... But by the Spirit!!

Today morning I woke up and sought the Lord, drenched in sleep and snoring away I still managed to wake up, not by my power, nor strength.

I have been a Christian for quite some time, yet for all this I can say that one thing remains, if you try to uphold your salvation or do anything for God by your power or might, you end up losing!

He says in His word that His grace is sufficient in every time of need. Grace here implies the favor of God, which means if, rather, when you find favor in God His wonder working exceeding abundantly ability to do whatsoever falls upon you, and like Daniel says, “you will do exploits!”^a

This is the promise that the Lord has given us, don’t be like “God helps those who help themselves,” rather, “His strength is made perfect in weakness,” when you finally admit that “God I cannot do this as good as I want or as it’s supposed to be done,” that’s when God comes in and aids. That’s why Paul says, “I boast in my infirmities, for when I am weak then I am strong in the Lord!”^b

When God told Zechariah to pass the message to Zerubabbel telling him that “it’s not by power, nor by might, but by the Spirit,”^c I believe he meant it! However just to be clear this doesn’t mean you sit down and expect the Lord to do it all, do your part, to the best of your ability, with all that you have and leave the rest up to Him, trust me, He’s got you!

^a Daniel 11:32

^b 2 Corinthians 12:9

^c Zechariah 4:6

Tonight could be one of those night s when you just want to jump in bed and sleep, forget the day’s woes and cling to slumber till tomorrow. But I will not let it be so, for I know today is the day that the Lord has made and thus I should joy and be glad in it. I will forget my woes for a moment and take time to tell God thank you for the wonderful time He has given me. For the privilege He has bestowed upon me to even exist in this world He created and the time He has spent with me because I know like Moses that no matter how dark and gloomy the world might seem now it would have been much worse if I was without my God and King.

Yes, as in the morning I have a reason to say thank you both in the good days and the bad days.  For no matter what I hold tight to the fact that He loves me and spends time with me and all through the day He has been hard at work both protecting me and covering me. I know that He never leaves me nor forsakes me… He never has nor will He ever, for He made that promise to me through His holy scriptures.

As I sleep tonight, I present myself to my God that He may joy in the Praises just as I have joyed in His providence. I seek to at least please Him for all that H has done for me.

Lord, thank oyu that you would take time and spend with me, to crown me King amongst this nation. I have Loved you with an everlasting love and so now I seek that you may come and find fulfillment from the overflowing of thanksgiving to you. Lord, I do not seek to give back all that you have done for me caus I know that there is nothing that I can do that will ever be befitting or somehow make me worthy of your love, but, I come to show you my gratitude for all that you do in me, relentlessly building me up and even when I sometimes stand on the way of fulfillment I know you are with me.

Jesus, my life is in your hands, and I thank you for the fact that as long as I have been with You, I have no cause to complain. You are so worthy and I marvel at your greatness.

Be magnified Oh Lord and even as I sleep, be not far from me no, but always be ever near me, with me and in me, to lead and to guide, to exhort and to discipline, and in all my life I give myself to your capable hands. I Love you Lord, and that cannot be expressed enough. Thank you that you continually fill my cup to overflowing, to more than I can be. And thank you that you have given me a chance and a purpose to love you and to serve you, to be even considered as a little dog in your house is a honor beyond imagining. So come love me Oh Lord, and come fill my Heat with great tidings. I love and adore you Jesus.

Jesus, as I offer my worship to you, hear me, draw near to me and tomorrow wake me up early tht I may go to Morning Devotion to seek your face, and that I should spend more time with You both my benefit and your pleasure.For all you goodness I will keep on praising youfrom the rising of the sun through to the next rising. Unceasingly. I truly do love you, good night God, come and fill me with sweet dreams, and may I learn to seek your face all the more.

I pray this prayer with joy in my heart and the warmth of your Holy Spirit in dwelling my soul, so now as I take to my beddings, I have to confess I don’t want to part from you, and to stay away from your marvelously great wondrous self. Come River of Mercy, your son longs for you, as the deer longs for streams of water. I love you blessed love, and I treasure you majestic King. I cannot stop singing of your great love, and neither can I stop magnifying your Throne of Grace.

Oh Jesus Christ he Righteous, I worship you. Thank You that you are my advocate, and that I am your temple. Oh Holy Spirit, I worship for you do not consider it beneath you to dwell in us, earthen vessels, but still in fact You do come and fellowship with us. Thank you for all Your goodness and all the much that You have helped me. I sleep knowing that I will be in your arms tonight.

Thank you Father, for your gaze always follows me, and that you, Majesty and Ultimate authority, still take time to talk to me. It is so precious to hear You, and to eat of your table. Thank you that you do still consider me even as Your son, and have never taken time off me when I need you.

Thank you God, and thank you for being with me for the period of this prayer. As I now key in my summations, I can’t wait to be united with you in my dreams. God, may we have a lovely night together. In Jesus name, AMEN.

I love stories, so here is one for you. I call it the tale of a headless bull: here goes.

I once heard of a bull that was led to the slaughter. Now for those who do not know, you can never slaughter a conscious bull, so they are first knocked unconscious before the slitting of the throat.

So in this case, our bull was knocked down as usual, what the butcher did not know, or did not bother to find out, was that the fallen bull was not really out, but just greatly weakened by the impact of the axe against its forehead. So as the butcher and his men busied themselves to take out the head, the bull suddenly arose, only this time, it was minus the head.

Stunned and perturbed, the men staggered away from the beast, and as they watched, the headless animal shot out from the slaughterhouse in full speed… the animal is not thinking, just running, each of the muscles doing what they were made to do, following the blind torso which cannot even think let alone see, bleeding out as it does so. Needless to say, this bull is heading for its death. Regardless of the power or might, or whatever else that might propel this beast, the poor devil is going to plummet to his death, and it’s just a matter of when it does.

Whenever I think of this story the words that come to mind are, “Children of wrath.” To describe this term I’ll use another illustration: imagine a vehicle speeding in a highway at a speed beyond a hundred kilometers per hour and up front there is a sharp bend on the road.  The driver goes to step on the brakes only to realize that they have failed, the steering is also effectively lost. By all intense and purposes that vehicle has just become a child of wrath, courting death. By this we see that that vehicle is headed for death, with absolute finality, one can conclusively say and bank on the fact that the vehicle will crash, in a messy way in fact.

Yet it is by this term that Paul uses to describe people before they come to Christ: Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.(NKJV)

With absolute finality we were headed towards death, no two way about it. Yet not death in the physical sense, but biblical death: the kind where according to Jesus both your soul and flesh is destroyed in hell fire.

In another illustration, we see the disciples of Jesus wondering among themselves, “who then can be saved?” this is after Jesus finished his chat with the rich young ruler and conclusively said that “For the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it would be as hard as a camel entering the eye of a needle.” This is in Mark 10:26 And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?"(NKJV)

They probably thought that it was easier to save the poor, maybe it is, but that was not Jesus’ answer when He perceived what they were asking amongst themselves. Jesus answered saying that with man this is impossible. He did not say improbable, or hard, a most difficult task, no, He said, IMPOSSIBLE!!!

So if there is any thought in you about how you can remain holy, let me break it down to you, YOU CAN’T!! Just like you can’t jump out of your own skin, or lose your head and still live, you cannot hold your righteousness before the Lord. In fact, He even told Isaiah that our righteousness is like filthy rags, polluted garments, (depending on the version you’re using) in Isaiah 64:6.

Yet this is our stark reality, in black and white. This is the quagmire we find ourselves in, buried in a state we cannot even pull ourselves out of, in other words, UTTER HOPELESSNESS.

One last illustration: I remember a Son, crying and seriously praying to His Father until His sweats becomes like blood, that the cup of suffering should be taken away from Him in Matthew 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."(NKJV)

If there could have been any other way or a chance that Jesus would have avoided the death sentence don’t you think He’d have taken it, but in pain and deep hurt He said in Matthew 26:42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."(NKJV)

That is why Paul says to Galatians that if there was any other way for us to be freed from sin, then Christ died in Vain. That is the fact, Jesus died so that He may pay the Price for our sins, DEATH. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.(NKJV)

And that is the fact of the matter, it is a gift bestowed not because of our righteousness, but because we believe in Him, our Lord and Savior. Jesus died for you, for me, for all, such that, “Whosoever believes should not perish, but have eternal life!”

Finally Jesus stands up and says, John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.(NKJV).

So in the end it really is just a matter of choice, to have Life, and life more abundantly, or to lose it, be killed and destroyed??

That’s my question to you today, pick one that seems best to you.