Debtor_40 day journey_header
DAY 18: Pleasure                                                                               June 18, 2015
 
"On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God
 to be entrusted with the gospel.
We are not trying to please men but God,
who tests our hearts."
(1 Thessalonians 2:4)
MORNING DEVOTION - "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee..." (Psalm 63:1)
 
Scripture Reading: John 15:1-8
 
In this morning's devotion we discover the secret to true power in prevailing prayer:  The abiding life.  "It you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.  By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples" (vv. 7, 8).  Our intimacy with Christ, in close fellowship in the secret place of prayer, is absolutely essential to our daily walk with God.  He is the vine, and we are the branches.  Apart from this close union with Christ - a life of absolute dependence upon God - we are powerless. "For without Me you can do nothing" (v.5b).  If there is indeed a deficit of spiritual power in the Church today, we can trace the cause back to our lack of dependence upon the Vine; where we have failed to maintain our living and vital connection.  "He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow" (Colossians 2:19).

Our greatest necessity, as children of God, is to have the life of Christ working in us.  It is here, in the abiding life, that we tap into all power necessary for life.  The sap which flows from our True Vine is what gives us, the branches, our life, and through which all spiritual fruit is born.  "This is to My Father's glory, that you bear much fruit..."  A life that learns to abide in Christ is what pleases the Father.  There is no greater work for the Christian than that of abiding in the Vine.  So often our service and ministry for God is what robs us of spending intimate time in prayer with the Lord.  But as one saint has said: "We have not been called to some great work - we have been called to Christ."  The work we, as believers, are called to do is to bear fruit, much fruit; and this comes from accepting as our greatest occupation the abiding life. Our work is to simply abide in the Vine and receive from Him the spiritual sap which will produce spiritual fruit.  "I am the vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit."
 
Heavenly Father,    
What a blessed work and honor
it is to maintain this living and loving connection with You. 
For only by living a life of absolute dependence upon You 
will I experience Your power, peace, and rest.
Thank You that You carry for me the full responsibility of providing 
the sap, Your Holy Spirit, who will produce the fruit which will glorify You
as I daily learn to rest and abide in You.
Help me to take advantage of every moment in my day
for quiet fellowship with You, so You can work in me all that 
in necessary to bring glory and honor to Your name.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.
 
 
This morning let us reflect on the moments we spend alone with the Lord. Can we say with confidence that we have truly entered into the abiding life - the place of close communion with the Father - where our work is to simply rest in Him and allow Him full access to our hearts?  As we carve out this precious time this morning for prayer, let us consider what is occupying our minds. Does the Lord have our full and undivided attention, or are we concerned with so many other things that we are being pulled away from our most vital connection and find that we have lost necessary power and are failing to bear much fruit?  Let us attach ourselves securely to the Vine and give Him complete access to our hearts, so He can fill us with the fullness of His life through the Holy Spirit who will produce in us His spiritual fruit that will nourish and feed a hungry world with the love of Christ.  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23).
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AFTERNOON DEVOTION - "Evening, and morning, and noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice" (Psalm 55:17, KJV).

 


Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-10
  

 

Our life, as Christians, is not our own.  We have been bought with a price; with the precious blood of Christ.  We have been "accepted in the Beloved;"  "according to the good pleasure of His will" (v.5 ,6).  Our life is therefore meant to be one of totally dependence upon the Vine.  We have been grafted in (reference Romans 11:17). It is vital that we give ourselves completely over to the Lord, so He can work His good purpose in and through us.  Jesus gave up everything for us, and all He asks in return is that we trust Him completely to finish the work which He began in us.  His is a glorious work, and ours is simply to receive all that He has purposed to pour into us. "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10b). 

 

It should be our highest pursuit and joy to do that which pleases our heavenly Father.  Sadly, many believers are not living their lives fully surrender to the Lord.  Though we may not admit it, we live much of our life for ourselves, and we deny the Father what He desires and deserves - intimate fellowship and close communion with His children.  We are limiting His power in our lives, and in the Church, because we hold back from Him what is rightfully His, and do not seek Him as we ought to in His Word and prayer.   May we learn to lay everything at His feet when we enter into His presence in prayer - and leave it under His watchful and tender care.  "Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1-2).

Heavenly Father,

How dearly I want to honor You with my life,

and do all to pleases You.

I want You to have all of Me, and all I want is all of You.

Fill me to full measure with Your life and power,

so I can live my life completely surrendered to You.

In You alone, Lord Jesus, am I satisfied.

Help me today and every day learn to depend fully upon You,

 letting You do with my life whatever You will.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

It seems we often pray for healing and deliverance with arms lifted up in desperation, while our feet are firmly planted in the world.  We want all that God has for us - His abundant blessings and infinite power, but we aren't willing to give Him all of us; our will is not fully surrender to His will.  When we don't pray as often or as long as we should we keep ourselves distant from the Lord, and we miss out on the close and tender relationship our heavenly Father desires to have with us,  and we limit His blessing and power in our lives; not to mention the blessings of ourselves which we rob from Him.   This afternoon let us pray and ask the Lord to reveal those areas of our life that we have kept for ourselves and have not fully surrendered to Him. Let us be willing to surrender ourselves fully, so that we can abide completely in Him, giving the Father all that He desires and putting ourselves in a position to receive all that He has for us.  "...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose" (Philippians 2:13).

 

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EVENING MEDITATION - "...and on His law he meditates day and night" (Psalm 1:2)  


Scripture Reading: Psalm 1
 

How blessed we are when we live our lives surrendered to the Lord and separated from the world.  It's been said that God cannot fill a full vessel.  We need to be emptied entirely of ourselves in order for our Father in heaven to fill us with His abundant and abiding life.  There is a great work He desires to do in our lives, and dead life that He needs to prune out of our lives, so that we will flourish and be fruitful.  "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (v. 3).  Our Creator has purposed our lives for His good pleasure and to become a useful vessel through which He can pour His love and blessing into the world. The Lord gives all of Himself to the heart that is ready to receive Him.  He will pour His life, and love, and power, and blessing into our lives if we are willing to fully yield ourselves to Him. "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him" (2 Chronicles 16:9).   This evening, let us ask the Lord to lead us day by day into closer fellowship and complete surrender as we meet with Him in prayer and give our attention to His Word, so that we can live our lives with deeper dependence and whole-hearted devotion, and doing all to please Him and bring glory to His holy name.


 

Heavenly Father,

"Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me from Your presence

or take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Psalm 51:10-12)

Prepare me day by day to become an

instrument of Your glory. 

I ask the same for Your Church,

that we would be "called oaks of righteousness,

a planting of the LORD

for the display of His splendor." (Isaiah 61:3b)

In Jesus' Name. Amen.


 


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"Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue...
Listening to God's voice is the secret of the assurance
that He will listen to mine."
- Andrew Murray
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DEBTOR: Labor of Love 40 Days of Prayer
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