Good morning! Praise GOD for HE has given me another day of life. May HE richly bless you in all things! Todays devotional is from messengerinternational.org Messenger international devotions: 10/30/13 D AeYou are the recipient of a marvelous invitation. You are chosen and set auuzpart to be a partner with God. This unmeritedz opportunity is only available through His emporwering grace, ministered to you by the Holy Spirit. Honor Fit for a King Love one another ru with brotherly affection. Outdo one anothers in showing honor.—rrRomans 12:10 ESV Wu Honor was a commonewqstetwee concept among warriors of old. Duels were held as a means to uphold and defend honor—honor of self and honoree saw of others. Today, it can be difficult to see people living in a manner that honors others, let alone God. Dreams, talents, bodies—all are dishonored and devalued in our world. e But as followers of Christ, we have a higher calling. We become valiant warriores for our Father when we honor the Lord and others. We look definitively different from those around us when we conduct ourselves in a manner of godly love and affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Meditate on this idea. What might that look like? How might others r as a result of our acting in ways that honor the body—our own and others—when society doesn’t uphold Gods standards? How can honoring Christ in our decision-making increase our influence for Him? How will our acting with noble character magnify our witness in a time when one’s word doesn’t mean as much as it did in eras past? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.—1 Samuel 2:8 NIV Lest we forget our lineage, this verse reminds us we are inheriting a throne of honor. Let our heart and actions honor the Lord and others in a manner worthy of our inheritance. 10/31/13 Passionate Partnership We are labourers together withrnbmcm jio God.—1 Corinthians 3:9 KJV F Partnership with God flourishes through communication and action. Interaction with the Holy Spirit enables you to operate on a level far above your own abilities. Allow communion with the Spirit to become an essential part of each day.y 11/4/13 Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! [Ps. 40:5.] If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You. (Psalm 139:16-18 AMP) But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. [Isa. 64:4; 65:17.] Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond mans scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and understands) what passes through a mans thoughts except the mans own spirit within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 AMP) Counsel in the heart of man is like water in a deep well, but a man of understanding draws it out. [Prov. 18:4.] (Proverbs 20:5 AMP) WHEN HEAVEN DREAMS November 4, 2013|By David Gutierrez|Devotional Your life is not your own. You’ve probably heard that many times. I have. I’ve always thought the point of this truth was for me to ensure that my will, thoughts, and desires don’t get in the way of God’s—a sort of my will versus His will approach. But recently, I began to discover the deeper purpose for my life on this earth. Your life is not your own isn’t only about us and God. It’s about us and the hundreds, thousands, even millions of people He wants our faithfulness to bless. The revelation that your life is not your own carries far more weight when you realize that other people’s lives and callings depend on you fulfilling your purpose. In other words, God has tied people’s destinies to your decisions. Wow! What a sobering truth. When you and I understand that we were placed on this earth to eternally impact others, the discovery of purpose becomes more crucial. The understanding that others will have of God’s goodness is dependent on how well we fulfill what He has destined us to do. When we understand this, the dreams we long to fulfill become far more than selfish pursuits or objectives to accomplish. People’s eternal destinies are at stake. As I pondered the innate longing for purpose, which is present in each of us from our earliest years, I thought, If we’re made in God’s image, the yearning to dream must come from Him. He must be a God who dreams. I had to ask, “Lord, what do You dream about?” Then I remembered the words of Psalms 139: You saw [my unformed body] before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid before a single day has passed. (verse 16 NLT) Suddenly I had a picture of how God dreams. He sits in His study, a crisp, blank page before Him, and ponders. Suddenly words flow out of His heart and onto the page as He begins to write out His dream. He pens the words that mark the days and moments of my life: “He shall be called David. I will bring him to the earth during this time. He will declare my truths… ” When God dreams, He dreams of us! Your very existence is the fulfillment of a divine dream. God’s dreams are found in His heart; it is a place filled with all the intimate thoughts of God. The heart goes deep, as Proverbs 20:5 says: “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out” (ESV). If man’s heart is deep, try to imagine the depth of God’s heart! We’re meant to discover the dreams found deep in His heart, but they can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit. But, as it is written, “[What] no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-11 ESV) What are the deep things of God? According to this passage, they are the thoughts of God. So what are those thoughts? What does God think about? Going back to Psalm 139, we read: You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! (Psalms 139:16-18 NLT) The precious thoughts deep in God’s heart are the building blocks of your purpose. You can only unearth the destiny He has given you—which He has in turn tied the destinies of others to—by discovering His heart. Do you see how valuable you are? How important your purpose is? God’s heart is full of precious thoughts about you, and these thoughts describe the destiny He dreamed for you. You’re not here by accident. Your life is a revelation of God’s heart. Every breath you take is His dream coming true. This is why your purpose is not revealed quickly or cheaply; it’s a precious thing to God. When He chooses to reveal your purpose, He reveals His heart. God only shares His deepest secrets with those who are close to Him. The good news is that He’s more passionate about being in relationship with you than you are about being in relationship with Him! It is God’s utmost desire to share His intimate thoughts with you. In so doing, He will reveal your purpose and equip you to reveal His goodness to countless others placed in your path. As you press in to know God more, you will discover His heart—and your purpose! 11/5/13 And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you. (Romans 8:11 AMP) Saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but [always] Yours be done. (Luke 22:42 AMP) He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. [Matt. 8:17.] But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all. [I Pet. 2:24, 25.] He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiahs] people, to whom the stroke was due? And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. [Matt. 27:57-60; I Pet. 2:22, 23.] Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick. When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. (Isaiah 53:3-11 AMP) THE ULTIMATE SWORD OF LOVE November 5, 2013|By Lisa Bevere|Devotional The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. —Romans 8:11 NLT The greatest weapon Christ gave us is the sword of the cross. Jesus denied Himself when He said, “Not my will, but yours be done” (see Luke 22:42 NIV). He chose to hang upon the cross, feet pointed down like the blade of a sword. From that place of surrender, He pierced darkness with an eternal mortal blow. The enemy thought he was victorious as he watched Jesus hang on the cross. Satan devised an evil plan to extinguish any hope we would have in Christ. What our enemy didn’t realize is that it wasn’t his plan at all. Only pride allowed Satan to believe he could ever be victorious over the Father of all creation. God’s redemptive plan always included the substitutionary sacrifice of His Son. Jesus’s death and resurrection are the source of our eternal hope. The cross is the ultimate sword of love. The book of Isaiah points to Jesus’s death on that cross, recounting how He took on all our sins in an uneven exchange for His mercy and forgiveness: Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. —Isaiah 53:4-6 NLT What would life be like without Christ’s sacrifice for you on the cross? What has the blood of Jesus done for you? Fashion a personal prayer in response to all Jesus gave you when He offered up His life.
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 19:34:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015