Meditate to Prepare

 

    When you are a Christian you need to prepare before you participate in the Lord's Supper.  Many churches will have a moment to pray before it is offered.  In this moment you pray and meditate to make sure you are spiritually prepared to participate.  However prayer and meditation works a lot better if it is a part of your daily life.  At the Lord's table your focus is on remembering what Jesus did for you.  You reflect on his past, repent your sins, and prepare to move forward with him.

    You partaking in the Lord's Supper represents your relationship with Jesus.  Are you approaching him in a worthy manner?  Do not get overwhelmed in how you are not perfect or that your relationships are not all in great standing.  Listen to how the Holy Spirit guides you as you prepare.  

    It would be worse if you thought you were perfect and participated.  God wants you aware so you can surrender it to Him.  Once you do, then you don't have to pick it back up.  He will take care of it from there as long as you obey the Holy Spirit where He prompts to make changes.

    Jesus knows your weaknesses, needs, and heart attitude.  He works with you where you so you are to be able to have a real relationship with God.  His expectations are that once you become aware of your sins, repent and sin no more.  Make yourself pure for God.  Release what makes you weak, weary, and burdened in life.  Jesus is strong enough to carry it all.  

    The reason for meditation is to make sure you do not forget about Jesus, your purpose, and that your focus needs to be on the eternal instead of the right now.  It keeps you in step with Jesus so you do not be led astray.  

    What you do for Jesus and in God's name will not be forgotten.  You do not need to seek an audience.  God will not forget, but if you seek reward on earth then there will be none in Heaven.  You turn God's work into being about you.  Meditation will help you remember why you are doing it.  It is to glorify God not yourself.

    Remember what love is according to God.  It is sacrificial.  It is passionate about righteousness.  It sanctifies.  It holds grace.  It feeds your soul.  Love knows how to forgive.  Jesus shed his blood for your sins, so you could find peace.  Your soul can have joy because of his love.  If you accept his love, then God's wrath is removed from you for all eternity.  

Psalm 23, Isaiah 55:1-5, Matthew 26:27-30, Luke 22:14-20, John 8:11, 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, & Revelations 3:20-22

Jesus' Love

 

    The way Jesus loves teaches you how to love in obedience.  He teaches you how to love sacrificially.  His love for you made the way for you to be able to sit at the Lord's Table.  If you love like Jesus you should have passion in your life.  This is not passion like the world, but a fire within that draws you closer to God.

    You cannot claim to love God and not be obedient.  Jesus proved his love.  He was obedient to the point of death.  Your obedience is a direct connection to your relationship with God.  When you are obedient the Holy Spirit is revealed within you.  When you love Jesus in the same way he loves you you seek to be more like him.

    After Jesus' resurrection he showed his love and forgiveness to his apostles by pouring into them for 40 more days how to love like him.  He taught them how to go out and make disciples to carry on his love throughout the world.  To serve and be obedient means you live a sacrificial life.  It is no longer all about you, but the shared space you have with God in you. You sacrifice your comfort to be obedient.  

    The love of Jesus compels you to carry on his work and lead other people to reconciliation with God.  Pray about your role in God's family.  Pray how you can be used to spread the good news.  Pray on where you need to be obedient to display your love for God.  Pray about where you need to be involved in God's mission.  Pray about changes you may need to make to approach God's Table faithfully.

Matthew 28:16-20, Luke 6:46-49, 10:1-4, John 4:34-38, 14:15-26, 15:9-17, Acts 1:7-8, 2 Corinthians 5:11-15, Philippians 2:6-8, 1 John 2:3-6, 4:18-19, 5:1-5, 2 John 1:5-6

Jesus Forgives

 

    Everyone has fallen short of God's expectations and need salvation to be made right.  Jesus is the only way to salvation, but the journey will look different for everyone.  Jesus came into this world to be the sacrificial lamb in obedience to God's Word.  While he was here he made the old testament make sense and gave life to the standard of living.  

    Jesus had people that he had to forgive.  Before he became the sacrificial lamb all of his closest friends betrayed or abandoned him.  Each one of those men needed to be forgiven and they were, except for Judas.  Judas killed himself before he could face Jesus.  I guess he didn't realize that he would still have to face Jesus on judgment day.

    Jesus' apostles could not move forward and become the men of purpose that they did without Jesus first forgiving them.  The Bible doesn't mention most of the forgiveness stories, but it does tell us how Jesus forgave Peter and then how they were anointed to serve God for the rest of their lives.  The same goes for you.  You cannot fulfill your purpose unless you are forgiven by Jesus.  He has to forgive you for you to be able to approach the Lords Table.

    Jesus forgives because he loves you.  Forgiveness is love in action.  It is the hardest part of love.  Jesus shows you how to forgive and restore the relationship.  Even if a relationship is not restored, you can love people enough to forgive.  When you forgive people, you reveal how much you love Jesus.  Forgiveness is taking care of people who do not take care of you.  The purpose of forgiveness is to release you from the burden, stay close to Jesus, and be able to keep growing in your faith.  If the other person benefits, then it is a path for you to use to introduce them to Jesus or meet him in a new way.

Matthew 25:34-40, 26:26-30, Luke 7:36-50, 11:17-22, John 20:19-23, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, & 1 John 1:8-10

Walking with Jesus

 

    Walking with Jesus is preparing the world and yourself to encounter God face to face.  It is living life to the fullest with impactful purpose.  It is choosing obedience over comfort.  It is having fellowship with Jesus.  It is a decision not something that happens to you.  You can't walk with Jesus if you don't know who he is or what his voice sounds like.  You have to build a relationship in faith to walk with Jesus.

    Salvation is stepping out in faith and believing that the story of Jesus is true.  You accept it, repent of your sins, turn away from the ones you aware of, and proclaim the truth.  You take a step to fall in line and be obedient to God.  Each day you choose to follow or do your own thing.  Everyday is an opportunity to get to know God better.  As you walk with Jesus you learn the truth about life, purpose, value, and who you are as God's child.

    Walking with God is putting your past on the cross and joining Jesus in his mission.  You are resurrected with Jesus as a child of God.  Your past is dead and the opportunity to be like Jesus has begun.  Walking with God has it's mundane moments, but it is passionate, deep, and powerful.  Trust him to lead you to the Lord's table where you will spend eternity with God who loves you.

    No other relationship could ever replace this one.  If you allow Jesus to lead your walk through life, then you will be able to hold onto peace, relax, and enjoy the beauty in life because you trust him to never lead you astray.  

    When life gets scary, hard, or unbearable you know you are not facing it alone.  He is right there with you in the ugliest, dirtiest, and worst aspects.  He never abandons you.  It is never too much for him.  Walking with Jesus throughout life will open your eyes to the truth and you will be thankful for all your life experiences.

Psalm 23, 89:9-18, Luke 14:15-24, 24:13-34, Colossians 2:6-7, 1 John 2:3-6, & Revelations 3:20-22

Relationship with God

 

    You can have a relationship with God, but it is your choice.  He has wanted one with you since creating you in your mother's womb.  He is a good parent that teaches boundaries and enforces them.  He pursues you, but you can only be a part of His family and sit at His table on His terms.  You accept Him as your authority in life and choose to follow Jesus and you become a part of His family.  Being in His family means you have a relationship that provides comfort, fellowship, and eternal connection.

    To have a loving and protected relationship with God you have to believe in Jesus.  You have to understand that Jesus is the only way to a relationship with God.  It is through Jesus you find spiritual healing that gives all the things in life purpose.  He helps you see that life is a gift.  Bad things happen, but you can have comfort and possibly see how it can be used for the good of God's plan.

    A relationship with God is allowing agape love into your life.  You learn to love what God loves and hate what God hates.  God hates sin and everything that pushes people away from Him, but He does not hate the people.  People make Him made and will bring correction, punishment, and ultimately vengeance upon themselves, but He never hates anyone.  God hates actions, mindsets, and attitudes.  If you choose the life that God hates over following Jesus, then you will face the consequences of your choices.

    You cannot experience the full love of God when you turn from Him or reject Him.  If you choose a life of sin, then you will never fully embrace peace.  The more you choose what God hates, the further you remove yourself from His presence.  Bad things happen, but you can choose to follow Jesus and find healing.  You choose Jesus and you embrace what true love the way it is meant to be.  It is your responsibility to confront your sin and remove it from your life so you can be close to God.

    In your relationship with God you can let your guard down.  You can come to Him with all the joy and peace of an innocent child.  You can trust Him to take all the pain you have experienced in life and turn it into something beautiful.  You can accept His love and find healing in every area of your life.  Pray over every hurt, broken, bitter place in your life with the expectation of Him fixing it, then watch Him work.  You do your part in repenting and addressing sin as sin.  He will do His part in changing things. 

2 Samuel 9:5-7, Psalm 23, Song of Solomon 2:3-6, Matthew 9:19-22, Luke 22:28-30, John 14:23-26, 1 Corinthians 10:14-18, & Revelations 3:20-22

Christian Love

 

    Christian love is learning how to love people the way Jesus loves people.  It is pure and holy love called agape love.  It covers all kinds of wrongs done to you by the ability to forgive, but it doesn't make you weak or a pushover.  Christians love is sacrificial, serving, unconditional, and originates from God Himself.  You embrace the love that God gives you and it pours out of you onto other people.

    God's love is powerful.  It breaks the laws of reality.  He loves you so much that He sacrificed His son so that you have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him.  Jesus' love created a new command for all who choose to follow him.  He commands you to love everyone as he has loved you.  You have to accept His love to be able to love in that manner.  This love covers all the other commandments making them understandable in a new way.

    You are known as a Christian by the way you love.  If you do not love and claim to be a Christian, then you are a liar and insult the name.  It is your love for God that makes you a disciple.  It is love with holy fear that makes you obedient to God.  Love is the motivator of all your choices whether it be to serve God or yourself.  

    Christians live out their love by meeting the needs of the people.  It is not a feeling.  It is a choice that is put into action.  To love like God means that you are willing to lay down your life so that other people can have an opportunity to know God.  If you love Jesus as a disciple, then you are willing to follow him anywhere all the way to death because you know that is not the end.  It is the beginning of your opportunity becoming a reality.

    Christian love is laying down your personal style, opinion, plans, ideology, ambitions, and desires to be more like Jesus and live like him.  You take the personal out to be able to do what is right or serve for the greater good.  Love is an action word that hold power.  It is no to be used lightly, but it should be used often.  Christian love within the church heals.  It stops division and provides unity.  

    You have to take personal responsibility in how you love.  Pray over anything that you may need to surrender to God, so you can love more like Jesus.  If you have division, rifts, or arguments in your life, then pray on what you need to do to fix them.  Ask God how you can take care of the needs of other people.  Pray over your other Christians, the church, missionaries, leadership, community church, and God's work in the world.  Christlike love is selfless and caring.  Pray to love like Jesus.

John 3:16-17, 13:31-35, 15:9-17, Romans 5:6-11, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Ephesians 4:31-32, & 1 John 3:16-20, 4:7-21

Come to the Lord's Table

 

    When you come to the Lord's Table it should be with a humble servant's heart and attitude.  You are not entitled to be there.  You did not earn it.  It is a gift from God to have the invitation to be a part of His family.  That means when you partake in communion there is no room for concern about appearances.  It is a celebration of gratitude to honor Jesus.

    At Jesus' last supper before being sacrificed he invested into His apostles one last time.  He taught them in a way that would make an impact and would stick with them for the rest of their lives.  It was so impactful that it was placed in the Gospels in a way to impact you today.  Jesus wanted them to be prepared for eternity.  He showed them a small example on how to live to be ready to face God by washing their feet.

    Jesus took the role of the servant to teach them that if they want to be great, then they have to lower themselves to service.  Being a Christian that follows Jesus is an honor, but it does not mean life will be easy.  It is a life of service not being served.  It is renouncing all entitlement to do good for other people and serve God faithfully.  There is no one greater that ever lived than Jesus and he came here in obedience to God to serve and show you how to have a proper and intimate relationship with God.

    It can take some time to understand how to be a servant of God.  It take a lot of humbling yourself or being humbled.  There is no room for arrogance.  The arrogant prove that they do not understand.  Submitting to God's authority is an honor.  It makes life simpler and easier to understand.  He is not a dictator.  He is a good father that corrects out of love.  

    To become great you must do all things to honor God, not yourself.  It is the complete opposite of what the world is teaching you.  You have one body to live in and you should love and care for it, but your life is not only about you.  To receive love you must give love.  To have respect you must give respect.  If you fight or push to be better than other people, then you are not honoring God and will not be honored when you face Him.

    Pride leads to sin.  To understand that you need to understand what pride and sin are.  Sin is anything that goes against God's authority.  Pride is the root to all evil.  It directs you to being argumentative, arrogant, complain, judgmental, demanding, disobedient, gossip, impatient, independent, ungrateful, prejudice, rude, stubborn, unforgiving, selfish, rebellious, unrepentant, corrupt, sexually immoral, and more.  Before coming to the Lord's Table ask yourself if you live in opposition to God.  Remember it is spiritual warfare.  It is not always clear and Satan wants you blind to the truth.

    To serve and live for God requires humility, honesty, and faith.  Lower yourself so you can see yourself more clearly.  Pray to see yourself the way God sees you, so you can love and live more like Jesus.  When you see your value through God's eyes it is clarifying about changes you need to make.  You may need to be bolder, quieter, be still, or something else.  Embrace the season you are in and serve as the Holy Spirit directs.  Change is not easy or comfortable.  Embrace the discomfort, so you can have true peace.  

Psalm 31:23-24, 116:1-14, 138:4-6, Proverbs 8:12-16, 16:5-18, Isaiah 13:11-13, 57:14-21, Matthew 20:20-28, Luke 22:24-27, John 13:1-17, 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, Philippians 2:3-8, & 1 Peter 5:5-7