Meditation: April 4

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Luke 22:19

The typology of the Old Testament symbolized the sufferings and death of the Messiah. He kept the ceremonial laws in order to illustrate what He had come to fulfill. At the end of His earthly ministry, the Bread of Life took bread from the table from which He and His disciples were to dine. Before they ate their last meal together prior to His death, He broke the bread and fed it to them from His own hands. His sufferings would be a shared experience. His would be immediate and theirs would be ultimate. Yet they would have the same power to withstand the pressure and remain in faith because of the sameness of Spirit.

Your body can bear under any pressure as long as you remain in faith. It is His life residing in you as a believer in Christ Jesus. The sacraments of bread and wine represented His Body and Blood. We are corporately the Body of Christ on the earth. As we share with Him in His experience we share with one another. His focus was not merely upon Himself, but He was looking at this day. He was seeing us together sharing this moment in fellowship, communing in remembrance of the sacrifice made on our behalf affording us the privilege of being one together with Him.

Meditation: March 31

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” 2 Corinthians 2:14

The path to victory leads into the heat of the battle. There the soldier must defend his honor and stand against the onslaught of opposing forces. There would be no retreat from that position. It is either do or die. The fainthearted would rather avoid such definite lines of battle. It would be easier to be on both sides rather than to outwardly declare war against a foe that threatens one’s security and all others that would follow. Too much is at stake at defeat. The loss of life and limb, or even the shame to admit that there was not enough strength to carry on. Such are the challenges facing the follower of Christ. He has been positioned by God before us as our Captain. His priority is to lead us to victory after victory. Yet not by bloodshed, but rather by fumigating the environment with the sweet smell of His knowledge, thus eliminating the stench of ignorance that pervaded before the engagement of war began. The enemy is won over because the soldiers have retreated to the other side. Those who were once enemies of Christ now have become His friends because they have been influenced by the aroma of life and repulsed by the stench of death.

Meditation: March 30

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16

Sublimation according to Dr. Hadfield, was “the process by which instinctive emotions were diverted from their original ends, and re-directed to purposes satisfying to the individual and of value to the community.”

Man will instinctively fulfill the lust of the flesh. The energy to carry out that end is within him and if nothing is changed, it is inevitable that he will follow after that path. It is only when the Spirit is given permission to intervene will his course be changed. His instincts will be diverted away from what comes natural and the more he yields to the Holy Spirit the more he will find pleasures equal to and ultimately greater than what formally occupied his time and attention. The energy that was expended towards self-gratification is now used for the benefit of the community. When we walk in the Spirit, we are moving in the direction and the ultimate destination of God. All other paths lead to isolation and death. Habits are broken and new passions are ignited in place of the dominating forces that lead to frustration. The evidence that one is walking in the Spirit is the willingness to continue with the Spirit. There is no place in that individual’s life to engage in the contrary and unfruitful works of darkness.

Meditation: March 22

“Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.” James 1:18

It was not as the result of skills or ingenuity that we were presented on the scene possessing the qualities the world is in desperate need. In due time, God presents to the world His solution to its greatest challenges through a people who have been qualified to speak life into the culture of death. Yet none can take the credit for what is spoken or demonstrated. It is His awesome power on public display. Within His own time, He raises up a people who are qualified to speak the truth in love. When the righteous are raised in power, all things are in the process of being restored. Only the truth spoken in love is a basis for God’s order to replace the confusing philosophies of religious gurus who twist the truth to their own whims. All of creation awaits the manifestation of those who would be willing to stand for the truth at all cost. Then there will be the dawning of a new day of liberty from the bondage of corruption.

Meditation: March 16

“The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open; the earth is shaken exceedingly.” Isaiah 24:17

The earth is violently disturbed as the result of the violent offenses measured against its Creator. It awaits the rule of the sons of God whose aim is to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ. Until then, it is held captive, not willingly but anticipating a liberty that will only come as the rule of the righteous. Some will grow bitter towards God because of the calamities that many inhabitants on the earth are now suffering. They will think of God as being cruel and unfair. But His judgments will ultimately bring an end to sins that often appear to be benign, but are the root cause of wars and all earthly calamities. The mark established by God is not the aim of many leaders who now lead many astray, thus sin runs its full course. He created the earth to be a habitation of rest and peace, but sin has left its mark and produced death. Pray that righteous rulers will arise in order for the people to rejoice because the Prince of Peace is ruling over them.

Meditation: November 5

“I, God, will begin by restoring the common households of Judah so that the glory of David’s family and the leaders in Jerusalem won’t overshadow the ordinary people in Judah.” Zechariah 12:7 (MSG)

God will raise the common people who trust in Him to a degree of prominence alongside of royalty. God’s love will know no boundaries when He is exalted above all. It will be a day of triumph where all will celebrate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The restoration of dignity will occur among the least which are often abandoned and forsaken. Efforts of protest will not be sufficient because many important factors may not be given proper consideration. When Jesus said, the poor you will have with you always,” He was not ignoring the responsibility we must have in the area of benevolence to them. But rather, He made it known that the opportunity to bless them will always be available to us. At that time there was something more important than benevolence because the sacrifice was being prepared for death and burial. When the Lord is honored, He will restore the order that must be established among all of humanity. Even David in all of his prominence would not remain exclusive; Solomon in all of his glory for a greater than Solomon is now here. In our pursuits for a place in this world where our lives will count for something, it will gain its greatest degree of significance when we glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Meditation: October 28

“But He said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Luke 18:27

The miracle of salvation is the greatest of all the miraculous wonders of God. None of our efforts are sufficient enough to reach the height of such a grand and glorious precipice. It is often cheapened in mind and thought as being attainable without any sacrifice of present goals and ambitions. Even some would think that it is unnecessary to be achieved because it to them is as much a part of every person as their body. But sin had dealt its deadly wound upon the soul. None are intrinsically righteous and all were at one time rebellious. And the consequence of the fallen soul is eternal death. The grace of God reaches down from heaven to touch the lifeless to revive him. None can be saved, yet what is impossible to man is made possible by God because of Jesus Christ. Each promised impossibility is fulfilled when we put of trust entirely in Him. He does what He alone is able to do when we realize how dependent we are in a world of challenges that require the One who majors in the impossible.

Meditation: October 23

“Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” (34) Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God….” 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

The company of the deceived is hard to penetrate. There is strength in numbers among them. Even God had to come down and confound the language of those who would have built a tower that would reach the heavens. They would have made a name for themselves and stood in competition with God Himself. The company that is evil influences the behavior of those who gather together. Only the pursuit for righteousness will awaken them from the daze and cause them to be aware of what has taken control of their lives.

The wisdom of God shouts in order to draw their attention away from the path that leads to destruction and death. The warnings are for their good. But the loss of familiar companions often arrests their reasoning and they continue on the track leading to hell. Be not deceived. There is a way that leads to death, but God wills us to learn and live.

Meditation: October 7

“And 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

The heavenly place must be occupied by the preparer before it can be inhabited by the prepared. The place was the reward of obedience to the will of the Father. All requirements of His earthly life were fulfilled. He was spiritually there even though He was still here. His spirit at that point knew no limits. His death was the ultimate qualifier for His bodily entrance into the place once filled by Him spiritually. The heavenly place was to become the permanent positioning of all who would allow the life of Jesus Christ to fully absorb their own. His finished work was to be presented to the Father as evidence through the passageway of death. His spirit had already ascended, yet all limits of time and space had been removed. Those who have received His life are seated in heavenly places in Christ. We are there in Him. Just as He arose from the grave and now the Man Jesus Christ is there in bodily form, so shall we be in the future. Now His life is to be given expression on the earth through us. We are there in Him and He is here in us. All of our efforts are to become the expression and evidence of the One who is here among us and in us. He must be altogether here in us as we are altogether there in Him.

Meditation: October 1

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

The dimensions and dynamics of God’s grace are immeasurable.  When we think about the severity of our sins in light of His righteousness, we can then agree with Him that all sins are worthy of death. Only when we give consideration to the depth of the offense will we fully appreciate the grace of God provided and extended towards us. He takes what we deserved and separates it from us. Then as we grow in our understanding of what He requires as a means of cleansing us from the stench of the ruin of sin, He can then separate us from it. Forgiveness of sin is the cleansing from all unrighteousness. It is as if the Lord took a large eraser and erased all that was before. Then we are instructed as to how we are to live in order to remain cleansed from what was once participated. Even in the process of learning, He has made provisions through the precious blood of Jesus to cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we confess our sins. He takes our transgressions, that is, our movements beyond His established boundaries, and gives us credit on the part of the One who paid the price for us. What a wonderful privilege! It is ours to take full advantage of the provision provided for us and live a life of gratitude for all the wonderful things done for us through Christ Jesus.