Walking With Jesus

Praying For Children (Part 2)

“Lord, I prayed for this child, and You have granted me what I asked of You.” (1 Samuel 1:27)

*This is day 2 of 3 days of this helpful guide in praying for children by Sylvia Gunter. Used with permission.

These Scripture-based prayers are dedicated to this most important responsibility and privilege of a parent or grandparent or teacher for children of all ages.

Lord, what do You want for my children?

8. Love the Word of God… I pray that my children will treasure Your Word more than wealth. Teach them to base their lives on it as their standard of life. Give them understanding as they seek You in Your Word. Teach them to plead Your unbreakable promises and to defeat all the lies of the enemy with Your truth revealed in Your Word. Ps 119:127-130,159-162

9. Learn to hate sin and love holiness, righteousness, and the fear of the Lord… I pray that You will write Your Word on the hearts of my children, so that they will choose to hate sin and love Your holiness. Work in their lives the holy fear of You. Help them to desire to please You in all they do. Create in them a pure heart. Make them wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil. Move in them to dedicate their life to You as a living sacrifice. Ps 119:9,11; 2 Tim 2:22, Rom 16:19b, Pro 8:13

10. Grow up into maturity in the Lord… I pray that my children will be built on the foundation of Jesus and grow in Your grace with a conscious sense of Your presence conforming them to be like You. May they be built up with Your wisdom, favor, truth, love, life, faith, strength, and thankfulness. Luke 2:52, Eph 4:15, Col 2:6-7

11. Glorify God in their bodies as Your temple… I pray that my children will honor You by keeping their bodies pure as the temple of Your Spirit. Teach them the great price You paid in the death of Jesus for their holiness. 1 Cor 6:19-20, Rom 12:1-2

12. Respect those in authority…I pray that my children will submit to the authorities You have placed over them for their good. Cause them to obey and not reserve for themselves the right to choose whether to obey, which You call rebellion. Give them a joyful, grateful heart as they submit to authority. Rom 13:1, Eph 6:1, 3:22-25

13. Have healthy, edifying, wise friendships... I pray that my children will develop friendships based on the drawing of Your Holy Spirit to righteous companions. Give them friends who are true, wholesome, and mutually encouraging. Give them wisdom in choosing relationships that will honor You. Ps 119:63, John 15:13-14

14. Know the truth and renew their minds in God’s Word… I pray that my children will know Your truth in their hearts as well as their minds. May they base their life on Your truth instead of Satan’s lies, so that they will experience all the freedom that Jesus died to give them. I pray that they will daily renew their minds in Your Word and set their thoughts on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. John 8:32, Rom 12:2, Phil 4:8

Prayer Portions Daily Study Guide is a great companion book for Prayer Portion. It is designed to help you study through Prayer Portions in 12 weeks either in a group or on your own. Click here to learn more and order.

Praying For Children

“Lord, I prayed for this child, and You have granted me what I asked of You. ” (1 Samuel 1:27)

*For the next three days I want to share this outstanding prayer tool for you to use when praying for children. I hope it blesses and encourages you as much as it did me. This is a resource from Sylvia Gunter that I share with you with permission.

These Scripture-based prayers are dedicated to this most important responsibility and privilege of a parent or grandparent or teacher for children of all ages.

Lord, what do You want for my children?

Guide me by Your Spirit as I pray for my children according to Your will. I release them to You so that You can accomplish Your will for their lives. Work the life of Christ in them and give them Your best.

I pray that my children would:

1. Receive and love Jesus as their Savior… May they understand that You love them so much that You gave Your only Son for them, and when they believe in Him, they will have life forever with You. John 3:16

2. Commit their lives to make Jesus Lord and be filled with Your Spirit… May my children recognize that Jesus is the Name above all names and confess Him as Lord of all. I pray that they will trust Him with all their hearts, not lean on their own understanding, and acknowledge that He is Lord; thus, You will guide them in Your best way for them. May they be filled with Your Holy Spirit to the fullness of Christ. Phil 2:9-11, Pro 3:5-6, Eph 5:18, 1:23, 4:13

3. Know the true and living God intimately and cherish and live in all Your names… I pray that my children will desire to know You intimately, Father. May they love You and apply Your names and truth to their needs. Dan 11:32b, Phil 3:10, Ps 9:10

4. Learn to pray and praise… I pray that my children will learn to communicate with You, their loving Father. Put Your praise in their hearts and on their lips. Lead them to be entirely dependent on You for everything, so they talk with You about everything and give You the honor that You deserve. Mark 10:14-15, Matt 21:16, Phil 4:6

5. Know who they are in Christ… I pray that my children will know how precious they are to You. Teach them to base their identity and security in Christ. Give them Christ-centered confidence and worth. Give them Your mind about how You see them and how You feel about them. Help them to know who they are and what they have in Christ and what they can do through Him. Eph 1:4,7,11-14; Col 1 :27

6. Be protected from the evil one by the blood of Jesus… Cause my children to know the power of the blood to defeat all the works of the evil one. John 17:15, 1 John 4:4

7. Receive the love of God the Father… I pray that my children will know Your Father-heart and have the assurance of Your great love. Let them know by experience how extravagantly and unconditionally You love them. Father them with Your holy love, so that they know that You are always working in their lives in love. 1 John 3:1

Steering Wheel or Spare Tire?

“The best-equipped army cannot save a king, nor is great strength enough to save a warrior. Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory – for all its strength, it cannot save you. But the Lord watches over those who fear Him, those who rely on His unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:16-18)

When are you most driven to pray? A health-related problem? A financial matter? A relational crisis? A work issue? Something else that troubles you? Why do we think we need a reason to pray? On some levels it’s like asking: “When should I speak to my spouse? Friend?”

The Holy Spirit doesn’t give us the air we breathe, He IS the air we breathe! To save prayer for a crisis is to misunderstand the nature of prayer. Think of prayer as conversation with God. If you have a best friend, what do you talk with them about? EVERYTHING! I don’t need an excuse to call my wife or speak with her about something that’s going on in our lives.

That’s the nature of friendship – communication! Yet, too often when it comes to God it’s like we have to have a reason to speak with Him. Corrie Ten Boom asked an important question when she wrote: “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?“

What’s the purpose of a steering wheel? To give direction to the vehicle, right? You’re not going to make it very far if you’re missing a steering wheel. On the other hand, when do you need a spare tire? Usually, in an emergency! A tire goes flat, you run over a nail, any number of reasons, but they’re typically emergent, they need your immediate attention. Again, you’re not going to make it very far on a flat tire.

How do you view prayer? How you answer that is going to depend largely on how you view God. Is He “the man upstairs?” Or a Friend who sticks closer than a brother? Is God the proverbial “genie in the bottle” or our gracious Father from whom comes “grace to help us when we need it most.”

If crisis is the only time you think to pray, what does that tell you about your relationship with God? An unknown source said: “Jesus should be your first line of defense, not your last resort.” To only think of God when something is wrong is like only thinking of your spouse when you want sex. Ideally, prayer is the means of opening avenues of intimacy with God that only sex can open for a man and woman committed to one another in marriage.

Prayer should never be an afterthought, but a lifeline that is constantly open between us and our Father in heaven. Prayer is an open conversation that begins when I awaken and ends when I fall asleep. If you dread prayer or “never know what to say,” may I remind you that the best prayers I ever prayed were sitting silent in the Lord’s holy presence.

When I was a boy, I didn’t go with my dad hunting, fishing, or to look at a car he was interested in purchasing because I necessarily had interest in those things, I went because I wanted to spend time with my dad. He wasn’t a big talker, but I learned a lot about what kind of man he was by just being with him.

Often our most valuable time spent with God isn’t when we’re speaking, or even listening, it’s when we’re observing who He is and how He works in certain environments that can be life-changing for us.

During the first date I had after getting my driver’s license, we were on a two-lane road and as I approached a cross street where there were cars waiting to turn, the second car in line apparently didn’t see me coming and pulled out right in front of me. All I remember is slamming on the brakes and steering hard right to miss them. Miraculously, we avoided a collision and came to a stop just inches from a ditch. I didn’t have time or presence of mind to “pray,” but I didn’t have any question as to Who was in control of that car.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Still Seeking Gold Stars?

“For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2:16-17 NLT)

What do you crave? Think about that for a moment. Yeh, I get it – cherry pie and Tillamook Vanilla Bean ice cream – duh! But seriously, when you’re alone with your thoughts, where does your mind go? If you think about it, craving is just another word for addiction. We crave sex, money, attention, recognition, success, position, prestige – the list is long and, on many levels, frightening. How so?

Because what we think is followed closely by what we do, how we personalize and materialize our thoughts into actions soon gives us and everyone else visibility to our thoughts. What we think about comes about, so however we invest our thought-life, it’s just a matter of time until we see the manifestation of our thoughts turn into actions.

If you’re someone who loves Jesus that’s good news. Why? Because to invest our time pondering the Word of God, memorizing Scripture, researching the meaning of words and passages and how they relate to our life today, will result in not only greater levels of knowledge and understanding, but, ideally, living in greater measures of Christlikeness. But here again, what’s prompting these cravings – for good or evil?

Though I probably should have given it more effort, I’ve never been much of a pleaser. If I ever got a gold star for anything in elementary school, it was probably – as my kids used to say – “on an accident.” Yet, today, while I still don’t consciously seek to please people, I do want to excel in my pleasing Jesus. But even that positive and godly aspiration can haunt me with the obvious question – why? Why is pleasing Jesus so important to me…or you?

Lisa Lakey wrote in a Family Life devotion: “At an early age, I bought into the lie that success=value. That I was ‘less’ if I failed, if someone didn’t like me, if I wasn’t the best. So I held on dearly to each little gold star, be it figurative or literal (God bless elementary teachers!). Each one a life buoy to hold me over until the next one. And in between? Lots of non-star-worthy moments. Maybe this is why I didn’t accept Jesus until I was in my twenties. I just couldn’t fathom a world where, ‘the last will be first, and the first last’ (Matthew 20:16). But can I share something I’m still learning?”

Then she said something that caused me to look closely at my own heart. “My husband needs a wife motivated by love, not one obsessed with achievement. And I want my husband to feel he can come to me when he falters a bit, not scared of whether or not I will hold him to some unrealistic standard. Our value in this marriage is not determined by our successes, but upon the love and forgiveness Christ has shown each of us. No gold stars here. But love, hugs, apologies, and second chances? We have lots of those.”

The people in our lives, but more to the point, our Savior, deserves our love, not simply our focused attempts to achieve recognition or to receive His love. The Lord doesn’t give us “gold stars” when we “perform” well. Here’s the beauty of His love: “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us (don’t miss this) WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS.” (Romans 5:8)

We don’t live good, quality, Christ-centered lives for earthly trinkets or “atta boys (or girls).” We allow the Holy Spirit to live His life in and through us to point us and others to the grandeur and greatness of our Savior. The reality is, we have nothing of value to offer Him. He IS our value; He IS what gives our lives worth.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Leaders Are Learners!

“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know Me more than I want burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6 NLT)

In Matthew 9:9 the Bible says: “As Jesus was walking along, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow Me and be My disciple,’ Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed Him.” For Matthew, as it should for each of us who become a Jesus follower, Jesus’ invitation began a life of learning that would not stop until Matthew closed his eyes for the final time in death.

Why is a constant hunger to learn so vital? Regardless of our age or stage in life, we’re constantly behind the proverbial learning curve when it comes to Jesus, His instructions, His leadership, and even His love for us. This was vividly illustrated in the next scene in Matthew’s life.

Photo by Wayne Fotografias on Pexels.com

In the following verses in chapter 9 we learn that Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to his home as dinner guests. He also invited “…many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners,” which I’m quite confident, pleased Jesus. It always puzzles me how the Pharisees managed to worm their way into these events, but they obviously did because they asked Jesus’ disciples: “Why does your teacher eat with such scum?” Oh my!

Verse 12 says: “When Jesus heard this, He said, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do.’ Then He added, ‘Now go and learn the meaning of this Scripture: “I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices.” For I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

Aren’t you glad for that unequivocal stance of our Savior? I sure am! When I came to the Lord, I was like Matthew in the sense that I had no understanding of what it would mean to follow Jesus, but I was eager to learn, and much of his (and my) most valuable lessons were learned in the proverbial school of “hard knocks.” That hunger is never satisfied and won’t be until I see Him face to face.

What is the Lord teaching you? May I be honest? If you’re not a student of God’s Word, probably not much! Trying to learn how to follow Jesus without digging into Scripture is a little bit like trying to become a physician by studying a voodoo handbook. You may learn some things, but they likely won’t help you get where you want to go.

Learning has to have focus, an “endgame.” “Why” is a critical question behind everything I read and/or study. If it’s not going to teach me to know Jesus better and/or enable me to learn to follow Him more closely, it will have to get in line. And, yes, of course, there is a wide range of things that we can read that will help us broaden our avenues of opportunity to reach more people for the Lord, but there must always be “method in the madness.”

Related to that, it’s important that we have some “down” time to process what we’re learning. One of the best ways to do that is with like-minded people. That’s the value of a small group of people who are also “learners” whom you’ve grown to love and admire as fellow pilgrims on the faith journey of becoming all God wants you to be.

I’m very glad the Lord has surrounded me with men and women who are a lot smarter than me, who can teach me by giving me insight into the things He wants to teach me about Himself, His Word, and how to live out that Word in my daily life. I hope you have people like that in your life.

What did you learn today?

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You Wise?

“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” (James 3:13 NLT)

Do you think of yourself as a wise person? Why? Or why not? Perhaps a better question might be: Do you WANT to be wise? What IS wisdom? According to Strong’s the word used in the verse above means: “skilled, expert: of artificers; skilled in letters, cultivated, learned.” Examples used were Greek philosophers and orators; Jewish theologians and Christian teachers. Perhaps a more concrete way to think of wisdom is: “forming the best plans and using the best means for their execution.”

Who do you first think of as an example of a wise person? Solomon, King David’s son? Jesus? Your mom or dad? Grandparents? Pastor? What criteria do you use when determining whether a person is wise? According to James, the proverbial “proof is in the pudding!”

The verse following the one above says: “But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.”

What characterizes your life? James defines wisdom as: “…first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”

What’s the bottom line? Wisdom is fluid, not stagnant; kind, caring, inviting, like Jesus. It isn’t about how smart you are, how witty or swaying in your arguments. It’s more about how you live and move and have your being. You’re thoughtful, courageous, not pushy, or quick tempered. A wise person assesses a situation before offering an opinion or giving advice.

As I ponder the wise people in my life, past and present, they are ravenous learners, always seeking to understand their role in God’s eternal Kingdom. Am I implying that someone who isn’t a believer can’t be wise? Of course not, but as I understand Scripture, wisdom will ultimately drive a person to the foot of the Cross, especially when they see themselves in the face of eternity.

The greater measure of wisdom we possess, the better we treat others and the more vulnerable we become to correction from God’s Word. Wisdom isn’t being the proverbial “know-it-all;” it’s understanding how best to apply truth to a given situation. Life is the greatest puzzle we’ll ever solve, and the irony is, the final pieces won’t be discovered until we leave this life.

Wisdom holds life with open hands, always remembering it’s not ours to live alone. Life is a gift that God gives us upon which He creates the tapestry of our purpose. To some it will seem disjointed and random, perhaps even to ourselves. But the closer we walk with Jesus the clearer the pattern becomes and the greater our understanding that we’re not the Author or finisher of this life – He is.

To the extent we yield control of our lives to the Holy Spirit, to that extent we’ll give evidence of our wisdom.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Struggle or Preparation?

“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT)

Do you believe everything has a purpose? Romans 8:28 echoes in my mind as I ponder this idea. I’m reminded of heated words that flew during childhood arguments: “You did that on purpose!” God’s ideas, the way He thinks and processes things is so beyond what we can understand, yet does He not give us insight into what He allows and why?

His whole plan of salvation didn’t begin with Jesus’ birth. On some levels, that was the beginning of the end of His plan. In some ways His plan is continuing to unfold in our lives even today. What’s my point? How we interpret the things that happen to us, for good or ill, largely determines how our ideas are shaped and our life is lived.

If I believe God caused my wife to divorce me or caused my son to get cancer it shapes not only how I view God, but how I live my life apart from Him. Why would I want to serve a God I can’t trust or one whom I have reason to suspect isn’t good or doesn’t make or keep His promises? Why would I put faith in something or someone who causes misery and heartache for sport?

Max Lucado stirred my thoughts when he wrote: Don’t see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life.” But how? How can we make those determinations unless we have something definitive to guide us? Thankfully, we do! It’s called the Bible.

To me the Bible is like a flood light into the darkness of my soul. My mind can lead me in ways that are not only unhealthy, but destructive. God’s Word, the Bible, the Scriptures, whatever you choose to call it, gives us balance to our quest to make sense of life with all it’s twists, turns, and tragedies. The Bible is clear that struggle is part of the deal.

Jesus struggled and He was perfect. I, we, struggle because we have a bent to sin. No one has to teach us to lie, steal, lust, profane the holy name of God, it all comes quite naturally. To interpret the difficulties of life as what we deserve isn’t a hard sell for most of us, but to see through what to us is the obvious, and see a plan, takes faith.

To recognize the fingerprints of God on the tragedies of our existence and understand that while He didn’t cause the problem, He can work for our good in spite of it, is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. We want to rush back to the beginning and ask: “Why did you allow it in the first place?” Failing to see it’s part of what our first parents brought on them and us, in the beginning.

Is life a struggle? Absolutely! Can it be seen, understood, and lived as an avenue of preparation for something much bigger? Better? Beyond our imagination? Without a doubt!

As I write today, I’m struggling with what I pray is the aftermath of Covid. Over the last few days, I’ve literally wondered if this is how someone feels before they die. It’s like a powerful sweeper sucked all my energy out. All my body wants to do is sleep, but the Lord is stirring in my spirit, drawing me to Himself.

All I want to do is be with Him, speak with Him, listen to Him, be assured of His presence. Then it dawned on me – that’s not death, that’s life! So, I praise the Lord for struggles that enable me to see Him more clearly, trust Him more fully, share Him more enthusiastically.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

What Are You Waiting For?

“Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.” (Romans 8:20-21 NLT)

Waiting is one of the things I most despise in this body. Every day I’m reminded that I’m not getting better physically, if anything, I’m simply holding on, waiting for the inevitable. Why the pessimism? Honestly, I’m not pessimistic, I’m “whining” to make a point. We’re all waiting for something! But ironically, whatever it is will still not satisfy us in the long term, unless it’s eternal.

We tend to love firsts: first date, first kiss, first drive in the car alone, first job, first apartment/house, etc. Even as believers it’s hard for us to get over ourselves. It’s like we expect God to give us heaven now. We want perfect health, perfect relationships, a perfect government, a perfect church, spouse, kids, and on and on it goes, even though we know they are impossible expectations.

In the verses above it’s like Paul takes a step back and imagines all nature feels the same as mankind. He sees humankind and nature locking arms to walk through this life of brokenness, death, and decay together. But there are some things that God gives us that seem to be timeless.

Recently my wife and I visited the coast of Oregon. Walking along the beach we listened to a sound that hasn’t changed since the beginning of time – the ocean washing up on the shore, then receding. It caused me to think of the people there, who were a part of an endless stream of families who for generations have brought their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to share the joy and majesty of a day at the beach. For some it may have been their first glimpse of the ocean. No matter how many times you see it, it never gets old.

Isn’t that what we do at church? We invite our children, friends and loved ones to join us in an endless parade of people who for generations have worshipped at the altars of churches. Why? Hopefully, to declare in the midst of all of our “temporariness,” there is something – Someone – who is eternal!

I’m not going to lie, I can’t wait to get to heaven, but what keeps my heart pumping with joy and anticipation isn’t heaven, it’s Jesus! Knowing Him gives a complexion to life that’s appealing, inviting, almost like seeing the ocean for the first time – everyday! How so? God isn’t decaying or predictably changing, He’s ever the same – constantly creating, using the tools of His creativity to recreate newness of life in each of His children every day.

If you know the true, living, Jesus of the Bible, like me, you may be working diligently on your “turkey-neck,” characteristic of many old geezers, but aging is just a fact of life. Viewing life as boring and just sitting around waiting to die is a choice I refuse to make. God is doing something new in and for us every day in a thousand ways.

His Word speaks to me in new ways each time I read it. Often a message I hear or a book I’m reading gives me insight into something for the first time; each time I hug my beautiful wife I’m thrilled anew that I have the privilege of being her husband and I’m reminded I’d better never take for granted the gift of love, life, and laughter the Lord extends to me every day I’m able to open my eyes.

Yes, absolutely, look forward to all the wonderful “firsts” you’ll experience in your life with the Lord, but never lose sight of the reality that there’s still a “first” no one has yet experienced, and won’t until He comes again!

I’m thinking of the words of Bill and Gloria Gaither’s song “What a Day That Will Be.” “What a day that will be, When my Jesus I shall see, And I look upon His face, The One who saved me by His grace; When He takes me by the hand, And leads me through the Promised Land, What a day, glorious day that will be.”

That’s what I’m waiting for!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Feeling Like an Outcast?

“For the Sovereign Lord, who brings back the outcasts of Israel, says: I will bring others, too, besides My people Israel.” (Isaiah 56:8 NLT)

Have you ever felt like an outcast? According to The Merriam-Webster Dictionary an outcast is “one who is cast out by society.” The Jews of Jesus’ day were quick to declare someone “unclean” for any number of reasons. The two examples that come first to mind are lepers and women during their menstrual cycle.

The woman who “had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding,” in Mark 5, who touched Jesus’ robe, was immediately healed. How like Jesus to search her out – “Who touched My robe?” He asked. The crowds were pressing in on Him, but He knew healing virtue had been released by someone’s faith, and He wanted to see who it was.

How could she not want to fall at His feet in worship? How, in His holy compassion, could He not bring her to her feet and embrace her? For twelve years everyone was afraid to touch her, yet here was the Lord of the universe holding her, loving her, filling her with love she’d thought she’d never feel.

David Jeremiah captured the pathos of that moment when he wrote: “In Christ, there are no castaways; in heaven there are no outcasts. We’re included in the grace of Christ. Rejoice today knowing that we are no longer outcasts!” What that healed woman experienced in those precious moments with Jesus is what each of us who have fallen at His holy feet have felt in our own heart and life.

How many of us, sitting on the fringes of society, have longed for acceptance, approval, some measure of recognition that we mattered, that our lives had value, yet instead we’re seeming constantly spurned, ignored, demeaned. Then Jesus passes by and takes notice of us! Dave Harvey nailed it when he wrote: “The gospel brings me explosive news: my search for approval is over. In Christ I already have all the approval I need.“

Those of whom Isaiah wrote had been stripped of everything they deemed worthwhile, including for some, their literal manhood. Of what possible use could they still be? But listen to God’s words through the Prophet: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Be just and fair to all. Do what is right and good, for I am coming soon to rescue you and to display My righteousness among you.’”

Regardless of what’s happened to you, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, relationally, financially, or in any other way, the healing presence of Jesus can heal, restore, deliver, and help you in ways you could never in eternity ever help yourself.

When Jesus forgives, He doesn’t simply make us over again using the same old life, He gives us a brand-new life! We become a brand-new species of being, one that has never existed before! Whatever is in our past is past – never to be remembered against us again. The beauty of a broken past is that Jesus will use our brokenness, our life as an outcast, for our good and His glory.

Jesus never wastes a problem. He will take the things that have transpired in our lives that in our mind have “crippled” us and made us useless and turn them into opportunities to reach others with similar pasts who also feel hopeless. Faith turns tragedy into triumph when we yield our will to His and allow Him to do what only He can do.

Allow Him to wrap you in His loving arms and fill you with Himself. He has a life for you better than anything you’ve ever dared imagine! He specializes in the impossible!

Blessings, Ed 😊

Being God’s Glove

“But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to Him at all.)” (Romans 8:9 NLT)

What power does a glove possess? In and of itself, of what value does a glove have except to take up space in a drawer? But think of the countless scenarios in which a glove is an indispensable part of a vital solution. How many of us would allow a surgeon to touch us without a glove? What about our dentist?

Have you ever worked in the yard, especially around plants with stickers, without gloves? Think of all the sports that use gloves, as well as first responders and others who play such a vital role in our lives. A glove without a hand is useless, but a hand without a glove, in many instances, is limited as well.

Now think of your life as God’s “glove.” Do you think it was an accident that God said to Moses: “I will be with you.” And what were the last words of Jesus before He ascended back to the Father? “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

When I think of my life as a glove the words of Jesus in John 15 are amplified with meaning. Listen with your heart as He says to you: “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.” A life without a Savior is as useless as a glove without a hand.

“Yeh,” I can hear someone say, “but my life had a lot of use before I came to know Jesus!” None of eternal value! Jesus IS life! Without Him we may exist as a human being, but eternal life and usefulness for the Kingdom of God do not exist without a relationship with Him. I take His words above literally when He said that apart from Him, I can do nothing.

The gift of breath is His. He gave me lungs to breathe and physical life to carry out His eternal purposes. Apart from His Spirit living in me and you we’re useless for Kingdom purposes. That’s why Paul said in verse 16 that it’s the Spirit’s presence in our life that verifies that we’re God’s child. No Spirit = no life! Breathing air and having life are two very different things when it comes to walking with Jesus.

Being filled and empowered by God’s Spirit isn’t something that makes us special, it’s what creates the environment for us to make Jesus special. His power in us isn’t designed to give us recognition, but to allow and enable us to put Jesus on display in ways that honor and exalt Him.

God’s willingness to walk with Moses wasn’t so people could make much of Moses, but so that through Moses’ leadership the people could make much of God. Who would Moses have been apart from God? Who are any of the men and women who have been used mightily of God to show you and me the way to God? They were simply God’s “gloves” used in powerful, even miraculous ways, not because they were special, but because they were submissive to God’s authority in their lives.

To the extent your determination is to make much of God, to that extent God will fill, empower, and use you to His honor and fame. We are nothing apart from Him. Anything of value you glean from these posts is wholly because of God’s Spirit. When He stops speaking, I’ll stop writing. Until then I pledge to be the best “glove” He can enable me to be.

Blessings, Ed 😊