Growing faith...

  2 Peter 1:5-8  "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.".  (NIV)

Following the list of essentials of faith that we need to develop in our lives, Paul says the following in verse 8:  "If you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means that knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive." (Phillips)

Two enemies to our faith.  Two negative traits for a Christian.  Being complacent means we are satisfied and have stopped seeking to learn, stopped growing.  We think we know it all, have it all.  The Christian faith is designed to keep us always seeking, always wanting more of God's wisdom, God's knowledge, God's leading in our life.

Being unproductive means we aren't applying what God has given us.  We aren't using his gifts.  We aren't sharing his love.  If we have the traits that Paul lists then we are proving in our life that God has had an impact on us and we have grown in our faith.  We need to check our lives to see if our faith has grown to include these traits listed above.

Thank you, Lord, for sending your Spirit to help us grow in our faith.  Help us to add these qualities to our faith so that our lives will show both effectiveness and productivity.

Truth with a capital "T"...

  John 1:14  "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."  (NIV)

"For the truth is that the Bible will be an impenetrable mystery at every point where we take our eyes away from Christ.  We will lose our way around the Bible when we fail to look to Jesus."---from  "Name Above All Names" by Alistair Begg and Sinclair B Ferguson

Some people want to "follow" Jesus' teaching without following Jesus himself.  They want the particular words that appeal to them as a sensible way to live, divorced from the Man who says them and who demands to be recognized as God's voice---his Word---his authority.  This makes the Bible ineffective.  

Without Christ's authority, the "words" he spoke become just one man's opinion on how we might want to live our lives---no different then anyone else's words or opinions.  Jesus is who the Bible is all about.  As God's Son, he has God's authority and his words become Truth, with a capital "T".  All of them, not just the ones we find most useful to our point of view.  No one but God can tell us the Way, the Truth, the Life and have the authority to make it so.  

To truly follow Jesus' teaching, means to take him at his Word and believe he is who he says he is and that he comes from God with Truth for all of us.  Thank you, Jesus for being the Word of Truth for us to follow.  amen

Strength...

  Philippians 4:13  "I am ready for anything through the strength of the One who lives within me."  (Phillips)

"I can do everything through his who gives me strength."  (NIV)

Isaiah 40:31  "But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint."  (NIV)

Where does out strength come from?  It comes from the LORD!  As long as our hope is in Him, we will have the strength we need to get through any situation.  Our hope is set firmly on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and that fact gets us through all things. 

This is a spiritual and mental strength that sustains us from the inside.  Christ is all and is in all.  We rely on that constantly.  When we feel weariness creeping in through our daily burdens we need to remember to trust God, to put our hope in him, and we will soar and run and walk with his strength.

Thank you, LORD, for always being our strength, always being our hope, always helping us to soar and run and walk with you daily.  amen

In tune with God...

  Deuteronomy 32:47  "They are not just idle words for you---they are our life."  (NIV)

In one of my devotional readings I saw the phrase "praying in order to keep your heart in tune".  What does that mean?  If you ever played an instrument in a band or orchestra you know that before beginning everyone tunes their instrument so that its pitch is exactly the same as everyone else.  One perfect note is played and everyone matches it.  

Sometimes you have to make slight adjustments.  Jesus is our "perfect note".  We constantly try to match his life with our own.  We constantly turn our ear to his word to be sure we are still  "in tune".  Praying is a way to remain in constant contact with Jesus and keep our focus only on him.

Psalm 1:2  "But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night."  (NIV)

When we meditate on God's word it also helps to keep us "in tune".  Many scriptures remind us of this and help us to draw our attention back to God at all times.  Prayer then will be in tune with God's will if we are listening to his words in our meditation and scripture reading.

Keep me "in tune" with you at all times, Lord, and keep my focus on your words and your will.

Faith listening...

  "Intellectual knowledge does not satisfy the longing in my heart, nor does it beget a loving response to the out-pouring of his love.  Heart knowledge comes to me only by listening with all my heart to my Father speaking to me."---David E Rosage

We can read a lot about Jesus.  We can study scripture daily and dutifully.  But at some point we have to apply faith to the words we are reading.  We have to reach out to God believing he truly exists and that he will answer us.  Our heart has to become involved and not just our mind.  Proof will never exist to satisfy the intellect of God's existence, but faith will give us every assurance we need in our hearts that he is there and that he does love us.  

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, but faith is necessary to set our feet on that pathway of truth and life.  Each time we step out in faith on the path of truth, we are closer to God, closer to home, closer to the safety of eternal life.  The drowning man pulled safe!  The redeemed sinner safe with the Father!

Thank you, Father, for speaking to our hearts when we come to you in faith.  Draw me closer and closer as I listen to your words speak to me.

    

New life, clean life...

  Ephesians 4:22-24  "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."  (NIV)

This is part of a section in the NIV entitled: "Living as Children of Light".  Paul stresses the difference between how we used to live before becoming Christians---"separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts." (v. 18)  But now we are to put off this"old self" and allow ourselves to be"made new in the attitude of your minds."  

We don a "new self" which the Holy Spirit will mold in Christ's image.  But our mental attitude is important.  We have to allow this change and stop looking back at our old ways and habits.  We have to reject the world's pull and let our hearts be softened by your love and become obedient to your Word.  Paul goes on to list ways in which we should change in order to become Children of Light---your Light!

I like the way the Phillips translation describes these actions in verses 22-24:  "..."fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living"..."put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life which was made by God's design for righteousness. and the holiness which is no illusion."

Why wear old dirty clothes or live an old dirty life?  We have clean fresh clothes of righteousness designed by God, himself, just for us!  A new life smelling of fresh washed holiness!

Isaiah 61:10  "I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God.  For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness....".  (NIV)

There is that "clean clothes", our robe of righteousness, that only comes from God's grace in Jesus Christ.  New life!  New attitude!

Thank you, Lord for your robe of righteousness and the grace that has given it to us in Jesus Christ.

Too busy, not enough time...

  "Busyness besets us daily.  Jesus shows us how to pray in the midst of all the daily demands."---David R. Rosage

I have a poster that reads:  "If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy."  That is a truth we need to remember.  Our world has become fast-paced and being busy is the standard of life for most people.  How often do we hear the phrase, "I don't have time!"?  This is a lie that the devil uses to confuse our life and weaken our faith.  We all have time.  It is just a matter of how we choose to use it.  We do many things that we don't have to do.  We fill up our hours with a lot of useless and unnecessary activity that we convince ourselves we have to do.  

Throughout his life Jesus was constantly moving around teaching and healing and interacting with people.  But it never kept him from finding time to pray.  He sometimes rose early to go off alone and pray.  But he also prayed in the midst of his activity---such as giving thanks when feeding the 5000 or speaking to God before raising Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus was constantly focused on his Father and his Father's will.  This is prayer---bringing God into all of our activity.

Prayer is communication with God.  When we are busiest it may be a few short words, but our focus is still on God no matter what we are doing.  At other times we carve out larger portions of time to devote to our prayers.  The idea behind my poster is that when we allow ourselves to think we are "too busy" or "don't have time" then we have lost our focus on God and seeking his presence and his will.  We need to recognize Satan's lie concerning our "time" and refocus on God in whatever activity we are involved with.  We are not too busy and we do have time!  Jesus shows us this in his life and we can follow his example. 

Thank you, Lord, for the time I have and help me to use it more effectively.  Keep my focus on You at all times, no matter what my level of busyness might be.  I need an awareness of You in all my activity and all my moments every day.

Don't judge, don't condemn, forgive, give...

  Luke 6:37-38  "Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give and it will be given to you."  (NIV)

These verses speak of the consequences of judging others, condemning them, forgiving them, and giving to them.  It isn't clear if the responses are from our fellow man---receiving equal treatment in return for our actions---or if it is God's response to our actions.  I think the two work together.

People will react in kind to the treatment we show them.  If we are "loving our neighbor as we love ourselves" we will probably receive the same sort of response from them.  Kindness begets kindness. Forgiveness begets forgiveness. God know what he was doing when he instructed us to live this way.  It brings about peace and harmony and wholeness.  

God very obviously went above and beyond this sort of response in his own dealings with us.  Despite our evil ways he gave his only Son to die for us and redeem us.  We can't begin to live up to his example!  

There is an order of sorts in these verses.  We begin by not judging and condemning and then move to the positive actions of forgiving and giving.  When we learn to forgo negative reactions in our treatment of others, we began to learn how to have positive reactions instead.  This is the growth of the fruit of the Spirit within us---love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Thank you Father for teaching us how to love others, by your love for us.

The straight path...

 Proverbs 3:5-6  "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all our ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."  (NIV)

Keeping us on the straight path.  That is what God does in the Holy Spirit.  We are easily distracted by the world and its ways.  Other paths sometimes look easier or more exciting but we don't see the dangers hidden around the bend.  When the path is straight there are no hidden dangers to contend with. With God all is open and straight forward.  There are no hidden motives or alternate agendas.

  This is the life of the sheep cared for by the Good Shepherd.  He "makes us lie down in green pastures, leads us beside quiet waters, restores our soul, guides us in paths of righteousness, protects us from evil, comforts us with his rod and staff, prepares a table for us in all circumstances, anoints us, gives us all we need." (Psalm 23) 

His goodness and love follow us everywhere at all all times and our straight path leads us home, to our Father's presence.  As long as we trust and acknowledge You at all times we remain on this "straight path You provide for us.  Thank you, Father, Son, Holy Spirit!  I trust you and the path that you provide for me to follow.

Bringing the children...

  Matthew 19:13-14  Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them.  But the disciples rebuked them.  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  (NIV)

"...such as these."---who did Jesus mean?  Literally, all little children?  Those who are childlike?  Those who are brought by others who love them?  What did he see in the children and those who brought them?

Children are simple and innocent and easily taught.  Children don't have preconceived ideas or prejudices.  Children are easily led.  Those who brought them had "good motives" ---they wanted Jesus' blessing on their children, showing their belief that Jesus was someone important and powerful.  There was trust exhibited by both parents and children.

Jesus describes himself as "gentle and humble in heart."  (Matthew 11:29)  Children would recognize this.  So would loving parents.  Jesus welcomes those who come to him for rest, for healing, for teaching.  He blesses the faith of parents, friends, guardians who bring the helpless to him.

I was baptized as an infant.  Some think this is wrong because I couldn't "choose" to follow Jesus.  Those same parents made sure I attended Sunday School, went to catechism classes at the right age, and that I "confirmed" my baptism when I was around 13 and old enough to understand what I was doing.  I shared my baptism day with my mother and my two sisters.  We all "joined" the family of God together.  To me, that now feels special and I thank my parents for raising me as a child of God.  I feel just as baptized as I would have felt at the age of 13.  I also recognize the love of my parents in bringing me to God, just as these parents in Matthew brought their children to Jesus to be blessed.  I was never "hindered" and always encouraged by my family and the greater church family.

Thank you, Lord, for all parents and guardians and others who bring children to meet Jesus and be blessed by him.  Thank you for all parents and teachers and others who see that children continue to learn about Jesus throughout their lives. Thank you for making me part of your family, and for blessing me as a child of God.   amen.