Psalm 50:14-15; 23 (NASB)
14 “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;
15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
23 “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”

A psalm of Asaph, Psalm 50 primarily focuses on God as the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked. In the last half of the psalm, you see the term “sacrifice of thanksgiving” used twice.

I had not thought about my prayers of thanksgiving as being a sacrifice to God, but it does turn prayers of thanks into something that may be much more important than I had even considered. The ultimate thanks we can give to God is thanking Him for His Son, whose sacrifice for us is the only way to salvation. Not only do we honor God when we give thanks, as is described in the verses, but there seems to be a connection to our salvation.

When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we naturally want to thank God for His amazing mercy and grace. As we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, He conforms us to the image of Jesus and our way will be set right. Giving God that sacrifice of thanksgiving each day would seem to reinforce establishing God in the right position in our lives – keeping Him first. It also acknowledges that He did everything to give us salvation and that our sacrifice is only a response to that wonderful gift. That sacrifice honors God, but it is not the source of our salvation.

Heavenly Father, I offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to you today and every day for Jesus. He is Lord over my life; He has saved me. There can be no other sacrifice that is greater. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

John 10: 2-4 (NASB)
2 But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

The parable of the good shepherd not only teaches us that we are to follow Jesus as our leader, it also teaches us how God would have us lead others. Tending sheep is quite different than herding cattle. Sheep will follow the voice of a good shepherd. Cattle must be prodded and driven where you want them to go.

When I was 25, I became the instant father of two young boys, ages 7 and 5. Looking back, I wasn’t nearly prepared for that task. I did my best to set a good example for them and loved them from the very first day, but I often behaved more like a cowboy than the shepherd that children need.

That experience taught me a lot as I grew older and hopefully a bit wiser. Principles are more important than rules, love is more important than results, and God is more important than anything else.

As a manager in business, I realize that shepherding is the only way to encourage others to be their best. It all comes down to being the shepherd whose voice they hear and follow. It is establishing principles and letting them discover the best way to be successful. I also found that the success of a group of people is primarily the result of the leader and whether they are a shepherd or a cowboy.

The same is true in our leadership of church ministries. It isn’t the leader’s analysis of demographics or the development of creative programs that make it successful, but rather being a good shepherd that represents the Good Shepherd to the people. People will naturally follow the voice of a shepherd that encourages others by being transparent and loving. People want to follow those leaders and they will in turn draw others into those ministries.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and if we follow him and live His example, we can be better spouses, parents, leaders in business, and leaders in the ministries that God has called us to shepherd.

Father, you are the Good Shepherd. Take away all thoughts that would make me a cowboy. Sanctify me into the image of your Son. Help me to be the leader that emulates Jesus in all aspects of my life. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Matthew 2:1-2 (NASB)
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

The magi were wise men of the time. We don’t know exactly where they came from, we don’t know exactly when they came to see Jesus. Really all we know about them is that they saw a sign in the sky, responded to it, travelled from the east, and were looking for the one born King of the Jews. It is likely that they didn’t know anything about prophesies of the Old Testament. It was the local scribes and priests that told them to go to Bethlehem, based on writings of Micah.

What is so unusual about the story is that they didn’t come expecting anything from Jesus. They only came to bring gifts to Jesus and to worship Him. It was a completely selfless act.

Only Matthew reported this in his gospel. The magi are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. It was like it was a side note in the overall narrative of the life of Jesus. And yet, it provides a powerful message regarding our relationship with God.

Pure worship is beautiful to God. Worship that is uncluttered with our personal wants and desires. Even our desires that seem to be holy can be selfish at the root.

I know my prayers of supplication, with the best of intentions can be self-centered at the core. And it’s not that Jesus doesn’t want to know the desires of our hearts. The leper that came to Jesus only wanted to be healed and Jesus had compassion and healed him. His motive was probably not the highest, but acceptable. However, later he came back and fell on his face to worship. I think that pleased Jesus more.

Jesus, you deserve my worship uncluttered with personal desires. Holy Spirit, teach me to worship You purely. Help me to make Your worship my only desire. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

John 15:19 (NASB)
19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”

Seeking the approval of someone would be a virtue, if they, being pure of heart and solely devoted to Jesus, completely forfeit the approval of the world. Alas, that human does not exist. Jesus is the only one that measures up.

I’m really good at being dead to the opinion of certain sections of mankind, but there are small groups of people whose opinion that I value. But like me, they are not perfect like Jesus.

At the same time, I am called by my Savior to love all mankind with an unconditional love. Once again, I partition a small portion who receive my love. So we are called to be dead to the opinion of our friends as well as our enemies, yet love all of them with the same love that Jesus has for us.

I’m going to have to work on that – a lot. But, I know that with the help of the Holy Spirit, prayer, and seeking only the approval of Jesus, I will be able to do what He has asked me to do.

Jesus, I know that your plan is perfect. I know that I am not. Help me to love others without seeking their approval. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Exodus 9:27-28 (NASB)
27 Then Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones.
28 Make supplication to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”
Exodus 9:35 (NASB)
35 Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

When I lived at my parent’s home and I had a difficult decision to make, my mother, more often than not would say to me, “Let your conscience be your guide.” Usually that wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but it was sage advice, especially since my parents had given me a good foundation on what was right and wrong. That foundation of “right and wrong” was based upon the teachings in scripture. So, she knew that my conscience would lead me to the right decision.

Pharaoh didn’t believe he needed to consult his conscience because he was raised believing that he was god. So, he could take an arbitrary position or even change his mind at his own whim, without feeling any regret. That similar attitude is held by people today, who don’t have a foundation based upon the teaching of the Bible. Instead, they do what seems right in their own eyes.

Even those that follow Jesus can get caught in the trap of allowing their own personal wishes to take precedence over what they have been taught. My most abused hardening of the heart is not loving others as Jesus loves me. It is easy to accept the theoretical and be in complete agreement, but when the situation faces me, my heart can be hardened. The Holy Spirit then convicts me to repent.

The pressure for hardened hearts must be even higher for those that are in full time ministry. I can’t imagine the attacks that Satan makes on them, telling them that because of their sacrifice for God, they are justified in doing something that under normal circumstances they wouldn’t even consider.

Father, I pray that my heart would not be hardened today. Holy Spirit, help me to pray for that each day. Give it to me just like you give me my daily bread. I pray in Jesus name.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Matthew 27:50 (NASB)
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

Next Sunday is Easter. God incarnate yielded up His spirit, so that we could be with Him in heaven one day. Many sermons will be preached on the crucifixion, the suffering of Christ on Friday that had to take place in order for God’s master plan to free us from the penalty of sin.

I don’t intend to demean the intensity of the torture that Jesus went through, but what He endured was not unusual for that time in history. Many people were scourged and crucified. Nero later used crucified Christians as torches to light his parties. We humans can come up with some disgusting ways to cause pain and suffering.

The scourging and the cross were the means of taking His life, from a human perspective. This was to fulfill scripture (Isaiah 53). But, Jesus did something that was even more painful. He took the sin of the world upon Him; our sin past, present, and future. A small fraction of that sin would be enough to snuff the life out of any human. And He was human – 100%. But He was also God – 100%. It is the pain of our sin that He endured that should shake us to our very core.

And not only that, God the Father then poured out His wrath on the Son. The Son now had our sin on Him and the Father could no longer look at Him. Jesus was then no longer the son “with whom God was well pleased”. It isn’t within our capacity to fully understand what that was like. But Jesus did. And He did it willingly. Once that was accomplished, He yielded up His spirit.

Then on the following Sunday, the day we call Easter, Jesus returned to us proving that He is God. As I consider the impact of this pivotal time in history, I am humbled by the love that it would take for God to do that for me.

Jesus, I don’t fully understand the magnitude of what You did for me. But what I do understand brings me to my knees in praise and thanksgiving. I pray, with your help, that my life will be what you want it to be for your glory. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,

Mark 6:7-9 (NASB)
7 And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
8 and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—
9 but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.”

Jesus sent the 12 out on a mission, with authority from Him, but without anything else, except their staff, tunic and sandals. They had to completely depend on God. Doing God’s work without all the trappings of this world.

God wants us to accomplish His mission too. We, whether we are the richest of the rich or poorest of the poor, have possessions. But I think the point of this passage is that we must act in complete reliance on Jesus, no matter the circumstances we find ourselves.

That’s the tricky part. Because we become possessive of many things in this life. Our families, our homes, our jobs, our bank accounts, even our church. The last one in that list may be the most destructive. When we view our church, or our ministry, or our leadership in it as something that belongs to us, that ownership can take us to a place of pride, just the opposite of what Jesus intended.

The disciples had to rely on Jesus, because they went out without anything except the promise of God the Son. When they accomplished the mission, only Jesus could be praised.

Even when we start out with the best of intentions, it is easy to begin believing that it was what we did that did the trick. We start out with a servant heart and then something happens. We start looking at the results. We make comparisons. We take possession.

And that is where prayer comes in. We have to constantly plead to God that He would take any possessive thoughts from us, that we would only do His will, give Him the glory, and only look at ourselves as the empty vessels that He uses to accomplish His mission. We have to view ourselves as someone with only a staff, a tunic, a pair of sandals, and Jesus.

Jesus, thank you for the blessings that you have provided me in my life. Help me to enjoy them, but not to possess them. Send me out with only your perfect command. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,