Does Jesus preach in your city? God often tells us to do a certain thing; to reach out to someone, or to establish a church in some place, but once we experience the power of that happening, we are inclined to remain there in that moment or place and bask in the glow of it. How often do we get in God's way once our job is done? How often does Jesus come to take the pulpit only to find us stubbornly standing there?
Are we steadfast in our faith? Are we allowing God to work in us so that we might be perfected and brought to completion? These are my thoughts this morning and I invite you to join me in contemplating them.
Are we holding back from opening our hearts up to God until we have perfected ourselves? Are we waiting for a time when we have become perfectly pure in thought before we will seek to have a relationship with Jesus? If so, then we will never know Him or God. But thankfully they understand what and who we are, and they love us in spite of ourselves. Let’s face this truth that God already knows and let Him begin the process of reshaping us into righteous creatures who can stand confident in Christ before His throne of judgement.
Are there clouds in your life, and if so, what do they look like? Are they the big billowy white ones that we typically see on a bright summer day? How about the thin wispy ones that stretch out as if forever? Or are they the dark churning clouds that tower into the sky and are filled with lightning and ominous rolls of thunder? God is in the clouds, all clouds, and how does He come to you in them today?
My goal is to live in my faith for this precise moment. Looking into the future distracts me from the here and now and what God has for me to do right this minute. Do you have long term spiritual plans that take up most of your time and prayer? Well, drop your sail and look at what God has surrounded you with at this exact point in time; He will tell you what He has planned for your future when the time is right! Don’t worry about what is to come, or what has been, concentrate on the present and listen to God’s voice right now.
There is a standing argument in the Church regarding whether it is better to serve God intellectually or from our hearts. We have heard the arguments from each side, but in truth our determination matters little. Whether we are right brain people or left brain people, what matters most is that we hear God's Word and obey Him.
Are you a slave to instinctive reflexes... this is a recipe for instant sin, and an avenue for our inner person, the old fallen man, to bypass a carefully thought-out reaction, driven by our faith and intellect, as it erupts from our mouths. Conquering this ancient fallen creature within each of us requires chains that only God’s Word, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, can bind him with.
Am I blessed as Jesus said I would be when He taught the Beatitudes? Do I see them as simple precepts for life, or does their spiritual undercurrent shake me? These very easily followed rules for living can improve the life of an unbeliever or elevate a person of faith to a dramatically higher spiritual plane. Are the Beatitudes impacting our lives and how? Do we read these blessings with the eyes of an unbeliever, or with the spiritual eyes of a true Christian?
Do we follow Jesus for the reward of eternal life? Do we serve Him for the blessings He bestows on us? Is our fear of God because we might be judged and thrown into a pit of fire? If our answer to any of these questions is yes, then our faith might just be an illusion, and our love for Him far less than He deserves. This morning, I am reading Psalm 84. This is a declaration of love, and the language is incredible. There is no doubt of the psalmist's intense love for God as he begins by writing about his longing to be in the Lord’s presence…
Where do we look for wisdom? How about righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? Do we find them in church or bible study? Do we seek them out while plodding along a pilgrimage path in some far-off country? The answer is that we find them in one place only... in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Are we prepared to walk in the desert? Can we tolerate the loneliness that will test us there? When there is nothing left but ourselves and God will we find that we are prepared for death and to join Him? Will we accept sanctification in Christ just as His apostles did? These are questions to consider regarding our being alone and the sanctity that results from it.
Do we accept the teaching of a college professor who we don’t believe in? Would we allow a surgeon to operate on us if we didn’t believe in his ability to successfully perform the operation? What about applying this to our faith? Have we placed Jesus first and foremost in our lives as our teacher, and what is the danger in doing this? Why is it more important that we should put “Jesus the Redeemer” before “Jesus the Teacher” in our lives?
Are we seeking God? Do we search day and night for Him? Praying? Reading scripture? Well, although these things are good, let’s pause for a moment and be still. He is not hiding from us so we don't need to search for Him... He is all around us! When we realize that this is truth, then all that remains for us to do is to acknowledge that He is here with us now, and to enter an everlasting and loving relationship with Him. Yes, He desires us to be still and know that He is God.
The gift of salvation through God's grace is totally of God, and has nothing to do with our earning it... but does that relieve us of all responsibility? I was reading a devotional message yesterday in which the author agreed that our salvation was 100% the work of God's grace, but as he went on, he concluded that because of this we have "no responsibility whatsoever"! I agree that we have no responsibility in receiving the gift, but once received we most certainly have a responsibility... in fact, we have responsibilities as a result of it.
When I came to Jesus it was in full submission to Him, but have I served Him over all else in my life? Have I been the servant that God expects me to be, or has my commitment to Him become a convenience on my part? These are my thoughts this morning and as I seek the answers to them, I find that they often serve to convict me. I gauge my faith and belief against that of Jesus and find myself lacking. It is in moments like this that I cry out for mercy, grace, and to be covered in the blood of the perfect lamb, Jesus Christ. Will you join me in this quest for true faith, and a plea for mercy?