5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 

– John 14:5

Do You Know Where You Are Going?  

Do You Know the Way?
We each have a separate path in life to follow – and for the most part, we tend to focus on our professions as a way of identifying the path we are on.  We also use that as a way to determine the kind of lifestyle we are to live.  We do this, and at the same time we try to add or fit Jesus into what we consider our path to be.  I think we have things mixed up and I for one am taking a different approach to the path that I am on.

For far too long, I have been torn.  I've been trying to determine the course of my life by the amount of money I can make and the creature comforts I can afford.  Instead of using them as a way to enhance my path to Jesus, I have used them as a way to allow Jesus just enough room to tag along.  Oh, I have walked with Him (or maybe it's that I've allowed Him to walk with me), and we have had fellowship together, and He has blessed me along the way, but we haven't really been going anywhere.  He has let me wander around in the desert of nothingness, and He has patiently waited for me to get on the path out of that desert and onto the road that He specifically and carefully designed for me. 

His is a path of surrender; a path of sacrifice; a path of humbling myself, and giving myself to His will, and not my own.  Am I giving up on making decisions for and about my life – not at all.  I'm just always learning to look to Him before making those decisions.  It's a process, and with each surrender it becomes easier to recognize the path I need to be on because my faith is so much stronger. 

The great hymn goes, "I Surrender All," not "I Surrender All that I don't want or think I won't need."  He has promised that by following in His way – by surrendering all that I am to Him, He will reveal truth to me and He will give me life. A life that on my own I could not accomplish.  A life that will lead me straight to the Father.

How about you?  Do you know the path you are on?  Are there parts of your life that you know you should surrender but you are afraid to let go of?  Are you wanting to control your path instead of letting Him lead you?  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these things to you.  He wants you on His path to righteousness so that not only will you be an effective minister of the Gospel, but you will know Him intimately, and He will present you to the Father as His own.

Prayer
Lord, I am tired of following my own way.  I surrender all that I am to You and I lay my life in Your hands.  I look forward to all that You will reveal to me as we journey on this path to the Father.  Help me Lord, to journey well and to be ever mindful of the steps I am taking as we travel through my life . . . together.

Have a blessed day everyone!

– Richard

The Key to Victorious Living – Galatians 2:20-21

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.   The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.   

21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"
– Galatians 2:20-21

The Key to Victorious Living
Can you remember back when you first became a Christian?  If you were like me, you were so enthusiastic about your new life that you would have laid claim to being willing to be right there with Jesus, taking every lash of the whip, enduring every thorn as it was being pressed down upon your head, and ultimately hanging on the cross . . . in fact, willing to hang with Christ on the opposite side of the same cross!  Yeah . . . Peter claimed the same thing – until the time came where it was actually a possibility.  How quickly we can change the tune we are singing when adversity smacks us right between the eyes.

It's easy to be a Christian when things are going great – especially in this country, where we have an abundance of luxuries and we can choose where and how we want to worship.  I've often fantasized that I was on the front lines of "life-and-death/in-the-jungles of evil" evangelism, standing firm in my faith and shielding the unfortunate peasants from the on-rushing rebels (oh the stories that would be written).  Then I remember that I am still anxiously afraid to go downtown and share my faith with a stranger!  Earth to Richard . . . time to come back to reality!

The good news is that God knows our weaknesses, and He knew that we would need a Savior, so . . . He sent Jesus, who willingly, and with much love, and forgiveness, accepted His role in the reconciliation of all God's children.  He knew what He was walking into, and He even had 32 years to try to get out of it, but His love for us was (and still is), so strong, that He took every taunt, and jeer, and slap, and spit, and lash, and thorn, and nail, until He died – but that's where the real story begins!

Because Jesus died, we, who are called by His name, are alive!  We have Christ IN us.  We have the secret of the power of the universe coursing through our veins!  We ARE victorious Conquerors because of the new life we have been given!  But here's the rub . . . we must CHOOSE to take advantage of everything that Christ is.  In order to be victorious we have to choose to live victoriously.  In order to conquer our demons, we must choose to put on the armor of Christ and to live as conquerors.  In order to realize the power of Christ that each of us has at the mere whisper of His name, we must choose to live by faith in Him.  We must have faith in the fact that by His choosing to go to the cross for us, we, who are called by His name, have the ability to love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, move the unmovable, and speak life into those who would oppose us.

We have Christ IN us!  Let's think on that today!  Think about what that really means!  Ask God to show you how to tap into that power – that love – that life . . . in, through, and with, Christ.

Prayer
Father I thank You that You gave us Your Son in order that we might live.  I pray that as I draw closer to Him and to You, that I will be able to increase my faith and start living beyond my own understanding.  I need Your Spirit Lord, to grow beyond the limitations of my simple mind so that I can live in the fullness of the power of Your Son.  I thank You for the work that You are doing in my brothers and sisters and I pray blessing over each one of them as they also draw closer to You. I thank You in advance for the victory that is on the way for each one of them.

Have a blessed day everyone!

–Richard