All in Christian
Do you stand at the ready, listening for God’s voice? Do you wait upon the Lord in this manner? We know instinctively that God is with us always, but sometimes we forget that He isn’t just there... He is also waiting to hear our voice. When we cry out to Him, when we joyfully sing to Him, when our pain and suffering leaves our throat in sorrowful moans... He waits on us. As we speak to Him in prayer He responds in Mercy, and yes, in judgement.
The world is comprised of approximately 6.9 billion people, and of those, 2.2 billion are Christian, or to simplify this a bit... over 30% of all the people in the world are Christian. This is an amazing statistic, especially if you listen to the press on the subject. However, the press corps is not the only detractor or naysayer when it comes to the state of the Church... Christians also preach the demise of the Church from the pulpit. Why is this so? Why are we so self deprecating?
Are you bold enough to ask God for those things you need? Do you dare to mention the trivial items that you are lacking? So often we hold back things in prayer because we feel that the timing is inopportune, or that we think we know the mind of God, and that He will not want to deal with something so minor, or something that we can do for ourselves. Is this you? Well friends, don’t presume to know the mind of God, and listen to his Word as we are told to ask boldly, and faithfully in the name of Jesus, and for whatever we need.
Do you rejoice in the Lord all day long? If so, you most certainly must be praying without ceasing. If this describes you then you should also be giving thanks for all that the Lord provides, and does, for you as your day proceeds. All three of these things, Rejoicing, Praying, and Giving Thanks, are all contained in a single sentence as Paul writes to the Thessalonians. They are joined for a reason, and are meant to lift us up in spirit... then join with the words Always, Without Ceasing, and All Circumstances, to show us the degree of their importance.
Jesus laid down his life for all of us collectively, but to a much finer point, he died for each of us individually. It is easy to disavow personal ownership in the ramifications of something when you are part of a crowd, but it becomes very clearly an individual matter when we form a personal attachment, or take a leadership role. Jesus died to save each of us individually, and we are each responsible for our own actions, and covenant with Him.
Prayer and living make up a two lane road. When we pray we know enough to listen for God to answer, but that conversation isn’t the two lane road we will speak of today... we will consider the impact our life is having on our faith, and prayers. How we pray influences how we live, and how we live has an incredible affect on how we pray. Can you have a terrible fight with someone, and then pray a sweet prayer? What we do in life each day sets the tone for our relationship with the Lord.
This morning I am contemplating the humility and love I have for my fellow man. I ask myself a simple question to get at the heart of it... “do I humble myself before God in prayer, only to leave that humility in my prayer closet when I leave it?” So often I see someone perform a single act of love or kindness for another and think that by doing this one thing it defines them, but it takes more than that... loving your neighbor should be the rule of your life, not the one-off exception. Be loving always and to all people.
When you enter your time of devotion and reading the scriptures, is your intention to study the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and God, like a scientist would study a specimen in a lab? If you are a pastor are you looking for eloquence and inspiration that can be used in your sermons? If so then you are treating your relationship and faith as if they were something you might own, and not the love of your life that you should be immersed in, and changed by.
As a Christian, are you meant to be sick? What does the Bible tell us about what we should do if we are ill? Well it isn’t a mystery, and is spelled out very clearly. We are meant to be healed. Yet, so many of us think that although Jesus and the disciples healed, that this is a dead practice today... well it isn’t. The gift of healing is just as alive today as it was in the time of Jesus, and it continues to happen in the Church today.
Are you a wanderer in Christ? Did you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, go down in the waters and spirit of baptism and then walk off into a spiritual desert? Well it is time to come back from where you have been and rejoin the house, and the kingdom, of God. Like our savior, we are not meant to remain alone in the desert... are your 40 days up?
Do you think that you are too far gone to be salvaged? Are you too embarrassed to come before Jesus and ask for forgiveness and a new life? When you look at your past do you think it is too filthy and torn to ever be made new once more? Well think again because the blood of Jesus Christ can wash away any stain, and mend the holes in every garment in life.
Reading and remembering the Word of God is very important, but unless we actually do those things we have read then we have gathered nothing but useless knowledge. To be enamored by the words contained in the Bible without putting them to good use by doing God’s will in them is sheer foolishness. Do you live the life you read? Do you not only hear God’s voice, but obey it?
As you move through your day do you feel as if God is there with you? As you work to obey and perfect the character of Jesus, can you sense Him inside you as well? Does the Holy Spirit speak to you of their closeness? Is your fear relieved at the very thought that they are with you now? These questions should guide you, and this one thought of closeness should change how you live your life today, causing you to refocus your priorities, and life.
Giving God the glory for those things He does through us can be a difficult thing to accomplish, and has been the undoing of many... including pastors. It seems the more gifts we have been given, and especially the more our natural gifts are, the harder it becomes for us to reflect the fullness of light back to its rightful star. You see, no matter how brightly a planet shines in the night sky, it is never truly the origin of the light... and likewise, no matter how great God’s will is manifest in us... we are just His reflection.
The most uncertain of victories will be won by the Lord because He is great beyond measure. How patient is our faith in this; His victory? Are we waiting in total confidence for Him to act? When those around us challenge our patience in God we can be moved to take matters into our own hands, and to abandon our assurance in His promise. In such times I look to scripture and hold tight to it.