SUE O'DONNELL. 19.04.21
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemies. But I say, love your
Enemies! Pray for those who persecute you. In that way you will be acting as the children of your Father in heaven…You are to be perfect…” (Matthew 5 v 43, 44, 45, 48 NLT)
O Lord, Father God, what a high calling,
You intend for us to be fully holy.
But we are weak willed and self inclined.
We make good intentions until action is called for,
Then all to often change our mind,
Thinking we do not want to make extra effort.
The call to holiness requires much effort on our part.
Our heart has to be reformed by our Saviour,
Sending to us His and Your Spirit of holiness.
“God is none other than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by knowing our iniquities.” (Blaise Pascal)
How do we set about this attempt to recognise
The truth of who we are and how we live,
Who we are called to be and the attention we must give?
There is but one way, that of Christ Jesus.
He is the role model of holiness,
Living, dying and rising again, all for us.
The sinless, truly perfect One, His holy Son
Died on the † to gain us forgiveness,
That we must be redeemed and restored to favour.
“For we were not making up clever stories …about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw His majestic splendour with our own eyes when He received honour and glory from God the Father.” (2 Peter 1 v 16, 17 NLT)
“And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.” ( 2 Peter 2 v 20 NLT)
Father, the sacred Scripture, the written word of Your truth goes on to say “It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness, than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life.” (2 Peter 2 v 21 NLT) This is worrying enough.
But then the Scripture goes on to say “They prove the truth of this proverb. ‘A dog returns to its vomit.’ And another says ‘A washed pig returns to the mud,” (v 22) and this is terrible, frighteningly so.
What a stark reminder that we are sinners. How disappointing and distressing this must be to You, who has done all that is necessary to save us from sin’s condemnation and to sanctify us through the new life obtained as we receive forgiveness. Thank You for the †.
What love is being offered us here, the greatest force or power on earth. In the Lord Jesus we find wisdom, truth, healing, wholeness, goodness which is prosperous in body, soul and spirit abundantly. This is the fullness promised us.
But we mar this, even to causing ruin of character, our own or others. When we turn our back on the Saviour, we do so at our peril, for He will not force nor coerce us in any way. Holy love is a power for good, not disaster, for hope not failure, for success in making good progress. Why does the world at large not see
this, not learn by experience? Why are we so stubborn, hard hearted, refusing to accept grace?
Oh that we would learn from the narrative of the prodigal son, turning our back on a mistaken, fallen way of life, running home to that love which stands with arms opened wide, more than ready to receive us.
Prayer has to be the answer. The Lord Jesus’ praying for us and us for each other. Thank You that prayer always takes us directly to Your Father heart of love and mercy, Eternal Father.
Your love and mercy offered through Christ Jesus and His victory upon the †, is our hope of healing, of wholeness. And just as Rome was not built in a day, neither is our progress into all the ways of holiness made that quickly.
I ask for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit of life, leading us to better understand all the implications of salvation, what this means to us personally as we learn what Christ Jesus’ life, death and resurrection signify.
“Teach us to realise the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom…Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery! Replace the evil years with good. Let us, Your servants, see Your work again.” (Psalm 90 v 12, 15, 16) I dare to ask this through our Forever Savour, our Redeemer.
May the Holy Spirit enable us to turn our back on all that is evil, because “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty,” (Psalm 91 v 1 NLT) the Lord Jesus’ arms outstretched for love of us, for our forgiveness, justified at the †.
We are an Easter people redeemed and restored to every grace and favour. “May the Lord our God show us His approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful,” (Psalm 90 v 17 NLT) as by the Holy Spirit, we make the Lord Jesus our wisdom and worship.
We are called to be perfect, so we must, must, must strive after holiness, placing all that we do before You, Lord God. We can ask for a blessing because we believe Jesus is our Saviour and You continue to send us the Spirit of holiness.
May this loving care guide us in our daily ideas, decisions and actions, all shaped by prayerful reasoning, discerning what it is You are currently asking of us or commanding us or teaching us, always through our friendship with Christ Jesus.
He is our Mentor, Teacher, finest example of holiness, of steadfast faithfulness towards You, Father God. The Lord Jesus teaches us about love by being truly loving towards us, thank You. May we be sincere in our efforts to emulate Him.
May we be taught to judge wisely all things on earth, whilst keeping our focus on heaven. This can be really challenging for us, so we need please, the daily impact of the Holy Spirit’s impact of wisdom and truth.
As the Spirit helps us in Your loving presence, Father God, giving us the confidence to call You ‘Abba’, because in Christ Jesus we belong to You, may we then no longer separate ourselves from You.
You cannot bear to look upon anything that is ignoble, untruthful, untrustworthy, indecent, irreverent, disgusting, for You are holy, the Trinity is entirely holy. That is why we must become holy.
Please may the Spirit develop our longing to become holy, to become reverently obedient to all You ask of us, Father God. We must fear sin, it is shameful and causes chaotic breakdown within society.
I ask then, for the gift of piety, a true respect for the Trinity and all people everywhere, for we are all made in Your likeness and image, without deviation or exception. We have knowledge and understanding too.
May the gift of wisdom draw us into line with all the Lord Jesus shows us, tells us, models for us, asks of us, especially as this can be summed up in His command to love each other like He loves us.
This action and attraction of love will always be in close accord with holy wisdom and truth, resulting in
many a grace and favour being bestowed upon us. I think there is no such thing as coincidence. I praise and
thank You for the many blessings which are a God incidence.
Dearest Father, by Your Son, through Your Spirit, please may we be guided and be able to help and encourage others to be guided into Christ Jesus way of truth. Holiness is to live a Christlike life.
We must seek as Christians, to be the best examples in society, in conduct, in action and reaction, in transparency in all that we say and do for purity matters, faith matters, holiness really matters.
May the Holy Spirit, continue to work with us to develop a virtuous life, honouring and pleasing to the Trinity in every way, for we share in the life enhancing power of holy love and are most grateful to do so.
Guard us please by the power of holy love insisting upon an honourable, trustworthy, hard working, faith sharing life full of love and mercy we are so blessed by in our friendship with the Lord Jesus.
May we live a holy life, pure in intention, decision, word and action, being a life which honours and delights each Person of the Holy Trinity without exception. With Christ Jesus as our Shepherd, the Holy Spirit as our Advocate, we lack nothing necessary for holiness.
Love begets love! The Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit of love beget holy love in all its amazing power, thank You, dearest Father. Faith is our assurance of a full life now and the hope of heaven materialised, both as promised.
“Therefore let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to You, Father God, proclaiming our allegiance to Your name, not forgetting to share with those in need and do good. For those are the sacrifices that please You.” (based on Hebrews 13 v 15, 16 NLT) I ask this for we are all called to be perfect and can work towards this through Your Son, by Your spirit, all praise ever be. Amen.
Images by Artist Christine Garwood
http://www.christinegarwoodartist.co.uk/
Season
Key Themes
REDEMPTION
CROSS
