"Guard my life, for I am devoted to You. You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You." (Psalm 86:2, NIV)
Yesterday I drove in rain, very heavy at times, all day. I walked in the rain with my trusty "Berlin" umbrella. I prayed in the House Gallery (the Senate Gallery was not open). I prayed in the Supreme Court Building, in the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building, and the Cannon House Office Building, and prayed outside the White House. I did all of this because, "I am devoted to [Jesus Christ]," and because I am, "Your servant who trusts in you." Any other "reasons" are merely peripheral. Now this may not endear me to some, but if you or I do anything in life for any other reason than, "for I am devoted to You," the Living Triune God, two things---- either we will give up and quit, or we will simply be serving some inordinate need in us just to do good, a "good" which is not born of love for and commitment to Jesus Christ, the, "love," described in 1 Corinthians 13, but of a "do-good" love from of a fallen human nature, which just, well, has to do something.
This time in DC, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that I am a "son of His Presence." Everywhere I went I brought the presence of the Blessed Trinity. Now the religious will say, "Well, God is everywhere all the time." But there is a difference in "presence." The difference is similar to His "presence" with you before you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. He was with you, but not in you. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right/power/authority to become children of God..." The word translated, "right, power, authority," means "power of choice, leave or permission, the liberty of doing as one pleases, the ability or strength with which one is endued, the right to exercise power" (Vine's). Everywhere a Follower of Jesus Christ goes, there is an accompanying, "right," the authority of God which brought us into His Family, His Kingdom. I am still studying this, but it is a fearful and sobering commission. Pray that we come to understand the full implication!
Wherever the Church has gone today and will go as, "ambassadors for Christ," there is a, "right/authority/power" which accompanies us. You and I as members of His Church do not save people from their sins, or secure them a place in Heaven. But no one really knows what we do bring when we, as people "of His Presence, "bring" Jesus Christ into those situations. Continue to go forth today as David said in our text, "for I am devoted to You,..who trusts in you. You are my God"---------------- who knows what can happen?!?
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to never forget that I as a part of Your Church am a "son of Your Presence."
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Yesterday I drove in rain, very heavy at times, all day. I walked in the rain with my trusty "Berlin" umbrella. I prayed in the House Gallery (the Senate Gallery was not open). I prayed in the Supreme Court Building, in the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building, and the Cannon House Office Building, and prayed outside the White House. I did all of this because, "I am devoted to [Jesus Christ]," and because I am, "Your servant who trusts in you." Any other "reasons" are merely peripheral. Now this may not endear me to some, but if you or I do anything in life for any other reason than, "for I am devoted to You," the Living Triune God, two things---- either we will give up and quit, or we will simply be serving some inordinate need in us just to do good, a "good" which is not born of love for and commitment to Jesus Christ, the, "love," described in 1 Corinthians 13, but of a "do-good" love from of a fallen human nature, which just, well, has to do something.
This time in DC, the Holy Spirit kept reminding me that I am a "son of His Presence." Everywhere I went I brought the presence of the Blessed Trinity. Now the religious will say, "Well, God is everywhere all the time." But there is a difference in "presence." The difference is similar to His "presence" with you before you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ. He was with you, but not in you. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right/power/authority to become children of God..." The word translated, "right, power, authority," means "power of choice, leave or permission, the liberty of doing as one pleases, the ability or strength with which one is endued, the right to exercise power" (Vine's). Everywhere a Follower of Jesus Christ goes, there is an accompanying, "right," the authority of God which brought us into His Family, His Kingdom. I am still studying this, but it is a fearful and sobering commission. Pray that we come to understand the full implication!
Wherever the Church has gone today and will go as, "ambassadors for Christ," there is a, "right/authority/power" which accompanies us. You and I as members of His Church do not save people from their sins, or secure them a place in Heaven. But no one really knows what we do bring when we, as people "of His Presence, "bring" Jesus Christ into those situations. Continue to go forth today as David said in our text, "for I am devoted to You,..who trusts in you. You are my God"---------------- who knows what can happen?!?
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to never forget that I as a part of Your Church am a "son of Your Presence."
******************
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2
