March 16, 2017

                                          

DAY TWENTY-THREE

March 16, 2017

All Power

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me.’” Matthew 28:18

The Roman Empire was at one of its greatest moments in terms of size and influence.  The borders of the empire were larger than ever before.  Their elaborate governing system was in full operation.  Tax money was coming in at a higher rate than ever.  Truly the Roman Empire was operating in one of its finest hours.  It was the most modern civilization the world had ever known.

If it were possible for the leader of this great empire, Tiberius Caesar, to have looked from his palace in Rome all the way to a distant remote mountain somewhere in Galilee where eleven men were gathered around their leader, and if he were able to hear what this leader was saying to these eleven men, there is little doubt that he would have laughed out loud.  The leader said to His disciples, “I have been given complete authority…”

However, if Caesar could have seen about 350 years into the future, he would have been aghast to see his successor naming Christianity as the official state religion.  It took less than 400 years for Christianity to conquer the great Roman Empire.  History would later show that this act of being made an official religion of the empire would become a blight rather than a blessing to Christianity.  However, it is still significant to see how a church of only eleven impacted the entire known world in such a short time.

How were they able to achieve this feat?  It was through power - Holy Spirit, God-given power.  We can impact our world because we have the same Holy Spirit living within us, thus the same power.

Prayer Focus:  Pray that the leaders of Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church will be mightily filled with Holy Spirit power and thus impact the world for Christ.  For yourself, pray or sing the words of this song:

“Breathe on me, breath of God, love and life that make me free.  Breathe on me, breath of God, fan the flame within me.  Teach my heart, heal my soul, and speak the mind that in Christ we know.  Take me to your sanctuary.  Breathe on me.  Speak to me, voice of God.  Comfort, heal, restore with love.  Breathe on me.”

Day 22 :: Changed By The Power Of God

                                            

DAY TWENTY-TWO

March 15, 2017

Changed By The Power Of God

“As the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”

                                                                                                James 2:26

How do you know that your life has been changed by the power of God?  Well, how do you know that a high voltage electrical line has touched you?  When a person comes into a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ, it is very obvious to the one who has received this new life and to the people close to Him.  When God comes into your soul, you will know it!  However, the question can be asked:  “Does the Bible teach about the evidence of a changed life?”  This Scripture in James is the heart of this epistle, and it gives a clear understanding of a biblical working faith that is evident of a union with Jesus Christ.

Paul speaks of this in Romans, using Abraham as an illustration.  Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation.  What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith?  Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him?  If so, he would have had something to boast about.  But from God’s point of view, Abraham had no basis at all for pride.  For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  When people work, their wages are not a gift.  Workers earn what they receive.  “However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”  Romans 4:1-5

There is no contradiction between these verses in James and Romans.  Paul stresses the root of faith, while James stresses the fruit of faith.  Paul looks at our salvation from the Divine perspective, and James looks at it from the human perspective.  Paul sees the fire, and James sees the smoke coming out of the chimney.  The two go hand in hand.

Is your faith evident to those around you?  Does your faith penetrate your character and actions?  Can others tell that you love the Lord?

Prayer Focus:  Lord, increase the faith of every member of our church so that it is obviously visible to the outside world.  Pray Matthew 5:16, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”

March 14, 2017

                      DAY TWENTY-ONE                     

March 14, 2017

Power Of Love

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” I Peter 4:8

A woman named Beth was driving her husband Jim’s pride and joy, a little green MG.  He had labored over this car for hours every Saturday for four years.  He had wanted a car like this for almost all of his life.  As Beth was driving, she saw a boy on a bicycle and swerved to avoid him.  She heard the little car being crunched, scraped, and the glass breaking.  Another driver stopped to help her out of the car.  She was dazed but not hurt when the police officer approached her and asked for her insurance papers.

She did not so much fear the wrath of her husband, for he was gentle and nice, but she feared the great disappointment he would have.  She dreaded the hurt and anguish she would see on his face.

As she went to the glove compartment to get the insurance papers, she found them in a plastic package.  To her surprise on top of all the documents was a white envelope with her name on it.  She opened it and began to read:  “Dear Beth, if you are reading this, you have probably been in an accident.  Don’t worry.  I pray that you are all right, and just remember it is you that I love.  Jim”

The best of us have wrecked our lives at times.  We have made a mess.  We have loved darkness rather than light.  But the cross is God’s statement to us that no matter how much we have wrecked our lives and disappointed Him, He says, “Remember it is you I love.”

Prayer Focus:  Spend time in prayer adoring God for His love.  Pray that as we move forward as a church, we will always cultivate a loving relationship with God and each other.  Ask the Lord what Fred Wes family member you can reach out to today, expressing His love.

March 13, 2017

                                               

DAY TWENTY

March 13, 2017

Power To Transform

“For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.” Colossians 1:13

One of our problems today is that we trivialize sin, Satan, salvation, and the Savior.  We have reduced sin to what we call minor complexes and simple problems.  Satan has become simply a myth, a joke or a cartoon character.  In reality, he is the very real god of this world, the chief of an innumerable company of demons, the father of all unbelievers and the ruling monarch of darkness. 

Salvation has been reduced to a mere intellectual decision rather than a transformation of life.  Our Savior has been trivialized to simply another religious leader.  In the New Testament, Jesus never asks for compliments or tribute from those who reject His claims as Messiah.  He stands alone as the “only begotten of the Father.”  He made the claims that “He and the Father are one.”  He claims to be the only way to heaven.  We may trivialize these things, but in light of eternity, it is not a trivial pursuit.  The very word salvation stands for all God the Father has done to rescue us from our fallen condition.  The New Testament presents our salvation, not as a mere decision, but a miraculous, supernatural deliverance!  Colossians stands as a book that is a wake‑up call to the powerful truths about our salvation.  Never trivialize what it took to save you.

Prayer Focus:  Today is the halfway point in our 40 days of prayer and fasting.  Pray that our prayer warriors will be encouraged in some way today.  Pray that God’s people at Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church will continue to strive to deepen their relationship with God on a daily basis and that generous giving on Commitment Sunday will result because of their increased faith.  Ask God to help you never to trivialize His love.

March 12, 2017

                                                   

DAY NINETEEN

March 12, 2017

Powerful Jesus

“At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from Him.  He turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” Mark 5:30

In Mark, chapter five, we have three important incidents in the life of the Lord Jesus.  It is within the context of these events that Jesus revealed Himself as the powerful Son of God.  In the first event, Jesus revealed Himself as more powerful than demons.  He went along with His disciples to the most demon-possessed man in all the country.  When Jesus showed up, the demons immediately began to beg for mercy.  With one word the demons left this man, never to return.  We also see Jesus revealed as more powerful than death in this passage.  When Jairus’ daughter fell ill, he sought Jesus out to come and heal her.  But before they could arrive, the girl had died.  Jesus, nevertheless, restored her life by the power of His word.  In the middle of these two great revelations, there is a rather small incident where Jesus showed Himself more powerful than disease.  It falls almost as parentheses to the greater event of the raising of Jairus’ daughter from the dead, but there are still some important truths about the touch of faith.

This healing event shows us that we should not only have spiritual life, but we should also have spiritual health individually and in our corporate church body.  Many have received salvation and have spiritual life, but are not well.  Jesus says in John 10:10, “… I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  The way to experience spiritual health is the same way to experience spiritual life – that is to come into contact with Jesus.

Prayer Focus:  Ask God to give spiritual health to our corporate church body and to you as an individual.

March 11, 2017

                                                 

DAY EIGHTEEN

March 11, 2017

Power For The Future

“Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid.  Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today…The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’” Exodus 14:13-14

God’s power does not operate until we move beyond the realm of our possibilities.  As long as we can do it in our own strength, there is no need for God to display His power.  We must move beyond our abilities if a watching world will ever see the power of God.  This feat is seen clearly in our text as the recently freed Hebrew slaves found themselves surrounded by impossibilities.  Before them was a sea that could not be crossed.  Beside them was a barren wasteland.  Behind them was an enemy that desired to capture them and take them back to where they had been.  In this difficult situation they had three options:

They could go back.

They could stand still.

They could go forward.

For the children of God, there is only one real option - go forward!  As we move forward under God’s direction and by His power, we must be careful.  Around us are many roads that can only lead to defeat and death.  Doctrinal deviation, isolation, cowardly compromise, and division are to be avoided.

Before us there is a future.  There is a land that flows with milk and honey.  This future is as bright and powerful as the promises of God that we find in Scripture.

Prayer Focus:  Pray that Fred Wes will not be afraid to move forward with God.  Ask God to give you a promise out of His word to claim for our church.  Pray about an area of your life that needs to move forward.

March 10, 2017

                                               

DAY SEVENTEEN

March 10, 2017

Power!

“…His incomparably great power for us who believe.  That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the Heavenly realms…” Ephesians 1:19-20

One of the greatest needs in the church today is power; not political power, not manipulative power, not fleshly power, but heaven-sent, Holy Spirit anointed power.  The source of all power is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God.  The Bible tell us in Romans 1:16, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”  The Bible continues to state this truth again in I Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

If the Bible is the source of all power, and there are lots of copies out there, then why are there not more changed lives?  Could it be that we are missing the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Acts 1:8 it says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

How is it possible to read the Bible and yet be unaffected by it?  The root of the issue is what you define as truth.  Do you believe that everything in the Bible is true and that it is from God and that the power of the Holy Spirit is for you?  For the Christian, power and truth are inseparably linked together.  Paul says in Ephesians 6:17, “Take the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”  God gives us spiritual power when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We understand the operation of the Holy Spirit through Scripture.  Consider today’s devotional a challenge to be filled with the Holy Spirit and memorize a new Scripture verse.  Then you can claim the promise of its power. Why not start with Acts 1:8?

Prayer Focus: Pray that the people of Fredericksburg Wesleyan Church will be a powerhouse for God because we daily put on His armor and are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  This armor includes the belt of truth, the body armor of God’s righteousness, the shoes of peace that come from the Good News, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God, and that we will be a people who pray at all times (see Ephesians 6:10-18).  Pray that we will have a genuine love for God’s truth and will claim its power.