Tag Archive for Living in Christ

God’s Life within Us

2014-08-28 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God’s life within us is like
being born all over again.
This new life is not flesh and blood
but God’s own Spirit.

God’s life within us is like
light in the darkness.
It brings truth, understanding,
warmth, and goodness.

God’s life within us is like
a wedding.
A new union begins,
full of love, joy, and promise.

God’s life within us is like
a spring of living water,
bringing refreshment and complete satisfaction
forever and ever.

We reach for so much that we cannot attain,
things temporary and unworthy of our wanting.
But what is best, what is deep, lasting, and satisfying is
God, His presence, and His blessing.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Breath of Life
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

The Crucified Life

2014-08-17 Devotional with Hymn No comments

Jesus said:

“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, NIV)

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified. Standing at a safe distance, I can understand what He was telling them. But what is He saying to me? And what is the Apostle Paul telling me when he says:

Count yourselves dead to sin. (Romans 6:11, NIV)

Or what about this?

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live. (Galatians 2:20, NIV)

I’m comfortable with the concepts as long as they’re aimed at somebody else. They make sense. But if my personal interests are being crucified, I get very uncertain. I can stand back and admire the beauty of these truths until I actually have to deny myself. When I have to lay aside my ego and my rights in a relationship and act only in the other person’s best interests, then suddenly unselfishness doesn’t seem so sensible.

Sometimes I see Jesus’ footsteps leading me to the Calvary, just when pursuing “the good life” seems so natural.

I feel the weight of the cross when I realize that I’m here to serve God, not my comfort and career.

I feel the nails in my hands when I ask what He wants me to do with His money and His time in this world of suffering and need.

I feel the spear pierce my side when I realize that my whole life—all my energies and every dream—are to glorify Him, not me.

When I honestly address these deep demands of discipleship, I choke. How can I even begin to measure up? Is this one of those guilt trips I have to either avoid or rationalize away?

But then I face my Savior, who is here with me now, and I realize it is His voice I hear and His heart that is speaking to me. I am reminded that like all His commands, these words are gifts of love. They are invitations to remove everything that separates Him and me, to enjoy a deeper fellowship with Him and a more complete rest in Him. And with Jesus speaking the words, I start to hear them differently.

Yes, I have to count myself dead to sin. But then I am alive to God in Christ Jesus, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:11, 23, NIV).

When I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, 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, NIV).

As I trust Him, Christ lives in me! I rejoice in His presence and eagerly listen for His voice. I start to taste His freedom from selfishness and begin bringing all my needs to Him.

As I turn my life-style over to Him, my love for Him grows warmer and more personal. I begin to release my fears and embrace Him with my whole heart.

As I embrace Him, I find He takes away, not my freedom, but my slavery to myself. He doesn’t take my dignity, but only my empty pride. He doesn’t lessen the excitement of life. He helps me enjoy more and more of the full life that He wants for me.

Jesus Christ offers each of us freedom and wholeness, if only we will lay down our lives daily and let Him live through us.

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15, NIV)

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Hear His Call
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

At Home with the Father

2014-05-11 Devotional with Hymn No comments

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23, NIV)

Earlier in this same chapter, in John 14:1-3, Jesus said that the Father’s house has many “dwelling places” and that He will come again and take us to live with Him forever.

But then He says, in v.23, above, that if we love the Father, He will love us and come to us and make His “dwelling place” with us here and now. It’s the same word for “dwelling place” in both verses.

Here in this world, God is glad to make His home with us, humble and human as we are. He knows us, flaw by flaw, yet He gladly joins His life to ours. We share His love…His peace…His joy. We breathe His breath. He lives in us, and we in Him. His holy life is a growing part of our own.

Our togetherness has a beautiful beginning now and a glorious completion hereafter. Our satisfaction in God and our rest in Him are not limited by time or place. They are not just someday. They are here and now and forever as we simply trust Him.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Your Love, Holy Father
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Jesus’ Relationship with His Father

2014-04-17 Congregational Song, Hymns No comments

This is the 12th in a series of Friday posts on congregational song.

We often think of the earthly Jesus as a superman, with power flowing from His fingertips. But that’s not how the Apostle Paul describes Him:

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB)

Listen to how Jesus describes Himself:

“I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does…By myself I can do nothing. (John 5:19, 30, NIV)

“The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work…These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.” (John 14:10, 24, NIV)

It wasn’t Jesus’ own power that made Him what He was. He had emptied Himself of all that. He made Himself dependent on His Father, constantly and completely, for every word and action. Jesus was what He was by faith. His strength lay not in unique abilities but in His relationship with the Father.

Jesus longs to share that relationship with us. He wants us to have the same fellowship with the Father that He enjoys. He longs for us to participate in the deep love that flows unhindered among the Father, Son, and Spirit:

“I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him…we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:20-21, 23, NIV)

Study the life of Jesus. As you see how He lived, all through faith, the hunger will grow in you to share His beautiful, simple relationship with the Father. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit all deeply desire to share that relationship with you.

To enjoy Jesus’ relationship with the Father, worship as He worshiped. Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. Trust. Obey. Such a relationship is the reward and the fruit of worship—true worship that is not one hour a week but every hour; worship that is not just spoken or sung but lived.

The highest purpose of our hymns is to nurture such a relationship with the Living God. It is the key to our happiness and fruitfulness, now and forever.

Jesus, My Power and Wisdom

2014-04-13 Devotional with Hymn No comments

To those whom God has called…(we preach) Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. 

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. 

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:24-31, NIV)

Jesus, today
You are my power.
I rest in Your doing.
I move every moment
in Your enabling.

Jesus,
You are my wisdom.
I pray for Your mind.
I listen.

Jesus,
You are my holiness.
I rejoice in You in me.
I quiet my planning
and relax in Your Spirit.

Jesus, today
my work will be to trust You.
Glorify yourself through me today.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Lord Jesus, Living Presence
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

Feed the Fire

2013-12-26 Devotional, Reading & Study No comments

I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6, NIV)

God lights a fire within us—
the fire of His Spirit,
the fire of His power and love within.
But starve any fire—
deprive it of oxygen or fuel—
and it will quickly die.

Feed the fire.
Nurture that life-giving relationship.
Respond to Him in faith and obedience.
Listen for His gentle whispers.
Answer when He calls.
Tell Him how much you need Him.
Tell Him how much you love Him.
Give Him top priority every day.
Put to death the old habits and start new ones.
Thank Him every time He blesses you.
Come to Him quickly with every concern.
Serve Him eagerly, with gratitude and enthusiasm.

Read His Word.
Talk to Him.
Trust Him.
Praise Him.
Feed the fire.

Daily Holiness

2013-12-19 Devotional No comments

O what an awesome God You are!
I hear Your voice and touch Your heart
And glimpse Your perfect plan.
Then how I long to live and grow
With love as constant guide and goal,
To move at its command.

But life is such a daily race.
The pressures mount, and selfish ways
Invade my life unseen.
And though I seek the things above,
Consistency and perfect love
Still seem a distant dream.

But mercies every morning new
And faithfulness flow but from You,
Eternal God of grace.
You give the Spirit of Your Son
To live Your life in everyone
Who daily walks by faith.

My Father, faithful, loving Lord,
I look to You and trust Your Word
And praise You for release.
The One who works Your will and way
Will work in me and grow each day
Your love and joy and peace.

Complete in Christ

2013-11-28 Devotional No comments

In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ. (Colossians 2:3, 10, NIV)

Not in an abstract sense;
not just someday,
but right now, Lord.
All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in You, Jesus.
All the treasures.

I am complete in You.
Complete as a person.
Complete as the being You created me to be.
Complete in You.

Jesus, help me to remember this in the push and pull of life today.
Remind me of this when other things call for me to
want them and
seek them and
need them.

Today, Lord, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in You.
Today I am complete in You.
Today I will desire only You.

Christ Draws Us

2013-10-31 Devotional No comments

“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” (Revelation 21:6-7, NRSV) 

We pursue so many desires in our lives,
but Jesus Christ is
the beginning and the end,
the first and the last,
the source and the goal of all life.
Our entire selves are
from Him,
through Him, and
to Him.

This is the direction all of life, all history, all creation is moving—
to Him.

One day the reality of all Jesus is and all He has done
will sweep all creation up into
one mighty response of praise,
full heart and full voice,
forever and ever!
Even then, His greatness will far overshadow our small response.
For eternity His overwhelming magnificence will draw us into
lives of ever increasing worship and love.

All the Best of Life

2013-10-20 Devotional with Hymn No comments

God’s recipe for success is completely different than ours. Human society seems to prize people that are strong, self-confident, positive, and assertive, pursuing goals that provide themselves and others with more money or enhanced physical life. Are they a bit selfish? No problem. Who isn’t?

But read Matthew 5:3-12, the beatitudes. These are Jesus’ recipe for success. Remember, He alone has experienced both life on earth and an eternity in heaven. He has seen it all, and here is His description of the person truly blessed by God: poor in spirit; mourning; meek; hungering and thirsting for righteousness; merciful; pure in heart; making peace; suffering persecution for obeying God.

What an unlikely set of qualifications for success! None of the qualifications are strength, skill, material goods, or human accomplishment. All flow from a focus on God and the humility that results.

Here are the gifts God gives these blessed ones: the Kingdom of heaven; His comfort; rulership of the entire earth; righteousness in abundance; mercy; the privilege of seeing God and being His children.

None of these gifts of God are material. All are blessings on the inner, eternal person, and all outlast this world. Jesus, the only person with a complete and accurate view of life, urges us to prize these gifts.

Father, I want to please You.
May that always be my one goal and desire.
And may that desire shape
my heart, my thoughts, and my daily life.

Listen…and sing if you want:
Hymn: Beatitudes Hymn
Recording
Printed Music & Lyrics

« Older Entries   Recent Entries »