Showing posts with label servant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label servant. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Friends, Not Servants

 


JOHN 15:15

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 

    See the difference between being a servant and being a friend? A servant is obedient and does as instructed, but a friend knows why and does as he is instructed with joy and understanding. 

    Proverbs 17:17 tells us that a friend loves at all times. We know that when no one wants to be around us for the Truth we speak of God's Word, then it is not so much us they are avoiding, it is God in us. 

    Yet, David wrote in Psalm 2:11 that we are to "serve The Lord with fear and  rejoice with trembling." Is this contradictory? No. To serve The Lord with fear is to honor Him; it is to put God first in every aspect of our lives; it is to make no decision without consulting Him first. It is to seek the will of God, know and understand the will of God and to act upon this knowledge with such joy that we are overcome by the emotion of being in His presence. 

    It is the love of God for us that has caused us to put our faith in Him. It is the hand of friendship being extended towards us through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ that has caused us to come near to God, that we may hear Him speak more clearly. Both Isaiah (Isaiah 1:18) and James (4:8) inform us that God says we must come close to Him that He may come closer to us. Employees/servants do not do so. Friends, however, transcend the employer/employee relationship. 

   Isaiah reminds us in 1:19, 20 that it is our willingness to obey/follow The Lord that brings about this wonderful blessing of friendship. Yet, a warning is given in verse 20 that to ignore this magnificent gesture from God, of drawing close to Him, is to sign our own death warrant. 

    James (4:8) tells us that our words and our actions need to align with our hearts, and that, as Christians, our hearts must align with The Word of God. A person whose heart follows after the teachings of Christ wholeheartedly leaves little room for doubt and faithlessness. In Christ, we are His friends. Outside of Christ, we are His enemies. 

    I am a friend of God, for I am in Christ. Where are you?

I AM A FRIEND OF GOD - Israel Houghton 

GOD WITH US - Mercy Me



Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Intelligent Worship -- Serve God -- Part 9

 Intelligent Worship brings us into the presence of God through service to God. Part 9.


Re-reading through today's subject verses and digging just a little more deeper into what the Word says about service is interesting. 

Psalm 2:11 
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. “For our God is a consuming fire.” (quoted from Deuteronomy 4:24 "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.")

Psalm 100:2
Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Both Psalm references mean "to work", while the verse in Hebrews means "I work". One is a generalization and the other is personal. One is instructional, the other is accountability. Both apply to us. For we must always be ready to receive instruction from our Lord and we must take responsibility for our actions towards our Lord. 

But this word 'serve' has many definitions in the Word. In Genesis alone it is translated 'cultivate' or 'till'; 'enslaved, enslavement, servitude', depending upon whom the verse is speaking of. 

In both the Old and the New Testament this word 'serve' can also mean 'worship'. When we serve God the way God wants to be served, we are worshiping God with our hearts, our actions, our words. We are blessing God by surrendering ourselves to His service. We no longer submit to our natural desires but we submit ourselves to God's desire, God's will, for us. We truly do "Serve the Lord with gladness". 









Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Behold, My Servant

This is something I had previously posted in my Facebook Notes and wanted to share it here, too.

Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold: Mine Elect, in Whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto Truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for His law. Isaiah 42:1-4
Isaiah 42:1


 

Thus saith God The Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched them out; He that spreads forth the earth,a nd that which comes out of it; He that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: Isaiah 42:5

I the Lord have called Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will keep Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Isaiah 42:6,7
Isaiah 42:6-8


Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. Many are at astonished at Him; His appearance so marred more than any other man, and His form more than the sons of men: So shall He sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at Him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. Isaiah 52:13-15
Isaiah 52:14 


     Who has believed our report? and to whom is The Arm of The Lord revealed? For He shall grow up as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground: He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Isaiah 53:1-3 Matthew 27:27




Surely He has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53:4-6

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He opens not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? for He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of My people was He stricken. John 1:29 ...Behold The Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
Isaiah 52:14

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is is just mention as 'crucified' in our Bibles. Further study reveals that this crucifixion was worse than any other. Isaiah 52:14 tells us that God's Servant would be marred more than any other man. Jesus was nailed to the cross. Nails that went through His flesh and into the wood behind Him. Nails that were pounded repeatedly until the haters were sure that He would remain on the cross and not fall off of it. One nail was driven into each hand and one nail was driven into His feet.
God's Servant was beaten beyond recognition Matthew 27:26-31 Pilate releases a violent criminal and delivers Jesus to his soldiers to be crucified after Pilate's men had scourged Him, or beaten Him. His clothing was removed from Him and they threw a scarlet robe around His bleeding, bloody, bruised body. The mockers made a crown of thorns and put it on His head. It was not just placed or sitting lightly; the crown of thorns was forced into the top of His head, that it might not fall off during His crucifixion. Blood rained down the face of God's Servant and into the already open wounds on His body.
The Roman soldiers then bowed their knee before Him, in a mockery of submission, saying "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spit on Him, took a reed, which was used to smack Him on the head. Then they took the robe from Him, put His own clothes back on His bloody body and brought Him to the cross He would be nailed to. But first God's Servant had to carry the cross through crowd-lined streets, where people were calling for His death. Unpaved, dirty dusty streets that caused His open wounds to ache even more. The severe pain and stress were more than He could physically bear, and beneath the weight of the cross, God's Servant dropped to the ground. Another man was called from the crowded street to carry the cross for Him: up the hill and to the hilltop. Where they crucified Him.
Behold, My Servant

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

My Full Potential


If the life you are living is not pleasing to God, 


then you are not living up to your full


potential. ~Me


What do you see 
when you look at me?
Am I a reflection
of God's redeeming grace?
What do you see 
on my face?



Am I living up to my full potential in Christ?
My heart is right with Christ.
I am saved from eternal damnation.
I am filled with the Holy Ghost.
I am serving in God's kingdom.

Tomorrow, March 8, is International Women's Day. 
It is a celebration of how far women have come in the history of the world.
It is an acknowledgement  of how much women have accomplished in their countries.
It is an awareness of the lack of women in business and industry;
of women in politics and science; of women in leadership positions.
The Day is focused on Women Around the World 
and their desire to improve their world 
by having women involved in decision making processes 
that would change the world for the better.
But, in all the articles I have read, from around this world I live in,
not one is written from a Christian woman's perspective.
Though a few were written by women, most articles were still written by men.
And a couple of these articles were dehumanizing to women.

Where are the daughters of God?
I am the handmaid of the Lord. ~Joel 2:29
Our voice is not silent:
In Ministry:


The daughters of God are actively seeking to improve the lives of all women.
We are joined at the heart in Spirit and in Truth.
We are raising our voice in shouts of Triumph..
Our hands are on our Sword as we wage war on
social injustice, poverty, abuse, addiction.
We are the Overcomers by Faith in the Power of God
to change our world one person at a time together.
We learn from each other.
We teach each other.
Our desire to change the world we live in is expressed by our actions every day.
As we learn from God, through the power of His Holy Spirit,
how to change our lives, we share our values, our journeys,
our joys, our wisdom, our tears and our pain,
our words reach millions on the internet.
And their lives are changed for the better.

God empowers women by calling them, also.
We, too, are called to serve in God's kingdom.
I am His servant.
And I will change the world.