Thursday 26 March 2009

Thoughts for reflection . . . (Serving)

Through faith in Christ Jesus we are adopted into God's family and become His children. As well as being God's children we must be ever mindful that we are also His servants; servants of the Lord Jesus. Our lives should be lived to see His will and purposes accomplished in this world from that perspective. We are no longer our own, we were purchased with an extremely great cost and owe all to the One who redeemed us.
[Rom1.1, Phil1.1, Titus1.1, Luke12.35-37, Luke17.10, 1Pet1.18-19, 1Cor6.19-20]

How we serve God is of utmost importance. We can be living in obedience to God, yet have an attitude of reluctance as we travel the pathway of following the Lord. We can be walking on the road to the promised land but have our hearts looking back with desire to the lifestyle of Egypt.

In Deut28.47-48 God warns the Israelites that if they do not serve the Lord God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things, they will serve their enemies. This gives us a perspective of how God looks upon the heart attitude when we are serving Him.

In Christ we have such abundance of blessings. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. All the promises of God are 'yes' and 'Amen' in Christ. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
[Eph1.3, 2Cor1.20, Rom8.17]

We have such reason to serve God in a joyful way and with great thanksgiving and gladness in our hearts. What it requires is for us to have a full 'heart understanding' of all that God has done for us. A deficiency in our understanding and lack of the reality of the truths of Scripture will leave us vulnerable to serving the Lord with the wrong motivation and attitude.

May I set my focus on the abundant goodness of God and the greatness of His mercy daily to me, that my serving Him in holiness and godliness all the days of my life will be a pleasure and out of deep love for Him.

Friday 20 March 2009

Thoughts for reflection . . . (Sight - Part2)

One of the keys to walking in all that God promises to us and all His will for us is to see ourselves as God sees us.

Not only can this physical world dominate our time and energies, but it can also limit how we see ourselves after we are born again and enter into relationship with the living God.

This new relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ changes our position, our condition and who we are before Him. We must see ourselves in that new light. The Bible says the old has gone. We must look through the eyes of faith and align our thinking to the Scriptures.
[2Cor5.17, Heb11.1, Rom6.11]

When feeling weak, we must see ourselves strong in Him. When faced with insurmountable obstacles we must see ourselves as more than conquerors through Christ. When confronted with our own inadequacies with must see ourselves complete in Him. When condemnation may cast it's shadow over us, we can come in repentance knowing we are cleansed and accepted through the blood of Christ, adopted children, made sons of our heavenly Father.
[Phil4.13, 2Cor12.9-10, Rom8.35-37, Col2.10, 1John1.9, Eph1.4-6, Rom8.1, 14-16]

We are seated together in Christ in heavenly places. A place of security, peace and authority over all the works of darkness. We no longer need to be subject to this world's passions and lusts. Seeing ourselves as set free from these things will enable us to walk in that freedom that God has provided.
[Eph2.6, Rom6.11-14, 1John2.15-17]

May our eyes be opened to what God has already made us in Christ. May we believe it, and choose to walk in the experience of those truths through the grace that God supplies.

Sunday 15 March 2009

Thoughts for reflection . . . (Sight - Part1)

How is my 'eyesight' as I look at myself and the circumstances around me? How do I see myself and the time I am living in?

Looking at things only from a natural viewpoint will severely limit the effectiveness of our walk with the Lord. We are to view things the way that God does. The Scripture says, 'While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.'
[2Cor4.18]

All that we do and the manner in which we spend our time and energies should be from an eternal perspective. The time that remains is short. The Lord Jesus is coming back.
[Rom13.11-14, 1Cor7.29-31,1Pet4.7, 2Pet3.10-15]

Am I using my time wisely? Do I attach the same values to activities that God has. Am I maximising my time to see God's kingdom come in my life? All that we achieve in this life will be tested by fire. Will what I have done be burnt up or endure such testing?
[1Cor3.10-15]

Living in a physical world, we can be dominated by our five senses and the activities of our physical life, yet a spiritual world exists that is equally real. A world that we will become fully aware of once this life is over. We need to be living in a state of awareness of God's presence and of His purposes for our lives and allow that reality to impact every relationship, every activity and every word.

May we so seek God that His reality becomes our greater reality. That His truth becomes our primary influence, and we live our lives with maximum effectiveness for our Lord and Saviour.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Thoughts for reflection . . . (Forgive)

The condition of our relationship with those around us is of vital importance in keeping our lives free from oppression and in continual peace.

As we travel along the pathway of life there are many situations we will encounter with people that will create a potential for offense and hurt: events that would cry out for us to seek retribution, vindication or rectification.
[Matt18.7, Luke17.1]

We need to recognise that hidden in the shadows behind those circumstances is one of the most dangerous enemies of our souls, namely unforgiveness. Unforgiveness has many masks, many polite exteriors, yet the deadly poison it is remains the same whatever title is written on the bottle.

The Lord Jesus when teaching on forgiveness, after telling of the lord that delivered the unforgiving servant to the tormentors says, 'So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.'
[Matt18.32-35]

Having received such undeserved forgiveness from our heavenly Father there is an obligation for us to live in a perpetual state of forgiving others the wrongs done against us. Where we live a life refusing to judge others or allow negative feelings to rise against those that enter our lives.

By holding to grudges, resentment, feelings of hurt and offense, reactions to unfair or unequal treatment and refusing to forgive, we open our lives to 'tormentors' and all manner of trouble: physical, emotional and spiritual.

In his second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul when talking about forgiving a brother says, 'Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.'
[2Cor2.10-11]

Taking in the dark guest of unforgiveness into our hearts will open wide the door of vulnerability to the enemy's attacks both physically and spiritually. The writer of the Hebrews speaks of the root of bitterness that springs up and brings trouble, defiling many.
[Heb12.15]

Unforgiveness will even hinder our receiving forgiveness from God Himself. Jesus says, 'But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'
[Matt6.15]

It is very serious. May I have a revelation of the huge debt I have been forgiven. And in all my relationships be on guard for those situations where unforgiveness is prowling, and so walk with such a heart of humility and love, that the arrows of the enemy's offenses cannot find any part of my life to attach themselves.

Thursday 5 March 2009

Thoughts for reflection . . . (Stability)

Faith in Christ Jesus is grounds for great stability in our lives as believers. When all around us is in a state of flux and in constant turmoil, our hearts can be in a condition of tranquility and peace because of God and His promises toward us.
[Matt7.24-25, Ps91.1-2,7, Ps119.165]

As the Psalmist says of God, 'He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defense I shall not be moved.' God is awesome in His power. He has no equal. There is no limit to His understanding, wisdom and might. He arrayed the heavens with the galaxies, names all the stars, upholds and sustains all things. That same God is in the midst of His children whom He redeemed through the shed blood of our Saviour and Lord. He is not far removed from us but very near. He has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
[Ps62.6, Is40.25-26,28, Ps147.4-5, Is48.13, Jer32.17-19, Col1.16-17, Heb13.5-6]

Knowing in the core of our being the nearness and involvement of God in our lives brings a calm that none other can bring. 'Knowing' is not just an acknowledgement of a truth but a living experience of the reality of that truth.
[Ps46.10, Ps9.10, Is32.17, John14.27]

The key to remaining unmoved in times of shaking is therefore to plant the anchor of our souls deep into the Rock that cannot be moved. That anchor will be so fixed through a revelation of who God is and applying simple child-like faith and trust in Him in every circumstance.
[Heb6.19, Ps125.1, Jer17.7-8]

This being so, we need to have that same yearning to know the Lord God as the apostle Paul declares in Phil 3.8-11.

May the foundation upon which I build be Christ alone and may my life's pursuit be that I may know Him.
[1Cor3.11]