Daily Devotional

TAKING SERIOUS SPIRITUAL INVENTORY

April 17

hild of God, if you will look and listen carefully to the formation of world events, you will notice that circumstances are pointing strongly to the conclusion of matters here on the earth. Signs of the times are all around you! Can't you see? Open your eyes and you will notice right in front of you that you do not have "forever" to wait and put off the decision to get your heart right with your Father and serve the Lord in a serious and sober manner. My children have played with sin so long that it has blinded their eyes and lulled them into a lethargy (sleepiness) and complacency that will allow that day of His coming to approach them quickly and dangerously. Now you must know that your eternal reward is based on your obedience and fruit bearing for the Lord. What are you bearing? Selfishness, lust, greed over money, jealousy over others' spiritual gifts, are these your assets? Are you allowing sin, fleshliness and deeds of the flesh to be at the center of your living? Now you say, "There are a lot of others who are worse than I!" It is not about others that I am speaking, it is about you! You must pull yourself aside and take some serious spiritual inventory. Don't you remember when your excitement and zeal in the Lord was far greater at another time in your life? Why have you grown cold? Did you divorce a good woman/man? Did you do evil unto your children or to some other person? Are you living under a heavy load of guilt? Even if you did these things and far more, there is forgiveness with the Lord. God has a wonderful way of challenging the people in your life that you have hurt with the need to forgive you and go on with their lives in the Lord. If you will repent and confess your failures (whatever they have been), the Holy Spirit will return to you and wash away all past sins and give you a new opportunity to take up your cross and resume your strongly blessed and forgiven life in Christ--- that's right--- you can be forgiven of the foulest sins, cleansed and healed of the most corrupt spirit under which you may be operating, and renewed in the life of God in Christ Jesus! You must not allow the Devil to continue to heap condemnation and guilt upon you and keep you in this present bondage not one more day! Now think of this: the very day that you confess and repent and turn away from whatever evil you practice, in that day your restoration process begins in heaven. Your father says to you, "welcome home Beloved! You've been gone a long time and the door is open to the throne of prayer, mercy and grace." Now, you can become one who walks with people who have also seen and personally experienced the forgiving mercy and grace of the Lord in their own impossible bondages and circumstances. Welcome to the club there are many others who walk as you have. Now, notice the prayer below, and pray it repeatedly until you have your own breakthrough!

Prayer

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Father I confess before you that I do want to come home to you. I confess that I have grown cold in many ways, and I repent that I have allowed myself to ignore and put off decisions to come back to you, and to truly feast at your table spread with love, mercy, forgiveness, innumerable blessings, renewing old friends in the Lord, hope, joy, peace and real love in Christ. Lord, open your arms of mercy and forgiveness, because today I'm coming home to you with full repentance. I am turning away from the darkness and sick sin that attacks me, and I am going to walk with you now and forever, and I will never turn back. I have tried before Father, and I have failed. That is why I need you and the blood of Jesus to cover me and I need the Holy Spirit to guide and heal me of the wounds of my sins, in Jesus’ name I thank you, amen!

Friends in Christ, enjoy the following poem from my book Jewels from His Crown - A Collection of Sacred Poetry found at amazon.com and drdavidjeffares.com Dr. David Jeffares

POEM BY DR JEFFARES ON NEXT PAGE

LIFE AGAIN

Upon a plain in heaven’s land

Where we aspire to go,

Were gathered vast unnumbered saints

All lined in endless row.

The great and small each one in turn

Laid treasures at His feet.

His happy, joyous dancing eyes

Their gaze did fully greet.

A mother came to give her gift,

And bow before Him low.

In silent fear and hopeless faith,

She slowly turned to go.

But He then filled with heaven’s love,

Rose quickly from his throne;

The gift, you see, had been her child,

Whose breath was fully gone.

He held the baby’s lifeless form,

And drew it to His heart.

Could not the Chief of heaven’s hosts

A baby’s life restart?

With face upturned and love’s appeal,

He breathed a silent prayer.

By lightning flash and holy hush,

Sweet stillness filled the air!

Before He spoke, his Father heard,

And sent the spark of life.

The babe once stilled by frozen death

Was freed from nature’s strife.

This mother’s joy is as our own

When we are hidden in Him,

With resurrection’s liquid life,

Our cup overflows its brim.

COMMENTARY ON LIFE AGAIN

While returning home from lunch one day, out of the clear blue I received the lines:

He held the baby’s lifeless form,

And drew it to His heart,

Could not the Chief of Heaven’s Hosts

A baby’s life restart?

I dictated the lines to my wife Shirley and then rushed home to complete this powerful commentary on the eternal life for babies who die on the earth.

Although this poem setting is on a plain in heaven’s Land, the mother in the line of saints is still on the earth. There she discovers that her child has died. The imagery is one in which, through prayer, she presents the departed child to the Lord Jesus. Jesus, in heaven with the baby, receives the spark of life (resurrection life) from His Father. The mother is given the assurance though prayer and a witness of the Holy Spirit, that when she arrives in heaven after her earthly life, her baby will be alive and will grow up before her in the presence of the Lord God. This concept is certainly in line with the precious scriptural promise from

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (I Corinthians 2:9 NKJV)

The impact on every woman who has lost a child is to bring amazing joy and comfort that the child can finally be “placed” alive in the presence of God. Many women who lose babies are in such emotional shock that their only thought is on the baby whose body is cold and lifeless. The thought of the Lord Jesus holding the dead baby, and receiving the spark of life from the Father producing life in the baby’s body is greatly comforting.

I have received reports of people sending this poem to loved ones who have suffered the loss of a child. The comfort is amazing and deeply peaceful.