual showdown. It was sort of a spiritual "Gunfight at the O. K. Corral." Elijah's challenge is to see whose God will consume with fire from heaven the sacrifice that's been laid on the altar. The message for today begins with 1 Kings 18:37 as Elijah prays in front of this army of false prophets: "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again." The entire prayer is only 60 words, but Elijah mentions God nine times in those 60 words. On Mt. Carmel, it is clearly all about the Lord God. And the fire falls, consuming the sacrifice and causing everybody to cry, "The Lord! He is God!" Now fast forward to the next chapter. The king has threatened Elijah's life and in fear he runs to the desert. He sits under a tree, and in the Bible's words, "prayed that he might die. 'I have had enough, Lord,' he said. 'Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.' ... I have been very zealous for the Lord God ... I am the only one left'" (1 Kings 19:4-5, 10). On Mt. Carmel, it was all about God. In the desert, it was all about me. And that's the difference between flying high and falling flat. During the victory time, it's all about the Lord. But often in the aftermath of a victory, something happens that makes it suddenly all about me, and we crash. Jesus said the devil is a thief who comes "to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10). And every time God does something good in your life, the devil is there with some cheap shot he wants to use to rob you of the joy of what God has done. Don't fall for it. It's like you've just won the Super Bowl, you're walking off the field, and your defeated opponent says, "I'll make you pay for this." And he gives you a bloody nose. Yes, he hurt you a little, but he can't change the outcome. You still won, and nothing he can do can change the victory. So when the joy-robber comes in after the victory and tries to get you all focused on yourself, you tell him, "I know who this is, and I am not falling for it! We won, and you can't change it!" Life won't always be "flying high" moments like Elijah's Mt. Carmel, but you can be consistently joyful and hopeful and positive, even when some of the air goes out. Because "the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10), not the joy of your circumstances. It's your Lord who inflates you with His joy, His victory, so you don't have to lie deflated in a corner ever again! Steve Blair Revelation 3:8
'See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.' - God is the one who can open doors for us. - Perhaps you are facing a closed door today. - One door may be shut, but there are many others still open. - The joy is that we can know that the door to God is always open. PRAYER: Lord, thank You that the door is always open and I can come to You at any time. I pray that You will open the right doors for me in my life and close those that would be the wrong path for me to follow. Amen. Do you often end up separating your career and daily activities from your spiritual life?
Do you find yourself working in the midst of so much confusion that, many times, you don't feel as if you are able to easily recollect your heart in the presence of God? Are your distractions so intense that God often appears far away? Why does this happen? Why is it that we often lose the knowledge of God's presence during the day and live with a kind of spiritual schizophrenia? Well, the explanation is probably fairly simple. Whenever we react in a fleshly manner to the various providences that God puts before us; whenever we are temperamental, rash, impatient, restless, self-willed, letting circumstances make us depressed or angry, and given over to our tyrannical passions, we can almost always trace it back to one foundational reason: prayerlessness. As Christians we now live in a very fast-paced world that is filled with distractions. Some may use this as an excuse for their lack of prayer, but instead this is a good argument why we should spend more time in daily prayer in the presence of our Lord. The more responsibility thrust upon us and the more complicated a life we have, the more time we should spend in God's presence. The state of entire daily renunciation of self-will for God's will can only happen when we are disciplined to take at least an hour out of our time to confess, praise, intercede and come before God in earnest supplication. When we come before Him in this humble posture, then, in conforming to His will, we are enabled, through grace, to die to our self-exertion, opinions, preferences, tastes and will; die to the world, its approval and censure, die to the approval and blame of brethren and friends and instead be content to be approved unto God alone. We come to God for grace to change ourselves and the world we touch. In other words, the grace of God sovereignly dispensed through prayer gives us great help in our growth in holiness (deliverance from the self-centered life). Then, as we go into the joys and disappointments of each day we know the presence of God even in the most trifling of duties and can more easily recollect ourselves in His presence. We then become God-centered people, which gives us the power to be others-centered. This type of spirituality is desperately needed as we daily enter into a secularized world that has practically and effectively removed God from the public square. The light of God's glory will reflect from the face of a saint who is long on his knees and the world will take notice. For a simple suggestion as to how we can counteract the lack of spirituality in our daily life. I cannot recommend time in secret prayer too highly. Do not neglect it. Right now, if you don't do this already, you must here and now set aside a significant daily time that you will be alone with God. Without it, you are not even doing ¼ of what God could use you for in advancing His kingdom in this life. You are missing out on what the Christain life is all about. A prayerless life is not dependent on God and is thus of very little use to Him in our daily warfare. If you get distracted in prayer, no need to get frustrated... just turn again to our merciful and understanding God… don't give up trying. Perhaps even try praying out loud... I find this to be of tremendous help. Below, in order to help in this process I am including a list of possible things to pray for. I do not include the list for verbatim prayer, but rather for you to glance at concepts that can gently remind you of the direction you may want to go in prayer. These are merely helps that will set your heart and mind on important principles wherein we need to grow in grace. As we pray through these ideas the Holy Spirit will guide and inspire you to deeper places that you may personally need to change and grow. Do not see this list as law but as direction and a means of thrusting your thoughts away from distraction and self-absorption towards our gracious and merciful Heavenly Father. Hopefully you find something of use here that you can take with you before the Lord. Deeply work through these slowly and throughtfully. Some of the prayers are my own while others are "plagiarized" but I may not have given a source. May the Lord greatly bless and multiply the use of these prayers to His glory: Prayers: God, enable me to die to all my personal opinions, preferences, tastes and self-will. Teach me by your Spirit to die to the world and my need for approval and die to the fear of its censure, but rather, to fear only You, seeking my approval from you alone. Deliver me from my biased and self-centeredness and focus my heart and mind as I come before you in prayer. Lord, I am willing To receive what you give; To lack what you withhold; To relinquish what you take; To suffer what you inflict; To be what you require. Thank you Lord that, in spite of myself that I can come into your presence to find grace and mercy in my time of need. (Lord, I Consciously and deliberately enter Your presence, not on my own merit but through the merit and finished work of Christ alone… I Acknowledge my sinfulness – (confess specific and known sins --- pleading Jesus’ precious blood) – Thank You Lord for opening the way by Your perfect fulfillment of God’s Holy Law so that I can freely enter into God’s presence as an adopted son and call Him Abba Father. (Whatever your heart may accuse you of, turn unto God through Christ who has purchased your redemption, forgiven you and made you fully loved and acceptable in His sight. Acknowledging that you justly deserve God's wrath, yet thank God that all of His just wrath has been poured out on Jesus instead and there is no condemnation for you. He came not for the righteous but sinners, like me, and laid down His life for all who would believe.) Lord, as I come before You, free me from my prejudices and from my hardened biased heart… I am naturally inclined to evil but, I pray, supernaturally work in me a new set of holy affections… that my prayers would be in conformity and be agreeable to Your holy will. Holy Spirit fill me with Yourself and assist me in my weakness. Pray through me that all I say may be acceptable in Your sight. Amen Psalm 119:60
'I hurried and did not procrastinate to keep Your commands.' - As human beings we love to put things off or delay things. - Sometimes we have a 'tomorrow is another day' mentality. - But when it comes to God we should not procrastinate. - We should, instead, be determined to follow God NOW. PRAYER: Lord, it is my heart's desire to follow You without delay. Forgive me for procrastinating and I declare that from this day forward my heart, soul, mind and strength is set on following You. Amen. |
Ana & Andre Schoonbee God uses us to motivate and encourage the body. Authors
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