Author: Ken Crawford

All we want in Christ, we shall find in Christ.
If we want little, we shall find little.
If we want much, we shall find much;
but if, in utter helplessness,
we cast our all on Christ,
He will be to us the riches of heaven.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
look at the earth beneath;
the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear but like a garment
and its inhabitants die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
my righteousness will never fail.
Isaiah 51:6 (NIV)

I don’t know about you, but sometimes the Bible is so brutally honest it hurts! We consider our world, our earth, to have been here a long time and assume it will be here a long time more. But God reminds us that it is temporary! We are even more temporary: just like flies, we’re here for a short while, and then we’re gone. But not gone, gone! Christians are just gone from the temporary existence of earth because our lives are caught up with Christ in God’s salvation which lasts forever and God’s righteousness that will never end or fail. The Temple of tomorrow is a house not built by human hands… it is marvelous with splendor and majesty completed by the Lord of Lord’s own hand.

Lord and Savior who hears my prayers
and strengthens me for the journey,
thank you for the assurance that
what I have as a Christian
goes beyond the boundaries of death,
the limitations of my humanity,
and the vulnerabilities of my weaknesses.
Thank you that I am tied to you
and your salvation and
that you see me as your
righteous and holy child.
Amen.

Hear my prayer, O LORD;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my trouble
I will call to you,
for you will answer me.
Psalm 86:6-7 (NIV)

Sometimes there are no immediate answers for the troubling events in life. We have prayed and cried and tried and gone sleepless and mourned and shouted. Still there are no answers. The days roll by in an agonizing parade of pain. Still there are no answers we can identify. What do we do? We can go to the Psalms. We allow let them raise up our heart’s cry. We are honest with the God of the entire universe and yet we can still anticipate mercy from him. We are convinced that in our troubles, he will not only hear us, but he will also care about what is happening in our lives.

Almighty God,
the only true Healer
of disease and Mender
of broken hearts,
please hear the cry today
of those I love who are
in such desperate situations.
May your will be done
in every one of their lives
with tenderness, grace,
and a sense of your presence.
And Lord, please be near me,
and help me see your
answer to my prayers.
Forever yours in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

God has made this Jesus,
whom you crucified,
both Lord and Christ.
Acts 2:36 (NIV)

Understanding Jesus is not simply knowing who He is, but more than titles, these two names of Jesus (Lord and Christ) are the pillars around which we can build our new lives in God’s Kingdom.

Jesus is Lord! He is our Ruler and King. He is our Master and Teacher. Our hearts are yielded to his will and open to his leading. We hold no rival to Jesus in our hearts and lives. Jesus is the Christ! He is the Messiah, the promised Savior of the Old Testament.

He is the one of whom the prophets spoke. Ruler and Savior, Master and Messiah, Jesus is God’s gift to bring us home. Jesus is the one who went to the Cross to bring us forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. The Crucified One is both Lord and Christ.

We praise your mighty Name,
O Lord, and thank you for your
gracious and sacrificial love.
We praise you dear Father,
for sending your Son Jesus
to die for our sins and
to be raised for our
hope and salvation.
Please help me, God,
to yield my heart
to Jesus my Lord as well as
open my lips in praise to
the Christ of my salvation.
In the mighty name Jesus
and through the intercession
of the Holy Spirit I pray.
Amen.

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to give an answer
to everyone who asks you to give
the reason for the hope that you have.
But do this with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

We may be called to testify to our faith and face consequences of harsh reaction by the opposing forces in the world. We must be reminded that we are here to minister to the gospel message. We cannot recapitulate or cower, but having Jesus as our Lord does not mean that we bulldoze over others with this important eternal reality. Gentleness and respect are the character traits of those who have Jesus as their Lord. After all, Jesus loved others enough to die for them. Jesus even asked for those who crucified him and those who mocked him as he died to be forgiven. Having such a Lord means we have prepared a response when we are given an opportunity to share the basis of our hope in him. Those around us may not appear interested, but many are seeking for something they have not yet identified. Let’s be ready when their time is right to meet Jesus!

Holy and gracious God,
please give me wisdom
to see the opportunities
to share the love of Jesus
with those around me.
I ask you to especially help me
be able to share Jesus
with several of my friends
that I now mention by name…
_________________________
__________________________
Father, please give me the gentleness
to do this redemptively,
showing them the same respect
Jesus did with those
to whom he ministered.
In the name of the Savior,
your Son Jesus, I pray.
Amen.

Preferred Path Conflict Solution Ministry helps churches to communicate more effectively, learn to build consensus in the course of decision-making, and to employ Christ honoring conflict solutions. Karl A. Slaikeu has developed a continuing system enabling churches and non-profit organizations to become more productive in their missions. 

Find out more at:
http://preferredpathconflictresolution.com

I am writing these things to you
about those who are trying to lead you astray.
As for you, the anointing you received
from [the Holy One] remains in you,
and you do not need
anyone to teach you.
But as his anointing teaches you
about all things and as that anointing
is real, not counterfeit —
just as it has taught you,
remain in him.
1 John 2:26-27 NIV

Preferred Path Conflict Solution Ministry helps churches to communicate more effectively, learn to build consensus in the course of decision-making, and to employ Christ honoring conflict solutions. Karl A. Slaikeu has developed a continuing system enabling churches and non-profit organizations to become more productive in their missions. 

Find out more at:
http://preferredpathconflictresolution.com

We know also that the Son of God
has come and has given us understanding,
so that we may know him who is true.
And we are in him who is true —
even in his Son Jesus Christ.
He is the true God and eternal life.
1 John 5:20 (NIV)

The Hula-Hoop, a hip-swiveling toy that became a huge fad across America when it was first marketed by Wham-O in 1958. An estimated 25 million Hula-Hoops were sold in its first four months of production alone. The enormous popularity of the Hula-Hoop was short-lived and within a matter of months, the masses were on to the next big thing.

Many fads come and go but Jesus is exactly the answer to the wanting of the heart. In our culture today, every new item to hit the market steals the headlines only for a brief moment and then fades into obscurity. God knows our short attention span and how easily we are distracted so He sent Jesus to be a permanent satisfaction to the longing of our hearts.

Jesus came to reveal God to us. He has given us the clearest picture yet of what God is really like. Because of Jesus, we can know God, the only one who is truly genuine. Because we are in Christ, we share that special bond with the Father and find in him a whole new quality of life. This life won’t end when our bodies die, and eternal life begins now, as we walk with him each day and extends unto forever. For the eternal and transcendent God to make himself known to us is grace. For him to do it in Jesus is salvation… God is the same yesterday, today and forever… no need for a new and improved savior!

Holy and awesome Father,
I know that because my life
is joined to you through Jesus,
I will enjoy your presence forever.
I love you for all you have done for me
and the terrible price you paid
to redeem me from my sins.
I love you for creating me
and having a plan for my life
when no one else knew
I was even conceived.
Most of all, I love you for being God
and choosing to be the kind of Father
who wants his children
to know and love him.
In Jesus name. Amen.

It is not good to have zeal without knowledge,
nor to be hasty and miss the way.
Proverbs 19:2 (NIV)

Maybe one of the most important things we can do to grow in spiritual maturity is to find the right things to get passionate about. We can get riled up about some of the most inconsequential issues. We can get wildly passionate about everything from sports to chocolate pie. But zeal, passion for an issue, must be anchored to spiritual wisdom and understanding. We can get worked up over something and completely miss the will of the Lord because we were blinded by our own passions. While I want zealous people around me, I want them to be zealous for God’s things and for Kingdom issues.

Powerful and perfect God,
I find it so easy to get “all wound up”
about something and then lose
my zeal for it by the next morning,
or I get so roused to action,
I go off half-cocked
and do terrible damage.
Dear Father,
please give me the wisdom to
see what is best and right and true.
Holy God, I want to serve and honor
you and bless others in your name.
In Jesus’ wonderful name I pray.
Amen.

It is not that we think we are qualified
to do anything on our own.
Our qualification comes from God.
He has enabled us to be
ministers of his new covenant.
This is a covenant not of written laws,
but of the Spirit. The old
written covenant ends in death;
but under the new covenant,
the Spirit gives life.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 NLT

Unfortunately, most folks who claim to follow Jesus miss the incredibly radical claims of the apostle Paul. We are not under law. It’s not that the righteous demands of law are bad, but they have no power to change us — not down inside where the problems in our behaviors really reside. Instead, when we surrender our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. With the gift of the Spirit’s presence come both the power and the urge to be more like God — holy and righteous, gracious and compassionate. Written laws ultimately convict us of our failures, but this “law,” the principle of living by the Holy Spirit of God within us, is life-inspiring and enabling. Rather than a law demanding us to be holy, we have the presence of the Holy One inside us urging, leading, empowering, convicting, and transforming us to be like Jesus.

Holy God,
I appreciate the Ten Commandments
and the rules, regulations, and laws
you gave your people through Moses.
I hear your call to me to be holy —
to be righteous and compassionate
like you are. Yet I know, dear Father,
that without the empowering presence
of your Holy Spirit and the gift
of your grace in Jesus,
I would never measure up.
I ask that you give me life,
hope, holiness, joy, peace, passion,
endurance, and grace as I seek to yield
to the Spirit’s influence in my life.
I ask this in Jesus’ name.
Amen.