Welcome back to Week 2 of Captivated Heart: Server Training. This week
we are focusing on Jesus as Lord, and for the next two days we're
going to continue narrowing that down further as we listen to what HE says it means
for Him to be Lord of our life. You see, it is much easier to merely say that Jesus is Lord than it is to actually allow
His character to be our own, His Words to be our direction, and to
follow Him as He calls us to follow. We're going to dig in and find out
how we might let Christ define what His Lordship is and means in our
lives.
Start with today's Scripture passage: 2 Corinthians 5:11-6:10.
Verse 15 of chapter 5: "And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again."
What does it mean to live for Christ, to truly surrender yourself to His Lordship? We have quite a bit to learn from Paul in this passage about how we should respond to Jesus' Lordship.
Submitting to Jesus as Lord will change our perspective of people. No longer do we see them the same way we did before, but instead we see them as people who need to know God (Verse 16). And with that changed perspective, we begin to feel the urgency to tell them about the incredible work He has done through the cross (verse 20).
Submitting to Jesus as Lord isn't always a pleasant experience, at least by human standards. Look at all the things Paul endured because of his ministry: 2 Corinthians 6:3-10. Notice, however, the perspective he holds onto toward the end of that passage: "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." The New Living Translation puts it like this: "Our
hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual
riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything."
When Jesus is our Lord, He not only changes our perspective of people, but He also changes our perspective of adversity. When we submit ourselves to the Lordship of Christ, He may ask us to do some pretty tough things, to endure some very difficult circumstances. We may go hungry or be exhausted or experience other real, physical hardship. People may not like us for what we're doing or saying, and they may speak out against us in hurtful, slanderous ways. But through it all, when our knees are bent in submission to Him, we can find joy in the midst of heartache and riches when we have nothing.
Questions to consider today: How do we, through Women's Encounter (and in other ways) join Paul as an "ambassador" (messenger or representative) of Christ? How is Christ as your Lord asking you to submit to Himself, and how does this relate to the Women's Encounter ministry?
Spend some time today in prayer, asking Jesus to truly be the Lord of your life and to show you what that means for you specifically concerning Women's Encounter.
Today's Gospel readings:
Matthew 15-16
Mark 8:11-9:1, 10:17-27
Luke 18:9-19:10
John 6
