Do miracles scare you? How about miracles performed by a man? We are inclined to trust in God and His divine goodness when it comes to healing us, forgiving us, or the other amazing things that we associate with him by our belief in His Word, and His promises? Yet, does it bother us when a man lays his hands on someone and heals them? What about the man Jesus Christ?
Do you lean on your own understanding when you read scripture? Do you try to discern the meaning of God’s Word by your own insufficient intellect? The apostles had Jesus right there with them, and yet they were so often confused by what He said, and had to have it repeated and explained. It was not until the Holy Spirit came into them that they were truly enlightened.
Love is central to our faith as Christians, and not just a personal love that is limited to family, friends, and self, but a love that flows into all of the world, and beyond. The love we exhibit is meant to be so profound that it is witnessed and taken as a spectacle in heaven itself! Are you living such a life today? Has your love become other-worldly?
Is the Holy Spirit worth waiting on, and can we receive Him today just as the disciples did? These are questions that many claim to be answered “Yes” today, and that even to ask them is spiritually childish, while others denounce today’s coming of the Holy Spirit as irrelevant and a thing of the past. So which is it? How can we talk about receiving the gifts of the Spirit, and the workings of the Holy Spirit in us... and never have received Him?
Who are we, and what was it that God created us to accomplish? We have always asked ourselves why we were created, and what purpose we were meant to serve. There is no real answer to these two questions outside of our faith, and the Word of God, so what can be found there?
We are told to serve one another, but how, and in what way are we to do that? This subject is just as deep and profound as it relates to our faith as our prayers. You might argue this point, but think back on the life of Jesus. You may not have recognized all the acts of servitude He performed because He did them disguised as love, and shrouded in humility; yet there they are. His lesson on serving that He taught as He washed the feet of His disciples was just the most obvious and most frequently touted... yet quite possibly the least of them all.
How do we come into the presence of God? Are we clothed in all of our sin, and wearing shoes that are filthy and covered in the dust of the world? As creatures of both physical and spiritual construction we can’t travel anywhere without both sides of ourselves being present. Only at death is that separation possible. So until then, we must be careful regarding the purity of both our body and our spirit when we come before the Lord.
Have you entered a doldrum in regards to your faith and prayer life? Perhaps you are new to prayer and are seeking that first gust of wind in your sails; the one that you know should be there. Or perhaps you are a salty Christian that has somehow become becalmed. Times such as this require that we lean on our faith all the more, and continue to pray. Believing should become the hope that carries us through those times when we seem to be going through the motions of our religion without any forward progress. We must believe, hope, trust, and continue to lift up our prayers.
Do you count yourself as insufficient when it comes to saving the many? When God asks you to accomplish something huge do you answer back “I can’t Father! I am just one man!” Is this your justification for disobedience? Well, that used to be my excuse, but this morning I read Romans 5:12-21 and it convicted me, but I will never again say “But Father I am just one man!” I will be obedient in the face of the great challenges He sets before me.
How is it that we are saved? How is it that the sin which rules our flesh is ever overcome? When I realized that without Jesus Christ in my life each and every day, I would naturally revert back to the creature I once was, my faith began to change at once within me. I came to understand that temptation and sin did not go away when I first believed, but instead must be held at bay, and I am allowed a moment by moment victory over it through Jesus.
Have you ever asked for healing prayer and received relief from your illness as a result? When this happened did you elevate those who prayed for you? If someone sick came to you for prayer, and as a result of your praying for them they were healed did you have a feeling of accomplishment as if you had done this, or felt some small part in the miracle? If either of these is true, then you have misappropriated God’s glory.
What songs do you sing when you are with your friends? Do you sing popular songs of today, old favorites from the past, folk songs, holiday songs, campfire songs, or perhaps drinking songs? Well, we are told in Ephesians that as believers we are to remain sober, greet one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs as we sing to the Lord, and to be filled with the Spirit. How should we interpret this? Is singing anything other than hymns taboo?
My devotional reading this morning was about learning and unlearning from a Christian perspective, and it brought back memories of those things in my life that I had to let go of as I relearned them by replacing them with the truth that the Word of God shows us to be true. Sometimes we advance in faith by being willing to let go of what we thought we knew.
Do you find yourself to be at war within? Are you in the midst of a battle between your mind and your body, between the weakness of your flesh that is so often made to kneel before God, and the spirit which actually worships Him? We never have to look far as we seek to understand if there truly is both a physical and a spiritual world, because we live with one foot in each, and this tenuous stance threatens constantly to destroy us as our spirit works to tame the man of flesh who walks towards sin.
We can’t earn our salvation by doing good works, and yet we are saved, and as a result of that salvation we are meant to do good works. This sounds rather confusing doesn’t it? Well on the surface it may appear so, but it is really quite simple. Our admission to eternity is a gift, but once we receive it there will be good things for us to do... not because we must, but as a result of our conversion, and the desire that love instills in us.