Like You, Lord 6-1-05

Good morning, Lord Jesus. Cause Your thoughts to be my thoughts and Your desires to be my desires. I choose to embrace You as the goal and pattern for my life. Make me more like You each day, even though the process exposes every way that I am not yet like You. ... The path of becoming like You has a price. Someone has said, "Grace is free, but it will cost you everything." It's not easy to swim upstream, to cut against the grain, to stand out. It's hard to no longer be conformed to this world when there is so much of the world still conformed to us. Yet, this is the call of every true disciple -- to become like the Master. The highest honor of any parent is that their children want to grow up to be like them. Let us honor You, Lord, as we desire to be like You. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when He is revealed, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And all who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure" (1 John 3.1-3). Give us courage to embrace the purifying process of discipleship. Teach us how to live a life that is dead to the world and alive to Christ. As Paul said, "I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the sharing of His sufferings by becoming like Him in His death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own" (Philippians 3.10-12). Lord, hear our prayer. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Be encouaraged this day! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy Hays To subscribe/unsubscribe/reply please send a note to me at Messiah Ministries -- "preparing the way of the Lord" -- MessiahMin@aol.com Our mailing address: 2800 Tates Creek Rd; Lexington, KY 40502. God bless you!