Do you practice your faith? Practice is one of those words with more than a single meaning, but I am talking about our doing something repetitively in order to improve how well we do it, or to do something regularly. If this is how you approach your faith, is that really enough? By way of example, how did Noah, or Abraham approach their faith? Did they simply practice it, or did they live it... walk in it...and trust it completely?
It is expected that we will wait upon the Lord, and we know that during our waiting there will be those who will ask us, “Where is your Lord?”, but we should never lose faith, and never ask this question of ourselves. In those times when we pray for something and God provides it right away, it is easy for us to be a saint, but when we must wait, it is then that we find our faith being tested and its true state.
Do you perform the work that Jesus left for us to do? Maybe you are doing so and don’t even know it. Do you go to help someone and pray for them along the way? Do you go to a soup kitchen and begin the evening with a prayer for all those that will come there that evening, and the meal they will receive? Do you visit someone in the hospital or pray over a sick friend? These are the works of Jesus... are you praying them in His name, and trusting in The Father to do them? I mean really trusting in Him.
We have accepted Jesus as our savior, and we have separated ourselves from the sinful life we once led, but are we righteous? More than that, are we Holy? When asked, many Christians will define holy as being dedicated, or separated, to God, but this is only part of the equation... it also means that we are meant to be for His use, righteous, and divine. These are not qualities that are part of separation, but are the things that fill us once we have been set apart, emptied, and purified in preparation for His use.
Have we ever received an invitation to a grand and magnificent party? Did we send the RSVP indicating that we would be attending? Perhaps we are hesitating because we don’t feel that we have anything to wear; maybe the splendor of it makes us worry that we will be out of place, or perhaps we have convinced ourselves that we are too busy... or even above it! God has extended each of us an invitation to the grand wedding celebration of His Son, and His conquest over sin and death... how will we respond?
Have your prayers been stale lately? Are you having a tough time in your prayer closet and it is as if there is a sheet of glass between you and God? Oh, you can see Him, and you know exactly how you ought to pray, but this invisible wall of glass is preventing you from getting there? You are not alone in this regard, and there is a way to overcome this prayerful malaise.
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, do we have confidence, and does it bother us when a man lays his hands on someone, or us, and a healing occurs? What if that man was 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 to help them that they were truly enlightened.
Love is central to our faith as Christians, and not just our agape love for God nor a personal love that is limited to family, friends, and self, but a love that flows into all the world, and beyond. The love we exhibit is meant to be so profound that it is witnessed and considered a spectacle in heaven itself! Are we living such a life of love today? Has our love become spiritual and heavenly?
Is the Holy Spirit worth waiting for, and can we receive Him today just as the disciples did? These are questions that many claim to be answered “Yes”, and that even asking them this question seems spiritually childish to them, 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... while never having 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 our faith and 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.
Have you entered a doldrum in regard 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 into 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 unto the Lord.
Do you count yourself as insufficient when it comes to saving the many lost souls? 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 being disobedient too? Well, that used to be my excuse, but this morning I read Romans 5:12-21 and it convicted me, so 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.