Can you reconcile a brother or sister in love?

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
Galatians 6:1-3 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
In 2 COR 5:18 God tells us He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. Now again here in Galatians we are reminded that if someone be overtaken by a trespass or fault (or are in sin), becoming thereby separated spiritually from God, that we are to restore them or to reconcile them to God. We have a spiritual obligation to do so. But we are warned, to be wary that we our self don’t fall prey to the wiles of the evil one while we are reconciling our brother or sister. In other words, be careful lest what snared your brother also snare you while you are helping them. Be careful that you don’t think you are above or can not be caught up in what got your brother. Do not be deceived for the evil one is wily and sly and often deceives even the elite. Stay prayed up, and be on your guard!

MY PRAYER…
Most Holy Father, I thank You for entrusting me with such an important ministry. I thank You Lord that You have made me an able minister of the Gospel and that I can do all things through Christ (the anointed one and His anointing) who strengthens me. Father, help me to have the wisdom and knowledge to be able to perform Your work every day of my life. Renew me each and everyday with a fresh infilling of Your Holy Spirit, empowering me with the power needed to carry out this work. Father, let Your Holy Spirit guard and keep my heart and help me to not be deceived along the way.
In Jesus’ name I pray. And every one who agreed said,
“Amen!”

Can you give compassion and love while forgiving each other?

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Being kind and compassionate, two qualities that seem to be in very short supply in today’s hustle bustle modern world, where only the ruthless survive. Maybe it is because we hold up the wrong heroes, the wrong attitudes, or the wrong morals but these two qualities are often seen as a sign of weakness in people rather than strengths. Yet all through the Gospels we see our Lord Jesus having compassion for the multitudes. Jesus displays these traits as strengths and qualities to be desired by all. To have compassion as our Lord did we must first learn to be humble and to place our wants and needs aside so we can minister to the needs of those around us. We must learn to forgive as God forgave us. We must allow God’s Love to permeate our spirits. We must learn to be a servant to all as Jesus was. Our way as Christians is exactly the opposite of the world’s way. Jesus said: “He wants to be first, must first be last.”

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father God, there is no way I can adequately thank You for sacrificing so much to forgive me. So this day, I pledge to be more like You in every way, to share more of Your kindness and grace with those who have wronged me. Today, I ask You to help me release my bitterness toward _____________ (you fill in the blank with the name(s) of those you need to forgive) and I release them and my forgiveness to them now, in Jesus’ name. Father, I ask You to bless this person(s) with Your kindness, Your Love, Your grace, and Your mercy. In the power of the name of Jesus, I ask this.
Amen

Are you a gossip spreader?

He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.
Proverbs 17:9 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
“It’s just a little harmless gossip.” The Wise Teacher (Jesus) reminds us that gossip is neither little nor harmless. It is a tool of the Devil, used to bring strife, contention, and division to all. Its consequences are huge and its damage horrible and everlasting. Gossip will destroy relationships faster than anything else can. Instead, it is much better to be a peacemaker and an offense-mender. Do you love your brother / sister with the God kind of love? Do you love your enemy as you love yourself? Help them put any offense to rest then. Show forth the God kind of love and do not repeat gossip, instead cover it with God’s Love. Pray for those who abuse and harm you.

MY PRAYER…
Father of Glory, I confess that I am often more a peace lover than a peacemaker. Give me the strength and want to, Lord develop in me the character not to repeat gossip, but instead to have the wisdom and strength to be an offense-mender. Help me Lord to have the same compassion for people that You have. Through the Prince of Peace, my Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen

Do you understand forgiveness?

If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
Matthew 18:15 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
The right thing to do is so hard to do sometimes. It is so much easier to just add gossip, to mention another’s wrong against us to others, to pass around innuendos, sometimes to just openly spread bad words and gossip about someone. But only one thing is the right thing to do according to the Word of God. Go to the person who has wronged you and try to keep the damage contained to just the two of you. Humble yourself before them and seek reconciliation, whether you were at fault or not isn’t the point. The point is containment and reconciliation. After all, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation hasn’t He? Then, as God forgave your sin, forgive theirs and wipe it out just as you would want them to do the same for you. God says in His Word that “Who you forgive, He forgives also.”

MY PRAYER…
Lord God Almighty, forgive my foolish and selfish ways. Through Your Holy Spirit, help me to be as forgiving as You are. Give me courage to lovingly confront those who have sinned against me, but even if I cannot bring about reconciliation, help me to forgive them just as You have forgiven me. Through Jesus, My Lord and the One who forgave me while I was yet a sinner, I pray.
Amen

Have you been cleansed by the Blood of Jesus?

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE(s)…
How are we cleansed from sin? The Bible says we are cleansed from sin by the Blood of Jesus! There is NO other way! This happens when we extend our faith to trust in God’s grace and walk in the light. That means that we are walking in fellowship with God’s Son Jesus daily. The more we walk in faith, in the light of His Word, and the more we fellowship with one another, the more He will have fellowship with us. And while Jesus’ death was a “once for all,” the cleansing power of His Blood goes on and on as long as our hearts are in tune with His and we walk in the light of His grace. We do not have to have Jesus get back on the cross for us again, just walk in fellowship with Him and in faith let Him renew our minds. God said He would impute our faith as if it were righteousness so that we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We become what we are not and could not ever be on our own! Only through Christ Jesus.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father, Loving Father, thank You for the gift of Jesus and the cleansing power of His blood, shed through His death on the cross. Help me today to live a more dedicated life, to understand and receive the cleansing and renewing that His blood, through His death has made possible. Thank you for the assurance that as I seek Your will for my life and live out Your plan for my life You have, through Jesus, also forgiven me of my sins and cleansed me with His blood and made me a new creature in Christ Jesus . In Jesus’ name I pray and offer You all thanks and glory forever.
Amen

Whose hands hold your life?

Jesus said, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
John 10:28-30 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
“He’s got the whole world in His hand.” God holds His children of faith in His hand. As long as they place their lives and their trust in Him, no one or nothing can steal them away. The Devil may think he has control of you and it may even seem like it from time to time. But, if you have given your life to the Lord then there is no way the Devil can snatch you away from Jesus. You have a choice, it’s up to you! You can put your life in God’s hands through Jesus or you can remain of and with the world and perish with it as it perishes through the works of the Devil…the choice is yours entirely. But God tells you in His Word to choose Life!

MY PRAYER…
Oh Lord, thank You for Your steadfast and secure love. Thank You for the assurance that my future rests in Your hands. Thank You for holding me in Your protective grace. May I live today with confidence and joy knowing that no matter where I find myself, You are there to uphold and sustain me. For I have been given eternal life, sin no longer has dominion over me because I am no longer under the law, but now I am under Your grace. For those who are led by Your Spirit are not under the law, but under grace. For this grace, I thank You in Jesus’ name.
Amen

Do you do random acts of kindness, or intentional acts of love?

Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
Colossians 4:5-6 New King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
For Christians there are no such things as random acts of kindness, only intentional acts of love given the opportunity to happen. This is true not just in deeds, but in words as well. But more than trying to avoid poor speech, we are urged to use our speech to bless and help others to come to know Christ. We are to always be full of the Word so that we have a answer to any question, an answer that lines up with the Word of God and not a worldly answer, not an answer that is of a doctrine of men, but of the doctrine of Christ. We are to “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) Always be prepared with a Godly answer.

MY PRAYER…
Father, forgive me for the careless words I have uttered this week. I understand that these careless words are twice sins — a sin once when I committed it and a sin a second time because I didn’t see the opportunity to be redemptive right away. Open my eyes Lord so that I may see whom You have placed in my path to witness to. Lord, help me through Your Holy Spirit to have the correct words and the wisdom to know how and when to speak. Lord, use me as your oracle, help me to speak as lead by Your Spirit and not by my mind or the circumstances at the time.
In the name of Jesus I pray.
Amen

Have you been added to the book of life through Christ Jesus?

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Acts 2:41 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Think about it, can you imagine a man who, just days before, had denied that he even knew Jesus. He gets filled with the Holy Spirit and fire (an experience that is subsequent to the new birth), stands up and preaches his first sermon and 3,000 people repent and call on Jesus to be their Lord! How would they have received the Word unless they heard it? How will they hear the Word unless we preach it? How can we preach the Word to them that need to receive it, unless we first receive it, are filled with the Holy Spirit and fire, and the commission from Jesus to go. If we remain inside the four walls of our church building and don’t go out how will they hear? We can’t expect the unsaved to come into church to hear us preach the Word to them. Jesus said to GO into ALL the world and make disciples of all nations! Two thirds of God’s name is “go”! We have to go and tell them, just like Peter went out of the upper room into the town square and preached the ‘Gospel’ to them that would receive. Peter wasn’t Pastor Peter or Reverend Peter, or 1st Pope Peter when he went out and told the people about the Gospel. He was just a believer, a disciple (a student) of Jesus, baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire that Jesus promised us and told us to receive before we went out. A baptism that is subsequent to believing! It is something received beyond and after the ‘new birth’. “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” (Zec 4:6 KJV) Have you told anyone about Jesus today?

MY PRAYER…
Father, we ask You in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, to change our hearts Lord. Help us to have the compassion that You have for the lost, for those that don’t know the way home to You. Help us to become bold through the infilling of Your Holy Spirit, just like on the day of Pentecost. Lord, baptize us with Your Holy Spirit and with Fire, that we may become bold in the spirit for You. Just like the boldness that overtook Peter and saw 3,000 added to Your Kingdom in one preaching! Father, we give ourselves unto You this day, from this day forward to do Your will and Your Plan, Your way. In Jesus’ Mighty name.
Amen

I am cleansed by the Blood of Jesus, are you?

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 King James Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE(s)…
How are we cleansed from sin? My Bible says we are cleansed from sin by the Blood of Jesus! Not by anything we (you or I) can do on our own! We are cleansed when we extend our faith to trust in God’s grace and then walk in the light through Jesus. When we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth Jesus as our Lord and then let Him guide & direct our lives. That’s what a Lord does, they control your lives. The light that is the Truth given us in the Word of God then directs our paths. The more we walk in faith, in the light of His Word, and the more we fellowship with one another, the more He will have fellowship with us. And while Jesus’ death was a “once for all,” the cleansing power of His Blood goes on and on and on as long as our hearts are in tune with His and we walk in the light of His grace.

MY PRAYER…
Holy Father, Loving Father, thank You for the gift of Jesus and the cleansing power of His blood, shed through His death on the cross for me. Help me today to live a more dedicated life, to understand and receive the cleansing and renewing that His blood through His death has made possible. Thank you for the assurance that as I seek Your will for my life and live out Your plan for my life, You have, through Jesus, also forgiven me of my sins and cleansed me with His blood and made me a new creature in Christ Jesus . In Jesus’ name I pray and offer You all thanks and glory forever.
Amen

Are you the Righteousness of God in Jesus?

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 New International Version

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY’S VERSE…
Righteousness: “To be in right standing with God.” Why? Because you are so good, never do anything bad or wrong? Because you’ve never broken the law? Because you go to church every Sunday? No way! Nothing you could ever of yourself do would make you righteous before God. It took Jesus, the Son of the Living God, to be our righteousness. That’s right, without Him we are nothing! We are what we are because of Jesus and His Blood that was shed for us on God’s Heavenly Altar. Know and then we need to dare to boldly declare what the scriptures say you are in Him:

(2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV) For he hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
(Ephesians 4:24 KJV) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
(2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Are you born again of the Spirit of God, then you have put on the new man. God’s righteousness, that’s what the scriptures say, not what I say. We are the testimony of how holy, just, and gracious He truly is, because in Jesus, we become God’s righteousness! We are to be the image of God to the world. I am the righteousness of God! Go ahead, say it!

MY PRAYER…
Thank You, Father, for making me righteous through the blood of Your Son. As I consecrate myself unto You, I know that You are at work in me, sanctifying me, setting me apart for Your use. May people see in me a reflection of Your holiness, justice, love, grace and mercy. Through Jesus, who sacrificed Himself for my sins, that I may be the righteousness of God in Him, I pray.
Amen