Monday - Assurance - Colossians 2:2 
Paul shared the truth of the gospel in such a way that people of various backgrounds would have an understanding of it so that they would know the mystery of God. That mystery is nothing less than Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We can have the great riches of that knowledge that brings comfort, peace, love, overwhelming joy and the assurance that God cares for us in such a deep way. There is no doubt that the Lord loves us and will watch over us if we but trust in Him. How do we come to that point? By just relying on the fact of faith in God changes things. 

Tuesday - Son of God - John 9:35 
There are a lot of people who believe in Jesus as a so-called Savior of the world, teacher of truth about God, but do they believe in Him to realize that He is the Son of God/Man. John speaks of the man that Jesus healed of blindness and the man believed in Him to be a great prophet sent by God. But after being put out of the synagogue, Jesus came to him and asked if he "believed in the Son of Man?" The man said, "Tell who He is so that I may believe in him." Jesus said "He is the One speaking to you." and the man believed and worshipped Him. With assurance he put his trust in Jesus as the Christ.

Wednesday - Believers - John 17:6-8
Here as Jesus prays His High Priestly prayer, He describes exactly what a believer is. A believer or disciple is one who gives themselves to the Lord Jesus (surrenders their life to God). They are people who have obeyed God's Word that Jesus taught (all of it, every day). The believer has accepted the word that God has given to Christ to give to us. And they know with certainty that Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, came from God. He is the One and Only Son of God, and we are to live like we know that by following in His footsteps.

Thursday - Spiritual Knowledge - John 7:16-17 
To have the Spiritual knowledge that the teachings of Jesus are from God and are the whole truth, all we have to do is investigate and live according to the will of God for our lives and it will ultimately be identical to the teachings of Jesus that He shared with all that would listen with their ears and their hearts. Jesus said that the teachings were not something that He came up with to share but God had given Him these words to share with all who would listen, opening their minds to this truth. 

Friday - Divine Hearing - 1 Peter 3:12 
Whenever we need the help, strength, guidance, touch of the Lord, we need to call out to Him in prayer, conveying our faith that He can help us and that we want to live that rightful relationship with Him and we will come to the assurance that He hears our prayers and will respond to us. Peter shares that He watches those who have a relationship with Him and He listens to them. An older, wiser preacher shared in a meeting that I was attending that the very first prayer God listens to from us is that prayer that states our intent to open our lives to Him. He then comes in and heals our broken lives.

Saturday - Answers Promised - John 15:7 
Jesus makes it as clear as it can be that if we live our lives in love with Him and His teachings, His words abide (take up residence) in our lives, then we can ask Him anything in the boundaries of that loving relationship and He will give it to us. Jesus loves us that much to meet the needs that we really have. We can only come to that point of knowing what we need, when we are in that loving, binding relationship with Him. It is a relationship that we live in and live by each day which brings about a oneness that we have been created to have with the Holy One.

Monday - Spiritual Boldness - Hebrews 10:19 The boldness or confidence that we have in approaching God is not something that is found in us. On the contrary, it is given to us as a part of the wondrous gift of Jesus when we accept what He has done for us on Calvary. It is through His sacrifice, His shed blood that washes away our sins, that we have the opportunity to even come into the Presence of the Heavenly Father other than to be judged. But because of Christ we can come to God as our Loving Father, Who wants to give the very best gifts to His children. When the blood has been applied to us we can enter and enjoy the Presence of the Father. 

Tuesday - God's Grace - 2 Corinthians 1:12 This passage shares with us that Paul understood that it was by the grace of God that he could, and we can, conduct ourselves in the holiness and sincerity that exemplifies the character of God. We are called to be living our lives in the image of God through the power of His grace revealed by Jesus Christ and empowered by His Holy Spirit that can dwell within us. We must be open to the workings of that amazing grace within our lives to be like Him.

Wednesday - Divine Helper - Hebrews 13:6 The writer of this letter, in some final exhortations given to the Hebrew children, calls upon them, and us, to remember that whatever we do in our lives to honor the God we serve, live by the promises that He will not forsake or give up on us. Because of these promises, of what do we have to be afraid. Neither man nor spirit can overpower us for we have the help of the Almighty God on our side. We are given a Divine Helper, the Holy Spirit, who was sent to us by the request of Jesus who has lived and come to know what we experience in this world.

Thursday - Mercy - Titus 3:5 We see here that the truth of our situation is made known. Our salvation is accomplished not by anything that w have done. Not even the most righteous act that we can perform even in the name of Jesus can save us. It is by His mercy that we are saved. He has taken the time to not only wash our feet, but as Peter uttered in the Gospels, Jesus has washed us through the power of rebirth (new birth) and renewal (cleansing us to that point where we are in that intended relationship with our Creator, God). This is accomplished today through the combined work of Jesus on Calvary, but also the work of the Holy Spirit, His Holy Spirit, inside of us. It is the transformation of our mind and heart. 

Friday - Prayer - James 5:13  In the scripture of Sunday's sermon, it was not stated directly, but was inferred that we need to call upon God in the moments of need in order to keep that rightful relationship going between us and God. To keep ourselves aligned with the Spirit, we must come to realize that as James declares, If we find ourselves in times of trouble, pray. Call upon the name of the Lord for He desires to give us the power to be overcomers in this world and be prepared to praise him throughout eternity in the next. If we have something to rejoice about we are also to communicate that with the Lord through praise, which is a part of Prayer. Saturday - Providence - Philippians 4:19 Paul states it plainly here, that The God that he has been preaching and sharing with those in the church in Philippi, is "My God" that can provide all that is needed to live the life that Paul has been called to and that he in turn is calling them to live. God has never and will never call upon us to do something (especially live for Him) without giving the power, the grace, the mercy, and more to accomplish the task. God has all of the glorious riches that we will ever need (you notice I said "need") to live the most blessed life you could ever live.. .to His glory!

Monday - Pentecost - Exodus 23:16 
The celebration of Pentecost today is the event of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the lives of mankind. But it had been a celebration long before that and had ties to the very idea of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. In Exodus it lets us know that the Feast of Pentecost was a celebration of the first of the wheat harvest with the given of the first fruits of that harvest to God in expectation and trust of what God would give or supply. Jesus is called the First Fruits by Paul when speaking of His death and resurrection leading the way for us to enjoy the everlasting life that we are supplied with by God.

Tuesday - Unity - Acts 4:31-32 
Just as in the times of old the Israelites gathered together for this celebration of Pentecost in praise to God. In Acts 2 we see how that as the people had gathered in to renew their celebration of first fruits, the disciples and followers of Jesus had gathered in a ten-day prayer meeting that resulted in their coming to a place a unity of heart and mind, desiring only that promise of God given through Jesus of the Comforter, the Counselor, the Spirit of God (Christ) that would not only visit upon them but would be in them. This unity kept them focus as a whole, the church, in devotion and fellowship with God and man.

Wednesday - Spiritual Power - Acts 1:8 On the day of Pentecost there was the sound of a rushing mighty wind. This was symbolic of the power that was going to be placed in the apostles and disciples, believer's in Christ that would be willing to do the will of God for the rest of their lives. The disciples had been given power before when Jesus had sent them out two by two in order to extend His ministry to the towns and villages that He may not get to. But, now those who would receive the
Holy Spirit would have at their disposal the power of Christ to do the will of Him who sends even us today. 


Thursday - Fire - Luke 3:15-16 
Remember when John was preaching to the people to repent? When asked if he was the Christ, John gave them the answer that he baptized with water unto repentance to make the way ready for there was One who was coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Fire was a symbol carried over from the Old Testament that signified Divine Presence and Power to purify, renew, make solid. The coming of the Floly Spirit was to do all of that and more for us. That was the promise of Jesus; that He would go and ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit. Friday - Spirit-filled - Acts 2:4; 4:8 The amazing and wondrous happenings that took place within the Church from Pentecost on have been through the power of the Holy Spirit coming and enabling the will of God to be fulfilled. This power came only by the infilling of the Holy Spirit. It was not something that men can do on their own or duplicate. God caused men to be spirit-filled for the purpose of accomplishing His master plan and those who surrender to Him will be Spirit-filled. It gives a power, boldness, and clarity of thought to those who ministry in the Name of Jesus.

Saturday - God's Works - Psalm 139:14 
Throughout the Psalms especially here we are reminded that we are the work of God's hands but that we are not the only work. All things, things too many to count or speak of, are the work of God. He is the Creator and by faith we understand the power of what God wants to accomplish and will, by just the word that He speaks. The outpouring of the Holy spirit is just one part of the work of God that He had planned to empower His people to live holy lives as He had planned for Israel to do. Now it can be accomplish by the saving, sanctifying, keeping power of the Holy Spirit living in us. Let us so walk in the Spirit given!

Monday - Christ, Lord - Acts 2:36 
Peter, along with Paul, came to understand the place of Jesus of Nazareth in the plan of God. Peter shares on that day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was the Messiah the Sent One from God, and that is was through Him that the salvation of not only Israel but the world would take place, based on faith in Him. Speaking to the people from the statements of Prophets like Joel, Peter gives the evidence of proof that the people were looking towards for the assurance of what was taking place.

Tuesday - Predestination - 1 Peter 1:20 
Here again Peter agrees with Paul's words from Ephesians that, as a part of the great plan of God before the creation of the world, God was providing a way of salvation for fallen man through His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ. That this plan of salvation is the mystery within the good news of the gospel. The work of Jesus Christ on the cross, payment for the sins of mankind, was figured in long before we could comprehend the need for it. God wanted to return man unto Himself in a relationship that was His own desire.

Wednesday - Foreordained Plan - Titus 1:2 
Paul shares in this letter his understanding of the wisdom of God in providing for people of faith to be granted forgiveness of sins, receiving the gift of hope of eternal life. Paul helps Titus, as well as us, to understand the fact that God has placed within man a spirit that can respond in faith to the leading of His Spirit and so find a way to live our lives in the purpose of God. That purpose is shared in 2 Timothy 1:9. God desired to pour out His grace on us wanting all to be saved into a relationship with Him. "To
God be the glory great things He has done."

Thursday - Access - Hebrews 10:19-22 
The writer of Hebrews shares that we have been granted a boldness to enter into the very Presence of God through the work of Jesus Christ on our behave. Yet Jesus sets Himself as the inviting entryway to God Presence, as a great high Priest that is like none other. As we look unto Jesus for the love lived out before us, we have our hearts washed clean by the cleansing waters that are purest that God can provide. Not only is our bodies made clean but our conscience is cleansed as well through the washing of many waters.

Friday - Spiritual Boldness - 1 Timothy 3:13 
The boldness that we can have as we enter into the Presence of God, is granted to those who have a faith that reveals itself in service. Not in the order to earn access but to show that by faith we draw near and in drawing nearer to the Lord we see His work that needs to be done and we join Him in accomplishing the purposes of God on the earth. As we see the work of God being completed, we rejoice and are glad; while at the same time we gain a sense of assurance that God is pleased with us, and welcomes us unto Himself.

Saturday - Faith - Romans 10:9 
We have seen, through the scripture from Sunday and the passages throughout the week, that by faith, or belief in Jesus as the Christ, we can be raised to newness of life through God's plan of salvation. A part of that plan is the fact that Jesus died for our sins and He was raised to life. In this passage today we see that not only must we have faith but we need to allow that faith to become active in our lives through the act of witnessing, or confessing that we hold to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth is both Christ and Lord.