Living Inside Out
By Bunny | May 15, 2012
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”
Romans 12:1
When you made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you became what the Bible calls a “new creature.” Inside, you’re not the same person you were before. You have the nature of God born into you. But it’s not enough for you just to have that new nature on the inside. You have to let it take over the outside as well. You need to live inside out. What’s changed on the inside must show on the outside in order to help you and those around you.
Don’t expect that to happen automatically. You have to make a decision to bring your body into obedience to the new man within you. You must determine to do what Romans 6:12 says and “let not sin…reign in your mortal body…” Meaning, don’t let your flesh tell you, your spirit man, what to do. Don’t let your emotions over ride what the Word says. Always let the Word be your final authority in any decision that you make in life.
I know that sounds tough, but remember, you’re not in this alone. You have a Helper inside you to enable you to carry out that decision. His name is the Holy Spirit. He’s there to strengthen you. He gives you the power to put sin out of your life and under your feet.
Make that quality decision about your life today—and let that new man that’s on the inside of you begin to come out. Be determined that the change that is taking place on the inside will be seen on the outside. God has a special plan for your day today, and the people you meet today are a part of that plan, so allow God’s love and goodness to flow out from you so all will see that you’re a believer that’s “living their life inside out.”
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Choose This Day
By Bunny | May 8, 2012
“Choose you this day who you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)
Choosing to side with God’s Word is a continual challenge. It’s a daily decision that will be before us each day. It’s not something you do just once. It’s a process of choosing to believe and act upon the Word of God over and over in every circumstance.
That’s what everyone has to do. Years ago I decided I was going to choose Jesus. Since then I’ve had to choose Him again and again in situations every day. Choosing to think like He thinks, to talk like He talks, to react like He would. It’s on going. I’ve chosen Him as my Lord and Savior. I’ve chosen Him as my healer. I’ve chosen Him as my financier. I’ve chosen Him to be head of my emotions. And I still daily choose to obey Him in whatever He tells me to do.
Sometimes that choice gets tough, but God has promised it will never get too tough. In I Corinthians 10:13, He says, “There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able.” What the Lord is saying is that He will not allow you to be subjected to a temptation you’re unable to overcome. With every temptation, He’ll make a way of escape. He’ll always make sure you have a choice.
I was just telling that scripture to someone today, and we smiled because it seems that God has a whole lot more faith in us then we have in ourselves. Sometimes it may seem like there is more on you then you can handle, but God already promised not to do that. So let’s believe His Word on that.
Thank God for the Holy Spirit, our Helper. He is there to give us the help that we need to overcome the temptations of our flesh and the enemy. In other words, God has already equipped us with the weapons and power we need to conquer them. He always makes it possible for you and me to choose life.
So, let me encourage you today, choose to walk in love. Choose to walk by faith. Choose to live by the Word. Choose this day who you will serve. Choose wisely, it will affect your tomorrow.
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Be Strong and of Good Courage
By Bunny | May 2, 2012
God wants us to be totally free from fear. He doesn’t want us to live in torment, and He doesn’t want fear to stop us from confidently doing what He tells us to do. God moves on our behalf when we focus on Him instead of on our fears, when we listen to His voice instead of the voice of fear. When we have fearful thoughts or feelings, our enemy, satan, is simply trying to distract us from God and His will for our lives. We may feel fear at various times in our lives, but we can choose to trust God and, if we need to, “do it afraid” as I heard a minister once say.
God told Joshua in Joshua 1:7, “Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you.” When God told Joshua to “fear not”, He was warning him that fear would try to stop him from doing what God wanted him to do. God told Joshua not to allow fear to control him, but to keep moving forward, strong and full of courage. We cannot be in fear and faith at the same time. So what God was teaching Joshua was that in order to accomplish what God wanted him to do, it had to take faith in God to do it. We cannot accomplish anything for God without faith in Him. All things are possible to him that believe or in other words, has faith.
When we experience fear, the first thing we should do is pray. We should immedietly go to God and seek His peace until we get that emotional and mental victory over that fear. As we do this, we are focusing on God instead of on our fears. We are worshipping Him and focusing on Him, the answer to whatever we are fearing at that moment. The thing we fear is not bigger than our Father. Sometimes it may seem bigger at that moment, but as you look at how big your Father is, it makes the problem seem smaller and the fear will flee.
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Praise—Purest of Prayers
By Bunny | April 24, 2012
My definition of prayer is simply communicating with God. It’s a love relationship first and foremost. Prayer is sharing your inner most thoughts and feelings with the One who loved you before you even knew of Him and letting Him speak to you in return.
Far too often prayer becomes a complicated issue for people. In fact, there can seem to be so many aspects to it that people can become intimidated. They fear that they can’t pray well enough, right enough, long enough, or eloquently enough. They are afraid that their prayers won’t be heard because they themselves are not good enough, holy enough, or knowledgeable enough. All of those things could not be further from the truth.
One of the most important forms of prayer—or communicating with God—is praise and worship. Worship is the purest form of prayer because it causes our minds and souls to focus entirely on God and away from ourselves. It communicates our love, devotion, reverence, appreciation, and thankfulness to God, exalting Him for who He is, communicating our longing for Him, and drawing close to Him for the sake of being close. When we worship God, we are the closest to Him we will ever be. That’s because praise welcomes His presence in our midst. Worship means, face to face. That’s close.
We were created to praise God. And God wants to make praise and worship of Him a way of life. Not necessarily with a hymn and a harp, but with a song in our heart that breaks forth through our lips as praise to the One who created us, formed us, gave us life. When we walk with Him, stay in fellowship with Him, use the gifts He has given us, serve Him wherever we go, and live as an example of Him at all times, we can’t help but praise Him for who He is and all He has done for us. When we do what we were created for, we connect with our purpose, and oh the joy that will fill our soul.
Make praise and worship of God the way you live your life every day, and you will sleep in peace every night. Your sleep will be sweet.
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Close to You
By Bunny | April 12, 2012
“I am the vine, you are the branches; He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Abiding in Jesus isn’t something that comes automatically to any believer. It’s a lifestyle that involves discipline and effort. We have to choose to give ourselves to our union with Him, to give Him first place where our attention is concerned. If we want to grow spiritually, if we want to walk in power and in fellowship with the Lord, we’ll have to spend the time it takes to know Him.
That’s not something we can do for a while and then forget about either. We must continue in it every day. For the moment we stop moving closer to Jesus, we always start drifting away. It’s a slow process and must be guarded daily, because it’s so subtle you don’t always pick up on it till you’re out there. And we don’t want to be out there without Jesus. It’s what I would call, “unsafe territory.”
You see, here in this natural world you’re surrounded by ungodliness. You live in a body that is totally natural. Unless you purposely counter that with daily prayer and time in the Word, your body and your mind will simply give in to the pressures around you and go the way of the world.
Right now, make a decision to give yourself to the things of God. Focus your attention on the Lord. Surround yourself with His Word. Listen to preaching and teaching tapes while you’re getting dressed, driving to work, preparing dinner, working on your car, exercising, cleaning house and when you go to bed. Listen to the Word of God anytime, anywhere. Talk to Him anytime, anywhere. What a privilege.
Let me encourage you today…stay close to Him. Allow Him to abide in your thoughts; allow Him to abide in your conversation; allow Him to abide in your daily decisions. He loves to hang out with you all day long. He loves you.
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Living the Love Life
By Bunny | April 3, 2012
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13
We often think of “laying down your life” for someone else in terms of dying. That’s what Jesus did. He loved us so much He laid down His life by dying in our place so that we could live.
But now, He’s asked us to lay down our lives in a different way. He’s asked us to show our love, not by dying for others, but by living for them. Exactly what does that mean?
Sometimes it means giving our lives by spending time in prayer for someone. Other times it means giving of ourselves with love and understanding to someone that is in need of it. Many times it means laying down our own selfish desires in order to meet the needs of another. We may not feel like helping them in their time of need, but we know God wants us to, so we must “die to our own feelings” and help them.
Romans 15:1 puts it this way, “We that are strong should bear the weaknesses of the weak one, and not to please ourselves.”
When you lay down your life, you live to please God instead of yourself. You let your life be guided by His love. If love leads you to the person next door, you follow Him. When love calls you to intercede for someone in need, you pray; even if it’s in the middle of the night when He calls on you. That’s dying to self. Self wants to stay in bed and sleep, but God wants you to pray for them, they need it RIGHT NOW.
Commit yourself today to lay down your own life—and take up the love life. Say: “Father, in Jesus’ Name, I see from Your Word that You were willing to give of Yourself, in the person of Your Son, for all men. I understand that because Jesus is Lord of my life, I too, am called to give myself to others. I choose to accept that calling today.
I’ll give of my time, I’ll give of Your love that’s in me, I’ll be strong and lift up those who are weak. I’m willing to be available to be used of You so that those around me might experience the abundant life You have provided. You have loved me, Lord, with the greatest love there is. I count it a privilege now to share that love with others. I thank You for it now in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”
I agree with you and that prayer, from this point on, we will never be the same, because we are “living the love life.”
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The Father’s Heart
By Bunny | March 28, 2012
“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:20
How much love do you have for sinners? That may sound like a strange question, but it’s one I want you to think about today. All too often, once we get saved and get our lives cleaned up a little bit, we lose our compassion for those who are still lost. We look at the drunk stumbling down the street or the guy at the office who lies to the boss and tells dirty jokes and turn up our spiritual noses.
But if we ever truly understood the heart of our heavenly Father, we’d never do that again. Jesus told a story that can give us a glimpse of that heart. It’s the story we call the prodigal son. You’ve probably heard it many times, how the son rebelled and dishonored his father, and how the father, in spite of it all, received him home with joy when he repented. But there’s one phrase in it I want to draw your attention to today. It’s this one: “But when (the prodigal son) was yet a great way off, his father saw him.”
That phrase gives such a moving glimpse of the heart of that loving father. It tells us that even before his son had repented, even during those long days when he was up to his eyebrows in sin, that father was watching for him, longing for him to come home.
Every morning he scanned the horizon, hoping to see the silhouette of his returning son. And the last thing every night, he’d look again…straining his eyes in hope. His son was constantly on his mind, and his heart was always full of love for him. The kind of gut-wrenching love that, on the day his son came home, drove that father to run to him and kiss him.
That’s the kind of heart our heavenly Father has for those who are lost. It’s the kind of heart He had for you while you were still wandering in the world. It’s the kind of heart that embraced you with open arms even when you were still covered with the grime of sin.
There’s a whole world full of weary people out there who haven’t yet found that embrace. They’re more than just sinners, they’re our potential brothers…lost ones in desperate need of a loving heavenly Father. God forbid we should ever turn up our noses at them. May He help us instead to start bringing them home. God loves people, and we should love what He loves.
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Watch and Pray
By Bunny | March 26, 2012
“Watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation: the Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41
Have you ever been frustrated with the weaknesses of your flesh? Have you ever said I will never again yield to that sin, yet when the temptation came, you fell right back into it? It has happened to all of us at some time or another—even the disciple Peter. He swore he would never deny Jesus—but he did it anyway, time and time and time again.
There is, however, something we can do to keep from falling prey to temptations like that. We can “watch and pray.” That’s what Jesus told Peter and the other disciples to do in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knew they were about to be tempted, and He knew that the weakness of their flesh would overcome them if they didn’t strengthen their spirits through prayer.
That’s true for you and me too. That’s why in Jude 20-21, God tells us much the same thing that Jesus told the disciples that night. He says, “But you, beloved, build yourselves up (founded) on your most holy faith…praying in the Holy Spirit; guard and keep yourselves in the love of God…” (AMP Bible)
God knows even better than we do that our flesh has been trained to flow with the world’s stream. He knows that even though our born-again spirits are reaching for God, our untrained flesh will always have a tendency to fall into sin. So, He’s given us the ability to pray in other tongues, to strengthen our spirits and build ourselves up until our spirits take control over our flesh. As we pray in the spirit, Romans 8:26 tells us, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer or how to pray in that situation, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf…
Is it any wonder the Apostle Paul said, “I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all” (I Corinthians 14:18). It is one of the most powerful tools God has given us. So don’t neglect to use it. Follow the instruction in Ephesians 6:18 and pray “always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching with all perseverance.” Don’t make the mistake that Peter made. When temptation comes to your door, don’t let it catch you sleeping. Be prepared. Make sure your spirit is strong enough to rise above it when it does come, and it will.
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Where Are the Words?
By Bunny | March 26, 2012
“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will” (Romans 8:26-27).
When we pray, we are talking to God—maybe out loud, or in a whisper, or silently. Probably most of us try to carefully choose the words we say. We want to get it just right, to be specific, to talk to God in a way that is pleasing to Him and that really expresses our hearts. But sometimes the words won’t come. Sometimes the pain is too deep, he questions too difficult, the situation too confusing or complex, the fear too real. We want to talk to God, but we don’t know how to express what we feel. What then?
God promises that when we don’t have the words, the Holy Spirit prays for us! He searches our hearts and knows what’s going on, and He intercedes. He pleads with God on our behalf.
In times of grief or suffering—when we can barely see past the pain to communicate with anyone…the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. In times of uncertainty—when we are so unsure of the path ahead that we don’t even know what kind of guidance to ask for…the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. In times of fear—when we are so frightened that we don’t know where to turn or whom to trust…the Holy spirit helps us to pray. In times of feeling overwhelmed…when the crushing weight on our shoulders pushes us to our knees…the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. Thank God for the Holy Ghost.
When you can’t find the words, simply sit with God and invite the Holy Spirit to enable you to communicate to God your deepest thoughts, feelings, fears, and doubts. He will help you find the words. He loves you and cares about you affectionately.
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Jesus Prayed for You
By Bunny | March 7, 2012
Did you know that Jesus prayed for you? In John chapter 17, Jesus was interceding for His followers, but He was also praying for every future believer down through the ages.
We who have a relationship with Jesus can read this and look back in time and just imagine, He was praying for us even then. Wow! That is such an amazing thought to me. We were on His mind as He prepared to lay down His life in order to provide for us an abundant life now, and life with Him for eternity.
Jesus prayed for us to have unity with other believers—across the nations, across cultures, across time, across the street, across the room, across the sanctuary. He also prayed for us to have unity with Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit so that our lives would convince others of who He is. He declared His love for us and promised to share His glory with us. He prayed for our salvation so that we could be with Him forever, and He promised to continue to make Himself known to us so we could experience more and more of His love.
Jesus was thinking of you centuries ago when He was praying. He lives today and every day to “intercede” for you. (Hebrews 7:25). His desire is that you become one with Him and one with other believers, so that those who see you will believe in Him. Pray that you will always be one with Him and one with others. Thank Jesus that even way back then, He was already praying for you.
Let me encourage you to read John chapter 17.
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