"Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles …" (1 Chronicles 16:9-12).
"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever"
(Psalm 30:11-12).
Christians are to be filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy because although they do not see Jesus, they love Him and believe in Him. (See 1 Peter 1:8-9.) Having had their sins forgiven, being able to approach the throne of grace with confidence and having entered the narrow gate that leads to life, should fill the hearts of Christians with thanks and praise for their Lord and God. This thankfulness and praise to Jesus should be reflected in our prayers.
"To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ... to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen (Revelation 1:5,6).
Finding the missing piece
Saint Augustine said "You made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You."1 When we sense this emptiness in our life without God we know something is missing. The great thing is that God through Jesus Christ was reaching out to us before we reached out for Him. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for sins" (1 John 4:10).
A new life
We can't become the new people in whom Jesus lives in power and love by simply putting spiritual bandages over our moral decay ... Jesus faces us with the challenge - "I do not want part of your time, a bit for your energy, a portion of your money. I want you; the whole person, body, mind and spirit! If you will give me yourself, I will give you myself!" The missing piece in our life is found when we accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We become whole again, no longer separated from God because of our sin. Paul the Apostle calls this new life "Living in Christ".
"When a person becomes a Christian, they become a new person inside. They are not the same anymore - a new life has begun" (2 Corinthians 5:17, The Living Bible).
The greatest gift is eternal life!
Eternal life is the greatest offer ever made to the human race. It is mind blowing and life changing. "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descendant, nor of human decision nor a husband's will, but born of God" (John 1:12 -13). So we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ, we are Children of the Kingdom; we are Family, we are spiritual millionaires! "How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Jesus." (Ephesians 1:3).
The power of death is broken!
Christians belong to Jesus Christ and receive the gift of eternal life. Jesus rising from the dead broke death's control over us. When our life on earth is finished we are given spiritual bodies and live in the presence of God.
"'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? ... But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"
(1 Corinthians 15:54-55,57).
"Jesus too shared in our humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil --- and free us who all our lives were held in slavery by our fear of death" (Hebrews 2:14,15).
From death and darkness to light Make the journey with Jesus Christ
"For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord" (Ephesians 5:8).
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all your sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:13 -15).
"For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord" (Romans 14:7 - 8).
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness" (Colossians 2:6 -7).
"Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:19-20).
Christianity is not about what we can wrangle out of God but it begins with Jesus, continues with Jesus and ends with Jesus. And in a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!" (Revelation 5:12)
There are difficulties but victory is ours in Jesus Christ
The apostles went through hardships. Why do we think we should go through life without difficulties? "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" the disciples told their listeners as recorded in Acts 14:22.
Jesus faced various difficulties in his life. Why do we think we should go through life without difficulties? "Because Jesus himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).
"Since we have a great high priest, Jesus the Son of God who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Jesus tells us that we will have trouble in this life but there is good news -Jesus has overcome the world! "Jesus says: 'I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world '" (John 16:33).
"All kinds of trials have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold ... may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:6,7).
"And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).
Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit To Him be the glory forever and ever!
Jesus did not create us to face the difficulties of our life on earth alone. The disciples were filled with grief when Jesus told them He was going away but very good things were going to come from His departure. The good news was that Jesus was to send them the Holy Spirit.
Jesus told his disciples "Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27). "I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regards to sin and righteousness and judgement: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world (the devil) now stands condemned" (John 16:7 -10).
Paul the Apostle urges Christians to "be filled with the spirit" so they can take full advantage of this precious gift and have victory. Christians need spiritual resources because we do not struggle "against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (See Ephesians 5:18.) Trying to live this life as a Christian without being filled with the Holy Spirit will potentially lead to frustration and disillusionment.
Thanks and praise for what God has already done for you
God went to the absolute limit in showing His love for us. Often we can be slow to understand that in coming to us in Jesus Christ, God gave us all of Himself. He had no more to give. Jesus said; "He that has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). When we give all of ourself to Him, He meets our needs from His abundance. He took on the human nature of Jesus in order that we could grow into the divine nature that only He can give. We experience the glory and wonder of the life He wishes us to have when we live the Christ controlled life. "It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives within me" (Galatians 2:20). "If the Son sets you free, then you are free indeed" (John 8:36.) The freedom that Jesus gives is real living. When we pray let us remember what God has done. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). In prayer, let us be overflowing with praise and thanks.
A great way to reflect on what God has done for you and allow your heart to well up in praise and thanks is to read Isaiah 53:1 -10. These verses speak of Jesus, the coming Messiah who was to suffer and be pierced for our sins.
Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. \
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I praise you for being willing to come as a servant and suffer for my sins so I could come into God's presence. I thank you for dying on the cross for me and shedding your blood for me so I can have eternal life. I thank God that you rose from the dead and you have victory over death. I thank you that you are with me always and that heaven is my destination. Amen!
1 The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Whitaker House, USA, 1996, p11.
