The Son Rises

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 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 
See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, 
but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.”

Isaiah 60:1-2

Have you ever had the joy of watching the sunrise? Of witnessing light splitting the darkness on the horizon?

I’ll admit that until recently, I’ve never been much of a morning person. Opening my eyes to welcome the day while darkness still blankets the earth never offered much appeal to me. I’d much rather wait until the sun is shining. Somehow, rising to the bright radiance of its warmth seems much more inviting.

But on a few occasions when I have allowed the Lord to draw me out of bed before the sun made its entrance, I was greeted with a spectacular sight. My willingness to rise in answer to the Lord’s invitation made me privy to a special blessing: I witnessed the waking of the earth.

Have you had the privilege, dear one? Have you observed the glorious transition from night to day as the sun draws back the heavy curtain of darkness? It’s wondrous to see. Anticipation stirs the heart, kindled by a hazy glow forming on the horizon to announce the sun’s ascent. Then light begins to pierce the blackness, illuminating the earth with shades of yellow, orange and gold. After washing creation in a glorious array of color, the sun takes its place in the sky.

Beloved, we miss the glory of the sunrise when we refuse to awaken while the sky remains dark. And yet, that’s often what we choose. We’d much rather pull up the covers and settle back into sleep, waiting out the cold blackness that lingers before the dawn. We decide that we’ll rise from our slumber when it’s a bit more comfortable out there.

We often take that approach as believers in this dark world. The evil that we see penetrating the earth makes us want to wrap a cozy blanket around us and just sleep through it. We’ll get up and stand for Jesus when circumstances are a bit more agreeable. Yes, we’ll wait for His light to rise and shine brightly, and then we’ll emerge from our slumber to bask in its warm glow.

There’s one problem with that line of thinking.

“You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14

If we do not rise to bear witness to the glory of our Lord, the world will remain in darkness.

Take a moment to revisit our opening Scripture for today. Christ’s glory is rising. The hazy glow forms even now on the horizon. Can you sense it? For that glow to pierce the darkness and fully illuminate the sky, you must do your part. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you” (Isaiah 60:1).

It’s time to awaken from our slumber. Sure, we can remain in our cozy beds and wait for someone else to step up. We can let someone else experience the heavenly glory of the “Son rise” as it unfolds and continue on with sleeping. But we will miss the blessing of witnessing His revelation, and our complacency will only prolong His coming.

“What kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” 2 Peter 3:11-12

Let’s answer Jesus’ call to shine His light and usher in a new day. He’s poised and ready to reveal His glory. Will you allow Him to do it through you? 

Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. 
Put on your garments of splendor . . .
Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. 
Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.

Isaiah 52:1-2

Overflowing with Thankfulness

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“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6

Difficulties have a way of swallowing us whole. They start consuming us bit by bit, and before we know it, we’re all in, struggling to come up for air. It’s in those moments that we tend to call on God.

Have you been there? Consumed by your circumstance, unsure of how you’ll ever get out of this one? You cry for help, desperation sending you to your knees. God is your last resort. Anxiety rules your heart instead of peace. Overwhelmed by your need, you can find nothing to be grateful for.

And that, dear one, fuels the problem. Gratitude holds the key to your release.

Look back at our opening Scripture. In Philippians 4:6, Paul calls us to pray—for everything. But he doesn’t just tell us to present our requests to God. He instructs us to do it “with thanksgiving.”

What does thanksgiving have to do with the power of our prayers? Thanksgiving recognizes the goodness of God, increasing your awareness of what God has already done for you. As you remind yourself of God’s faithfulness, your faith for your current circumstance will increase.

Repeatedly throughout Scripture, the Israelites were commanded to remember what God had already done for them. They would draw on the faith that remembering would produce to believe for their present situation.

  • When facing battle to secure the land God had ordained for them, God instructed: “But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.” Deuteronomy 7:18
  • Again, in 1 Chronicles 16:11-12, the people were instructed to “Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.”
  • And in Psalm 42:6 David writes, “My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.”

Even David, the King after God’s own heart, struggled with a downcast soul. And He knew there was one way out—remembering what God had already done. No wonder Scripture teaches we should be “overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:7).

When we offer gratitude to the Lord in the midst of our need, we change our focus. Instead of our thoughts resting on our need or negative circumstance, our thoughts now dwell on the goodness of God. And when your thoughts dwell on Him, you open yourself to hear from Him. Beloved, God can only lead you to victory when you’re listening.

Gratitude changes your perspective. Your gaze shifts from the enormity of your problem to your much greater God. From that view, your problem appears smaller. God gets bigger, and your heart begins to change.

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:7

Peace comes with God’s presence. So does God’s power. Run to Him with your burden, and allow the Spirit to shift your thoughts away from your struggle. Release it to the Lord, and offer God gratitude for His faithfulness. Then expect to see Him move.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

Sounds like advice worth following. 

 

Free to Receive

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“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matthew 6:12

You deserve to be angry. It wasn’t fair, and it certainly wasn’t right. God would see it your way. He’d agree. It shouldn’t have happened to you. No, there’s no way you can let this one go.

I imagine those thoughts are familiar to you. I’ve had them. I’m sure you have too. Hurts, betrayals, and unfair treatment send us reeling. At our core, we want someone to pay. We need someone to pay . . . or at the very least, be sorry.

We often wear our need for others to repent and make things right like chains. We carry our resentment with us. It hangs on us, clinging to us like a net, and everything we do and say must get filtered through its tangled layers. Even the prayers we lift to the Father.

We’ve spent the last few weeks considering prayer together, exploring its purpose and looking at how we can pray with a power that opens the heavens. Today, we take a peek at a destructive force that hinders them.

As Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He included Matthew 6:12 in His model:

“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

If you’re like me, perhaps the verse is so familiar to you that you may have missed its significance. Have you ever really thought about what Jesus is saying with those words? His plea for God’s forgiveness is attached to a clause, “as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Jesus asked God to forgive us in the same way that we have forgiven others who have hurt us.

Think about that for a minute. If we seek God’s forgiveness in the same way that we forgive others, what will happen when we refuse to forgive and harbor bitterness and resentment in our hearts? I’ll let Jesus answer that for you.

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Matthew 6:14-15

Dear one, there isn’t anything we need in this life more than God’s forgiveness. Forgiveness secures our release from sin and opens our access to have intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. We receive God’s forgiveness the moment we repent of our sin and put our faith in His Son, Jesus. Praise His Name, Jesus took all of our sin upon Himself so we could be free!

And yet, we still sin. Here’s the good news: we can never sin our way out of our salvation. But sin that we carry with us and refuse to repent of will hinder our relationship with God, removing us from His favor and blessing. In fact, harboring sin in our hearts causes God’s ear to close to the prayers we lift in our need.

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2

Verse one assures us that God is mighty and able to rescue us! He is also able to hear us when we cry out to Him in our need. Our sins, however, separate us from the intimacy we should enjoy with God and turn His ear away from us. If we want God to hear and answer our prayers, we need an open channel. Sincerely confessing our sin ushers in God’s forgiveness. With forgiveness comes His power. Consider 1 John 1:9.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.for”

Praise Jesus, God is faithful to forgive! The question before us is this:  Are we?

When we refuse to forgive, we sin against God. We tell Him we don’t trust Him as the Righteous Judge and we’ve decided we should handle it. Our stubborn refusal to release the wrongs done to us pushes God away and invites the enemy of our souls to wreak a little havoc. Not only will harboring bitterness keep God at a distance, but it will keep you bound in your own chains. You will be forgiven as you also forgive.

Has resentment left its chains on you? Ask God to work forgiveness in your heart. It doesn’t let anyone else off the hook. Just you. And as you forgive, you allow God’s forgiveness to penetrate your own soul, releasing you of burdens you weren’t designed to carry. That freedom will leave the channel between you and God open, creating an unobstructed doorway for your prayers to not only rise to His throne, but for His answers to come down.

Forgive, dear one, and be free to receive.

The Beauty of Intercession

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“. . . He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:25

Jesus lives. What a profoundly glorious thought! Our Lord and King did not remain in the grave He visited for us. Instead, He rose, conquering its power and making His victory available to us. One of the ways we access that victory is through prayer, petitioning Jesus to help us in our need. And now, Scripture promises that He is able to save us completely, because He lives to intercede for us.

Have you let that thought settle on you? Jesus’ current, active role is to intercede . . . for you. Romans 8:34 agrees that Jesus, “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” What does that mean? Dictionary.com defines intercede this way: “to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition.” Jesus acts on your behalf by what He speaks.

Do you face difficulty, dear one? Is trouble crushing you under the burden of its weight? Consider Jesus’ promise to you in John 16:33:

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Trouble finds all of us. Because sin exists in this world, it’s impossible for us to live out our days without experiencing difficulty. And the reality is, when trouble hits us, it often defeats us. It robs our hope. It breeds fear and anxiety. It causes us to run. But not Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t waver in the presence of trouble. No. In the presence of Jesus, trouble must bow its knee.

Do you believe that Jesus has conquered even your difficulty? Be encouraged and take heart. Why? Because Jesus has overcome! And now, according to Hebrews 7:25, Jesus lives to intercede on your behalf. What’s more, as your intercessor, He is able to save completely!

So, how does the Overcomer intercede for us in our circumstances? Through prayer!

Last week we learned that prayer is the conduit that releases God’s blessing and power into our lives. Although we often use it as the means to try to get God to do what we want, God actually moves in answer to prayers that align with His plans and purpose. For us to release His power into our circumstance, we must pray according to His will (Matthew 6:10, 1 John 5:14-15).

How can we know how to pray in line with God’s desires? We allow our intercessor—the One who knows exactly what we need and who provides the power to overcome—to lead us in prayer.

Jesus has given us a tremendous gift to help us in our need. While He intercedes at God’s right hand, the Spirit He sent us is hard at work within us. Celebrate the promise of Romans 8:26-27.

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

So often when circumstances and pain overwhelm us, we don’t even know how to pray. In those moments of weakness, God’s precious Spirit within us cries out on our behalf in compliance with God’s will. And when we ask anything according to God’s will, He hears, and “we know that we have what we’ve asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

One of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to pray according to God’s will, but He Himself is led by another source. Consider Jesus’ words surrounding the sending of the Holy Spirit:

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” John 16:13-14

Do you see it, dear one? Jesus sits at the right hand of God so that He can intercede on our behalf. As God speaks His will to His Son, the Son reveals the Father’s will to the Spirit. The Spirit then brings glory to Jesus by, “taking from what is [His] and making it known to you.”

The most important thing we can do in prayer is to quiet ourselves before the Lord. We spend so much time telling God what we need, but we rarely stop to listen. Listening, beloved, is where prayer’s power is found. Allow Jesus to whisper the Father’s will into your heart through the Spirit. As you partake in the mind of Christ and follow His leading to pray His own words back to Him, the gates of heaven will open in answer to the speaking of God’s will. That, dear one, is how we pray “in Jesus’ Name.”  

“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: 
   It will not return to me empty, 
but will accomplish what I desire 
   and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Isaiah 55:11