serve Archives – Sonshine's Journal

August 17, 2024August 17, 2024

Psalm 86: A Prayer of David

Psalm 86 Who I am & Who God is

King David is the author of this psalm; it is his prayer to God. David reflects on who he is: a servant of the Most High God. Then he reflects on who God is by extolling His character: ‘For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.” Thus, David understands and speaks of the relationship between he and God. David is the servant ready to do God’s bidding and God in turn reveals that as Romans 1:20 says: His invisible attributes. How beautiful are the feet that bring the good news of the gospel message to those who do not know Him.

How do you see yourself? Do you see that you are a servant? Or do you see yourself as one who seeks to be served? Jesus said He was a servant who is dressed and ready to meet the needs of His Father, the Holy God of Israel.

July 31, 2021July 31, 2021

“Anointed for Service”

Isaiah 61 Messiah knew that the Lord had chosen and commissioned him. He recalled the words of Isaiah 61 as he spoke before the audience in his local synagogue: “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;” [Is 61:1 & Luke 4:18=19]

Centuries later, the Apostle John wrote: “Nevertheless you have an anointing from the Holy One,” [1Jo 2:20] Peter wrote:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” [1Pet 2:9]

Messiah knew his calling, his anointing, and the reason God chose Him. God gave him the spiritual insight to see men’s desperate need for healing of the soul, mind, and body. Today, this same Holy Spirit has anointed you to fulfill these same areas of need in the lives of those around you.

To whom should you go and speak a refreshing word from the Lord. It might be a parent who sees a child who has made a wrong choice, someone who has lost their job, a pastor who has heavy responsibilities, or a missionary in a far-off land that is lonely—or perhaps a friend or an acquaintance.

Remember, God has called and anointed us for His service.

February 8, 2016

Are You Called To Serve?

acts 5 called to servea2 From the outset, Jesus had to deal with 12 unruly men who argued and passionately desired to be the greatest, but when the Holy Spirit came and indwelt them, all of that changed. Their desire now was to study, pray and impart wisdom to the new fledgling church.

But just as the church is growing and becoming a strong witness, Satan’s ears perk up and he thinks he is invited to enter not to encourage but to distract. The church then and the church now encounters his orchestrated problems. Some are caused by us; some are caused by circumstances beyond our control such as widowhood. In the early church, widows were in need financially and in prayer support just as the widows we read about in the Book of Ruth.

God cares for the orphans and widows and He always has a plan. God is never “a day late and a dollar short” to overrule Satan’s plans. This new fledgling NT church became the source of help to teach us the following principles: “Honor widows who are truly in need.”[ 1Ti 5:3] “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity.”[Jam 1:27]

The apostles could have stopped their ministry to help. Instead, they chose to include others in the solution thus teaching the church the principle that we are a body with many gifts. “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another” [1Pe 4:10] Today our churches employ this same principle.

Where are employing your gift to serve others in the Body of Christ?

This will be posted here on Feb 9th. Come and join us as we read through the NT/Ps and Proverbs each day.

August 21, 2013

“The D Word” is NOT Divorce!

Today would have been the anniversary of my in-law’s marriage. They lived through their 73^rd wedding anniversary, she dying on that day and my father in law 18 days later. They were a beautiful picture of true wedded bliss, literally bound to one another “until death do us part”. On the other side was my own mother who buried two husbands and was widowed for several years after. What does all of this have to do with today? In Romans 7, Paul is using the analogy of marriage to show that just as my mother in law was bound to her first husband for 73 yrs; she was never was “unbound”. It was death that unbound my in-laws, if even for a short period of time. My own mother was married for 35 yrs upon which my father died. She then was, unlike my in- laws, free to marry another and several years later she did. It was death that ended my own parent’s marriage relationship. It was death that ended my in-law’s marriage. Death is the only “D” word allowed!

Paul reminds us that once someone is crucified with Christ, who was raised from the dead, so are we also “raised to newness of life” and no longer bound to the Law. Jesus’ death and our acceptance of that sacrifice for our sin rescinded our binding to the Law.

Therefore, once freed from the rules and regulations from the Law, what is the believer’s responsibility? It is to see the Law as God’s standard of righteousness, to see how it reveals man’s sin, and to see it as a guide for life. One’s position becomes one’s practice so to speak. We are now to live a life of holiness that we may honor and glorify Him who gave so much. In the past we were slaves to sin, now we are slaves to righteousness. But, as Paul says, it will be a struggle between the flesh and our new spirit in Christ until we take that last breath. We struggle between what we want to do and what we should do. It is at times like this that we can only come to Christ for cleansing. IJohn 1:9 “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.” Thus Paul ends this chapter by saying: Romans 7:25 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” And that should be our ending as well.

Hangest thou in there Beloved!