365 Days of Praise

Jesus told a parable in Luke 19:11-22 portraying Himself as a nobleman who went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for Himself and then return. Before He departed, the nobleman gave talents to His servants so they could carry on His business while He was away. Two of the servants took seriously what He entrusted them to do. When the nobleman returned, he honored them and entrusted more to them. But he called the servant who didn’t do anything with the talent he had given him, “worthless.” (Luke 19:11-22) Let’s break this down. Jesus is the nobleman. At salvation, He entrusts a spiritual gift to every believer so we can do His work on earth while He is in heaven. We are either faithfully doing the good works He’s prepared for us to do (Ephesians 2:10), or, we’re lazy like the unfaithful slave. What a joy for us to get to serve Christ.

Jesus Christ, heaven’s nobleman, stir our hearts to faithfully serve You with the gifts You’ve entrusted to us.

“While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, ‘A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return;“

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As the celebration of the birth of Christ nears each year, we focus on the babe in the manger. But, that babe was born a Prince with a kingdom to defend.  That babe was born with an angelic army at His beacon call. That babe was born a “WARRIOR” King as Isaiah 42:13 foretold, “The Lord will go forth like a WARRIOR, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.” The babe stormed hell and overcame death. The babe is victor over the devil and his demonic army. Christ will one day return to earth but not as a babe. He’ll return as the Warrior King that He is. With whom will we share the good news?

Lord, we praise You, WARRIOR King from on high.

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Have you ever worked hard for what you thought was Christ, but you experienced little joy? As a matter of fact, you felt agitated much of the time? If and when that happens, it helps to step back and consider if what we’re doing is a mission Christ set us on and we’re relying on His wisdom and power, or if it’s an activity we thought was a good idea and we’re pushing through in our own strength. Why is this important? Colossians 1:18 explains that Christ is “head of the body, the church…so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.” In other words, if it is not Christ’s idea, then it’s not a good idea and will not be empowered by Him. Why? As a body is lifeless without its head, so the church is lifeless apart from Christ. We may do what we consider to be important work, but if it is done apart from Christ’s calling and Spirit, it is merely human work. Therefore, it is important for us to continually seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) so that both our individual and corporate deeds flow from Christ’s mind and are done in His power. When we do the work Christ sends us to do, the result will be we enter into Christ’s joy. Matthew 25:23

Lord Jesus, we praise You, HEAD OF THE CHURCH and life of the body of believers! May our words and actions be an extension of Your heart, strength, and power. 

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In the month of December, we anticipate the celebration of the birth of Jesus. He is a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger. Fast forward 33 years. Can you imagine His anticipation when, after pouring His teachings into people, completing His mission to conquer death and sin, it was finally time for Him to get to go home – to return to His glory and heaven? He must have been giddy…if gods get giddy. Certainly about to explode in joyous anticipation. Hebrews 7:26 zeros in on the great divide between Jesus and us. “For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens…” High. Priest. Holy. Innocent. Undefiled. Birthed into a mess of sinners. What must His child’s holy heart felt? What thoughts did He have to keep to Himself when growing up? What teenage temptations did Satan pile on Him? What spiritual battles did He fight alone, with no one with whom He could share? We will never know the extent Christ suffered for us long before His scourging death. Then, He awoke from the grave. Alive. But still here. Until finally, Acts 1:9. It was time to go home! Can you imagine what the disciples experienced when Jesus was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight? I can’t imagine it. I’ve tried. Put yourself in the scene. There you are. Jesus is telling you that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be His witness. Mind boggling. The Holy Spirit, who was upon the “greats” like Moses and Elijah, is going to come upon you! Before you can get your mind around that, Jesus starts ascending, being lifted up. You’re in shock. His feet are literally off the ground. Your head is titled back. You look up and watch until you can no longer see Jesus who is gone…exalted above the heavens…home.

Heavenly Father, we can’t get our minds around Your majesty, throne, and what heaven is like. But, we’re so glad Jesus is with You, exalted above the heavens. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for all You have done for us – incredible! 

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