Love

But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you.  Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong.

Matthew 5:44-45 (CEV)

Love seems to be the lost art.  Even for Christ followers we forget to love.  Oh, we can love those who do good things for us.  And we can love those who are kind to us.  We are quick to love those who are pleasant around us.  But we need to be reminded of Jesus words.  If we are to be followers of His we must love those who abuse us.  Who persecute us and mistreat us.  I love how the CEV translates this passage, so that we can be like the Father.  He does good to all.  The sun rises on the good and bad.  He provides rain for those who do right and wrong.  The lesson for us here is that we need to show love even to those hardest to love.  We may break through their tough exterior and they may see the truth of the gospel.  Regardless, our call is to be like the Father, not like those who mistreat us.  It is a hard thing to do but for the Christ follower, we should seek to be like Jesus!

Praying for One another

 pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Ephesians 6:18 (NASB)

Paul is asking for Prayer for all the saints.  The context of this passage is very much like we are in a conflict.  We are striving together.  God's plan will always be done when His people are living on mission with Him.  But we are still in a battle.  Our part of the battle is to strive with one another in prayer.  Paul's encouragement is to be alert in prayer and persevere in prayer.  In today's culture, even in the church, we find ourselves striving to do things on our own.  Paul say's pray.  Make petitions for the saints.  All the saints!  This is an important role for every Christ follower.  Pray!  Pray!  Pray!

 

what are you drinking in?

 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

1 Peter 2.2-3 NASB

Are you a follower of Jesus?  If you are, then what are you drinking in?  What is the passion and desire of your heart?  If it is not being in His word there is reason for a firm reflection into your spiritual well being.  As a baby longs for milk, we should long for the word.  The pure word!

I like using devotional books and Christian literature for my devotional time but there needs to be some pure Word to examine and meditate on daily.  It really is not an issue of length.  It may be a couple of verses or a couple of chapters.  But I really would encourage the pure Word so that God can speak directly into your life.  As this text says, "so you may grow."  No one knows better than our master what we need.

learn to be content

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.

Philippians 4.11-12 NLT

How content are you?  Paul says he had learned to be content with almost nothing or with everything.  Feast or famine, are we content?  How did Paul accomplish that attitude?  I think he learned to trust God.  He also learned gratitude with humility.  If we know that God is in control and He doesn't owe us anything.  we can be content.  I have to watch closely my prayer life to keep check on my attitude, so that I ask but not demand what God has provided.  So trust Him,  be content and serve Him as a Christ follower should

Anticipation in Prayer

Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning.  Heed the sound of my cry for help,  my King and my God,  For to you I pray.  In the morning, O Lord, you will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to you and eagerly watch. 

            Psalm 5.1-3 (NASB)

One of the primary needs of the Christ follower is to pray.  We need to pray in the good times and in the difficult.  Notice the psalmist says hear my groaning.  He has an assurance that God will hear his prayer.  

Do we have that assurance?  But even more do we anticipate that He will answer?  Note the psalmist exclaims I will pray to you and then he does what?  He eagerly watches!  He is waiting to see how God will answer.  He is not concerned with "if" He will answer but how he will answer.

The challenge for us as followers is to anticipate that God will answer our prayers.  It really is a matter of when.

Why Pain and Suffering?

 It is good for me that I was afflicted,

That I may learn Your statutes.

Have you ever thought, "I am serving you so why are things so hard?"  Read what C. S. Lewis wrote:  God who has made us, knows what we are and that our happiness lies in Him.  Yet we will not seek it in Him as long as He leaves us any other resort where it can even plausibly be looked for.  While what we call "our own life" remains agreeable we will not surrender it to Him.  What then can God do in our interest but make "our own life" less agreeable to us, and take away the plausible source of false happiness?"  (Problem with Pain, pg. 84)

 

That is why the psalmist says, "it is good for me that I was afflicted,"  So that we are forced to turn to God for our happiness or rather our joy.  Do not think for a moment that your obedience will assure things to go smoothly.  God doesn't work that way.  He knows that in our struggles we will turn to Him for our joy.

Christ follower, don't expect obedience to equal joy or happiness.  Rather surrender your life to Him and find true joy.

Sweet Satisfaction!

 

So I will bless You as long as I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name.

5 

My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,

And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. 

                                            Psalm 63.4-5 NASB

    Christ follower let me ask a simple question.  Are you satisfied with Jesus?  Is walking with Jesus a joy or a task to be completed?  Do you enjoy your time with Him or do you want to get it done so that a spiritual box can be checked off for the day?  It is a needed gut check for us.  

    If we are to be genuine in our blessing Him and lift our hands in His name to praise Him, we must ask ourselves this question.  Is my goal to spend time with the master and enjoy being with Him?  

    In my life I have recently gone through some health situations that has given me more time for not a lot of anything.  But as I evaluated myself this morning with my gut check.  I know that many times I am merely checking off my time with Him.  But in the rare occasion that I don't worry about time or what I could be doing and I just am with Him.  It is the sweetest time I can imagine.  Disciple make a choice to enjoy the Master today!

Resistance

Do not enter the path of the wicked And do not proceed in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, do not pass by it; Turn away from it and pass on.

Proverbs 4:14-15 (NASB) 

Temptations to join in evil are always before us.  The writer of Proverbs describes the "opportunities" before us as the path or the way of wicked or evil men.  Truth is temptation to sin is a daily occurance and we must always be on our gaurd against it.  The encouragement of Proverbs is to avoid it.  To not even get close to it but pass by.  He says to turn away from it.  But truly our problem with temptation often is that we want to see how close when can get to it with out falling in.  We flirt with temptation, when really we should flee from it.  Remember, that temptation and sin are to different things, but temptation leads to sin.  Don't mess with it and stay clear of it.  The consequences for us as Christ followers are too great to meddle with temptation!

Where is your heart?

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15 (NASB) 

Where is your heart?  What do you love.  We can not truly be in love with Jesus when our heart is in the World.  If our desire is for things of this world, if that is what we chase after we can not truly say that we are in love with Jesus .  He must have first place in our lives over everything else.  Love Him more than the stuff this world offers, more than the prestige the world gives us.  More than any relationship that we hold.  He must be first, always!  We struggle with this because some of the things in this life are good.  The relationship with our spouse or children are good but they can not take first place.  That place is reserved for Jesus alone.  This is the love of the Christ follower

Celebrate His forgetfulness

"but Your love ⌊has delivered⌋ me from the Pit of destruction, 

for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back." 

Isaiah 38:17 (HCSB)

I hate it when I forget things.  I forget people's names.  I forget appointments.  Sometimes I forget promises or commitments.  Forgetting really irritates me.

But in the Christ followers life there is one time that we celebrate forgetfulness.  It's not ours but God's.  God intentionally forgets our sin.  He throws it behind His back.  When God forgives us, He doesn't want to be reminded of our sins of the past.  The truth is He doesn't want us to remember them either.  Don't carry around the guilt of past sin because it is forgiven.  God is not keeping a list so we should not either.

He has delivered.  He has forgiven.  He has forgotten!  Celebrate His forgetfulness!

How far?

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. 

Psalm 103:12 (HCSB) 

God's grace for us is amazing.  His willingness to forgive us is beyond our comprehension.  This little verse from the Psalms is a wonderful reminder of how far God removes our sin from us.  While we sometimes remember the sins of our past, God has removed them from us.  Never to come back to us. 

 How far is the east from the west?  The two never shall meet.  Our sin will never be placed on our back again.  Jesus has taken our sin and He has removed them.

Now the point for us today is this:  If He has removed our sin and He intends never for us to have to deal with it again.  Then we need to leave our guilt and the sin itself alone.  Don't pick it up again!  Stop feeling guilt for what God has already forgiven and dealt with.

Work because of Grace

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them. 
Ephesians 2:8-10 (HCSB)

In our Human thinking we sometimes will debate Grace - vs - Works.  There really is no debate when we see what Paul writes here to the Ephesians.  He is clear we are saved by grace.  Salvation is a gift from God.  All the boasting for salvation goes to God.  He is the one who has done the work for salvation.

But also notice we are His creation.  He is created us for works.  In fact in God's wisdom and plan He has prepared, ahead of time, what He would have us do.  There are some general things, like holiness, righteousness and becoming more like Jesus, that are common to us all.  But there are also some specific things that God has created you and recreated you to be as a New creation for Jesus.  God has a very specific plan for you personally.

So the reality is for the Christ follower we are saved by Grace and God has work for us to do.  In fact the evidence of our salvation is in our works. (See James)  The question for us as Christ followers is will we be found living out His grace in our works?

Forgiveness

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 
1 John 1:9 (KJV)

God loves us so much that he offers us forgiveness.  It is part of His plan of grace for us as followers of Christ.  When we sin forgiveness is available.  You are never to far or to deep into your sin that Christ can not bring you out.  Our step is to confess.  We acknowledge to God that we understand what He says about our sin.  Confession means to agree with His assessment of us.  It should always be followed by repentance.

But the most amazing truth we find in this verse is not about us but about Him.  He is faithful.  He is just.  He will cleanse us from all of our unrighteousness.  It is in God's nature that no matter how far we have fallen or drifted from Him, He will always forgive when we confess our sins to Him.  As Christ followers we continue to struggle with sin, but He is faithful and will forgive.

Following Him

 “If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me."
Matthew 16.24


Someone asked me the other day about salvation and following Jesus.  She wanted to know if salvation was free or did we have to do something more?  The truth is God forgives us by grace.  It is not something to be earned.  But salvation and following Jesus go together,  They are two sides of the same coin.  Forgiveness is free.  We are saved by grace.  But Jesus' desire is for us then to follow Him and that can be costly.
Being a Christ Follower means that we follow Him by deny ourselves  and taking up our cross.  That means that His priorities become our priorities.  It means that we our willing to sacrifice ourselves and we surrender ourselves to His will.
Are you ready to give Him complete control of your life?  If so you are experiencing the life of the disciple.  Life is at its best when we are living for Jesus.

Do Not Worry!

Matthew 6:31 (NASB)
 "Do not worry "

Such a simple statement but how difficult it can be.  Do not sounds a little like a command doesn't it.  Well that is because it is.  Jesus does not want us to worry about the things of life.  Perhaps it would also be helpful to define what worry is.  Worry is when we torment ourselves with the "what ifs".  It becomes that thought that overwhelms your mind and even your actions.  It takes over our thoughts and leaves us unable to function through everyday life.  Worry is the result of us picking up the issues and struggles of our life and not allowing God to handle them.  God tells us to, "cast all our cares on Him."  We should and we must or worry will consume us and we begin to think about the circumstances of life rather than the Kingdom agenda God has for us.  So turn it over to our able savior and stop worrying!

Is Your Light Hidden?

 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;  nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

Matthew 5:14-15 (NASB) 

Is your light hidden?  Light is not intended to be hidden.  Light is never hidden by accident.  If your light is hidden it is done intentionally.  So let me ask again, is your light hidden?

If you are not shining your light or sharing Jesus with others, there is something wrong.  Don't hide your light!  Let it shine!  As a Christ follower that is our primary reason for being where you are.  At home, in your office, in the community and at your church make sure that your light is shining bright.  If its not it is not accidental.  There is only one thing we can call that and be consistent with the
Scripture.  It is sin!

Persistent Evangelism

When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home.  And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room, not even near the door; and He was speaking the word to them.  And they *came, bringing to Him a paralytic, carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying.  And Jesus seeing their faith *said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Mark 2:1-5 (NASB) 

How persistent are you in sharing your faith?  What lengths will you go to, to share with someone what Jesus has done for them.  I want you to notice what this passage says, Jesus saw the faith of the four men and because of that He forgave the sins of the paralytic.

We encounter people who are spiritually lost every day but some of them do not realize that they need Jesus.  Others may know they need something but they don't know it is Jesus.  We must remain persistent in our praying for them and sharing with them the goodness of Jesus and His gift of forgiveness.  Be persistent till the Holy Spirit convicts them of their need and you may lead them into a saving relationship with Jesus.

Distracted

 
Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."

Luke 10:38-42 (NASB)

Are you ever distracted?  There are days it seems like it is a way of life.  There are so many good things to do as a Christ follower.  There are always demands on us from life in general.  I find that for many of us we fall into the Martha trap.  We get busy doing good things for Jesus that we fail to just spend time with Jesus.  I was reminded this morning in my own devotional time that Jesus is more interested in my relationship with Him than what I am intent on doing for Him.

Let our prayer be today that we make our relationship with Him first and everything else get prioritized behind Him.  After all we are His followers and He is our Lord!

Share Good News

All who call out to the Lord will be saved.  How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?  And how can anyone tell them without being sent by the Lord? The Scriptures say it is a beautiful sight to see even the feet of someone coming to preach the good news.

Romans 10.13-15 (CEV)

How beautiful are your feet?  We have a calling to tell others about faith in Jesus Christ.  It will require surrender and sacrifice.  Reflect on these words by George MacDonald:

I said: "Let me walk in the field";

God said: 'Nay, walk in the town";

I said: "There are no flowers there";

He said: "No flowers, but a crown."

I said: "But the sky is black,

There is nothing but noise and din";

But He wept as He sent me back,

"There is more," He said, "there is sin

I said: "But the air is thick,

And fogs are veiling the sun";

He answered: "Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone."

I said: "I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say";

He answered me, "Choose tonight,

If I am to miss you, or they."

I pleaded for time to be given;

He said: "Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem hard in Heaven

To have, followed the steps of your Guide."

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

He said: "My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"

Then into His hand went mine,

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light Divine,

The path I had feared to see.

--George MacDonald

Mark of a Christ Follower: Devotion to learning the Word

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching 

Acts 2:42 (NASB) 

Another mark of a Christ follower is someone who is devoted to what the Apostles were teaching.  What does that exactly mean and how do we do that in our lives?  After all James, Peter and John (etc.) are no longer walking with us, so how does that work.

1. Devoted.  What does it mean to be devoted?  It means it becomes a priority.  As a Christ follower we must be devoted to learning from the Word.
2. Submit.  We must submit to the teaching of your church leaders, mainly your pastor.  Remember that no one is infallible, except for Jesus.  So submit to the teaching you are hearing at church but also search the Scriptures to verify what you are hearing is correct.
3. Discipleship.  What was it that the Apostles were teaching.  We would assume that they were teaching what Jesus taught them:  how to be a follower of Christ, or how to be a Disciple.