Making Jesus Proud

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL MONDAY AUGUST 5, 2002
(Acts 7:54-60)

The Jewish leaders were stung to fury by Stephen's accusation, and ground their teeth in rage. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily upward into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God's right hand. And he told them, "Look, I see the heavens opened and Jesus the Messiah standing beside God, at his right hand!"

Then they mobbed him, putting their hands over their ears, and drowning out his voice with their shouts, and dragged him out of the city to stone him.

The official witnesses--the executioners--took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Paul.

And as the murderous stones came hurtling at him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And he fell to his knees, shouting, "Lord, don't charge them with this sin!" and with that, he died.

Making Jesus proud. The ultimate goal of every follower of Christ is to become more like Him each day. We read about how Jesus lived His life. We study the way He handled different situations. We carefully dissect His words. The whole point is to become more like Him. The popular phrase "what would Jesus do" helps to remind us during our busy days that when we face decisions, we should stop and stop and ask, what would Jesus do?

You see, Jesus came to this earth and lived as a man. He walked the same roads we walk. He saw the same things we see. He felt the feelings we have. While remaining 100% God, He was also 100% man and comprehends what we go through in our day to day lives. Because of His virgin birth, He was born without sin, and then proceeded to live His life without sin. He set the example for all of us to follow. He gave us the standard by which we all should be striving to live up to each day. By living like He did, we make our Lord proud of us.

Many see this as an unrealistic goal. While in our own strength I agree, however, when we are living in His strength... it becomes very real. You see, when Jesus left this earth, He promised a comforter... someone called along side to help. That promise was fulfilled on the day we celebrate as Pentecost with the advent of the Holy Spirit. One of the benefits of accepting Jesus Christ into your life is to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit give you power to live beyond yourself when you are yielded to that power. The Holy Spirit is what brings you under conviction when you are not living a life pleasing and acceptable to the Lord. It is the Holy Spirit that enables you to live a Christ-like life, thus making Jesus proud of you.

The person and power of the Holy Spirit has been the subject of much poor teaching. I am not going to get into any theological debates over this issue, and will instead stick strictly to what the Bible clearly teaches. At that moment of being "born again", you receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. There are Biblically documented gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit now available to those who will allow the Spirit of God to rule and reign in your life.

It is the Spirit of the living God now residing with you that gives you the supernatural power to love your enemies, forgive those who harm you, overcome the trials of day to day life, defeat sin in your life, and know God's love in ways you never experienced before. It is the Holy Spirit that guides and directs you through out the day, to keep you on the path God has chosen for your life. It is only because of the Holy Spirit that we can live like Jesus did, and make Him proud of us.

I love you and care about you so much. You will be in my prayers today as you think about these words. The most effective way to make Jesus proud of you is to live like He did. In today's scripture, we see Stephen being stoned to death and asking God to forgive those who were killing him. This is exactly what Jesus did on the cross. It was only because of the power of God living in Stephen that he was able to do that. Was Jesus proud? There is no other place in scripture that says Jesus was standing. Search the Bible. It always says Jesus was sitting. Why was Jesus standing in this instance? I believe it was because He was so proud of his servant Stephan that He actually stood to welcome him into Heaven. My challenge to you today is to act like Jesus and to make Him proud of you.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com.

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