I am so grateful for God’s light that exposes the darkness in my life. At first, when I started following Jesus, all the Lord had to use was a small candle to expose the sin. With each new revelation of my self-centered habits and behaviors, He started using more and more light.
There are two things I have discovered in this ongoing process. God has no limit to the brightness with which He can shine and my problems are always within my ego; they are never out there in someone, some place or something else.
I used to like to blame other people and things so that the focus of His light would be outside instead of in me. I’ve given up on that because the problems are always internal. I still find my ego rising within me, but then I simply surrender to the Lord and I experience His peace and joy.
I always know when He is shining the light a little brighter because I get irritated, grouchy or angry. I am appreciative to God for purifying my heart by shining His light and transforming the way I think and reason.
Spending time soaking this week on the early days following Jesus’ resurrection has been so good. We can see a lot of similarities in ourselves and the early disciples of Jesus. Something that stands out in the passage today is verse 45, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” The Holy Spirit had not yet been sent to them at that point. The disciple’s ability to comprehend the Scriptures hinged on Jesus, giving them the power to do so.
Today, we have the tremendous benefits of the Holy Spirit to guide us. During the earliest years of my walk with Jesus, the bible seemed more like a history book to me. But I remember the first time a mentor taught me the importance of inviting the Holy Spirit to guide and teach me each time I read the Word. The scriptures began to come alive and speak to me in a way that had previously eluded me. If you’re not already in the habit of doing this, please begin. The Holy Spirit will highlight and draw you to truths that God wants to teach you and empower you to go into the world and share what he has shown you.
Today, let’s express our heartfelt gratitude to our Father for the precious gift of the Holy Spirit. We are truly blessed to have his divine guidance in our lives.
The intimacy of this scene exhibits Jesus’ sensitivity to his disciples. He knew just what they needed and delivered it. Jesus’ request for food and eating before them was his powerful declaration, “See! I am alive!”. He revealed himself through word and deed. The disciples struggled to believe even as they witnessed Jesus’ return with their own eyes. Jesus told Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 That’s us!
A question to consider today: Because Jesus showed such compassion for his followers’ struggles with doubt back then, will he not show generous grace and mercy to those who have not seen and yet believe? The truth is he does; he even called us blessed. Jesus understands our doubts and meets us right where we are. Let’s take a few moments today to reflect on an area in our life where doubt whispers and invite Jesus to show his resurrected power there. And let’s choose to believe that by the power of the Holy Spirit, in his timing, he will.
Can you imagine being with the disciples during the forty days following the resurrection? Fresh from despairing that all hope was lost, Jesus is alive! Oh, the questions they must have had! And after all the time spent following Jesus, the unfolding of His plan was still a mystery to them. We can still say that today in many ways. As we look at what is going on in our world and even our own lives, we don’t always understand his ways. Jesus knew the disciples would still have questions. But he gave them clear instruction before his departure, and I believe the men in white were reiterating his point, “Why are you standing around looking up? Jesus will return, now go and do as he instructed you to do!” (my paraphrase) We too, can be distracted from Jesus’ commission to us by events happening around us.
My husband loves working with his hands and loves to create and build. Something I’ve seen him use often through the years is called a chalk box or reel. It’s a small container with a reel of line full of chalk inside. He will run this line across wood or drywall and pop it, leaving a perfect line to follow as he makes his cut. It guides him. Jesus gave us many instructions for living a kingdom-minded life and sent the Holy Spirit to guide us the way a chalk line guides a carpenter. When events around us don’t make sense, Jesus does. As we keep our eyes fixed on him, we’re able to navigate sometimes difficult situations with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit guiding us. He helps us stay the course, even amidst a myriad of questions.
At the time, the disciples didn’t understand what was about to happen. But they’d walked with Jesus, believed him, and seen him defeat death…they knew to obey and wait as instructed. And what a gift was coming!
Recently, I found myself facing a situation where I would have the opportunity to share Christ with some who are lost. I prepared in prayer ahead of time and was willing to serve the Lord however he chose in order to make Jesus known. (Don’t get me wrong – this is a great thing to do.) What I did not expect was coming away with a fresh perspective from the Holy Spirit for me. To be honest with you, I went pridefully believing that I carried what they needed. God reminded me that the work of the Spirit is His. Yes, I carry Christ, but I can trust his work and his timing. He reminded me that he was at work before I arrived on the scene and would continue to move long after I left. Repentance and salvation are the Holy Spirit’s work. We simply have the joy of reflecting his love to those we encounter and the privilege of watching him move.
Scholars far more knowledgeable than I have taught and will continue to teach on the Holy Spirit. That said, what I have learned in a lifetime of following Christ is that I’d be lost without the gift of the Holy Spirit to draw, comfort, guide, teach, correct, and so much more. Let’s remember to invite His most precious Presence into each day. He has so much life for each of us.
Jesus’ sermon on the mount abounds in direction for living the Christian life. This particular passage is often misappropriated to acquire our wants and desires. But Jesus was always guiding us toward kingdom living, setting our minds on substance of eternal value rather than the trappings of this world. As we set our mind on God’s will and purposes, our prayers begin to align with his will, and we learn to trust him all the more.
The second part of this passage makes me smile. Jesus points out how just as we love to give good things to our children, our Father loves to all the more. But as his sons and daughters, I believe sometimes we ask our Father for delectable desserts to fulfill us, while He knows what we need is more green vegetables in our lives! That’s a good Father!
In all of this, the truth is God loves to teach us and reveal more of himself to us. He tells us to ask, seek, knock. He never withholds without purpose. In areas where we may not understand why he’s not responding or why he answered a prayer in the manner he did – we can trust that he knows what we need far more than we do. How good it is to trust that our Father knows what is best for each of us.
For many years I made my own plans and set my goals as though I understood what was best for me. I looked at the pros and cons and did my best to eliminate negative outcomes because I didn’t want them interfering with the good I was planning to accomplish.
I would ask God to bless my endeavors because that made me feel like I was getting His approval. Now I realize how foolish and presumptuous I was. What I was doing was nothing more than a fantasy. The only person I was fooling was myself.
I am so grateful that the Lord’s light shined brightly and exposed the darkness of my ways. Once again, His truth set me free. Now I am focused on simply abiding in Him and trusting the Lord to direct my steps, one by one.
I am eternally grateful that Jesus came to give me abundant life and teach me how to live God’s way instead of man’s way. Everything I need to sustain my existence in Him has been provided by the Lord through His life and teaching.
His death on the cross is the greatest demonstration, in all of human history, that God loves me, my family, my friends and everyone else. His resurrection from the dead assures me that there is no circumstance or situation that will ever happen that can separate me from Him.
My old nature, the one I was born with when I came into the world, has been conditioned by my senses and for many years I thought that reality was in the material and physical things that surround me.
However, since I started following Jesus, I have been in a transition that has been gradually helping me to see that the true and eternal things are spiritual in nature. I am progressively more and more independent from the tangible things and am relying on my Heavenly Father, His Word, the Holy Spirit and Jesus to support me in all of my activities.
I thank God for guiding me into this awesome experience I have of living continually in His presence, one moment at a time.
Wherever I look, I see people with many different kinds of needs. Some of them are close to death and others are recovering from surgery. Some need God’s guidance and others are seeking help for their loved ones to be rescued from addictions.
The list goes on and on but one thing is certain; our heavenly Father knows every one of these needs before I ask Him to take care of them. After Jesus ascended to heaven to be with His Father, the apostles recognized that they had two important things to which they had to give their highest priority. Nothing was more essential to them than prayer and the ministry of the word.
The wonderful thing about those two ministries is that I can always find time to do them if I make them the highest priority in my life. When I am focused on those two activities I discover that I am also dwelling in continual fellowship with the Lord. Nothing is more important than that.
Early on in my walk with the Lord, many of my problems arose out of my discontentment. What I believed was a perceived need was nothing more than a carnal desire.
Instead of trusting God to provide something, I would go in debt. All that did was put me in bondage to banks and financial institutions. One of the greatest lessons I ever had was when I learned the secret of being content with what I had.
Now, when I think I need something, all I have to do is talk with the Lord about it. If I have peace and the money to purchase it, I look for the best bargain. If I have peace but not enough money, I wait until He provides it or I have the cash.
If I don’t have peace I don’t get it.
I thank God for meeting all of my real needs through Jesus Christ.
