Life Lessons from God's Word
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We were meant to Serve
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: We were meant to Serve: Luke 22:27 [Full Chapter] For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Y...
We were meant to Serve
For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or
he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I
am among you as the One who serves.
But not
so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as
the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.
For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you
as the One who serves.
For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men.
[The
Good News of Salvation ] “The
Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings
to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to
the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of
our God; To comfort all who mourn,
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there
in the land of Moab
So
let it be established, that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel Israel
Now
You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may
continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.”
and
said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant.
And I
will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you
may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you
have said.”
And he
said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and
spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your
way.” And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”
[God the Sovereign Savior ] [To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:] I will love
You, O Lord,
my strength.
The Lord redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who
trust in Him shall be condemned.
[The Majesty and Condescension of God ] Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord!
O Lord, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant,
the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my
bonds.
Behold,
as the eyes of servants look to the hand of
their masters, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So our eyes look to the Lord our God, Until He has mercy on us.
[Praising the Lord in His House at Night ] [A Song of Ascents.] Behold, bless the Lord, All you servants of the Lord, Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!
[ Polluted Offerings ] “A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My
name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’
And
a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all,
able to teach, patient,
They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true areYour ways, O King of the saints!
[ The Time Is Near ] Then
he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show
His servants the things which must shortly take place.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright
© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
My Comments: What does it mean to serve? To serve God? To be
of service? This is something one ponders as they come to know the Lord and all
He did for us. He did not count it wrong to come as a servant of all mankind
and take upon Himself the sin of all mankind so they would be saved. He showed
us how to serve in the ultimate service. Yet mankind wants to serve themselves.
We can see this is our fast society of “gimme what I want
now” and “I deserve it” mentality. To be
of service to another is looked down upon, frowned upon and children are taught
to do things for themselves. Some equate
serving others as losing themselves. Some think they are “less” if they serve.
When all of that is untrue. One who serves is to be cherished.
We see our service men and women, police, firemen, Medical
Personnel, Pastors, Missionaries and so forth serving and know those are
admirable people yet so are others who serve. Mom’s serve their families all
the time by giving of their time, energy and often letting go of their dreams
to care for and nurture their children. Dad’s sacrifice by sometimes taking
jobs or more than one job to care for and support their families and often both
serve aging parents. There are all admirable qualities of self sacrificial
love.
Yet the greatest servant hood is given to God through His
Son Jesus. When we accept the Kingship of Jesus and become adopted into the
family of God we then move into serving Father God in all we say, think and do
and with all He has given and entrusted to us.
From the beginning we see mankind serving God. It is a
choice to be God’s children. Moses a servant of God led the rebellious nation
of Israel to
safety and the Promised Land. David
became a King and though he fell he always turned back to God and served Him
who created everything. We know of Missionaries who have gone to very dangerous
places to reach the unsaved, to take the word of God, to serve as Jesus
commanded when He said, “Go into all the World.” How does this look for us?
When we accept the salvation of Jesus, His Gospel of
Redemption, acknowledge Him as Lord of our life then we accept that like Him we
are servants to all in His name. Our life, goals, focus becomes what a good
servants focus is… the life, goals and focus of our Lord! We word to bring
others to the knowledge and salvation of Jesus and we give our all to do this.
We give everything He has put at our disposal to accomplish this. We give our
time, money and of ourselves as He did with a joyful heart and sometimes
praying, “If this cup can be taken away from me yet not as I will but as You
will Father.” If we keep our eyes on Him who gave all and keep in a strong walk
with Abba Father then we will not falter and many will come to know God through
our servant hood and His love through us as long as we do not buy into the worlds
view of what life should look like and remember who we belong to. We were meant to serve the God of the Universe not to serve man or ourselves as the world would have us believe or as our sin nature would have us believe. The lie of Satan is to get us to believe we should be served. This is not true. We were meant to serve God by being of service to others.
Abba Father, guide us in the steps we should take, help us
to be bold as we proclaim the Gospel of Jesus and keep us humbly before You.
Give us strength to serve whoever You want us to and wherever You want us to.
Thank You for sending Jesus Your Son to show us the way to serve You. Fill us
with Your love for all who are perishing. May we find joy in serving You
always. In Jesus name in union with the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen
Rebishka
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Words of Jesus
JoAnn's Spiritual Lessons: The Words of Jesus: John 14:6 [Full Chapter] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. ...
The Words of Jesus
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Bible
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But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to
fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You
shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it
is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall
serve.’”
[ Jesus Forbids Oaths ] “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear
falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’
And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but
go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses
commanded, as a testimony to them.”
And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed,
“Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as
you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his
servant was healed that same hour.
And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of
the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere
to lay His head.”
But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead
bury their own dead.”
Then
behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good
cheer; your sins are forgiven you.”
But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in
your hearts?
[ Matthew the Tax Collector ] As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man
named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and
followed Him.
When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no
need of a physician, but those who are sick.
And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the
bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come
when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer,
daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that
hour.
And when
He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am
able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
[ Jesus Gives True Rest ] At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed
them to babes.
But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided
against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided
against itself will not stand.
Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all
these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”
So they
were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not
without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”
But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away.
You give them something to eat.”
So He said, “Come.” And when Peter
had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
And
immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why
did you doubt?”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright
© 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
My Comments: Jesus speaks through the whole Bible to us
yet there were times recorded in the New Testament where He walked and talked,
ate and lived within the confines of a human body. He spoke to the people He
interacted with on a daily basis and yet we only have few words quoted by Him.
I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the
words the Holy Spirit prompted Jesus’ followers to write down. These words
would be well to be written in our hearts and minds and used to compare the
rest of the Word of God so we will know and understand what the Lord has for us
to do.
There are many more of His words I do not have here and
if this is a study of interest to you let me know in the comments and I will
increase this study. In fact if there is something you would like for me to
study let me know and I will endeavor to do so.
Abba Father You sent Your Son so we may know You better.
So we may know Your truths better He spoke so His Words which are Your Words,
would be written down so we would have greater knowledge that leads to wisdom.
Open our eyes to your truths. Send Your Holy Spirit to guide us each time we
open Your Word. Help us to grow in our walk daily with You by nourishing our
souls with Your Holy Word.
Lord Jesus You came to shine Your light into our dark
world that we may live. Your sent the Holy Spirit so we would understand and
have a deeper relationship with the Father through You. You and the Father are
one with the Spirit.
May we all dwell on Your truths, feed on Your Word and
follow Your light. Thank You for all You show us, all You do and have done and
for the gift of Salvation. May we all accept Your free gift. In Jesus name in
union with the Holy Spirit I pray. Amen.
Rebishka
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