Are you a branch on the vine of Jesus Christ? Do you know what that means to you? Well, when we are grafted into the vine of Jesus, we become righteous as He is righteous, and free of sin as He is free of sin. Grafting doesn’t transform the branch’s nature, but it is from that moment on that the branch is supported and fed by the new vine to which it is attached. Are you fed and supported by Jesus? Is your fruit made more perfect and fuller by its new source of nourishment?
Have you ever faced a problem and prayed for God to reveal His will to you, and to guide you through it, but then, when He had brought you to that place where you felt comfortable once more, did you simply tell Him “thanks” as you went about your merry way alone? This happens all of the time to believers, but the Lord doesn’t want to be the taxi that you call in a pinch, He wants to be your personal automobile that you depend on day and night to take you everywhere you go.
Do we abide in Jesus Christ? This is an incredibly powerful question, and our answer to it determines so much. This is the condition that is placed on one of the most sought after promises in the Bible... answered prayer, and it is also linked to other promises such as the love of God, and joy. So how do we approach Jesus? Is Christ abiding in us, or is He just an occasional visitor?
Praying for those things that are within the will of God for us; do we really know how to do that? Seeking out the will of God as He has determined it to be, takes much prayer in which we ask no other question but “what is your will for me?”, and then listening for His reply. Can we hear God’s voice when he answers and makes His desire known to us? We will know how to pray as we should once we do, but until that time our prayers are best conducted by the Holy Spirit within us.
Do we think of our faith in God, and Jesus Christ to be entirely spiritual? Do we continue on in the sins of the flesh even after we have presented ourselves as believers in the Lord and Jesus? Resisting those earthly temptations is difficult, and this is why Satan attacks our physical frailties so often. He is very good at finding the small chinks in our armor and picking at them. When he finds a weakness he attacks us relentlessly like a swarm of hornets in an attempt to breach the walls of our spirituality.
Are we ready for the Lord’s Table when we take Communion? Have we prepared ourselves body, soul, and mind to receive Him? Do we take this meal lightly or is it a moment of intense spiritual fulfillment? Of all the sacraments that we as Christians are involved in, consuming this meal should be our most spiritually anticipated... Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing the Sick, Ordination, and Matrimony, are all for not without the body and blood of Jesus having been offered and received by us for the remission of our sins. Are we ready to receive Him? Are we ready to take Him into our bodies?
Are you the child of an imperfect father? Well, here is some news for you... all men are flawed, and we as children are flawed as well. However, God is perfect and beyond blemish... He is perfect in every way. Yes, He is Abba, the perfect Father, and in so being will never abandon you, or do any of those things that abusive, or otherwise imperfect human fathers do. No matter how bad your earthly father is, and I know that some are monsters... God the Father is good, and can rescue you from all abuse and calamity.
With lifestyles and medical care improving, our lifespans are also increasing, but a long life doesn’t necessarily mean a good life. Some reach their older years and look back with regret, some look at the lives they are living now and ask why they are sick, or dying, and others are even tempted by Satan to abandon their faith and enjoy worldly pleasures in the years they have. But what does God want for us, and what does the Bible say about aging?
When we rise in the morning, and first open our eyes, are we awakening to the world, or to God? Is our first thought of getting a cup of coffee (or juice) and beginning another day at work, or is it in thanksgiving to the Lord for this day with Him? What do our checklists look like, are they our own personal lists, or are they written for two (ourselves and the divine)? These answers depend on who you think you are.
Are we bearing spiritual fruit, and is that fruit glorifying God? Is it just tasty and pleasing to His palette, or is there more to the idea of fruit in the Bible, and in our relationship with God? I believe there is more, and all we must do to realize this is to look around us at nature... God’s creation, and then read scripture once more.
Who do we glorify with our prayers? Is our aim to glorify God, or is it to bring glory upon ourselves? This is especially a danger when we are interceding in prayer for others because it is easy for them to attribute the success of a prayer to the intercessor himself, and thus assign the glory to them incorrectly. In the secret privacy of our prayer closets this same issue arises, however it has more to do with the motive behind our prayers... who do we glorify, and who do we allow others to assign glory to when we pray for them?
Are we sanctified, Holy, and doing the work of the Lord, or just working hard at religious things? Are we serving the church we attend, and other institutions around us, because they do holy things, and yet we ourselves have not been sanctified? To be considered Holy in the eyes of God as we do God’s will we must first sanctify ourselves, otherwise the works we do are just good deeds in the eyes of men. So, who are we serving, and in what capacity?
Do you seek to be holy as God is? Do you long to live a life of righteousness and abhor sin because that is how He would have you live? If so, you are pursuing God’s desire for us and the stakes are high. This is an aspiration without degree because we are either found to be with sin... or without it; this is a race in which there is no second place, but fear not.
Do we weep in our prayer closets and ask for a certain thing day, after day, after day? Does our heart break while in the midst of our supplication, and yet we still have faith in God to answer? Are our prayers lifted up yet again, and the tears run down our faces once more? Do those around us say “stop praying, it isn’t going to happen”, but we continue to cling to hope, and trust in God? This is what Jesus taught us to do. This is the true evidence of our faith.
It is no accident that the first two verses of the very first Psalm speak to studying God’s Law, or Word, over that of men. We are told to take our counsel from scripture, and not from the ungodly amongst us. It is obvious from these words that we are being told that reading God’s Holy Word should be the foundation and basis for our study of God. Are we listening to His voice in this, or do we prefer to read from other sources as various men attempt to interpret scripture for us? How should we conduct our study of God’s Word?