Praise & Shine

God’s grace isn’t earned, and we can’t wait idly to experience it. We need to engage in means of grace as a way to renew our relationship with the Lord. Means of grace are sacraments, special, holy moments when we are closest to the presence of God. Jesus gave us examples of these sacraments in scripture. 

Two examples of these sacraments include baptism and holy communion. 

Baptism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual work of grace. Baptis marked the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. John the baptizer made it clear when he said, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming. …….. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mark 1:8)

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, “Go . . . make disciples . . . baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Baptism “is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him” (Acts 2:38-39).

Baptism is a public confession of our faith and marks our new identity in Christ.

Jesus instituted the sacrament of Holy Communion during his last supper with his disciples, and he commanded them to continue sharing the bread and cup of the new covenant in remembrance of him (Luke 22:19-20).

And Jesus said to his disciples, “This [bread] is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). “Then he took a cup, and after giving

thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you’” (Matt. 26:27).

When we come to the Lord’s Table, we come to the banquet table of God.

In addition to these sacraments, there are many other means of grace we can describe as sacred moments such as prayer, worship, or marriage. 

Regardless of what sacraments you practice or believe in, these are holy moments that we get to share with God, our creator. In the words of John Wesley, “We may not all believe alike, but we can all love alike.” Love first because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

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Despair seems to be all around us these days. Turn on the news or scroll through your social media feeds, and you’ll know what I mean. The thing is, we live in a world that’s ripe for revival.

Like Ezekiel, we will all face situations that seem impossible — an addiction, betrayal, barren womb, or wayward child. Ezekiel put all his doubts aside and did as the Lord asked, prophesizing the return of Israel in Ezekiel Chapter 36.

The Lord showed Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones coming together with flesh and becoming filled with the breath of life (Ezekiel 37:1-14). This vision symbolized the whole house of Israel that was then in captivity. Like unburied skeletons, the Israelites were wasting away with no end to their judgment in sight. They thought their hope was gone, and they were cut off forever, with their nation dying in the flames of Babylon’s attack with no hope of resurrection.

The dry bones signified God’s plan for Israel’s restoration. The vision also, more importantly, showed that Israel’s new life depended on God’s power to be brought back from a dead state and filled with the “breath of life.” Something that only our God could do.

Today we can see God’s plan at work with the establishment of the state of Israel in the 1940s. The Israelites now reside in the Holy Land, with Jerusalem becoming recognized as the capital of Israel in 2017. God’s plan is not yet complete with Israel, and He’s not through with you either.

God says He brought dry bones to life, so “you would know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 37:13). What if we approached each day believing that what God did then, He can do again?

Jesus said in Mark 11:24, “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”

“…Revive us so we can call on your name once more. Turn us again to yourself, O LORD, God of Heaven’s Armies. Make your face shine down upon us…” (Psalm 80:18-19)

“Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.” (Psalm 85:6-7)

“Create in me a clean hear, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

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The following questions are from Newspring Church’s devotion Pray for revival.

Praise

• Where have you seen God bring something dead to life? Maybe it was a relationship, a career, or a dream.
• What did you learn about God’s faithfulness and unfailing love from that experience?

Repentance

• Is there any situation where you’ve given up because things feel too far gone or too impossible to change? Where have you lost faith?
• How is your heart toward God? How do you deal with disappointments or despair?

Ask

• What do you want to see God revive in you?
• Where do you want to see a revival around you? Ask God to show how you can help bring revival to your home, work, or community.
• Where do you long to see revival in the church? Ask to fill His church with joy, unity, boldness, confidence, generosity — and whatever else His Spirit brings to mind.

Yield

• Read Psalm 51, making these words your own. If a line causes your heart to skip a beat, pause and wait to hear God speak. When you get to the end, consider what God said to you. The first step in any revival is aligning what we say about ourselves with what our Father says to us.

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Jesus describes the Final Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46:

“…when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.”

Here we see that the righteous are gathered at the Lord’s right hand, at a place of honor, while the unrighteous are gathered at his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothes? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'”

Here Jesus is making it clear that whatever we do to our fellow brothers and sisters, we are doing to the Lord. “You must love the Lord you God with all your hear, all your soul, and all you mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love you neighbor as yourself.'” Matthew 22: 37-39

“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.
For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
Then they will replay, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sister, you were refusing me.’
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

Let me be clear, our salvation is paid for by Christ’s blood on the cross. Nothing we can do, or any amount of good works, will ever earn us a place in heaven. It is by Grace alone. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

“What good is it, dear brothers and sister, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Goodbye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’–but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James 2:14-16.

Brothers and sisters, don’t let another day go by without helping one another, treating them as you would the Lord Jesus.

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