It Only Takes a Spark

 

There is a truth in life that we often overlook. The more that we value Christ's sacrifice for our life, the more intense is our desire to share Him with other people.

It only takes one spark to get a fire going. Letting people know that God's mercy is new every morning, and available in their life as well as our own, is the best news that some people could ever hear. They are just waiting for us to speak up (Romans 10:14).

The fountain of living water within us is not meant to cleanse and nourish us alone, but to overflow to everyone around us (John 7:38). We cannot hide the light of Christ within us under a basket, but we are to set it on a hilltop for the whole world to see (Matthew 5:15).

I want to take more of an advantage of opportunities to share the good news of God's love with other people. I do not want to take His sacrifice on Calvary's cross for granted, but I want to broadcast it to the whole world.

That way, anyone willing to listen to what I have to say will have the opportunity to surrender their life to His love just like I did.

If I can spark the curiosity or hunger in just one person, and that person and I share God's truth with one other person, and continue to do this every day, we will certainly soon set the world on fire.

Prayer:

Father God, give us the boldness and love for others to share Your Good News with anyone willing to listen. Give us many divine appointments throughout our day to tell people about salvation through Jesus Christ. Someone shared the news with us; so remind us to "pay it forward".

Break our heart over the sin in our life and draw us closer to Your presence within us with each passing day. Allow the intimacy we share with You to grow every moment of our life, and remind us to consult with Your Spirit all through the day (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Thought for the Day:

God's mercy is the greatest gift we have ever been given and we can share that Good News with anyone willing to listen to us; we just make that first move to greet or offer to pray for anyone God brings across our path.

 

No Longer a Sinner - The Glory of the Lord

 

Peter, James and John witnessed Christ's glory as the Beloved Son who pleased our Father (John 17:5). Jesus was on a mountain and appeared with Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17:2-8; 2 Peter 1:16-17).

Jesus is also our light who shines in our darkest hour. When we come to Christ, His glory shines in us and from us as the Light of the world, the light of life (John 8:12; Acts 6:15). We lay down our penchant to sin at His feet.

At salvation, He comes to dwell within us; however when He returns to claim us as His bride, we will see Him as He is and we will reflect His supernatural glory (John 3:1-2; Philippians 3:20-21).

In His face, we will see and understand the glory of God (2 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus will transform our mortal body into conformity with His glorious, immortal body (2 Thessalonians 1:10-12).

As we keep our focus on Christ, we are no longer affected by the events in this life; because our attention is absorbed by the only One who matters. Even in our hour of death, God's Spirit will sustain us and shine forth from us (Acts 7:51-60).

We mirror the glory of the Lord to the masses of unsaved people all around us. They know that something is very different about us (2 Corinthians 3:18). They are drawn to us by God's Spirit, and He gives us the opportunity to share Christ with them.

We may not even have to use words, because a Spirit-filled smile or a simple "Hello" will touch their hearts as no sermon ever did. Jesus bought us at a great price to Himself, now it is time for us to lay down our life for others (John 15:13).

Prayer:

Father God, You revealed Jesus to us face-to-face and His presence burns in our heart. We see Him in all of His glory and we submit to His sovereignty in our life. Your glory is gradually enveloping us by Your sanctifying process in our life. You will eventually craft us into the image of Christ on this earth.

The marks of the cross are on our heart; and we want nothing more than to bring You pleasure by our every thought, word and deed. You give us the deep, spiritual mind of Christ in exchange for the meager, carnal mind closed off to spiritual Truth (2 Corinthians 3:14-15). We are no longer our own; we belong to You, and we serve at Your pleasure.

Thought for the Day:

Let us reveal the glory of the Lord, which arises within us, to the world around us rather than the human pride, selfishness, hypocritical double-standard, frustration and carnality that we commonly feel within us. - Isaiah 61:1

Paul’s Surprising Revelation

Paul laments in his writings over his lack of success at overcoming the flesh. In some letters, he records that he feels utterly hopeless and he criticizes his own moral fiber.

He struggles with putting on the mind of Christ and realizes the wretchedness of his humanity. He fought with our need to be holy, and his inability to reach this level of desired consecration to God (Romans 7:19-24).

His conclusion is surprising (Romans 7:25). He was thrilled to realize that we do not have to suffer under the weight of condemnation any longer. On Calvary’s Cross, Christ already set us all free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). 

Paul calls the Galatians foolish for trying to perfect their life in their own self effort. He reminds them that we could not save our self and we cannot perfect our self either (Galatians 3:1-3).

Just as the Son could do nothing of Himself, we too are nothing without Christ in us (John 5:19, 15:5). The only effort we need to make in order to walk in the reality of this victory is to totally surrendering control of our life to God.

In doing this, we successfully enter His rest (Hebrews 4:3), cease from our striving and simplify our life. We eliminate the busyness that pervades each day and we slow down our pace.

We dedicate time in our schedule to serve God with our entire being, with all of our affections, thoughts, choices and emotions.

We give God the glory, which is due to His name; and we walk in paths of righteousness for His name's sake (Psalm 23:3). We refuse to hide our light under a basket, but we allow it to shine for the world to see (Matthew 5:14-16).

Prayer:

Father God, You exalted Jesus with a name above all other names. One day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Philippians 2:9-10). You designed us to be buried with Him through baptism into His death.

In the same way in which You raised Him from the dead through Your glory, You raise us too in order for us to live a new life through You. We are no longer slaves to sin, because You set us free from sin’s power when we died with Christ on Calvary’s cross (Romans 6:4-7).

Thought for the Day:

Just as God the Father, Son and Spirit are united as one, Jesus died so we can share in this same unity of oneness with our triune God. - 1 Corinthians 6:17