Sand Mountain Sermonette 47
Luke 22:42; Ephesians 1:13-14; John 14:26; 16:13; I Corinthians 2:14
The Great Kitchen Adventure
“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”
Luke 22:42 (Jesus’ prayer to His Father offered in the Garden of Gethsemane).
When I was a little preschooler, I would stay with my dad’s mom, my Mamaw Mabrey, during the day while my parents worked. And, to this day, I will never forget the great kitchen adventures we had!
Mamaw would take me to the kitchen and allow me to play on the floor with all the pots and pans and other exciting things I could find and remove from the cabinets below her kitchen counter tops. And, while she was preparing one of her delicious meals, I would position her kitchen utensils into little carnivals, forts, and the like. But the one kitchen tool I loved and remember most was Mamaw’s sifter: the classic one featuring the revolving center and the little red wooden nob located on the outside handle. I would spin and spin the sifting device as I was intrigued with its inner workings.
Dear one reading this devotion, God loves you so! He has a plan for your life; an exciting adventure that begins when you trust (or when you trusted) His Son, Jesus Christ, as Savior and Lord of your life. A plan He does not purposefully want to keep hidden from you, but the plan He desires to reveal to you day-by-day as you trust and follow Him.
And, in doing so, God has given the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of the Living Christ) as a deposit not only guaranteeing the Christian’s salvation (See Ephesians 1:13-14), but also to be the believer’s “sifter” in discerning the will of God daily. And, when it comes to those crossroads in life that eventually calls for a decision; one in which we may not be sure in which direction to follow, the “Sifter” Spirit of God knows what one is to keep and pursue as truly given by the Lord as opposed to that which is to pass right on through and out of the way when discerning God’s will on a certain matter at hand. The Bible also tells us the Holy Spirit is our Teacher in understanding and apply the Scriptures to our lives when discerning God’s will for our lives (See John 14:26; 16:13).
In other words, Christian, you have something the unbeliever does not have, the Holy Spirit living inside you (See I Corinthians 2:14). “Dear God, may the Spirit speak to each reader of this devotion: the believer and the unbeliever” with all the love and encouragement, conviction and direction, that you so desire so that he or she may know that Jesus died and rose so that He could live in them and assure them of the Your love and leadership today and forever.” Amen.
Pastor Louie