Are we struggling with whether we will give ourselves completely to Jesus, and fully believe in God? Have we been reasoning and reading scripture without moving an inch closer to believing? If so, then we should quit listening to your own intellect, calm ourselves, and then open our ears to the still small voice of God that calls us to “Come.” Hearing God isn’t a matter of intellectual reasoning on our part; it is being inexplicably drawn by the Lord.

The world is five sunrises away from Christmas morning, and the day when we will celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thank God Almighty we aren’t still awaiting His birth, but celebrating that which has already come! As with the birthdays of my own children, we like to reminisce, and think about that day Jesus was born; it brings the same tears of joy to our eyes. Now He is with us always, every minute, day, and week... so join me in praising Him... listen to our week with Him...

As we move towards a godly state of righteousness we shed one sin after another until at last we are down to our pet sins... those we consider insignificant, and that give us personal pleasure, or reduce the pain of life. When we reach this point, and we refuse to let these hidden sins go, then our relationship with God stalls, and we feel a growing separation from Him. This can happen early on in our walk, but usually it occurs once all of the low hanging sinful fruit has been plucked from us. These deeply imbedded sins that we pray over time and time again will require spiritual surgery to extract them.

Hearing the gospel of Jesus (that He was born, lived, suffered, died, and was resurrected to redeem us from sin and death), and having this message fall on that fertile spot within us, creates a need for it that is unquenchable. Are you one of those in whom the gospel of Jesus Christ has found a slight furrow into which its seed has fallen and taken root? If so then despite the season you are in, you will be called to tend it... time and time again, day after day, you will nurture it until it bears sweet fruit. For all the others there will be only darkness, and a withering drought.

Do you read a simple devotional each morning? Is it one that speaks God’s Word to you in an interesting new way, or alternatively, is it one that takes what is comfortable and bends God’s Truth to fit it? Finding the right author who doesn’t caudal your humanity at the peril of your spirituality is the challenge. Either an author who shows you God’s word in a new and challenging way, or one who might be doing harm to God’s Word, can affect your faith… one increases it, while the other can mislead you and do your faith great harm. Who do you read?

How do we pray in intercession? Do we give our own instruction to the person for whom we are meant to pray, or do we place their suffering and other needs before God by praying that His will be communicated, and done, for them? One of the greatest snares in intercession is to allow our own sympathy and will to step in between the person needing prayer, and God. When this happens we are not interceding for them, but counselling them instead. We are attempting to provide the aid ourselves that only God is qualified to give.

Are you an individual? Do you see yourself as physically distinct? How about your personality? In fact, your physical traits describe what you are, while your intangible characteristics identify who you are… together they are you. Interestingly, when we are telling someone who we are as individuals we typically refer to our physical selves, but this is quite a limitation. Although we look alike in many ways, God has made each of us somewhat unique, but, on the other hand, our personalities are experienced more than seen, and their permutations are so boundless in nature that only God can truly understand them in total. When Jesus speaks in John 17:22-23, which of these is he referring to?

Do we attempt to hide who we are from God by covering ourselves in some fashion? Do we pretend to be spiritually in control when in fact we are anything but? Are our sins hidden within us where we feel they are safe from God’s eyes? Who are we fooling, but ourselves? Let’s lay our iniquities before us and seek God’s help in dealing with them, because He has known them all along... even when we hid them in the recesses of our heart.

We are creatures of both natural and spiritual construction. It is God’s desire that our natural selves be disciplined, and come under the authority of the spiritual, but that wild and unschooled nature is not a passive student in this transition. Have you gained control over your natural self? Are you waiting for God to make this choice for you? Well, He has His desire, but the choice remains yours.

Have you given up everything you are to Jesus Christ? It is easy to lay down the sin, and bad things in our lives, but have you also laid down the good? Abandoning those things that we naturally identify as good is the most profound test of our faith. Being able to leave behind anything that is contrary in order to immerse ourselves in God’s will for us is the epitome of faithfulness and obedience.

We don’t enter into heaven to live an eternal life because we deserve it. That kind of thinking is based upon our own vanity and arrogance. Our salvation and everlasting life is sealed by covenant, and that covenant comes by God’s acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as our blood sacrifice. Only through Him can we be redeemed, perfected, and sanctified. Only through Him can we claim the covenant of grace.