Open to the public....

Open to the public......

It seems like there are times when whatever we do, we are on display...not really wanting to be, but we just are...and maybe that is the way we feel and may not be a reality..maybe no one is really looking or even cares...but it may be just one person who is looking and that is the one God has for that time...

For whatever reason we are on display for good or bad....not for a performance but just daily living...how we react, how we show Christ or not in our lives...what our words are...whatever...

Today is a funeral for a friend...his life will be on display as well as his wife and children...before a believing and unbelieving world...what is said may effect many, or  it may touch one person's life for eternity...pray that Jesus' name be glorified through all of this...not just the deceased....

Thank YOU that You went on display for us...for the world to see...how much You love each and every person...You died that we might live...you were made low that You might  lift up...You, who created the world, humbled yourself  for us...

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Philippians 2:7-9 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name, 

The Life Of Jesus In Mortal Bodies   A daily devotion for September 11th   From your friends at RayStedman.org     Read: 2 Corinthians 4:7-15       For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body (2 Corinthians 4:11).       What we want, of course, is to be like Him. But the power of God is the miracle of others seeing in us, in the midst of our pressures and trials, the character and the life of Jesus. I have always been amused and challenged by the verse in Colossians 1, where Paul prays that his friends in Colosse may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Colossians 1:11a). What are they going to use all this power for? It sounds as though Paul ought to say, So that you can go about doing great miracles; so that you can astonish people with the tremendous magnetism of your preaching and teaching and be followed by great crowds.But that is not what he says. He says, I pray that you may be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience (Colossians 1:11). That is what takes power; that is where the life and the power of God is manifest. That is the life of Jesus. As you read through the gospels, the Spirit of God brings to your mind's eye a far more beautiful and wonderful picture, perhaps, of Jesus' character and life. You see His compassion of heart, His moral beauty that attracted people everywhere He went. You see the serenity of His spirit, how He moves through every scene of anger and unrest with calmness and quietness. You see His disciplined will and His obvious joy in living. That is the life of Jesus, and that is what we want, isn't it? How do you get it? The secret, Paul says, is our consent to share in the dying of Jesus. What does he mean by the dying of Jesus? You know he does not mean that we have to get ourselves nailed to a cross. But that cross is a symbol of something very real in our experience. What was Jesus like on the cross? He was not powerful and impressive and significant; He was not being applauded by the multitudes that listened to His every word. No. The cross was a place of physical weakness, of rejection by the proud and arrogant world around Him. It was a place of obscurity, a place where He was willing to lose everything He had built and to trust God to bring it back and make it significant. Have you been in those circumstances recently, where no matter what you do you cannot seem to get any glory or credit for yourself? That is exactly where God wants you, because out of those times of inordinate pressure, times of hurt and despair and heartache and a sense of being wasted and not used, God is working His will. Others, perhaps, are being given life because of the death you are going through. Lord, there are times when I go through trials. How my heart longs to cry out to You to deliver me from them. May I rather learn instead, Lord, that wonderful attitude of the Lord Jesus, if it be possible, may this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done.       Life Application   Are we being so changed by our relationship with Christ that others who are in our lives see the glory of His character? How can we share in the dying of Jesus?   Related Message   For more on this portion of Scripture read the message: Your Pot -- His Power or listen to the audio by clicking:   Listen to Ray     Previous Devotions for September Next       Want to Subscribe?   Subscribe / Unsubscribe to this Daily Devotion by Email   Copyright © 2014 Ray Stedman Ministries — This daily devotion is from the book The Power of His Presence: a year of devotions from the writings of Ray Stedman, compiled by Mark Mitchell. It may be copied for personal non-commercial use only in its entirety free of charge. All copies must contain this copyright notice and a hyperlink to RayStedman.org if the copy is posted on the Internet.