March 13, 2013 - Spend Time with Jesus

Scriptures to read Phil 2:3-8

An excerpt from a hymn written by Kittie J. Suffield reminds me of Philippians 2:

            Does the place you’re called to labor, Seem so small and little known?

            It is great if God is in it, and He’ll not forget His own.

            Little is much when God is in it, Labor not for wealth or fame.

            There’s a crown and you can win it, If you go in Jesus’ name.”

As a new Christian, reading the Gospels, it seemed to me that Jesus just walked through an area performing healings, deliverances, etc. randomly as He saw fit.  Reading more deeply I discovered that throughout His ministry, from His baptism to Gethsemane there were several times recorded that He drew away to spend time with His Father and gain strength from the Holy Spirit before performing these “random acts”.   Although as we learn in Philippians 2:6-8 Jesus was God, we also learn that He did not consider this something to hold up to the world.  Instead He humbly followed the will of His Father, even in the inglorious act of being crucified.

God is always seeking those who are ready to do His will.  But as Jesus did, we need to seek Him daily to discover what that will is going to be for that day and to receive the Holy Spirit’s anointing to accept His will for the day.  He may call us to an inglorious task, or something that will take courage.  He may ask us just to do a small kindness for someone:  a ride, or picking up something at the store.  He may call us to daily intercession for the Church.  Some of these acts  may seem insignificant, but nothing that God asks us to do is ever unimportant.  Although God does call people like Billy Graham or Mother Theresa, many of those He calls are never known to the world and yet they are used in mighty ways by Him.  We will often never know this side of Heaven how our little acts have been used by God or how far reaching the effects of those ministries can be.  Often times, God uses ordinary people in every day situations to reach unbelievers who would never step foot in a church, through the simple acts He calls us to perform. 

If you have a desire to serve God with the attitude of Jesus, spend time with Him daily in prayer and He will meet you there and give you direction.  There is no greater joy than cooperating with God’s will in our daily lives.

…. Mary Alice Cloukey