There has always been a kind of family rivalry about which child was loved the most by which parent.  If you were born into a family, that birth — and sometimes the birth order — guaranteed you a place in the line of status, and a guarantee that you would receive something as an heir.  Equality was never really an issue.  You knew your place and rejoiced to get whatever fell to you in succession.  God, however, has chosen another way of operating.  God has chosen to give those who are children the same thing regardless of their birth order.  We will all share in the inheritance of the first child.

         The greatest joy of being a child of God is knowing that we are also heirs of God’s great promise to Abraham fulfilled through Jesus Christ.  Within that knowledge comes a tremendous power that removes all of the doubt and insecurity created because of our lack of knowing what our final outcome will be.  And that knowledge and power provides us with tremendous courage to face the future.  And with that courage comes a power that cannot be denied.  We know and understand that whatever happens and whenever it happens, we are destined to experience the same eternity as Christ — that our fate will be the same as his.  He was raised to new life.  We too shall be raised to new life.  That is God’s promise to those who have faith in the power of is resurrection.  The same power that raised Christ from the dead is the same power that will raise us.  That is the power given to us only through our faith.

• What power do you realize knowing that you are an heir to the promises of God?
• How can you use that power to enrich your life and the lives of others?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Almighty God, help me to draw from my spiritual power found in the eternal promises made to Abraham and to our Christ — that I am Yours, and an heir to Your eternal promises.

         Much of human curiosity is driven by our need to know it all.  We want to know what the beginning was really like.  We want to know about the world we cannot see but know exists.  We want to know what heaven is really like.  We want to know what the end is going to look like — be like; what God will look like and be like.  We approach much of our life with a child-like curiosity that keeps us poking and digging for the unknown things of life.  But there is a much simpler truth to the life we live on this earth.  When we have finally learned to love one another, we will have learned all we really need to know in this life.  We will have achieved the greatest power on earth — the power to love as God has loved us.  God will make the rest clear when it’s time to become fully knowing.

• With AI (artificial intelligence) becoming a more prolific part of our world, what is to be gained by knowing everything”?
• What can we know beyond what God has commanded that would make God’s power available to us?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious God, help me to live knowing only that I must love others as You have loved me — the greatest power in the world. Let that be all the power I’ll ever need to please You.

         Can you imagine getting a gift you’ve never had before that came to you without instructions on how to use the gift.  There’s no tutorial, no written instructions, nothing for you to download — yet, you have it and it comes with a lifetime warranty.  It’s yours.  You can’t tell if it works or doesn’t because you don’t know how to use it.  And then suddenly, and without warning, the gift comes on.  It powers up and you can tell something has happened.  You still don’t know how to use it though, how it came on, or what to do with it now that it is apparently powered up.  Nevertheless, it’s yours to keep forever.

         It’s difficult to claim our power from God as an unstoppable force of transformation in the world if we somehow have no ability to connect to the source of that power.  It’s even more difficult to utilize the power if we’re unaware of where that power comes from.  For us, the power we have as a church and as a people comes from Christ.  It is born of his authority and his connection to almighty God.  And because we are the church, his power is available to us to do what he did and do what he is doing.  It’s a power that is always on and never runs down.  The question is, “How do we continually draw from the source of power that we  have the ability to manipulate?”  We can turn it off or on at our choosing.  And therein lies both the problem and the solution.  When we’re connected to Christ, the power to love others is continually at our disposal.  When we choose to withhold that power, the battery begins to drain and we lose the connection to the source.  Our power comes from remaining connected to the source who is Jesus Christ.  It is from his power that we gain our power.

• What causes the church to become disconnected from their source of spiritual power — Christ?
• What must we do in order to remain connected to Christ and continually draw from the power offered to us in him?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Gracious and powerful God, enable me to draw from the source of all power that You have put to work in Jesus Christ, that Your will may be accomplished on earth through me.