Consuming fire

Therefore, since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably and with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.”

                                                                                             Heb. 12.28,29

The reminder that “God is a consuming fire” brings great excitement into the very essence of me. I see this amazing and wonderful Being ready to take me in and to both comfort and love me but also imbue me with almost unbelievable supernatural strength. In myself I am weak. There is a certain amount I can achieve but it is limited. As well, I am open to the buffeting and battering of all sorts of forces that are neither good nor helpful to me. But when I allow myself to be touched, even consumed, by the consuming fire of the Almighty, then I can truly, and truthfully, say, “all things are possible.”

I am so thankful that this is the case. I worship God with all my being. I give myself fully to Him in adoration and service. I am most certainly in awe of Him yet, strangely, this allows me to receive Him as my loving guardian and provider. He is also my friend, with whom I can be my most natural self. Again, this does not diminish the reverence which I give Him freely and enthusiastically.

I have so much to be thankful for. I come before my great, and loving, God. I prostrate myself at his feet. I curl up comfortably in His embrace, and I am lost in the wonder and wonderment of my blessed relationship with Him.

Almighty and Most Loving God,

I thank You, truly, for all that is mine in You. I come to You in reverence and awe, but also in love and warmth. I revere You with honour and I press in with enthusiasm and expectation. Have Your way in me, in Jesus’ Name I ask.                                                                  Amen.

Witness

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth."   

                                                                                                       Acts 1.8

These are the last words of Jesus to His disciples before He left this earth and ascended into heaven. And what powerful words they are. Wonderful encouragement lies in these words of farewell and departure.

The power of God is truly awesome. And this power is available to me through the Holy Spirit. I want this. I want, with all my heart, to be a powerful witness for Jesus. But I do not want my witness to be restricted by my human weaknesses and frailties. I want the full power of God, through the infilling of the Holy Spirit, to manifest in my witness. I want Jesus to speak powerfully as I minister in the power of the Spirit.

Lord God,

I want to witness for You, but I want to do so in the fullness of the power of Your Holy Spirit.

I pray that You anoint me in and with the Holy Spirit to be a potent and powerful witness for Jesus.

I seek not to minister in my own human weakness, but in divine power, filling me direct from the throne room of heaven.

Fill me, Lord. Give me the boldness that comes only from Your Holy Spirit. Let me be a worthy witness to Jesus, in His powerful and precious name I ask.                                   Amen.

Mutual life

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

                                                                                  1 John 4.13

God’s Holy Spirit is evidence of my life in Him and His life in me. I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. I am aware of the Holy Spirit in my life and I rejoice.

I live in him, and I want to live more in Him. I pray that He will fill me to overflowing with His presence.

And may the Spirit be evident in all that I am and all that I do. Stirring within me is a desire for more. I yearn for more of God, more depth of relationship with Him, and more obvious manifestation of His presence in my life. Every moment of my life I am a Christian and I want to live in such a way that this is obvious to all.

Lord God,

I live in You and You live in me. Hallelujah! I rejoice in this. May I know the fullness of Christ in me and the fullness of Your Holy Spirit in my life.

I yearn for every minute to be spent with You. May Your Spirit lead and guide me.

Please reveal Yourself to me. Please teach me more about You. Let me learn and live all that You impart. May I have opportunities to share You, and may I do so with confidence and ease, and in such a way as to be readily and naturally understood.

Your Spirit is with me. I know this. I thank you with all the abundance my heart will hold. Take me and make me Yours. I look for Your touch. I listen for Your voice.

Wonderful and gracious Lord, I commit myself to You. May we travel this day together and may all You desire come to pass.

I love you. Receive me, in Jesus’ Name I pray.                                                           Amen.

The Clear Way

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.               1 Thess. 3.11-13

In the middle of his letter, Paul breaks into prayer. I receive his prayer for today and for me, as much as it was prayed for the original recipients of Paul’s letter.

Paul calls upon our God and Father. He acknowledges the might of God in His sovereign and all-mighty being together with His ineffable love as Father of all creation. The Son is there in complete unity with the Father – and also with the Spirit. By His sacrifice and victory, Jesus is truly Lord for all those who will accept Him.

Jesus is the way, the only way, to the Father. Jesus connects us all to the Father and to His amazing love. He also connects us to each other.

Paul calls upon Jesus to increase love in us. He asks that our love, not only for those we know and are in relationship with but also for all people everywhere, may increase and overflow. The clearest example of overflowing that I can offer is of a container filled with liquid that reaches to the capacity of the holder but then continues to flow. The container is unable to hold back the excess liquid which flows freely over everything. It is unrestrained and unrestricted. This is the love that we receive from Jesus – a love of and for Him, for ourselves, and for others.

In the example of the liquid, the container is always full. I need to know that I am ever filled, to brimming over, with the love of Jesus. But His love does more than fill me. It rushes out of me in a seemingly reckless way, touching all who are near. Yes, the love of God, just like the liquid in the container, cannot be held back. It freely flows over and out. It flows without restraint. I cannot help but share the wonderful love which is His gift to us. It is unrestricted. There is no limit to its volume. There is no restriction to the places and persons it can reach. And there is no bound to the miracles it can work. I am marked by the love of God. In Him I am commissioned and enabled to share His love. As freely as I receive it, so I share it.

Jesus can strengthen my heart. In Him and through Him I can find strength and holiness in the presence of God. I am blameless in Jesus. What greater blessing might there be? When the Lord Jesus comes with His holy ones, He will receive me and draw me to His own. I pray there will be many others drawn to Him at that very time through the power of the love He has given me for them – a love that He has so willingly and freely given me, and that I have been willing to share freely without limit or charge.

I receive this prayer of Paul for myself. I pray for love and strength in Almighty, Loving God, and for His enabling of me to witness His love and grace to others.

Lord God, Holy Heavenly Father,

I thank You for this prayer that Paul uttered so long ago. I make it my own prayer today.

I ask for an increase in love. I pray for Your love to fill me to saturation and then to overflow. I ask that the love You give me will remove all obstacles to my reaching out to others in love. I pray Your love will flow, freely and unabated, through me, touching all in proximity with the grace and mercy, love, strength and blessing of their Holy Father and Wonderful Saviour.

Lord God, I am a sinner. I confess and repent of my wrong-doing. I ask You to strengthen me into holiness. Lead me forth in Your blamelessness. Protect me that I may always be a spokesman for You.

In strength and love – in, of and for You – I seek to go forward. Lead me on. Have Your way in my life. In Jesus’ Name I ask.                                                                             Amen.

Be...

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.”                Gen. 17.1

Abram and Sarai had used a surrogate mother in their attempt to fulfil God’s promise of offspring to them. It was not God’s way. There is a clear lesson for me here. If God makes a promise He will fulfil it without any help or interference from me.

There is, however, something for me to do. As with Abram, God’s faithful servant, I need to be obedient. Faith needs to be accompanied by the “obedience that comes from faith.”

Abraham later demonstrated his obedience to God when asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.

When in a waiting pattern, it is difficult to know just how to be obedient to God. The human, and worldly, side of me feels that it must be doing. Even as I write this I sense God’s reminder that He first wants me to be, and he will organise any doing. This is so alien to the ways of the world, and I struggle with it.

Still, it comes back to me, And with it comes reminders from God’s Word:

Be still, and know that I am God (Psalm 46.10).

...Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her (Luke 10.42).

Lord,

I confess that again I am restless. I want to be doing – for You.

Today I am sensing a reminder for being rather than doing. Your Word requires obedience of me. I’m not exactly sure what that warrants at the present time. So I offer myself to You. I come to You and sit at Your feet. I wait upon You. If there is anything I am meant to do, I ask You to show me clearly. Meanwhile I will take each day as it comes, looking to You for all things, and resting in You at all times. Thank You for my life. Thank you for being with me.                                                                                                                                              Amen.