“…In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore.” - Psalm 16:11
Humans beings love what joy brings to our lives. We want it. We actually seek it in everything we do. Joy is fun and it gives life like nothing else can. The writer of this Psalm says the place to find all the joy we need is in the presence of God Himself. When we are with Him, we find joy. When we are near Him, our pleasures increase. When we are in the company of God, our joys are multiplied. And His presence is not a state of mind or wishful thinking. His presence is real and palpable. When we allow Him to live His life through us, there is “fullness of joy.” In fact, God created us in such a way that there is a ‘God-sized” void in our lives only He can fill. When we try and fill this void with other things, our joy isn’t complete and will always be temporary. His presence in our lives fills that void and hence we are full of joy. Seek the presence of God daily by spending time with God by praying and reading the Bible. For there is no substitute for spending time with Him. Prayer: Do you find joy in the presence of God as you spend time with Him?
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“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us...” - Romans 8:26
If we are honest with ourselves, every person knows they don’t know everything. We are limited in our intellect. Because of this fact, there are times in our relationship with God that we literally have no idea how to pray for something or some situation. Whether we are baffled, stressed or merely without words, we find ourselves in a place of powerlessness to simply come up with the words needed to pray. God wants us to count on Him for this. In the verse above, “we do not know” implies our intellectual impotence. God, on the other hand, knows everything. And if He knows everything and He said He’d do the praying for us, how blessed are we? Thank God right now for remaining faithful to us in our weaknesses. Thank Him for interceding when we do know how to pray even for ourselves. Prayer: How does today’s devotional encourage you in your prayer life? “And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.” – Acts 19:8
As we live life on mission in our circles of influence on a daily basis, God provides opportunities for us to share about the life-changing power of the Gospel. How we interact with others in the middle of those conversations is crucial. Paul knew this and used great wisdom when talking with those in the synagogues of the day. First, he reasoned with them. This speaks to his posture in the conversation. He wasn’t arguing with people, but rather, he was a having a back and forth dialogue with them. Often times, we are so focused on gospel presentations that we forget that we are in a gospel conversation. Secondly, he urged them. This speaks to his passion in the conversation. He pleaded with those in the synagogue to believe in and follow Jesus, the promised Messiah. When talking about the Gospel, we may say all the right things, but we fail in the way we say them. If we aren’t not passionate in the way we talk about the Gospel, have we truly experienced it ourselves? Prayer: Do you regularly have Gospel conversations with individuals in your circle of influence? “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son.” – Colossians 1:13
The kingdom of God is big! It’s a global kingdom. The kingdom of God is also believers. Every place you find a follower of Jesus; the kingdom of God is there. And the kingdom of God is being built. One day, the last soul will be ushered into the kingdom to join the chorus of praise already occurring around the throne in heaven. This all happens because of a great transfer that's takes place when individuals place their faith in Jesus! In salvation, you and I were rescued out of the grip of darkness and sin and placed in the glorious kingdom of Jesus. This is the goal of the mission–to see people from all nations go from darkness to light, death to life in Jesus and be discipled in kingdom living. Prayer: Is your life being leveraged for the sake of the mission? “For my kingdom is not of this world…” John 18:36
Jesus minced no words in this statement to Pilate as he stood to be condemned to death. Jesus knew where His citizenship lay. As children of God, we seldom remember that our citizenship too is where Jesus is: heaven. This planet is not suitable any longer for the follower of Jesus. It hasn’t been suitable actually since the Fall of man. We were not created to suffer and toil in agony. We were not created to hate and kill. We were not created to sin or be sinned against. God created us to be in relationship with Him. We were made to love God and be loved by Him and not to be enemies of Him. Jesus knew it clearly from the beginning. We have difficulty processing the fact that this is not our home. God has something better. His Kingdom is the Kingdom of God where there is peace, love, joy, kindness, gentleness, and the like. This world was not Jesus’ home and neither is it the child of God’s home. Thank God that He paid the price that needed to be paid and that now His Kingdom is our Kingdom too! Prayer: How are you regularly inviting others into the Kingdom of God? |
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June 2018
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