SDCCM Blog

1 John 3:1 – See how great a love the father has bestowed on us, that we would be called the children of God, and such we are.

For the next few devotions we will consider expressions of the Father’s Love.

In the Garden – God’s love is revealed through the boundaries He set for His creation. Adam was given assignments by the Lord. If he stayed within the boundaries the Lord gave, Adam would increase in the favor of God. He was given responsibility for the care of the entire Garden. He was to protect the Garden from any harm, and he was assigned the naming of all the animals. Eve’s call was as a helpmeet to Adam’s work. Proverbs 31 gives us God’s view of the virtuous women. Adam and Eve only had one area forbidden by the Lord. Don’t eat of the tree in the middle of the Garden (Genesis 2:17). Knowledge comes from God through intimacy with Him. Adam and Eve forsook that principle and lost the presence of the Lord’s favor. In God’s love He made a promise of redemption through the seed of the woman.

On the Mountain – God’s love is revealed through Moral Law. Moral law is the foundation for freedom, health, and prosperity which the Father wants for His children. Found recorded in Exodus 20:1-7 are 10 Commandments, four upward and six outward, The Law was not done away, but fulfilled, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:17-19). Jesus summed up the Law when He said, “You Shall Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart, And With All Your Soul, And With All Your Mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You Shall Love Your Neighbor As Yourself.’ On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matt 22:37-40).

God’s love is then revealed as He sets boundaries around our lives. These boundaries are to protect us from the schemes of the enemy and to prepare us for God’s purpose and His determined destiny for every believer. His Moral law is the expression of His love for society. Through moral law, God’s people can grow in freedom, remain healthy, and develop financially for their own welfare and to bless others through God’s favor.

Father, I thank You for both “boundaries’ and “Moral Law” to protect and guide me. I receive Your freedom, health, and prosperity in my life.

2 Timothy 1:14 – Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

I have not been able to move on from this instructive word of Paul to Timothy. I have been asking myself before the Lord, “How well do I guard the treasure?” The treasure is Jesus Christ and the life He has given to each believer. That life came through the power of the Holy Spirit and can only be kept through His power as well. Paul says to “guard” through the Holy Spirit. Daily I need to be asking the Holy Spirit for His help to protect what the Lord has given to me by His grace.

Life is filled with little foxes that “spoil the vines.” “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, while our vineyards are in blossom” (Song of Solomon 2:15). Foxes quietly sneak into the vineyard and ravage the vines while the owner of the vineyard is asleep. The enemy tries to sneak into the vineyard of our lives in order to spoil what the Lord has been growing. It is important to be diligent in guarding the treasure of His life that lives inside of us. We do this by guarding our life through the Holy Spirit. We are the Lord’s vineyard and He is looking for the fruit of the vine which Jesus calls “the new wine.”

I believe the little foxes to be “the cares of the world.” It is a subtitle because the cares of the world are tied closely with the daily needs to sustain living in this natural life. We all have basic needs which the Lord promises to supply. “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:31-33).

Part of the task of guarding is to not worry. We are to trust our heavenly Father for all. Another part of guarding is to “seek first God’s Kingdom.” It is important to evaluate our life by looking at our priorities. Does the kingdom of God take first place in everything? If not, stop and repent and then surrender that area to the Lord. Immediately ask for the Holy Spirit’s power to help you. Look up the word “guard” in a concordance and see how often believers are instructed “to guard” particular areas of their lives.

Father, I ask You to raise the level of my awareness of guarding the treasure You have entrusted to me. Show me the “little foxes” so I can drive them off and protect the vines that You are growing to produce the fruit of new wine. I trust in the help of Your Holy Spirit who “dwells in me.

2 Timothy 1:13 – Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard of me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Words are about as important as anything can be. Words form the basis of communication, understanding, and being able to successfully move forward toward a goal. There are many kinds of words spoken among people. There are foolish words, silly words, and meaningless words. There are sound words, educated words, and eternal words. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). It is a worthwhile activity to go through the Book of Proverbs and study all that Solomon writes concerning words.

Paul encourages Timothy, a spokesperson for Paul and called of God, to “retain the standard of sound words” (emphasis mine). When under pressure, it is easy to speak from our emotions rather than sound, well-thought-through words. Timothy was under pressure as Paul’s deputy to the church at Ephesus. Timothy felt pressure because he was young and correcting older individuals (1 Timothy 4:12). He felt pressure because many were “teaching strange doctrines, myths, and endless genealogies” (1Timothy 1:3-4).

There has never been a day like the one in which we live. It is a day of many words from so many people. There are words coming from books, magazines, cable TV, satellites, videos, and talk radio. Consider the diversity of the Internet, such as YouTube, Facebook, Tweeter and the like. As we read, watch, and listen, we must take Paul’s counsel to Timothy seriously, “retain the standard of sound words.” This standard, of which Paul speaks, is a standard that begins with the “Word of God.” All truth is eternal! Jesus declares, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away” (Matthew 24:35). What Jesus spoke in Matthew 24 came to pass in 70 AD in the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem. Throughout His ministry, He gave God’s people, Israel, “sound words.” Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the apostles gave to mankind the writings of the New Testament.

Western civilization has much of its foundation laid in the writings of the Scripture. The educational system of America was originally grounded in the words of the Bible. Noah Webster, the Father of American Christian education, wrote the first American dictionary and established a system of rules to govern spelling, grammar, and reading. This master linguist understood the power of words, their definitions, and the need for precise word usage in communication to maintain independence. Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his definitions.

Father, I ask that You help me retain the standard of sound words. Give me an increased love for the Word of God. Holy Spirit, direct my thinking and my words to line up with the eternal truths revealed in Scripture. I ask to be used to help others in their thinking and their speaking as well.

Mark 16:19 – When the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere.

Jesus prepared His disciples for three and a half years. He gave them some final instructions and then was “received up into heaven” to be seated next to His Father. Please notice that Jesus was “received.” As believers, we have been received as well. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). Both Jesus and His Father had worked (John 5:17). Now it was time for the disciples to go to work. Our work must come out of what the Father and the Son have done. It comes from their resting position, seated in heaven.

The “Work” is finished, but as His disciples, we are cleaning up the mess in the lives of those for whom Jesus died and rose again. We are His “workers”! The starting point for our work is to be His witnesses. “You will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15:27). It started with the apostles testifying of the Lord’s finished work for Israel. Paul took the message to the Gentiles as a result of the revelation that God had extended salvation to all peoples in the earth. We have received the “witness” of the apostles if we have put our faith in God’s finished work in Christ Jesus, the Lord. We not only have received salvation, but are on assignment to declare to others that, Christ is alive and He reigns over the nations.

Receiving the Lord implies a sense of responsibility. His salvation is free in the sense that God purchased us with the shed blood of His Son. Jesus freely gave His life for the sins of the world. In receiving God’s salvation, we are submitting ourselves to His authority over our lives. He is now our King! His mandate to the apostles now applies to us, “Go” into the entire world. “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). The Gospel of Mark says they “preached everywhere” (Mark 16:19).

Father, I thank You for my salvation in Christ Jesus. Help me to be faithful in my responsibility to share with others what You have accomplished through Your Son. Thank You for the authority I have received because of Your finished work. I commit myself to finish the work You have called me to accomplish. I rest in Your power and not my own strength!

Matthew 16:18 – I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.

Jesus came to build His church. He did not come to start a church, but to build a church. Building requires a sure footing on which a foundation can be laid. Once the foundation is laid, then the building can begin. As Jesus is talking with His disciples in Matthew 16, He asks them what the general consensus is among the people about His identity. He then got more specific with them and asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter boldly states, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Upon Peter’s statement, Jesus goes on to tell His disciples that “upon this rock I will build My church.” What rock? The eternal truth that Peter had stated!

The name Christ means, “The Anointed One” or “Messiah.” He is not only “God’s Anointed One,” but the living Son of God. The Christian faith is rooted in this eternal truth. If any one does not believe this, they are not Christian. Jesus gave up His human life on the cross, in order to build a “new building” from His resurrected life. His whole spirit, soul, and body were raised from the dead on the third day by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“You are no longer strangers and aliens, but follow-citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Jesus the Rock, Jesus the Builder, Jesus who laid the foundation in both His Apostles and Prophets is building by using people as the stones of His church building. “Coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4-6). The Church is not mortar or brick. The Church is not an ecclesiastical system. The Church is a people made alive by the Holy Spirit. The Church is not “static,” but “dynamic” in its spiritual core. In other words, The Church is alive on earth. Another metaphor which Jesus used in John 15 is that we are branches which are attached to Him, a fruit-bearing Vine. Today, celebrate your life in Christ as a living stone and a fruit-bearing branch for His glory!

Father, I thank You for raising me up from the dead in Christ. Thank You for the breath of Your Holy Spirit who causes me to be a living stone in the building You are building in the earth by Your Son Jesus, the Christ. Cause me to be a dynamic force for Your glory in my sphere of influence.

Matthew 6:10 – Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

For the believer in Christ, there should be no question about the ultimate fulfillment of God’s government. E. Stanly Jones said, “Every man is built for the Kingdom. Even the most hardened sinner, and intransigent violator of God’s law is constitutionally structured to relate to God’s Kingdom,” (What on Earth Is the Kingdom of God? by W.A. Young, Jr., page 115). Because we were created in the image of God, there is no rest outside of His Kingdom or Government. Saint Augustine said, “You made us for Yourself, and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.”

In Matthew 6:10, Jesus was helping His disciples understand the centrality of His message concerning the kingdom of God. “Your kingdom come” is not a request for some future event, but it is what the Father had begun in Christ during His earthly life. The disciples were seeing the kingdom of God beginning to be established in the Earth as they experienced life with Jesus. God’s will was realized in the cross as the Lord freely gave His life for lost humanity. The Day of Pentecost brought the fulfillment of what the Prophets had been looking for, God living in the person of a human being on earth. It was what Nebuchadnezzar saw in his forgotten dream which Daniel revealed, described, and interpreted. He saw a stone cut out of the mountain. A stone which grew until it became large and smashed the feet of the image. This was a prophetic picture of God’s kingdom being established in the earth and overcoming all other kingdoms on earth (Daniel 2:44-45).

The kingdom of God came in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God grew as believers received the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God continues to grow in the earth as believers surrender to God’s will and to His kingdom purposes. The nations are hearing the message today. God’s kingdom is growing in the earth. Repent and submit to the king. If you do, the blessing of heaven will come. If you refuse, God’s judgment will overcome your plans.

The emerging of the kingdom of God and the will of God being done in the earth is the future for all humanity. God’s kingdom will not be overcome by any other kingdom, as has been the experience of the nations throughout history. Will you permit the Holy Spirit to rule in your life today and walk in His favor?

Father, I choose to live under Your kingdom purposes. I thank You for Your grace that has led me to surrender to Your appointed King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please use me to declare Your governmental rule in the earth.