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“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.” Isaiah 55:3 NLT The excitement of Easter is waning. Other spring activities and concerns are rushing in to dominate our attention. May I invite you to take a few precious minutes to sit with our Lord and ask him how you are to respond this year to his beautiful act of obedience and love by dying on the Cross for you?
To hear correctly, we must put aside all our earthly desires and motivations, like having a strong marriage, healthy happy children, a good job. Those are all good and admirable, but, if we really search our spirits, and not our souls, we may find a deeper desire, an eternal tug. Why did God create you, design you, choose you and call you? You have made a commitment to him, to love him and to obey him. But why? What does God want from you more than any other thing? Are you sure you know? If you said he did all that so you would serve him, you are wrong. That is not his highest priority. Many other good ideas may have come to mind, but unless you know God as your loving Father, you may not have understood his highest desire for you. He just wants you to come, spend time with him, get to really know Jesus, and as a result to get to really know yourself. You see our God is always, at all times and in every circumstance calling us to, “Come!” Come into his presence. The door is open through Christ. Come willing to listen, not to talk. He wants to share his secrets as he pours out his mercy and grace. Sitting in his presence, listening and soaking in his love will cause you to be strengthened, equipped, made wise in deep spiritual understanding. From that you can go and bring others back to him and change our world. So, “Come!” Sit at Jesus’ feet like Mary, Lazarus’ sister. Or let the Father hold you in his loving fatherly arms. Come, sit with Christ under a tree by the Sea of Galilee and hear him singing over you. No matter where you find him, don’t miss this. It is what you were made for, to live your life out of the presence of God. Pray with me: Father God, forgive me for allowing busyness and the concerns of my day to rob me of the most important thing you desire of me. Holy Spirit, convict me of wasting the precious opportunities I have in coming to Jesus and soaking in his presence. Teach me to listen to God. In the kind and powerful name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Dear friend, may your spirit be made hungry for more of God. May you learn to enter into his presence, so that all his power, wisdom and understanding are made available as you need them. May your heart sing for joy as you respond to his call to come. You were made for this! Amen. Mary Sumner April 26, 2019
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“For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” Romans 6:4 NLT We often think of resurrection as what will happen to us after we die and Christ returns. However, we miss out on understanding the amazing power Father God has given us in Christ, if we do that. Read Romans 6:4 above, and notice that the death that Paul refers to there is not physical death, rather it is death to our independent striving, our own way of doing things. It means we completely surrender all that we are, both good and bad, to the God who saved us from eternal death and separation from him.
I like the way Paul illustrates a vital detail in that transaction. In Galatians 5:24 he writes, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.” We nail them to the Cross. It is our choice to crucify our old sin nature. God will not force us to do it. It is also important that we understand that, in doing so, God provides the way to access all the power that raised Jesus from the dead, for us to use in overcoming the obstacles in our daily lives. If we choose to believe him and give him our old natural sinfulness and allow his power to work in us, God cleanses us and gives us a totally new, different way of living. A way of living without grunting and striving, but rather one that relies on the Holy Spirit within us. Where do you need that resurrection power to work in your life today? Come to the Cross of Jesus, acknowledge your complete dependence upon him and his finished work there. Surrender what you are struggling with to him. Nail it to the Cross and declare it dead. Then, receive the new life, the power that cleanses you, frees you and fills you with peace and joy. It’s that easy. Remember God’s Word tells us that we please God, not by our own power, but by trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us. Let’s learn to love the Cross and access the power available to us. We find it there by simply believing and trusting God. Pray with me: Father God, thank you for saving me and desiring me to be free, cleansed and filled with your love and joy. Holy Spirit, teach me to access your power at work in me, that resurrection power promised to me. Lord Jesus, I submit every dead, sinful thing in my life to you, and nail it to the Cross. By faith I trust that you will bring new life, peace and power to every broken place in me. In the powerful, compassionate name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Dear friend, may you grow in your understanding and trust in the resurrection power that is at work in you. As a result, may you grow in your love and intimacy with your Father God who loves you so dearly that he sent his Son to die in your place, so that you could experience revived and restored, new life today. Amen. Mary Sumner April 12, 2019 “When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” John 14:3 NLT Did you wake up with the happy thought, “This could be the day that Christ returns?!” If you are like most of us, probably not. Just a few decades ago, most Christian churches taught and lived as though Jesus’ return was eminent. It could happen any moment. They greeted each other with, “Perhaps today!”
As we prepare to celebrate Christ’s resurrection, it would be wise to consider what he promised his followers on several occasions, that he would return to get them soon and bring them to where he would be. He warned that no one would be able to predict the time or day when he would come suddenly and unexpectedly, “as a thief.” There will be no signs of warning. In 1 Thessalonians 5:3 Paul describes the time of Christ’s return, “When everyone is saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure!’ then disaster will fall on them unexpectedly…” He continues later in the passage to warn his people to stay alert and clear headed, and not to be asleep like those who live in the dark. We are children of the light. We have nothing to fear in Christ’s returning, and everything for which to be joyfully expectant. At his return, both the dead and the living in Christ will be caught up to live with him forever. Just imagine the party we will have with those who have gone ahead of us! All of us will be with Jesus forever in Heaven where our new bodies will never age. There will be no sickness, sadness, pain or fear. We will be washed continually in the presence of our God, eternally known, loved and secure. That should make us excited! May I ask you, how real is Jesus’ returning to you? Why not ask God to grow your faith in that area and make it real, so that you can remain awake and alert and joyfully expecting his coming at any moment to return you to the very place you were created for? Let’s wake up tomorrow and think,“Maybe today!” Let’s be ready and encourage each other with this truth. Pray with me: Father God, forgive me for allowing this world to dull my belief in your promise to return soon. Holy Spirit, multiply my faith in this area. I want to be ready today and every day for Christ’s return. May I learn to encourage others with the truth of our soon return to our real eternal home. May it be today! In Jesus’ precious name. Amen. Dear friend, may you awaken each morning filled with the joyful anticipation of Christ’s return. May your gratitude grow as you ponder this truth. Be blessed to stay awake, alert and clear minded as you wait. You are loved, safe, and known, and your Father is not done with you yet! You have eternity to find out what he has planned. Amen. Mary Sumner April 6, 2019 |
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