Matthew 20: 26-28
But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.
O my Father, it is only my sinful flesh that leads me to desire to be a leader. I want to grow my character to be more like Jesus, Who came only to serve and to give away His life.
Show me, Father, how I can give my life away to serve others, and please don't let me get in the way of Your working in and through me to benefit others' lives.
I praise You and thank You for the promise that You began this good work in me, and You will continue to perform it until I am perfected on the Day my King returns.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
From Clay To Diamonds
Jeremiah 18: 1-6
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you My message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Then the Word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."
Isaiah 64: 8
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, You are the Potter, we are all the work of Your hand.
Romans 9: 21
Does not the Potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
O my dear, dear Father! Thank You for for all You have done, are doing, and will finish in my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren and their children.
Thank You for this picture You gave me while I was praying with my prayer partner: We begin as clay pots fit for nothing but garbage. Then You save us and clean out all the filth within us. Then You continually work in us to transform the opaque clay into crystal, little by little, moment by moment, molecule by molecule; transforming these clay pots into crystal goblets, crystal vases, Your glory shining out from us like Diamonds, as You had Paul tell the Corinthian church:
II Corinthians 4: 6-7
God ... made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
O Father, even now, once in a while, Your goodness and compassion shines out through a tiny window of crystal in this clay, and others can see Your glory in us.
I thank You, dear Father, so much, that now that You have begun thus good work in us, that You will continue to finish and perfect it until our King returns in His Glory, and we will shine like the Sun, as Stars in His Crown!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you My message." So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Then the Word of the Lord came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as the potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel."
Isaiah 64: 8
Yet, O Lord, You are our Father, we are the clay, You are the Potter, we are all the work of Your hand.
Romans 9: 21
Does not the Potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
O my dear, dear Father! Thank You for for all You have done, are doing, and will finish in my life and the lives of my children and grandchildren and their children.
Thank You for this picture You gave me while I was praying with my prayer partner: We begin as clay pots fit for nothing but garbage. Then You save us and clean out all the filth within us. Then You continually work in us to transform the opaque clay into crystal, little by little, moment by moment, molecule by molecule; transforming these clay pots into crystal goblets, crystal vases, Your glory shining out from us like Diamonds, as You had Paul tell the Corinthian church:
II Corinthians 4: 6-7
God ... made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
O Father, even now, once in a while, Your goodness and compassion shines out through a tiny window of crystal in this clay, and others can see Your glory in us.
I thank You, dear Father, so much, that now that You have begun thus good work in us, that You will continue to finish and perfect it until our King returns in His Glory, and we will shine like the Sun, as Stars in His Crown!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, September 25, 2017
I AM
Exodus 3: 14
God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
I AM = YHWH = Yahweh = Jehovah = The Self-Existent One. The One Who has always been because He exists within Himself. He is Existence.
Yet Psalm 22 presents this great, self-existent One as poured out like water, abandoned by God, and mocked and scorned by men. The very men He created. In Matthew 17:22 Jesus told them that He would be betrayed and killed, and rise again, and His disciples were filled with grief.
O my Father, You are God, I am not. You came to this Earth as Your Son, still retaining Your Sovereignty, but in human flesh, holding your Divinity in abeyance. That You would allow men to abuse You, beat You and spit on You--and put You to death as the criminal I am. You took my place on that Cross, just as that innocent lamb in Leviticus 1 substituted its death for the penitent who brought it.
I can do nothing. Anything that seems to be accomplished in or through me is You in me. Please help me to remember moment-by-moment and day-by-day that I am powerless to do anything, that any measures I try to take to manipulate circumstances will only backfire.
Strengthen me to rely only on You to arrange the circumstances of my life to accomplish Your purposes, and please keep me out of Your way. Humble me before You that Your character will be seen in me by others, and not my own. Then You will receive all the credit, the glory for everything You do.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
God replied to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
I AM = YHWH = Yahweh = Jehovah = The Self-Existent One. The One Who has always been because He exists within Himself. He is Existence.
Yet Psalm 22 presents this great, self-existent One as poured out like water, abandoned by God, and mocked and scorned by men. The very men He created. In Matthew 17:22 Jesus told them that He would be betrayed and killed, and rise again, and His disciples were filled with grief.
O my Father, You are God, I am not. You came to this Earth as Your Son, still retaining Your Sovereignty, but in human flesh, holding your Divinity in abeyance. That You would allow men to abuse You, beat You and spit on You--and put You to death as the criminal I am. You took my place on that Cross, just as that innocent lamb in Leviticus 1 substituted its death for the penitent who brought it.
I can do nothing. Anything that seems to be accomplished in or through me is You in me. Please help me to remember moment-by-moment and day-by-day that I am powerless to do anything, that any measures I try to take to manipulate circumstances will only backfire.
Strengthen me to rely only on You to arrange the circumstances of my life to accomplish Your purposes, and please keep me out of Your way. Humble me before You that Your character will be seen in me by others, and not my own. Then You will receive all the credit, the glory for everything You do.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, September 24, 2017
God's Words
Proverbs 4: 20-27
My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to My words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole being. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Jesus explained to us in John 6 about real life. Real life is not physical, it is spiritual (v. 63). When a person's spiritual parts (soul and spirit) leave his body, he is dead. He told us that His Words are Spirit and they are life. So we are to nourish our spirits with His Word: not just reading it, but devouring it, chewing it by thinking on it and meditating on it and studying it. Then when we are ready to apply its Truth to our own life and attitudes, that's when we swallow it and it becomes our life.
O my Father, please help me, lead and guide me to mark out a straight path for my feet, and keep me from being sidetracked. Show me the goals You have for me, that I may strive to achieve Your will in the few days You have allotted to me. Keep me on Your safe path, safe because You walk with me, protecting me from all the dangers on the right-hand and on the left. Let others see only You in me, that You will get all the credit for what You are accomplishing in and through me, and I may be a trophy of Your grace.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to My words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole being. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Jesus explained to us in John 6 about real life. Real life is not physical, it is spiritual (v. 63). When a person's spiritual parts (soul and spirit) leave his body, he is dead. He told us that His Words are Spirit and they are life. So we are to nourish our spirits with His Word: not just reading it, but devouring it, chewing it by thinking on it and meditating on it and studying it. Then when we are ready to apply its Truth to our own life and attitudes, that's when we swallow it and it becomes our life.
O my Father, please help me, lead and guide me to mark out a straight path for my feet, and keep me from being sidetracked. Show me the goals You have for me, that I may strive to achieve Your will in the few days You have allotted to me. Keep me on Your safe path, safe because You walk with me, protecting me from all the dangers on the right-hand and on the left. Let others see only You in me, that You will get all the credit for what You are accomplishing in and through me, and I may be a trophy of Your grace.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Our Great God!
Psalm 19: 1-4
The Heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word, their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the Earth, and their words to all the World.
O my precious Father God, You are truly the magnificent sovereign potentate of all the Universe You have created! Your wisdom and understanding have set all the stars in place on their courses.
Yet the wicked still walk in total darkness. Proverbs 4:19 says, The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. They don't recognize that their very premise that they start on is faulty, and so they continue on in their scientific studies on a wrong track, and totally miss God's Truth.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 22-23, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes (sight) are good, your whole body is full of light. But if your eyes (sight) are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
If what you consider is light, is understanding, is wisdom, is actually darkness, error, deception; then that darkness will act like light, in dispelling its opposite, truth, and deepening the error. You will continue to be deceived, believing the lie of Evolution instead of the Truth of Creation, and you will base all the rest of your life on this faulty premise. Then when things don't turn out well, you'll have no idea how things went wrong, you'll not see what tripped you.
So I suggest you go back to the beginning of God's Word, read in Genesis, the beginnings of everything, and believe what God said there. Then go on to the Gospels, the Good News of how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament Law, beginning with the first sacrifice Leviticus (the book of sacrifices) records first in chapter 1, the personal sacrifice. Jesus died personally for each of us (because we have all sinned and deserve death) for Salvation. He also fulfilled the Corporate sacrifice, to purchase us all as His possession; as our Owner He is our rightful Judge.
God planned it all out before He even began to Create. The Godhead agreed that the Second Person would be the One to deal with this race of Mankind that He would make, and be the One to redeem us with His own Life, given as our Substitute, as that animal did in Leviticus 1. That's how much He loves us, and wants us to be with Him forever, where He lives (see John 17:24, in His High-Priestly Prayer).
My dear Father, thank You so much for giving us Your written Word, to tell us everything that happened in the past, and to lay out all that Jesus, Your Messiah to us, would do, to show us Your love, and to rescue us from ourselves.
You are Great, our Almighty God, Who showed us Your Wisdom in Creating all that exists, and Your Love put Order into the Chaos, so we would see Your Beauty in all the climates and environments You made. Everything I see shows me Your Majesty, my Lord, and prompts me to worship You in Your Goodness and Graciousness and Mercy and great Love that You have lavished on me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The Heavens proclaim the glory of God, the skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. They speak without a sound or word, their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the Earth, and their words to all the World.
O my precious Father God, You are truly the magnificent sovereign potentate of all the Universe You have created! Your wisdom and understanding have set all the stars in place on their courses.
Yet the wicked still walk in total darkness. Proverbs 4:19 says, The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble. They don't recognize that their very premise that they start on is faulty, and so they continue on in their scientific studies on a wrong track, and totally miss God's Truth.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 6: 22-23, The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes (sight) are good, your whole body is full of light. But if your eyes (sight) are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
If what you consider is light, is understanding, is wisdom, is actually darkness, error, deception; then that darkness will act like light, in dispelling its opposite, truth, and deepening the error. You will continue to be deceived, believing the lie of Evolution instead of the Truth of Creation, and you will base all the rest of your life on this faulty premise. Then when things don't turn out well, you'll have no idea how things went wrong, you'll not see what tripped you.
So I suggest you go back to the beginning of God's Word, read in Genesis, the beginnings of everything, and believe what God said there. Then go on to the Gospels, the Good News of how Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament Law, beginning with the first sacrifice Leviticus (the book of sacrifices) records first in chapter 1, the personal sacrifice. Jesus died personally for each of us (because we have all sinned and deserve death) for Salvation. He also fulfilled the Corporate sacrifice, to purchase us all as His possession; as our Owner He is our rightful Judge.
God planned it all out before He even began to Create. The Godhead agreed that the Second Person would be the One to deal with this race of Mankind that He would make, and be the One to redeem us with His own Life, given as our Substitute, as that animal did in Leviticus 1. That's how much He loves us, and wants us to be with Him forever, where He lives (see John 17:24, in His High-Priestly Prayer).
My dear Father, thank You so much for giving us Your written Word, to tell us everything that happened in the past, and to lay out all that Jesus, Your Messiah to us, would do, to show us Your love, and to rescue us from ourselves.
You are Great, our Almighty God, Who showed us Your Wisdom in Creating all that exists, and Your Love put Order into the Chaos, so we would see Your Beauty in all the climates and environments You made. Everything I see shows me Your Majesty, my Lord, and prompts me to worship You in Your Goodness and Graciousness and Mercy and great Love that You have lavished on me.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Friday, September 22, 2017
Faith For Victory
After being so discouraged, Jacob (Israel) is now elated, and is even going to go himself to see Joseph again (Genesis 45:28). How God uses the reversals in our lives to bring about His purposes is so amazing! We just need to have faith in Him when we can't see what's ahead.
Jesus chides Peter for his little faith even as Peter just walked on the water (Matthew 14:31).
Psalm 18 is all about having victory over our enemies, with God's strength and power. We need only to pray before giving in to the temptation, for the power to choose the right and have a way out, thereby having victory over our enemies.
And Proverbs 4:11-13 undergirds all this with its admonition to let God's wisdom teach us right ways and straight paths, so we won't be held back or stumble into temptation. God's wisdom is the key to life, both temporal and eternal.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Jesus chides Peter for his little faith even as Peter just walked on the water (Matthew 14:31).
Psalm 18 is all about having victory over our enemies, with God's strength and power. We need only to pray before giving in to the temptation, for the power to choose the right and have a way out, thereby having victory over our enemies.
And Proverbs 4:11-13 undergirds all this with its admonition to let God's wisdom teach us right ways and straight paths, so we won't be held back or stumble into temptation. God's wisdom is the key to life, both temporal and eternal.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Blind Trust
Poor Jacob, feeling so sorry for himself (Why were you so cruel to me? ... Why did you tell him you had another brother? Genesis 43:6).
He finally came to the place where he could say, May El Shaddai [God Almighty] give you mercy. .. But if I must lose my children, so be it (Genesis 43:14).
But only because they were starving. But how "starving" were they, with enough balm, honey, gum, aromatic resin, pistachio nuts and almonds(!) to send as a gift to this Egyptian ruler, who just happened to be Jacob's own long-lost Joseph!
We know the end of this story, but Jacob didn't yet at that time. Not being able to see what lies ahead, he was very discouraged, even though he tried to put his trust in God.
It's so hard for us to trust when we don't see the good God has for us up ahead, only the problems we have now. Only later, after, can we see how today's problems, griefs, and toils are used by God to bring about the best good for our sake, and bring glory to God, Who master-minded the whole process in the first place.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
He finally came to the place where he could say, May El Shaddai [God Almighty] give you mercy. .. But if I must lose my children, so be it (Genesis 43:14).
But only because they were starving. But how "starving" were they, with enough balm, honey, gum, aromatic resin, pistachio nuts and almonds(!) to send as a gift to this Egyptian ruler, who just happened to be Jacob's own long-lost Joseph!
We know the end of this story, but Jacob didn't yet at that time. Not being able to see what lies ahead, he was very discouraged, even though he tried to put his trust in God.
It's so hard for us to trust when we don't see the good God has for us up ahead, only the problems we have now. Only later, after, can we see how today's problems, griefs, and toils are used by God to bring about the best good for our sake, and bring glory to God, Who master-minded the whole process in the first place.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)