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Never in a Thousand Years

Never in a thousand years could I
Imagine your tender lovingkindness toward me.
Never across a thousand worlds of space
Could Science’ wisest minds measure your greatness.

How small am I! Yet you see every step —
Every stumble — every turn and tear.
How great you are! The smallest inch of faith
You use to pull by the roots the stubborn mountain.

Keep complaints from blocking the flow of power,
For I — yes, I! — can cancel the Spirit’s work!
Oh, God, let not my enemy be myself!
I ask you crush my last reserve of resistance.

Shine — shine — shine with fullest glory!
Fly me to the high transfiguration,
Where Jesus stands alone among the mute.
Put words of praise upon my silenced mouth.

  • Please share this prayer with your loved ones.
  • What verse does this prayer call to mind?
  • What phrase or stanza stands out to you?
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Rushed Upon Him

Throughout the Avengers series, Bruce Banner struggled to control the Hulk from taking over.  That’s how many believe the Holy Spirit acts in our lives.  Samson seems to exemplify that, but with a closer look we see that those with the Spirit of the Lord choose their actions.

I.  Judges 14:1-20.  It’s clear from the onset of Samson’s story that God knows our terrible choices ahead of time and uses them for His will.  The ‘lawless men’ who sent Jesus to the cross were not thwarting God’s plan but falling into it (Acts 2:22-24).  It’s also clear throughout all of Samson’s life that despite having the Spirit of the Lord that he acted out of selfish motives and anger, something that could not please God.

II.  John 2:13-17.  Jesus had God’s Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17), and many might have thought that there was another Samson in their midst when He overturned tables and drove money-changers out of the temple with a whip.  But, John explains that the source of Jesus’ anger was different.  Jesus who never sinned (Hebrews 4:15) had an anger not rooted in sin (Ephesians 4:26) but rather zeal for His Father’s house.  Like Samson, though, Jesus chose His actions.

III.  Acts 2:16-39.  We too choose our actions.  Given the Spirit of the Lord as a gift at baptism, Christians choose to either take the route of Samson and grieve the Spirit by our sinful choices (Ephesians 4:30) or serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13).  With His Spirit, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) to bring others to Christ the choice of waging spiritual war differently than the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  But we have to choose these!

If you have obeyed the gospel, you have the Spirit of the Lord.  With it dwelling in us, teaching us, and equipping us in various ways, we each need to choose what we will do with this new life we have been given.

 

 

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So Many Needs

So many needs have I, O Lord,
Not merely two or three.
Of all of these, I can’t afford
To lack humility.

I’d be like you, the Sorrowed Man,
Who bore my sins away.
Remind me how my life began:
I’m but unworthy clay.

I glory in your eternal Name,
In me no good resides.
Let me your holy promise claim,
To find a life that abides.

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Greater Things Than These

Usually a death bed promise works the other way.  The one who will continue on promises to do something after the loved one is gone.  As further proof of the resurrection, Jesus, while still alive but soon to die on the cross, makes a promise to His church that through Him (alive again and interceding for us at the Father’s side) we will do greater things than He did while on the earth.

I.  John 14:12-14.  There’s no doubt that Jesus did great things in His three-year earthly ministry.  After all, He was God in the flesh.  But the King of Kings showed Himself to be the servant of servants with great compassion: touching the leper, raising the widow’s only son from death, multiplying food to feed the hungry masses following Him, casting out demons from a man long bound.  And while He did these things, He spoke of how we would become parts of His body (Matthew 16:18), bought with His blood (Acts 20:28) and disciplined to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:7-11).  Why?  So that we might serve as He did (Galatians 5:13).

II.  Romans 12:4-8.  Belief in Him is essential for the various body parts to work together to do great works (John 10:37-38).  We are to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) and walk as Jesus did (1 John 2:6).  Not awkward like the participants in a three-legged race, we are to move together as one body, seeing ourselves as parts of the body contributing to its working and connected to the Head (Colossians 2:19).  Whatever your function, you are essential to Christ’s body serving properly.

III.  John 13:12-17.  We stand in awe of what the Amish can accomplish in just one day by working together … and without power tools.  But Jesus promises the body that we will do even greater things than what He did while in his body.  We certainly see His enemies powerless from the start (Acts 4:14-16) to thwart a unified body.  Even their efforts to smash the hornet’s nest in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1-4) backfired as the scattered disciples preached the gospel wherever they went.  So, as an individual body part, how are you serving in your personal ministry?  And, as a member of Christ’s body, how are you working together with others to serve and function as one body?

Jesus built His church with His own blood so that Christians around the world could serve together in local bodies and together be the body of Christ with Him as its Head.  It starts with you.  How are you serving as Christ did?