You are our Father...

 

"But now, O LORD, You are our Father, We are the clay, and You our potter; And all of us are the work of Your hand." (Isa 64:8 NAS95)

 

            Do you see the Lord as your Father? God defines Father and shows us how He is the example of fatherhood. As the Father it puts the children in a subordinate role open for the Father's instructions.

 

The potter guides the clay into the shape the potter desires. So much more our Father guides us through His word and Spirit to be who He has designed us to be. If we do not meet our purpose it is our fault, not the potter's. "Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker, to him who is but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'He has no hands' '' (Isa 45:9)?

 

            Do not argue with the Father but simply submit and say, "You are the Potter and I am the clay. Mold me, Father, in your fashion." God showed us when He formed Adam that He knows how to form His creation to do His good and perfect will. As clay we are in a weaken state that need to be shaped and then put through the fire.

 

            Know this that if God will take you to the fire He will also bring you out! Let the Father, the Shepherd and Potter be Lord and you be His child. The goodness of God will see you through. No matter how hot it gets He will mold you to stand the fire and be a precious masterpiece. You are a work of His hand to do great and wonderful things.

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Humble in My Ways...

Humble in my ways...

""Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and honor the King of heaven, for all His works are true and His ways just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride."" (Dan 4:37 NAS95)

King Nebuchadnezzar worships and honors God after he regained his senses. How bad does it have to get for you to recognize that God is Lord and that all his works are true, his ways just and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.

Falling from pride is falling from Mt. Everest. The fall is painful and hurtful. God hates the pride but gives grace to the humble. In other words God will humiliate the prideful and will lift up the humble. 

Know that God is true in all his works. God does not make a mistake and is not cruel for his ways are just. Things may not work out how we want them, does not mean that they are not working out in our favor."And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" (Rom 8:28 NAS95). Do you see how God works all things out for his purpose?

To see God moving you need to be still and know that Lord is God. Step back to see the full picture and see how great the Lord is and how all his ways are just and true and he will work in the favor of the humble.

Prayer: Lord, today as everyday belongs to you. I am yours to be used. I give you all the praise and exalt your holy name. I will serve you and honor you with my mouth, eyes, hands, feet. I will server you with my heart and soul. Lord I humble myself continuously before you to honor you. You alone are worthy. Amen.

Leaving All to Follow

 

Peter began to say to Him, "Behold, we have left everything and followed You (Mark 10:28 NAS95).

 

            To truly follow Jesus and be his disciple will require you to leave everything and follow him. Paul understood this principle of following Jesus.

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Phil 3:8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ," (Phil 3:7–8 NAS95)

           

Following Jesus involves total abandonment to what we hold on to in life and in this world. The time comes now to check do you love Jesus and call him master, Lord and Christ. If Jesus is then you need to continue remind yourself you have left everything to follow Jesus and to receive what he has for you.

 

Prayer:

            Lord, I surrender my life to you. I leave behind the things of this world to turn to you with full devotion and love. I will go where you go and say what you say. I will be obedient in service to you. Amen.

He Heard My Cry

"I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me and heard my cry." (Ps 40:1 NAS95)

 

Grateful the Lord our God hears our cries. He is near the brokenhearted and heals the afflicted. But the cry of David was in the midst of his longing and patience for the Lord to come to his need.

         The psalmist is confident that in living in obedience to God that the Lord will take up for his child. Where are you standing in obedience of the Lord? Obedience to God will bring conflicts and trials and even persecution. Through hall of this David waited on the Lord to fight his battles.

         Be of good courage knowing that no matter what you face God is seeing exactly what you are going through and is able to defend you. The response then should be as the close of this Psalm:

 

Ps 40:16 aLet all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You;

         Let those who love Your salvation bsay continually,

         "The LORD be magnified!"

Ps 40:17 Since aI am afflicted and needy,

         1bLet the Lord be mindful of me.

         You are my help and my deliverer;

         Do not delay, O my God.

 

Prayer:

God, we turn to you in the midst of our trials, test and persecutions. We need not to defend ourselves or become self-righteous but in all humility we wait on you Lord to deliver us and will praise and honor you for who you are now and for ever more. Amen.

 

By: Samuel Duren

Fighting Dryness

Fighting Dryness

"There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron. Num 20:3 The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Num 20:4 "Why then have you brought the LORD'S assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here?" (Num 20:2–4 NAS95)

 

Times in God moving us to our destiny we encounter wilderness experiences that will lead us to dry places. It is in these times of dryness is when we should focus on the Living Water.

The alternative is "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water" (Jer. 2:13 NAS95). When we forsake God we go to broken cisterns that will never satisfy or even give relief. God is the only one who can satisfy us.

As we journey with God we need to daily draw closer to him and surrender all we have to him and let him be our source. Truly may we hunger and thirst for righteousness and the Lord our God will fill you and fully satisfy you.

 

Prayer:

         God, you are all I need and desire. I repent for allowing comforts of the world to make me think I was satisfied when only you can bring peace in my life. Lord, you are my desire; it is you and you alone. Amen.

 

 

By: Samuel Duren

 

 

Samuel Duren

"Building a Better Community"

Zion Baptist Chruch

323 Mlk Jr. Dr 

Peoria, IL 61605

wk (309) 676-4828

www.zionbcpeoria.com

rev.duren@zionbcpeoria.com

To Know Him

To know the power of His resurrection...

"[T]hat I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; Phil 3:11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead" (Phil 3:10–11 NAS95).

 

            Living in the flesh brings pain and depression. Things I no longer desire to know. I desire to know the Joy of being in Christ and to know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. To be dead to the world is to conform to Christ death and to live as a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17) in Christ Jesus.

            To live in your presence to seek after your face brings me to clarity and peace that shows me truly who I am and that is a saint, a child of God a vessel meant to be filled with God's fullness.

            Knowing your power will be evident of me saying no to what is against your will and yes to what pleases you. This leads to living holy to you and not living to satisfy the lust of the flesh. Jesus did not satisfy the flesh but satisfied your good and pleasing will in obedience to death. This is my soul desire to know you in this way as Jesus did and truly say, "Not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42).

 

Prayer:

Lord, I repent for allowing the world to be what I have desired. I truly desire to know you and the power of your resurrection. I want to be alive for you and dead to this world. Holy Spirit I submit to you and allow your will to be done in my life. 

www.zionbcpeoria.com

rev.duren@zionbcpeoria.com

You Can With God…

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. ¹⁸ But even if he doesn't, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up."^[1]

The enemy seeks to destroy God's creation. But you can know that when the battle is over, you have won. The devil wants to capture your soul for hell but God has saved you. The devil wants you to see pleasing yourself on earth is living, but that is defeat. God shows that submitting and serving others is winning and that is victory.

Bullies do too - i.e. knocking down books, casing & fights just look to discourage you and have you to think you are powerless. When you know God is able to fight your battles you are able to stand in quietness knowing God's actions are louder than your words.

Knowing God is able to deliver is not why we serve.  Even if God does not deliver us we will serve him. The Hebrew boys have made up their mind that they would rather die than not honor God. This is obedience until death. They have counted the cost and have counted all lost.  They know God is able to deliver them and they know that if he does not he is still God.

Just like Job 13:15-16 – KJV "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him."

Knowing God's will is knowing that God moves in according to his will and not the will of man. God knows what is best and trusting in him is submission. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego submitted to God's will.

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^[1]Tyndale House Publishers., Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 2nd ed. (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), Da 3:16.

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