Surrendering My Boat

[S]  Luke 5:3,6 --

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.
When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;


[O] The boat was Simon's valuable tool he uses in his workplace to catch fish but Jesus got in there to use it for teaching the people.  Not what it is mainly created for but whatever we use to make our living, Jesus can use it as a platform to teach His Ways He demonstrated here.  In verse 6, we can also see that when Jesus uses our tools (or workplaces) to teach His Ways, He will also bless it to multiply over and beyond our expectations revealing His power to my neighbors and co-workers also.

[A] I need to surrender my workplace and my tools of trade to Jesus so that He would channel His teachings through it.  I should also see His multiplication at my workplace as He uses it to spread His teachings.  If I lack these things I need to bring it to Him and ask for His clear guidance whether I need to change my place or to stay one.

[P] Dear Jesus, while I don't want to trivialize finding Your guidance for my life to a few signs but I do want to walk closely to You and look for ways Your ministry is expanded through my workplace.  So please speak to my heart directly and clearly as I surrender my "boat" to You. In Your name.  Amen

Hand Check

[S] Ezra 7:28 --
28 and has extended lovingkindness to me before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty princes. Thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the LORD my God upon me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.

[O] I am trying to picture when the hand of God is upon a person and although nothing specific comes to mind, my heart is filled with an awe just thinking about it.  How wonderful it is for His hand to be upon a person and His strength passes into the person's heart in order to lead others to carry out God's plans here on earth.  The beautiful part is that when God has His hand on someone, He has a purpose to use that person's life to bring forth His wonderful plans (Jeremiah 29:11); another way of saying this would be unless God has His hand on us foremost we cannot carry out His plans on our own.

[A] It's time for a "hand check" to see if God's hand is on me in order for me to carry out His wonderful plans in the ministries I'm a part of through my life.  Go no further until I confirm His hand holding me.

[P] Dear Father, may Your hand be upon this forgiven prodigal not because I am so good at what I'm doing but because as the one indebted to Your grace being carried by the strength which comes from Your hand on my life.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

At the Cross-roads of Foolishness and Power of God

[S] 1 Corinthians 1:18 --
 ¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

[O] Lately, I've been prompted frequently to the message of the Cross as if God was asking me:  Do you really understand the message behind the Cross Jesus Christ carried?  I knew the textbook answer but somehow I couldn't answer with a confident "yes" because deep inside I knew it was much deeper than the simple definition of where Jesus died for our sins.  It is where my God exemplified what sacrificing His all for me was and in turn for me to do just that because only then I will rise up in the power of God which raised Jesus Christ from the dead.  So, while the spiritual climate these days are so hostile towards Christianity just the thing they consider foolish -- the message of the Cross -- is where I can draw the supernatural power from to live out the life God called me to live out.

[A] Without applying this message of the Cross in my life, there is no way I can serve God because anything short of that will just be fooling myself in thinking I'm doing something for God.  But He does not really need my help, does He?  He wants my heart of obedience leading to total surrender/sacrifice.  As I am disturbed by this thought right now, I am sure He will clearly show me the application as I continue to chew on how to apply the message of His Cross into my own personal life.

[P] Dear Father, You taught me through las Sunday's message about how Your will be done in my own life first.  I want to ask You to do just that as a scary request it may be.  I want to go back to Job 28:28 where he concluded the fear of God is the wisdom and I will claim that You will plant the wisdom based on my awesome fear of You who sent me the message of the Cross.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.