Spontaneous

Tuesday, March 25, 2025

Good morning, Lord

Father in Heaven, I seek You first-the knowledge of Your limitless love in Christ and endless power. Build my trust and my passion. I take up my cross and follow...In Jesus' name…

Memory verse: Ephesians 2:6 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

Verse of the Day: 1 John 1:9

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Daily Reading: Joshua 19-21 Luke 2:25-52

Spontaneous

Matthew 13:44-“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

‘In his joy’…

Now consider this...the youngest son of a man dies. He does not think about grieving, he spontaneously grieves.

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” 

Jesus tells us in Matthew 13:44 that our reaction to the treasure that He is is not manufactured-it is spontaneous. Then Paul comes along, inspired by God, and gives us a command to rejoice.

Real rejoicing cannot be formatted or orchestrated, Paul knows that. He also knows that this world will do all it can to kill the spontaneous praise in our hearts for God. But He still tells us to rejoice?

What God is telling us is that ‘always rejoicing’, even in the middle of pain, is the life that is ours in Christ if we seek Him first. Rejoicing in hard times may not mean singing joyfully at the top of our lungs-it is being supported by God’s strength that will never fail us and feeling deeply that reality-that assurance that we are held, without fail, in God’s grip.

When the pain lessens, the spontaneous praise rises from the reality of God’s power and presence deep in our beings.

There is a big ‘if’ in all this-if we seek Him first. A life of worship is not possible unless we give all attention to His will for us. Real praise comes from real belief-real consciousness of His glory-Real praise will not come from hearts that are not feeling awe for God.

The man found treasure and gave everything to keep it. Paul tell us to do everything to keep praise alive in our hearts.

“Rejoice always!”-implies that we stay in awe of all that God can do in any and all situations. This means we must concentrate on Him in bad times as well as the good.

...because He loves us…

Father in Heaven,

Awesome is Your name and great is Your kingdom. Give me today the provision for obeying Your will. Forgive me for not treasuring You as I need to. Lead me away from being covered with worldly cares.

Always present and sovereign Father,

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen