“For we are (I am) God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us (me) to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Again today, I find these words sticking close to me, leading me in all different directions as I wonder just what are those “good works” God prepared ahead of time specifically for me to do? Have I missed them? Was I looking the other way and passed them by? Was I too busy with or distracted by worldly things? Do these good deeds get reassigned to someone else if I mess up? (I mess up a lot) I am grieved to think that I have missed anything that my Heavenly Father has prepared especially for me to do.

I look around at what others are doing and ask myself, “Should I be doing what they are doing?” I feel pulled in so many directions. There are so many good things to be involved in and so many needs to be met – where to start? how to choose? Time to be still and listen – then I hear His words –

“stay in your lane, the lane I have prepared for you – run your race, not someone else’s race – don’t look to the right or to the left at what others are doing – keep your eyes on Me – follow Me – I have them doing other things – do your assignment from Me, not theirs. Don’t compare, don’t imitate, don’t try to fit in – listen to Me, not people (men) – I am the different drummer – don’t try to do someone else’s work that I prepared beforehand just for them – if you do, you’ll miss your calling – be still, listen for My voice – I haven’t given up on you – the Potter doesn’t abandon the clay – you are still a work in progress – I am not finished with you yet – I am preparing you for the good works that are your service to Me – even as I am preparing the people and the places where you will serve Me as I purposed for you so long ago. I know you think you have a good plan, but I have a better plan, trust Me!”

Then I recall His words in Jeremiah 29:11,

” ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ ”

And I think about what Jesus said to Peter when Peter took issue with John’s assignment – that conversation went down like this,

“When Peter saw him, he asked, ‘Lord, what about him?’ Jesus answered, ‘If I want him (John) to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You (Peter) must follow Me.’ ” (John 21:21-22)

That’s what Jesus is asking me to do – He’s asking me to follow Him. Like Abraham, I need not know the destination – it is a place He will show me. My part is to fix my eyes on Jesus and to follow where He leads – trusting He will lead me into those good works He prepared beforehand for me to do.

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.’ ” (Matthew 16:24)

if I do that, I won’t miss what my Heavenly Father prepared so long ago for me to be doing now –

sincerely, Grace Day

When they gathered in the Upper Room that night, it was for a meal. Did they know it would be their last? – the last meal they would share together with Jesus before the world was changed forever. How could they know? Only Jesus knew what the next hours were to hold in store for Him, for His followers and for all mankind. But for this moment, they had come together to share a meal.

However, it wasn’t just any meal. This was a meal that had become a ritual of remembrance. This was the Passover meal. Passover is an annual observance. When the Israelites ate the Passover meal, they remembered how their forefathers had been delivered from slavery in Egypt into the freedom of God’s Promised Land. Their deliverance from bondage into freedom turned out to be quite the long, hard, winding journey – a journey which served to prepare them for their new role as free citizens of Israel – a nation of God’s chosen people.

This particular Passover meal, which Jesus shared with His disciples that night in the Upper Room, turned out to be the Last Supper, or the Lord’s Supper, which is now Communion – our meal of remembrance today. When we participate in this meal, we remember through the bread and the wine, that we too have been set free, delivered from slavery to sin into freedom in Christ.

Like the Israelites, my journey and probably your journey, too, from bondage to freedom, is a long, hard, winding journey. Just as the Passover meal reminded the Israelites of how God miraculously freed them from the powerful Egyptians, Communion reminds you and I, each time we take it, of how God has miraculously freed us from the bondage of our sin and set us free.

When I take Communion, I am reminded that God accomplished this miracle of freeing me from sin’s bondage by Jesus’s body being broken on the cross and His blood being poured out for my sins on that cross. The bread and the wine of the Communion meal, remind me that through Jesus’s broken body and shed blood, I too have been delivered from slavery into freedom, from certain death into everlasting life.

That night in the Upper Room, the disciples didn’t know it would be their last Passover meal with Jesus or that their long-standing tradition of Passover would be replaced with a new one – Communion. Likewise, I don’t know which Communion will be my Last Supper, because I don’t know when Jesus will return or when I will leave this earth. Until that time, I will take Communion as Jesus instructed, “this do in remembrance of Me until I come again.” I know that “as often as we (I) eat this bread and drink this cup, we (I) proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes again.”

The Passover meal celebrates the physical redemption and liberation of God’s people. Communion celebrates the spiritual redemption and liberation of God’s people. Every time I participate in Communion, I remember and I celebrate. I remember that it is Christ’s broken body that heals mine and makes it whole. I remember that I have been bought with a price. The price was Jesus’s life-giving blood. And I celebrate my release from sin’s slavery and my newfound freedom in Christ.

Communion, like Passover, is a most meaningful meal. Communion connects me to my Savior and the sacrifice He made for me and for mankind that day on the cross. I will continue to remember and to celebrate with Communion until I am invited to another meal yet to come – the marriage supper of the Lamb.

“Then the angel said to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” (Revelation 19:9) What a joyous meal that will be!

sincerely, Grace Day

Yes, I know it is no longer February, the month of all things pertaining to the heart. But the heart is so important, so vital to our well-being, that I felt yet another “heart post” was justified. (besides, February is shorter than all the other months, so March can donate a day or two to the heart cause)

We know the heart is vital for keeping us physically alive, we can’t live without a functioning, healthy heart. As our heart becomes weaker or sicker, so does our physical body. But we also talk about the heart as the essence of who we are – as the determiner of what we think and feel, that place where our emotions, soul and spirit reside. We say someone is kindhearted or has a big heart or a hard heart or a heart of gold or we say their heart was in the right place or they spoke from the heart. God’s word tells us just how important our heart is. Consider these words from Proverbs,

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

My heart and your heart, dear readers, are what is important to God. I read in 1 Samuel 16:7,

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

God sees my heart, He knows my heart, and He wants all of my heart. My Heavenly Father desires me to be wholeheartedly devoted to Him and to wholeheartedly trust Him, follow Him and obey His commands wholeheartedly. God’s instructions leave no doubt about how much of my heart He desires be committed to Him.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;” (Proverbs 3:5)

“You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

David’s advice and admonition to his son, Solomon, are words every parent would be wise to pass on to their children. David said,

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve Him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.” (1 Chronicles 28:9) Then I read these words in Colossians 3:23-24,

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

I want to live this life God has graciously given me with my whole heart, as wholeheartedly as I am able, each and every day. No one wants a halfhearted effort or halfhearted attention or affection – and that includes my Heavenly Father. He wants my wholehearted surrender, belief, trust, obedience, devotion, gratitude, praise, pursuit of Him rather than other gods or other things. God desires my whole heart, that I might serve and worship Him wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly, that is the key to the abundant life Christ came to give to me and to you. Jesus told us as much when He said,

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) Therefore,

“I will praise You, O Lord, with all my heart; (Psalm 138:1)

sincerely, Grace Day