Beyond Ourselves
How’s Your Heart Toward “That” Person
Have you ever known a hard-hearted person? In other words, no matter how hard you tried, they shut you out? If you do anything wrong, they’re relentless and unforgiving. Not so with our Lord. Although He could have every reason to be hard-hearted toward us, instead He pursues and forgives us. What a TENDER-HEARTED Lord we have! And this is important – in Ephesians 4:32 He commands us to be like Him – kind, tender-hearted, forgiving each other. If there’s someone you’re hard-hearted toward, this Thanksgiving season would be a good time to “forgive, as God in Christ has forgiven us.”
Lord, we praise You for being TENDER-HEARTED toward us. Thank You for Your mercy! Thank You for Your grace! Help us faithfully follow You and forgive others as You have forgiven us.
Run to the Throne of Grace
Can you imagine what it would be like to go to Jesus after you failed miserably and sinned and He NOT be sympathetic with your weaknesses? What if He was unrelenting and unforgiving? But that is not who our sweet Lord Jesus Christ is. Although He is God the Son and our HIGH PRIEST, He is sympathetic to our weaknesses. Here’s how Hebrews 4:15-16 describes Jesus.
We do not have a HIGH PRIEST who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.
That’s incredibly good news, but we’re not to stop there.
Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
In other words, when we sin we’re not supposed to keep sinning. Neither are we to avoid Jesus because we’re ashamed. Rather, we’re to humbly go to Him and confess, “I sinned. I gave into my flesh or this temptation. Forgive me and strengthen me to stand against this weakness in my life. Conform me to Your image, Jesus.” Jesus extends grace to us when we repent, but He also admonishes us, “Go and sin no more.” Why? Because He loves us and doesn’t want us to live in a habit of sin but rather to live in a habit of holiness. If we’ve sinned and been avoiding an intimate conversation with Jesus and confession of our sin, now is the time to draw near to our sympathetic HIGH PRIEST.
We praise you, Lord and High Priest, that although you are high and lifted up, you sympathize with our weaknesses and forgive us when we repent. Help us stand against rather than give into sin.
How Are You When It Comes to Stinky Feet
Have you ever thought, really thought, about Jesus washing His disciples’ stinky feet? Have you seriously applied His words in John 13:14 to yourself?
If I then, the LORD and the TEACHER, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
LORD and TEACHER – meditate on Jesus putting those two titles for Himself in one command. The Lord is on His knees washing dirty feet. Messy. Time-consuming. Dirty. Unpleasant. Didn’t He have better things to do? Yet, His act demonstrated more than the simple act of washing feet. Jesus was teaching us the importance of humility toward one another. He was teaching us about servanthood and yes, even forgiveness. Our Lord and TEACHER physically illustrated what He would do spiritually through His substitutionary death on the cross. It would be messy (a bloody mess). He would wash our filth and sins from our inner man. As His disciples, He instructs us to go and do as He did. Take the time to humbly forgive, to humbly serve one person at a time. And hopefully, prayerfully, it will gain us an opportunity to share with the person why we are doing it, in whose name we are serving.
Jesus, Lord, and Teacher, thank You for washing us and cleansing us of our sins. Make us increasingly mindful of following Your example.
Speaker of the House
So what do you think of the Speaker of the House? Oh, I’m not talking about the speaker of the US House of Representatives. I’m referring to the Speaker of God’s House, the Speaker of Righteousness, as Isaiah 45:19 describes the LORD.
I have not spoken in secret, in some dark land…I, the Lord, SPEAK RIGHTEOUSNESS, declaring things that are upright.
How refreshing that we have a Speaker of the HOUSE who is a Speaker of Righteousness. While reading the Bible, we hear His righteous voice. As citizens of His Kingdom, we can ponder and practice what our SPEAKER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS says. Are we listening to the Speaker of our House? Are we sharing the words of the Speaker of Righteousness with others? One of the ways my ministry shares what God has spoken is through our ministry page on Facebook and through Instagram. They are “microphones” we use to “go out into the world” as Jesus tells us to do. When you “Like” the page or follow Instagram, it increases Christ’s, our Speaker’s reach. Even if you don’t often use social media, you can still click HERE and check “LIKE” to help the Speaker of Righteousness’s voice reach others. You can follow on Instagram and share with others who follow you.
Thank You, LORD, SPEAKER of the House of RIGHTEOUSNESS. May we listen to and follow Your voice above all others. May we faithfully share You with others in our sphere of influence.
Do You Ever Feel Fragile or Like You Might Pop
Do you ever feel fragile or like you might “pop” because of the daily pressure you are under? David knew what it was like to feel that way and found God to be the SUSTAINER of his soul. Listen to his words in Psalm 54:4. “God is my helper; The Lord is the SUSTAINER of my soul.” What does it mean for God to be the sustainer of our soul? It means that God revives our minds and emotions when we sit in His presence, meditate on His truths, and absorb encouragement from His Word. God, the Holy Spirit, refreshes and sustains us so we carry on rather than break or pop. What story do you have of how God has been your sustainer?
Lord God, we praise You, SUSTAINER of our souls. Thank You for the many times and ways You sustain us. We love and praise You!
Do You Want More Strength
An AT&T commercial once asked a group of children, “Who thinks more is better than less?” A little girl quickly responded, “We want more. We want more.” We can identify with her plea for more when we’re going through a difficult time. We want more of God’s strength. We want more of His grace to get us through our day. The truth is, we already have it. Second Corinthians 12:9 reassures us,
My grace is SUFFICIENT for you, for power is perfected in weakness.
What does it mean that God’s grace is SUFFICIENT? Does it mean barely enough? No. Rather, the Biblical word means, “to be possessed of unfailing strength, to be strong, to be enough.”* God’s strength is the answer to our cry when we are weak. Call on Him. Yield to Him. Ask Jesus to fill and empower you. He will.
Heavenly Father, thank You that when we’re weak, You respond to our cry for help. Thank You, that Your grace is SUFFICIENT unfailing strength.
Listen UP! Your gateway to understanding more about the Holy Spirit in your life.
God’s Perspective
Perspective. It’s everything. We can look around and feel hopeless and vulnerable, wondering why God has abandoned us. Or we can turn to the Lord, scale the heights of heaven and gaze on who God is, what He’s done, and what He has promised to do. Proverbs 18:10 reminds us,
The name of the Lord is a STRONG TOWER; The righteous runs into it and is safe.
Did you catch the promise? Is safe. Say it out loud. I am safe. Think through the implications for your believing loved ones. They are safe. Yes, far from what may at times seem to be uncaring and inactive people around us, God is the opposite. He is caring and He is active. Look at the ways He proves His activity in your life far beyond sending Jesus to save you. Enjoy the release of God’s Spirit in your life comforting and strengthening you. Let your mind relax in the reality of the new heaven and world awaiting you and your loved ones. Purposefully ponder your life and your loved one’s lives from the perspective of heaven’s heights. Say a prayer to the Lord thanking Him for being wonderful, loving, and faithful.
Learn more of God’s character traits in my book, Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion. Here. Or Amazon.
Heavenly Father, You are a loving, good, faithful STRONG TOWER to whom we can run. Help us have eyes to see with Your perspective and walk through our days with gratefulness and hope.
When You Want to Run Away, Run Here
Do you ever want to run away from your circumstances, the evil in our world, or perhaps your own wayward thoughts? If so, go to God, who David likens to a STRONGHOLD. In Biblical times a stronghold was a high place, a place of retreat, and for many years it was David’s safe house. In 2 Samuel 22:3, after the Lord saved him from Saul, David wrote these words of praise,
My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my STRONGHOLD and my refuge.
Is God your stronghold? If so, you are well aware that He wants you to come to Him. You are well aware that you can leave your fears, Satan’s lies, and your wayward and go to the Lord, your stronghold. Do you have a story of a time that you sought God as your stronghold? You retreated in prayer or to your Bible and by doing so, He kept you mentally, emotionally safe? I’d love to hear your story. Comment below.
Heavenly Father, thank You for being our STRONGHOLD. Thank You that we can scale the heights of heaven and Your Word and find renewed strength in Your presence.
Pray with Purpose, Live with Passion: How Praising God Can Transform Your Life – on Amazon
Running Low on Cash
“How much money do you make?” In our materialistic society, people often place value on the almighty dollar instead of the Almighty Lord. But Isaiah 33:6 addresses what we should value: “Jesus being a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.” Isaiah reminds us that the Lord is the greatest treasure. Jesus echos Isaiah’s understanding of what true wealth is. In Matthew 6:19-21 He says,
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Christ’s command should cause us to stop and ponder. Are we storing up treasures on earth or are we storing up treasures in heaven? To the point – on what is our heart most focused – things of the earth or things of heaven?
Lord, You are a WEALTH of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. Stir our hearts to seek the treasures that count for eternity rather than the fleeting things of earth.
“And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the Lord is his treasure.” Isaiah 33:6
Beyond Our Imagination – A Deeper Understanding of the Spirit
Do you know all that God has prepared for you in eternity? The answer is “no, we don’t know.” First Corinthians 2:9 says, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” Does that bless your heart? Our earthly days may be rough, but God has prepared a future beyond our imagination. The passage explains that no one knows God’s thoughts except God’s Spirit.
“For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?
Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,” First Corinthians 2: 10-12
Do these verses about the Spirit make you want to have a deeper understanding of the Holy Spirit and how you can walk by His promptings? If so, I encourage you to get “Listen UP! When the Spirit Speaks.” The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to Christians. Know Him. Listen to Him. Love and adore Him, for He is the Spirit of Christ abiding in you.
Heavenly Father, Your gift to us of the SPIRIT who SEARCHES ALL THINGS, is the most amazing gift. Thank You! Help us faithfully walk by Your Spirit.
