27 October 2007
'The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.' Ps 23:1-2
The biblical shepherd knew everything about his sheep. He understood what foods were best for them and what would harm them. He knew when they should eat and when they needed their thirst quenched. The shepherd was an expert of the terrain and was aware of the best places for food and water. As long as the sheep trusted and followed their shepherd, they would always have their needs met at the right time. Their shepherd would give them the best that he had.
Do you have absolute trust in your Good Shepherd? Do you value the nourishment that comes from Him more than any you might obtain from the world? Do you ever worry that God might be withholding from you something that you need? The psalmist was convinced that he would “want” for nothing. By his very nature, the Good Shepherd cares for His sheep and would lay down His life for them (Jn 10:11).
Have you allowed your focus to shift from the Shepherd to what the Shepherd gives you? If you find yourself “wanting,” it is not that your Shepherd is unable or unwilling to perfectly meet your needs. It may be that you lack the faith to receive all that He has to give. Could it be that you have become dissatisfied with what your Shepherd has been providing? Are you missing the joy that comes from having a Shepherd who cares for you? Return to Him and trust Him to meet the needs in your life that only He can. Amen
Motivated to Love
26 October 2007
“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Jn 17:25-26
You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love. The heavenly Father loved His Son with an everlasting love. Everything in the heart and life of the Father was released to His Son. As the Father expressed His love for a broken and sinful world, this passion was manifested through the life of His Son. The Father initiated His plan to save mankind, and out of a heart of devotion, the Son accepted the assignment that took Him to the cross.
As Jesus walked among people, the Father's love filled His Son. Jesus recognized that no ordinary love could motivate Him to go to the cross. No human love could keep Him perfectly obedient to His Father throughout His life. Only His Father's love was powerful enough to compel Him to commit His life to the saving purpose of His Father.
Jesus prayed that God would place this same love in His disciples. He knew that no other motivation would be sufficient for the assignments God had for them. God's answer was to place His Son in them. It is impossible for a Christian to be filled with this measure of love and not to be on mission with God.
You will be incapable of ministering to everyone God sends you unless you have His love. You cannot forgive others or go the extra mile with others or sacrifice for others unless you have first been filled with the boundless love of God. Seek to know the Father and His immeasurable love; then allow His Son to love others through you! Let His LOVE for you affects you greatly so that YOU will serve Him wholeheartedly! Amen
“O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Jn 17:25-26
You cannot be close to God without being affected by His love. The heavenly Father loved His Son with an everlasting love. Everything in the heart and life of the Father was released to His Son. As the Father expressed His love for a broken and sinful world, this passion was manifested through the life of His Son. The Father initiated His plan to save mankind, and out of a heart of devotion, the Son accepted the assignment that took Him to the cross.
As Jesus walked among people, the Father's love filled His Son. Jesus recognized that no ordinary love could motivate Him to go to the cross. No human love could keep Him perfectly obedient to His Father throughout His life. Only His Father's love was powerful enough to compel Him to commit His life to the saving purpose of His Father.
Jesus prayed that God would place this same love in His disciples. He knew that no other motivation would be sufficient for the assignments God had for them. God's answer was to place His Son in them. It is impossible for a Christian to be filled with this measure of love and not to be on mission with God.
You will be incapable of ministering to everyone God sends you unless you have His love. You cannot forgive others or go the extra mile with others or sacrifice for others unless you have first been filled with the boundless love of God. Seek to know the Father and His immeasurable love; then allow His Son to love others through you! Let His LOVE for you affects you greatly so that YOU will serve Him wholeheartedly! Amen
The Potter and the Clay
24 October 2007
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” Je 18:6
God looks for those who will allow Him to shape them into the instruments He requires to do His divine work. Clay has no plans of its own, no aspirations for service, nor reluctance to perform its given task. It is just clay. Moldable, totally submissive to the will of its master.
At times we excitedly announce to God: “I've discovered my strengths and gifts, and now I know how I can best serve You!” At other times we inform Him, “I am aware of what my weaknesses are, so I know which tasks I'm not capable of doing for You.” Yet this is not characteristic of clay.
God is not limited to working with our strengths (2Co 12:9-10). He can mold us into whatever kind of instrument He requires. God's assignment demands humility. He finds a servant willing to be humbled. When His work requires zeal, He looks for someone He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who will allow Him to remove their impurities.
It is not a noble task, being clay. There is no glamour to it, nothing boastworthy, except that it is exactly what almighty God is looking for. Compliant, moldable, yielded clay.
If your tendency is to tell the Father what you can and cannot do for Him, submit to His agenda and allow Him to shape you into the person He wants you to be. Like clay. Amen
“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!” Je 18:6
God looks for those who will allow Him to shape them into the instruments He requires to do His divine work. Clay has no plans of its own, no aspirations for service, nor reluctance to perform its given task. It is just clay. Moldable, totally submissive to the will of its master.
At times we excitedly announce to God: “I've discovered my strengths and gifts, and now I know how I can best serve You!” At other times we inform Him, “I am aware of what my weaknesses are, so I know which tasks I'm not capable of doing for You.” Yet this is not characteristic of clay.
God is not limited to working with our strengths (2Co 12:9-10). He can mold us into whatever kind of instrument He requires. God's assignment demands humility. He finds a servant willing to be humbled. When His work requires zeal, He looks for someone He can fill with His Spirit. God uses holy vessels, so He finds those who will allow Him to remove their impurities.
It is not a noble task, being clay. There is no glamour to it, nothing boastworthy, except that it is exactly what almighty God is looking for. Compliant, moldable, yielded clay.
If your tendency is to tell the Father what you can and cannot do for Him, submit to His agenda and allow Him to shape you into the person He wants you to be. Like clay. Amen
Tearful Prayers
23 October 2007
'Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.' Heb 5:7
The life of Jesus provides the model for our prayer lives. God is seeking to mold us into the image of His Son (Col 1:27-28). If we are to act like Christ, our prayer lives must be conformed to His. Many Christians are unwilling to pay the price that Jesus paid when it comes to interceding with God. Jesus’ prayers came with vehement cries and tears and, “because of His godly fear,” He was heard by the Father.
Why, then, did the Father refuse His request? It was not due to any sin in Jesus’ life, nor was it because the Father did not love His Son. The Father said no, despite the unfathomable love He had for His Son, because He knew He could not spare His Son and save a world. Likewise, the Lord cannot always spare you and your family and complete His redemptive work in those around you.
Are you willing for God to deny your pleadings? Will you intercede with the Father so deeply and intimately that even in the midst of your tears you are able to say, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done?” The Father will always relate to you out of the context of His love for a lost world. Has God said no to one of your requests recently? Accept His answer. Have you been learning obedience through what you have been suffering (Heb 5:8)? If you have, God may choose to make you a source of salvation to others even as He did with His Son. Amen
'Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear.' Heb 5:7
The life of Jesus provides the model for our prayer lives. God is seeking to mold us into the image of His Son (Col 1:27-28). If we are to act like Christ, our prayer lives must be conformed to His. Many Christians are unwilling to pay the price that Jesus paid when it comes to interceding with God. Jesus’ prayers came with vehement cries and tears and, “because of His godly fear,” He was heard by the Father.
Why, then, did the Father refuse His request? It was not due to any sin in Jesus’ life, nor was it because the Father did not love His Son. The Father said no, despite the unfathomable love He had for His Son, because He knew He could not spare His Son and save a world. Likewise, the Lord cannot always spare you and your family and complete His redemptive work in those around you.
Are you willing for God to deny your pleadings? Will you intercede with the Father so deeply and intimately that even in the midst of your tears you are able to say, “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done?” The Father will always relate to you out of the context of His love for a lost world. Has God said no to one of your requests recently? Accept His answer. Have you been learning obedience through what you have been suffering (Heb 5:8)? If you have, God may choose to make you a source of salvation to others even as He did with His Son. Amen
Denying Self
22 October 2007
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Mt 16:24
Self-centeredness is the result of sin, shifting our hearts from God to self. The essence of salvation is the re-orientation from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. The Christian must spend a lifetime denying self. This was exactly the struggle of Paul who had to engage a constant battle between the Spirit of God and self. Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow Jesus. James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus but asked for the two most prominent positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mk 10:35-37). James and John wanted a discipleship that would not impede their personal desires and aspirations. Like them, we say, “Lord, I want to be pleasing to you, but I want to stay where I am.”
Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world's eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success. We may say, “Now that I have succeeded in business [or sports, or politics, or with my family, or even Christian ministry], I want to give God the glory for it!”
God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives.
The world will entice you to adopt its goals and to invest in temporal things. Resist the temptation to pursue your own goals, asking God to bless them. Rather, deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you. Amen
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Mt 16:24
Self-centeredness is the result of sin, shifting our hearts from God to self. The essence of salvation is the re-orientation from self-centeredness to God-centeredness. The Christian must spend a lifetime denying self. This was exactly the struggle of Paul who had to engage a constant battle between the Spirit of God and self. Our great temptation will be to affirm ourselves while we follow Jesus. James and John did this when they chose to follow Jesus but asked for the two most prominent positions in Jesus’ kingdom (Mk 10:35-37). James and John wanted a discipleship that would not impede their personal desires and aspirations. Like them, we say, “Lord, I want to be pleasing to you, but I want to stay where I am.”
Self-centered people try to keep their lives unruffled and undisturbed, safe and secure. Our temptation is to give our time and effort to the goals of this world. Then, when we are successful in the world's eyes, we seek to bring God into our world by honoring Him with our success. We may say, “Now that I have succeeded in business [or sports, or politics, or with my family, or even Christian ministry], I want to give God the glory for it!”
God is not interested in receiving secondhand glory from our activity. God receives glory from His activity through our lives.
The world will entice you to adopt its goals and to invest in temporal things. Resist the temptation to pursue your own goals, asking God to bless them. Rather, deny yourself and join the activity of God as He reveals it to you. Amen
He Will Keep HIs Promises
21 October 2007
'For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.' 2Co 1:20
God keeps every promise He makes. When we walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, we have the assurance that every promise God has made in Scripture is available to us. This truth should motivate us to search the Scriptures for each promise in order to meditate upon its potential for our life.
Jesus promised that when you ask for something in His will, He will give you what you ask (Jn 16:23b). This promise is available to every Christian. If you ask God if this promise applies to your life, His answer is yes. If you are not now experiencing this promise, it does not change the fact that God has said it. You may need to seek God's answer for why His promise has not yet reached maturity in you.
Paul claimed he had tested each of these promises in his own life and found them all to be abundantly true. That's why he could speak of the “exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ep 2:7b) and the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ep 3:8b). Paul had found a wealth of God's promises and enjoyed them all in abundance.
Don't become discouraged or impatient if you are not experiencing to the fullest all of God's promises in your life. God may want to prepare you to receive some of the great truths He has made available to you. Walk closely with your Lord and, in time, you will see Him bring His promises to fruition in your life. Amen
'For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.' 2Co 1:20
God keeps every promise He makes. When we walk in intimate fellowship with Christ, we have the assurance that every promise God has made in Scripture is available to us. This truth should motivate us to search the Scriptures for each promise in order to meditate upon its potential for our life.
Jesus promised that when you ask for something in His will, He will give you what you ask (Jn 16:23b). This promise is available to every Christian. If you ask God if this promise applies to your life, His answer is yes. If you are not now experiencing this promise, it does not change the fact that God has said it. You may need to seek God's answer for why His promise has not yet reached maturity in you.
Paul claimed he had tested each of these promises in his own life and found them all to be abundantly true. That's why he could speak of the “exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Ep 2:7b) and the “unsearchable riches of Christ” (Ep 3:8b). Paul had found a wealth of God's promises and enjoyed them all in abundance.
Don't become discouraged or impatient if you are not experiencing to the fullest all of God's promises in your life. God may want to prepare you to receive some of the great truths He has made available to you. Walk closely with your Lord and, in time, you will see Him bring His promises to fruition in your life. Amen
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