Learning Objective: Understand the POWERHOUSE link between forgiveness and love that Jesus showcases in Luke 7
Scriptures: Luke 7:36-50
Sweet Jesus, I want to experience the depth of your mercy and love, so much so that it spills out into the lives entrusted to my care. Help me to love first and then lead. To forgive myself and those in my life who have behaved in an ugly way, resulting in pain. Help me to set healthy boundaries to protect myself now moving forward. It is for freedom you have set me free, help me to stand firm and not allow myself to be burdened by the yoke of slavery due to lack of forgiveness.
Learning Objective: To Complain Less Today than Yesterday
Scriptures: Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:13-17
Holy Spirit, help me to give more authority to the strength of God within me than to dissatisfying circumstances outside of me. Forgive me when I forget that you are ALWAYS working on my behalf behind closed doors for a greater good when I place my trust and confidence in you.
Strengthen our weak minds and hearts that are too often ruled by the Teach us the power of a surrendered life to be used for your purposes which far outweigh momentary trials and tribulations we face on this earth-bound journey. Forgive us for forgetting that we are created by you, in you for your glory. This day YOU SET before us life and death, blessings and curses help us dear God to choose LIFE in you that we may LIVE in you for you and your glory.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
How to Flip Your Suffering into Courageous Victory in Christ
Learning Objective: Understand the value and power of suffering in, with and through Christ for a greater good than had the suffering never occurred. Romans 8:28
Dear Lord,
we are blind to the power of suffering in our lives. So much so that we seek
out ways to destroy that which causes us to suffer. We give you permission to
transform our understanding of suffering as it relates to the wisdom of those who
have gone before you and after your death and resurrection. Those who lived and
died in faith, believing in, relying on and trusting in YOU as their hope and redeemer
over circumstance. Help us to release the fear around the very experience that
delivered salvation into this world: suffering and persecution. Strengthen our
weak minds and hearts that are too often ruled by the worldly ways rather than
your will and death to self. Resurrect the power of the Spirit within us, the
very Spirit that rose your dead, scourged body from the grave. Too often we give
ourselves authority and permission to do what we feel is rightfully ours to do.
Forgive us for taking into our own hands the power of life and death. Teach us the
power of a surrendered life to be used for your purposes which far outweigh
momentary trials and tribulations we face on this earth-bound journey. Forgive
us for forgetting that we are created by you, in you for your glory. This day
YOU SET before us life and death, blessings and curses help us dear God to choose
LIFE in you that we may LIVE in you for you and your glory.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life in order
that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by
obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the
length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your
fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Discern the shadows in your life and take back your ability to dwell in the shadow of the Most High. Understand the gift of refuge you receive as a result of your choice to rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Dear Lord,
You are the only shadow I want to hide in. Deliver me from all the shadows in my life: past, present, future that hijack my true identity and confidence in you. Help me to recognize when I have jumped into someone else’s shadow, diluting the gifts and talents you have blessed me with along with my ability to own and act on the purpose you have for me on this journey of life. More of you…less of me. I want to dwell in YOUR shadow more today than yesterday and experience the safety and confidence that results from my choice to remain in you.
Too often I sit on the Mercy seat and cast stones at myself and others. How can I give out what I have not experienced within my own relationship with you? Help me to feel your Mercy and Love more today than yesterday. Increase my desire to offer the kind of mercy you offered to the 120,000 people in Nineveh. Ignite within my heart the ability to rejoice in my brother’s and sister’s experience of your love and mercy more today than yesterday. Too often I am Jonah, angry and resentful that you are showing mercy to someone I don’t feel deserves it. “Let He who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus, John 8:7.
Make me aware of the ways the devil uses to get me off track from my desire to love and serve you. Help me to have the same strength you had when you were tempted in the desert after 40 days of fasting. You were weak, tired and hungry. I can relate to all of those conditions, yet you stood firm knowing your identity and declaring it. Increase my desire to spend time with you and reading the Holy Scriptures that testify about your faithfulness and love for me. Fill me with the strength of the same Spirit that rose your dead body to life so that I too can be victorious against the deceptive, accusatory and tempting attacks of the devil in my daily tasks. You are my Master in life and I choose to do life in, with and for the Glory of God.
Dear Lord, you had the amazing ability to pose the perfect questions at just the right time to guide others back to themselves as connected to your Heavenly Father. You created such safe space for people to examine where they where stuck in life as well as tuning into the desire to move beyond their circumstances into freedom. It is for Freedom that you have set us all free (Galatians 5:1). Help us to use effective questioning with ourselves and those entrusted to our care to help resurrect authentic identity and capability in and through you, just as you did for Peter, the blind man, the woman at the well and for me.
Scripture Readings to Explore:
John 4
John 15
John 16
Click Here to Download the PDF Edge God In Bible Study for this Podcast:
What is your response when someone gets something you want? Can you imagine throwing off the negative emotions associated with comparison in 2018 how much mind space would be cleared up to maximize your unique gifts and talents to make God recognizable in our society?
