Month: October 2019

Christ longs for all to repent.

Dear God,

Thank You for caring for my whole body and soul, and for my life.  I am also grateful, that I am led to repentance and given the desire to seek forgiveness.  I am also grateful for the enlightenment I have received from Romans 2:4 in which Paul reminds us of Your goodness, forbearance and longsuffering.  We mostly do not appreciate that it is Your goodness God, that leads us to repentance.  Even when all mankind was deep in sin, it was our Father God, Who prepared a way out, and so allow all people to be reconciled, to His Holy Self, through His Son Jesus Christ.

Romans 5: 8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Paul writes deeply appreciating what Jesus had done for each sinner; worldwide none are left out.  Not only had we been justified by the spilt blood of Jesus, we had been saved by what Jesus had done on the cross from the wrath of God.  For unrighteousness puts us at enmity with God the Father.  The mind is again drawn to more comprehension of what the shedding of blood and dying on the cross meant for every sinner, due to Jesus taking up His life again after the 3 days dead in the tomb.  Verse 10 “……much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

The reconciliation comes when I accept that Jesus died on His cross for my sins.  It is not the action alone of my repenting of my sins that reconciles me with God.  I now understand that I do not receive the blessing of being forgiven of my sins, until I actually confess my sins, but that did not place forgiveness in God’s heart, for it was already there.  My sorrow for my sins followed by the confession of my sins enables me to receive Gods’ existing forgiveness.  My confession does not change God’s attitude toward me, but it does change my attitude toward God, by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

1 John 1: 9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Thank You for the process of sanctification, that is wrought in the heart that is willing, and that if we allow, You our Saviour will at our request place willingness for change in our heart.

Amen

“For many are called but few are chosen.’” Matthew 20: 16

Dear God,

Please lead me as I reflect upon this parable, about the kingdom of heaven being like a landowner who went off early in the morning to hire people to work in his vineyard.  He hired some men and they agreed on the price of a denarius for the day’s work.  The landowner went about the third, six and ninth hours and again hired more workers that were standing idle there.  The landowner said to them, “…..’You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’  So they went.” Verses 4 – 7, Matthew 20: 8 “So when evening had come the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘call the labourers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.”  Those who had been hired at the early hour now were unhappy, thinking they should be paid more wages than those who had only worked the lesser hours down to only one hour.  They had of course previously happily agreed with the offered wage of one denarius, which is what the landowner reminded them. 

Jesus is the true Landowner of earth, and it is the people of the kingdom of heaven, who will one day receive their wages, in the kingdom of glory. Now as I think about this teaching, I can understand, that no matter when we accepted Jesus, whether it is upon the death bed, or just before probation closes or there was opportunity to live a long life thereafter committed to You our God; the reward is the same for each child of God; they will be called by our Redeemer Jesus, to rise and meet Him in the air.s

To my mind even though Jesus brings with Him, the reward of eternal life and being taken to heaven for the righteous; there is also a blessing on earth for Gods faithful children when because of their obedience, know all in their life is as God wills.   Also whether for one minute, or for much of a life time, there is inherent pleasure in pleasing God, when multiplied over years, which has a settling effect upon the mind.   With spiritual growth, there is a real sense of resting in the sovereign will of God which brings acceptance of life events and peace.  These are gifts from God and so precious, rather than following my own petulant, selfish will and ways.

Dear Jesus I ask for You to take my mind, and my mouth and will and guide me according to Your mind and will, through the Holy Spirit.

Amen

 

Dear God,

I have awakened to another day of life, for which I am so very grateful.  I appreciate that I am Your child and living in this beautiful place, when so many people barely have sufficient of anything that is needed for health, a rewarding life; or realistic future.  Raise our awareness of our brothers and sisters in privation all over the world, and place into our mind, and attitude of gratitude and sharing.

Again as I read the psalms, I marvel at the breadth of David’s feelings, thoughts and praise as well as love for You, along with his recognition of Your Majesty and power.  Psalm 25: 4-6 “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.  Remember O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, for they are from of old.”

I have found that it is true, You teach and lead the humble; and I again pray for humility and a teachable attitude. So many times over the past year, to this very day and moment, You have helped me through situations and concerns.  When I have asked You to do so, You have led me every day, rescued me, bought me back and redirected me, and guided me on the pathway to renewal and hope; physically, mentally and spiritually.  I bow before You and I pray with the intention to reconsecrate myself to You, asking that I be used by You today ad each day.  Please fill me with the Holy Spirit, for I crave to be filled with the full portion of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and to please You, as I have asked to walk in the Spirit.

Psalm 25: 18 “Look on my affliction and my pain,, and forgive all my sins.”  Verse 20 “Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You.”  With all the sincerity that You give my Lord, I pray these words of David, as if formed by myself.

Thank you for allowing me, to fulfil these sentiments and form words of prayers, as the Psalmist does by Your impression.

Amen

Dear God,

Thank you for your love and graciousness, revealed in the words of Jesus.  The kingdom of heaven is so often an unappreciated treasure, worth searching for with all we are and have, in undaunted application; until found and obtained.  Matthew 13: 44 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”  Or like verse 45, 46 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price; went and sold all that he had and brought it.” 

These texts illustrate how much God loves each person who has drawn breath.  Jesus gave all of Himself, in every area of His life; and thus revealed His Father’s love more intimately to people, as well as demonstrated His total love for us, by giving His own perfect life, in sacrifice for our sins. Jesus seeks every person out, as treasure, to be saved from the misery of unconfessed sin and the bondage of doing sinful actions.

He longs for us to search for a knowledge and love for Him in the Holy Scriptures and in sincere humble prayer, so that to us He can provide His inestimable treasure, in an interactive loving relationship with Him, to be experienced every moment of every day. For us to hang onto our worldly preferences over spending time with Jesus or for Him, or put in a half-hearted effort in searching the scriptures, worship and prayer time, will mean we will sight His treasure, and obtain some treasure sand, but not the pearl of great price type of treasure.  Without the full treasure that Jesus invites us to obtain we will not have the kingdom of heaven that Jesus will recognize when at the second coming He comes for His own and it is these treasured people He will take home with Him, for they have cherished what they found and He gave them.

When any of us as Your faithful worker goes out in many different ways, and brings people in contact with Your Holy Scriptures, then people of different types, personalities, beliefs and attitudes; determine they have found truth; like a drag net catches various fish in the sea.  13: 47, 48 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, which, when it was full, they drew to the shore……..”

Dear Lord please keep me ever willing to place You above everything earthly and maintain Your kingdom of heaven, as precious treasure.

Amen

 

Dear God,

For those who have loved and obeyed You; have throughout the ages had the privilege of being called the children of God.   Jesus tells us they will be diverse and come from different places, and He calls all to the kingdom of heaven.  God, I am so glad You accept all people who confess Your name and are faithful to You; no matter their past or community status.

Jesus often spoke in parables, to illustrate a point, to help the understanding of His message to the unknowing.   He spoke about sowing good seed, as the Sower and all that could cause His message of salvation not to grow in the heart of the person who heard the words. In Matthew 13: 24 – 33 Jesus taught valuable lessons about the kingdom of heaven.  “The kingdom heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field”, v24, but while the sower slept, an enemy came and sowed weeds, which was not revealed until the good grain and weeds came up together.  The sower of the good seed did not want his servants to go and pull up the weeds, lest they pull up some of the desired plants by accident.  When harvest time came the weeds were gathered up first and burnt, and then the wheat was gathered in to the barn.

Of course it is Jesus who is the sower of good seed in our hearts.  It is He who did not to risk the beginning interest and love for Him forming in the heart, to be checked by the removal those people of false purpose near them.  Jesus has told us, not to allow his message of salvation to be tainted with false messages, which may appear as from Jesus to begin with, but when Jesus comes for His own people, He will not be able to harvest unto Himself, those who have followed and embraced false teaching, for it comes from Satan, the ultimate deceiver and robber.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 13: 31 – 33, belief in Him and His Holy Word can have a small beginning and grow like leaven in bread, permeating all our being.  Which will if nurtured, mature in our heart like a large beautiful shrub or tree.  The same can be true for  Christian fellowship, and beautiful growth, full of the Spirit of Jesus and mutually supportive fellowship is the result.

I have found my walk with Jesus increasingly precious, and my Christian interactive fellowship an anchor point in my life, and I am so very grateful, to You God.

My desire is that many more people would experience the ‘kingdom of heaven’ as well as the hope in Jesus, our soon coming Saviour.

Amen

Dear God,

It is sobering when I really stop and contemplate, You see and judge all.  This means all the dark, mean and sinful thoughts that I allow to ‘stick’ so to speak; and not the flitting ones, that I do not dwell on so that they become mine; no matter their original source.

You would not ask this of us, unless You had also provided a way, to discipline the mind and to be sober in habit.  As I read, I find Jesus taught that we can watch our thoughts and words by accepting Him into our lives each morning, and continuing in an attitude of prayer throughout the day.  I have the hope and assurance that gradually as practiced, this way becomes more part of my experience.  I have found to my sorrow that wrong thoughts lead to unfortunate attitudes, words and deeds.  This has been common to man, since sin came into the world.  Psalm 19: 12 “Who can understand his errors?  Cleanse me from secret faults.” V14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight.  O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.”

God, You knew, we could of ourselves not remain pure or live without doing wrong, so sent the Holy Spirit, as promised, to work in our minds and heart.  This can only be so, when we cooperate, and as the Psalmist prayed dwell upon and read/watch what is clean, so that our thoughts and desires will be bound and not go off wildly into self-centeredness or evil.

We know by His life and words, that Jesus when on earth could see through pretense and the evil thoughts despite the outward display of right living, when He rebuked the priests and called them a “‘brood of vipers’….. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasures brings forth evil things. But, I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgement.” Matthew 12: 34, 35, 36  

A piece of wood is destroyed gradually as the white ants eat hidden away, until finally the inside rottenness cannot support the outside wood, and the inside is revealed.  So we are told, we are changed and undermined, as the a little wrong thought and evil is allowed, then increase and finally become ‘us’.

As written in Philippians 4:8, I choose by the power of God, to meditate on the true, noble, just, pure, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy things.

Amen

 

Dear God,

There was a promise made by Jesus that power would be made available for all those who went out to others in His name.  Never was it intended that they had to go in their own wisdom and strength. Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Saul the Pharisee was vigilant about getting rid of all Christians in the nation and nearby countries, was in for a shock and change of view.  He was full of indignation against Christians, as he set out on an approved mission to stop them in their tracks, at Damascus in the neighbouring country of Syria.  Then it was Saul, who was temporarily stopped in his tracks, by a confrontation and revelation by Jesus on the Damascus Road.

Saul immediately was willing to do all that was asked of him, by Jesus the Saviour he had formally rejected.  Now he said, Acts 9:6 “……. Lord, what do You want me to do?  Then the Lord said, ‘said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting …………”  Then the Lord said to him, ‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  On the part of Saul, this required great faith and mental reversal.  It was truly, mentally and physically blind faith that Saul exercised, for he had to be led along, now unable to see, and did not know to whom he was going, or what Jesus required of him.

It is wonderful what the Holy Spirit will do in the life of a willing and obedient person unto Jesus, their Saviour.  It is so often not appreciated, that our God wants to give each one of us a large measure of the Holy Spirit; and is waiting for us prayerfully to cleanse our lives from known sins, and with belief ask Him, in the name of Jesus. When doubting our worthiness or the wiliness of God, remember the story in Luke 8:39, the man formerly filled with demons, was delivered from them, by Jesus and came and sat at the feet of Jesus.  He was also straight way given a commission by Jesus, “’Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you’….” The man did so, all over the ‘whole city’.

It is encouraging to note, that these men were now on fire for Jesus after their deliverance from being separated from Jesus.

Please today take my heart, mind and will, so that I also will be a true obedient child, and with all separation from Jesus gone, have the desire to tell others about my best friend and Saviour Jesus Christ, Son of God, the Father.

Amen

Dear God,

I give thanks for life and Your ongoing love.

Thank You for the total and absolute care and assistance which comes to Your children when they call out.  For joy of joys, You hear and rescue the one in need and often before they call. Your child has in prayer, previously committed all that we are and have to You again for that day.  You love us so much that it is Your delight to do good to Your children or would be children, on earth.

I also thank You for the forgiveness of every sin which Your Spirit has bought to my attention, so that I could repent and confess each sin.

Thank You also for protecting and saving me from the fallen angels, after You prompted me to pray such a prayer (as in the Lord’s Prayer Matthew 6: 9 – 13).

How precious is the text Isaiah 58:11 “The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”  Please bring this text and the many others that I find in Your Holy Scriptures, to my mind as needed throughout my life, and place an attitude of trust and gratitude in my heart for all Your precious scriptural promises.

Here is another text for me/you to remember today, Psalm 62: 8 “Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.  Selah” I am impacted by the many messages and promises from You that I find in the Psalms.

Thank You God, as I read often about the Holy Spirit, I have become more established in my faith, as I ask daily for the Holy Spirit, I know You attend to my prayer as promised.  I long to show Your love in all circumstances, and know that this can only be so, as I continue in faith believing what You say, for however long it takes for my behaviour to be changed, by Your Spirit.

To be close to You and receive Your special blessings are too precious to forgo, by lack of belief and the claiming of Your promises for myself and everyone I know.

Psalm 63: 7” Because You have been my help, therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.”

Amen

Dear God,

You the God of all power and knowledge gave Daniel, one of the Hebrew captives of Babylon, a prophecy that answered the dream of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.  God gave Nebuchadnezzar “kingdom, power, strength and glory” Daniel 2: 37; depicted as the gold head of a statue.  The dream depicted with other metals, future kingdoms to come through the ages.  The latter times that we live in are depicted as toes of combined iron and clay which do not combine with each other.

Then to the prediction of the final Kingdom of Jesus, not of this world, Daniel 2: 44 “…the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”

God, I find it exciting and sobering, to be living right down in the last of earthly kingdoms, following the predicted events of Daniel having almost reached their full conclusion.  This hope of the second coming not only gives us this momentous event to prepare for, but a reason to live in hope not only for the future, but a direction for reaching out to others in all ways that will impact their physical life and soul.

The impact of the words of Daniel combined with the words of Jesus cannot be kept to myself; others need to be also told and blessed.  Daniel 7: 13. 14 “I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming in the clouds of heaven!  He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.  Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.  His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Many people are now realizing the world has become wicked and that nature around us is groaning under what we keep doing to it; and ask what is the future for us and our earth?

To Pilate, Jesus said amongst other things, “‘my kingdom is not of this world…..’  John 18:36 and Verse 37 “…..’You say rightly that I am a king.  For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” 

My prayer is not only will I fully pay attention to the voice of Jesus, but have opportunity to acquaint others with the life and purpose of Jesus when on earth, and His soon coming.

Let us not delay, but prepare ourselves under the guidance of Jesus and go tell others His good news.

Our redemption is nigh!

Amen

Dear God,

You My Saviour are not just a good and righteous person. It is wonderful to know and serve a living God who is, all powerful = Omnipotent, all knowing = Omniscient, = all present Omnipresent, all loving = Omnibenevolence.

When just these few things about You God are considered, it is no surprise that You can work the miracle of changing our mind and life direction, by saving our soul; as well as working miracles within the forces of nature without and within.

Jesus said it was hard for those with many possessions to have an undivided heart and truly follow their Saviour unto eternal life in heaven. The disciples in astonishment said, Matthew 19: 25 “…. Who then can be saved? “  Verse 26 “But Jesus looked at them and said to them, ‘with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”  I ask You Jesus that we through the Holy Spirit, to be given an infilling of the Holy Spirit, so we can through His in working in our lives, receive you truly and develop a faith that absolutely believes in Your power and will, to make miraculous changes in our mind, heart and actions.

It was through such a faith within Joshua, that miracles were possible for the Israelite’s to cross the Jordan and for their successful conquests.  Joshua 3: 5 “Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify  yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’” They were to repent and make things right and place You at the centre of their heart and practice, and in prayer and worship You were invited along.  In those days Your presence was in the Ark of the Covenant.

You said You were among them, and promised to drive out the enemy nations before them.  As the feet of the priests carrying the Ark of the Lord , entered the waters, Verse 13 “…. the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand in a heap.” The priests stood still, as the multitudes of Israelite’s crossed over the dry river bed.

Thank You God for this another example of Your miraculous deliverance of person/people; that came after heart preparation in each heart, and then in obedience and humble belief, they followed You their God of all power, knowledge and presence, with their whole heart.

Today please accept my life and heart again, I know that you have and will work miracles in my prepared heart and life.

Amen