All in Christian
Expecting a miracle, and being confident in our rescue; such behaviors have a profound impact on our psyche, wellbeing, and our spiritual health. When we lean on our God in full expectation that He will do the things He has promised, not doubting His presence, and relying confidently on His Word, then He will strengthen us, and neither our bodies, nor minds will fail, and He will heal our souls.
In the chaotic moments of life do we panic, or do we begin leaning on our faith for God‘s miraculous rescue and relief? In those times that are so dire, out of the ordinary, and perhaps cause us to experience great fear, do we attempt to save ourselves, run away, or do we call out for Jesus? The truth is... When we find ourselves in those dark times and we are struggling, or shaking in fear, we typically do one of three things, we either look inward for our own solution, give up, or lean on our faith, but sometimes the situation is more complicated than we realize, and we do all three!
When we first come to know God through Jesus Christ we are like infants, and are yet unprepared to walk fully as grown men and women of faith in our Father’s house. Likewise, Jesus endured His childhood as He grew in body and mind from an infant into manhood. Yet, as a baby, a toddler, a child, and through all of the other phases of growing into adulthood, our father‘s love is complete, and perfect through them all.
Did you wake up happy today? Did you enter into your prayer closet with joy, or do you feel like you should be eternally solemn before God? On Sundays do we enter into the sanctuary with a stern disposition, and worship God with a pompous air? Do the circumstances in our lives seek to crush our spirit? God gives us many things but of them He most certainly wants us to receive His joy, and yes, happiness!
Does God’s will for you seem like a total mystery to you that can’t be resolved, or understood? Do you pray for Him to reveal it to you, but hear only silence? Well, the will of God for you is not meant to remain a mystery, it is as certain as the blood of Christ, as complete as our forgiveness from sin, and we have no part in determining it... It is totally in support of God’s purpose and is made known to us through His grace which flows through Jesus Christ; facilitated by the Holy Spirit.
When we pray do we exert all of our effort, and dedicate every word, to asking for things we need, and for our desires to be met? If that is the case then we are missing the true treasure that resides within prayer. By praying in this way we are missing the full depth of relationship, such as Adam experienced during his walks with God in the Garden. When we love God, and are in relationship with Him, we should be discussing our lives, and asking questions about our heritage In Him, because He is our loving Father, and about His mysteries, because we are His adoring children who seek His wisdom.
Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and mothers were widely celebrated with phone calls, visits, and gifts, but in the year since the previous Mother’s Day many children had lost their mother, and men had lost their wives who had blessed them with children. In the midst of our joyous celebration we can find ourselves saddened, and sometimes feeling bitter towards God in the midst of our mourning. But in all things, even the loss of a mother, or wife, we should worship, and call out blessings to God. Job shows us this after losing all of his children to a tragic storm.
We talk quite a bit about having new life, or being transformed, as if we have no active part in achieving these things, But both require effort from us. It is true that these are founded on, and sparked by Jesus Christ, but we have a role to play in making our new life happen. In other words, Jesus makes them possible, starts them in motion, and abides in us, but we must accept Him, and working with the Holy Spirit, bring them to life in ourselves.
Why is it that sin is so prevalent in man? How did one sin multiply to fill us so completely? Our obsessions begin with a single glance, and our sins in the same way; what starts out small, and seemingly innocent, grows into something monstrous. Don’t those little sins pick at us until we are covered with tiny sores that eventually join to become one large festering mess?
Do we honor Jesus in all we say and do? Is everything in our life focused on bringing glory to God? What is it that draws us from slumber and makes us eager to face each day? In this time of COVID-19 it is hard to envision our life being as spiritually robust as it once was, but this virus is a bodily scourge, and doesn’t actually attack our spiritual health. When our body is ill, our minds wrought by fever, or our heart sinks in mourning and disillusionment, let the Holy Spirit encourage hope and expectation in our spirit so that we will bring honor to Jesus each day, and glorify God... in both life, and death alike.
What is the value we place on spending an eternity at God’s table with Jesus; or for that matter, for the salvation of our very souls? What earthly price would we be willing to pay so that we could sing out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty” with the heavenly host forever? Man has sought eternity in thought and word since Adam, and yet when it comes right down to paying the price of our admission, we falter, and chose worldly things over the eternal salvation of our souls. How much is too much for you to pay?
How well are we at bridling our tongues? We might control whether we tell lies, or slander someone, but have we gained control over speaking foul words, profanity, or God forbid, taking the Lord’s name in vain? We know these words, so they have already tainted us to some degree, and we hear them spoken daily in common conversation, so we are tempted to use them ourselves. Since this is one way that a Christian is perceived by those around him, let’s ask ourselves... “Have I dirtied, and stained my cloak of righteousness with the filthy words I speak?”
In scripture we find the concept of judging to be a hard one to grasp; on the one hand we are told to judge all things, and on the other we are told to judge not lest we be judged. Has this difficult question ever presented itself to you? Did you walk away perplexed, and without a good resolution?
No man has seen God, so how is it that we know of Him? Without ever having laid our eyes on Him how do we not only know that He exists, but of His character, and what his will is for us? Knowing God has been the quest of mankind for thousands of years, and through certain men at particular times we have received glimpses into Him. In old testament days it was through Noah, Abraham, Moses, prophets, priests, and the kings, but today we know Him through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
How often do we pray the Lord’s Prayer? Do we pray it so frequently that we now mouth the words without thinking about each and every one that we are praying, and no longer seek its full meaning with our hearts? Memorization can breed familiarization, and when we become overly familiar with something we tend to lose the intensity of our feeling for it. Favorite scriptures can start out this way; we commit them to memory because we are moved by them, but as the years go by we find ourselves simply reciting them, and no longer visiting their deeper meaning. Do you feel yourself slipping into such familiarity?