Building Trust: God’s Word
Posted On: March 13, 2020
So my word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty it will accomplish what I please. Isaiah 55:11
Yesterday, I wrote the devotion on trust. At the end I encouraged you, the reader, to remember that who you trust determines your destiny. It was David's trust in God when Saul was trying to kill him that preserved his life and allowed him to fulfill what God had for him. In the same way, it is your trust in God that will preserve your life and allow you to fulfill all God has for you.
I continued to think about what I wrote. It was inspiring to write and I hope it inspired you if you read it but honestly a command without a teaching of how is one of my greatest personal annoyances. I cannot stand it. I detest it and there is no other way to explain it except wrong. That is why today I wanted to talk about a way to build that trust, God's word.
Before a person can even make a decision to trust, they have to first know what they are trusting. When crisis hits and God is the only answer the reason why many people have a hard time hearing and trusting God is the simple fact that they don't really know him. Can you imagine having to go to a person you have hardly talked to for help if a life-altering event was happening? Reality is this is what we try to do with God many times.
How is it possible to get to know God for real? I mean really know him like a best friend.
First of all, God is God, there are things that even the most experienced Christians do not know. He is infinite and I believe we will spend eternity getting to know him. Don't let this discourage you let this encourage you. Who would want to serve a God they could figure out? Boring.
Second, though there are things we do not know, there he has revealed plenty to keep us occupied for a lifetime. He has given us 66 books bound together in one (a.k.a. The Bible) that declare who he is. Studying these books are a great concrete way of beginning to get to know him. Even those of us as Christians, including myself (even as a theology major! how wrong? inexcusable!), tend to neglect this resource. If we as christians (or as persons interested in being christians) are serious about knowing God we need to get serious about using what God has already given us.
In his word, he declares that if a word comes from his mouth that it will not return to him empty and it will accomplish what he pleases. This truth is a great beginning point of trust and knowledge of God. If you desire to trust God, or to trust him more take hold of this promise. Declare it over your life. Declare it until you believe it because it is true.
One of the foundational principles of God's character is his faithfulness. His love does not fail. In order to grab a hold of him, you must believe this about him.
If you are struggling to trust him or need to trust him more, here is what I know to tell you.
1. Believe his word
This sounds easy but many times is challenging. We have this thing called our flesh that hinders us and rebels from the knowledge of God. It is by constant repetition of God's word that the flesh dies and the spirit rises. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds to God's word. If you are struggling to believe him, look up some of the promises of scripture and take some time to say them until you believe. This is not some magical process that by saying the promises you automatically believe them. The reason I'm encouraging this is because by taking some time to look up the promises and saying them you are making a decision to believe that they are true and you are learning them. It is not incantation but praying these promises that causes you to believe them and allows God to make them manifest in your life.
2. Pray
I hit on this in the last sentence of believing his word. In order to know God, you have to begin communicating with him. Ask him questions. Tell him how you feel. Ask him how he feels and what he thinks. Do not be afraid he longs to hear from you.
Trusting God and believing in him is a life-long pursuit more than a blog can cover. These are a few ways to begin and these are things that have to be continually worked on no matter how mature you are as a christian. In sports, a huge part of continuing in excellence is continuing to practice the fundamentals. If the fundamentals begin to weaken, the whole game falls apart. It is the same in the Christian life. My theology degree is worthless absolutely worthless if I do not continue to build my faith in God's word and if I do not pray. In the same way, it is worthless for mature christians to know this or that and not believe in his word and pray.
All of this is easy in the sense that it does not require a high degree or intellect but it is difficult in the sense that it requires continual discipline. It is not a one time and its finished kind of thing. It is a continual life long effort that requires sacrifice over and over again.
I have said all of this to encourage you to get to know God. It is possible. Just take the time to get to know his word and pray!
By: Danielle O'Neil @danielleoneil.com
What is Lent?
Posted On: February 25, 2020
What is Lent?
For some Christians, Lent has always been a part of their spiritual life, but for others it is unfamiliar. Lent is a season leading up to Easter, a time when Christians have historically prepared their hearts for Easter with reflection, repentance, and prayer. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and proceeds for forty days, excluding Sundays, and culminating with Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Since Sundays are weekly celebrations of the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays in Lent are not counted as part of the forty-day season, which focuses on introspection, self examination, and repentance. Many Christians choose to celebrate a fast throughout the season of Lent, but the focus is not on depriving themselves of something as much as it is on devoting themselves to God and his purposes in the world.
Lent is an important season of the church year. The church year is an excellent way to help focus our attention on God with the way we organize our time. Rather than following the solar calendar's more familiar structure, organized by the rhythms of nature, the church calendar is organized around God and his activity in the world. The church calendar follows six seasons of varying length: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Each of these seasons have different focuses: Advent focuses on the anticipation of God's coming into the world, both in the incarnation and in Christ's return. Christmas focuses on the birth of Christ. Epiphany focuses on the light of God's presence shining in the world. Lent focuses on human sin and God's gracious solution. Easter focuses on resurrection life. Pentecost focuses on the ongoing activity of the Holy Spirit in the world. The annual rhythm of these seasons can have a powerful effect on personal and communal spiritual growth.**
Begin the Lent season today by reflecting on God’s grace in your life and the areas you need His grace to manifest. We would love to hear from you today @ [email protected]
**Devotion taken from www.youversion.com
Forgiven People Forgive People
Posted On: January 25, 2020
We do not have to look very long at Matthew 18 in order to see the logic flow that takes place. It starts with the disciples asking a question, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1)? There are other moments in the Gospels when similar arguments from the disciples illicit a strong rebuke from Jesus. However, this time is different. Perhaps the disciples were not completely self-serving in the question this time. After all, in the previous chapter the disciples witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, the healing of a demon-possessed boy, Jesus’ prediction of His resurrection and money miraculously harvested from the belly of a fish. Perhaps the disciples realized it was time to get themselves in order.
Nonetheless, even if the question was not completely self-serving, it was still misguided. That is why the question caused Jesus to think about their need to humble themselves (vv. 2-5). Discussing humility caused Him to think of the ones who fail to humble themselves, and in so doing create stumbling blocks (vv. 6-9). Discussing stumbling blocks reminded Jesus that some of the “little ones” (micros, or opposite of the “greatest” mega) would wander off, and how happy His Father is when one of them is found (vv. 10-14). Discussing wandering sheep reminded Him that He expects His disciples to go and find such sheep. So, He laid out a restoration roadmap for confronting sin and restoring individuals to right relationship (vv. 15-20).
This seems to conclude Jesus’ teaching. He had sufficiently answered the question that the disciples raised. The only problem was that Jesus’ answer had caused a new question in one of the disciples. The logic flow of Jesus had bumped into some logic flow of Peter. He began to think about the implications of what Jesus was saying. Perhaps he began to think of some people who had sinned against him in the past. Maybe he had reluctantly forgiven them, only to watch them turn around and do it again. Knowing Peter, his patience would have been wearing thin. He understood that Jesus expected His disciples to extend mercy and forgiveness to a repentant brother or sister. But surely this had some limits? Even God draws the line somewhere. Right?
So, Peter had to get some clarification. He approached Jesus with a new question, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times” (Matthew 18:21)? Jesus responded with this, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven” (v. 22). My first response to those words is something like this, “That’s 490 times. Wow! Peter doesn’t get it. I mean, 490 times is a lot more than 7 times.” But the response is not meant to make us realize that Jesus expects us to forgive a lot more times. Instead, it is intended to make us realize that there really is no limit. As long as someone continues to recognize their fault and take responsibility for it we are to continue to extend grace and mercy.
In order to illustrate the point Jesus then told a parable. In the parable a king was settling his accounts. One man owed him an amount equivalent to an entire life’s worth of wages. Essentially this man owed his life, and it was more than he could ever pay. The king ordered all that this man had be liquidated in order to pay the debt. The man begged for forgiveness and the king had pity on him and cancelled the entire debt. Despite this incredible act of grace the man turned around and found another man who owed him an amount equivalent to a couple of months wages. Instead of showing the same kind of mercy that he had received from the king the forgiven man choked the other man, demanded repayment, and then had him thrown in prison. When the king heard about it he brought the forgiven man back in, rebuked him, and had him thrown into prison until he could pay back all that he owed, which would essentially be the rest of his life. Then Jesus says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35).
There is a saying that goes like this: Hurt people hurt people. It is a truth that plays out repeatedly throughout the Scripture. However, Jesus has a new expectation for those that will follow Him. His new saying goes like this: Forgiven people forgive people. When we hear the parable that Jesus tells Peter something automatically rises up within us at the overwhelming injustice of it. The story is so appalling that it is almost hard to stomach. That is exactly the response that Jesus is trying to invoke in us. Because that is a picture of how grotesque our failure to forgive others looks from the perspective of heaven. We owe a debt to God that is more than we could ever pay back. While God could demand our punishment, He instead has pity on us and declares our debt cancelled. Even the worst offenses on earth that we inflict on one another are pennies compared to the debt we owe God. He is glad to cancel our debts. However, he demands that we spend the rest of our lives extending that same type of forgiveness to others.
Written by Jonathan Stone of www.stonewritten.com
Only Jesus Satisfies!
Posted On: January 16, 2020
If you want something bad enough, you will go the distance to make all the sacrifices necessary to fulfill your goal. This blog is to encourage you, and to let you know you can do it. You can have that relationship with God you’ve been longing for, but it isn’t going to come until you make up your mind that this means more to you than anything else. Do you know what the last thing was on Jesus’ mind before He died on the cross? It was YOU! He had to make up His mind as a man that you were worth dying for, and He did. And it cost Him His life. Wow, pretty awesome thought to think upon isn’t it, to actually follow through on a goal such as that. The lifestyle Jesus led must have been one of extreme discipline, but it was more than that because it wasn’t self-centered. Most of us set goals to better ourselves personally, but Jesus’ goal was to be the way, the truth and the life to a dying world all the way to the cross.
So, this means there must have been a driving force behind Jesus that was higher than Himself as a man in the flesh to accomplish something like this. What made Him stay hungry for the things of God? We know now, from having the privilege of the scriptures, that this driving force was His Father. He was moved by the Father’s directives, and He was so moved because Jesus had this one on one relationship with the Father. His spirit was in tune with the Father, and it got that way by continually practicing His word confessions. That is, Jesus only spoke what the word said and never what the world said. As believers, it is so easy to sound like the world, if we do not practice saying what the word says.
A strict word diet is what will reduce the fat of unfit thinking and confessing. Let’s take a look at what Jesus said in John 14:10 : “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing the work.” How many words do we speak throughout the day? Let’s just say it’s a lot. How many of us can say, “the words I say to you are not my own”? The majority of all believers speak their own words all day long. This gives very little opportunity to be one with the Father as your communication is on earthly things and not on things above. Even if you only improved by ten percent in your word selections, you would notice a remarkable difference. Let’s look at John 14: 11: “Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me: or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.” Now that’s connection. To say this and to know this by way of experience is two entirely different things. Jesus knew He was fully connected to the Father which is to say He had a direct line to the Kingdom of God. When you connect like this, You can pray to the Father to multiply the fish and loaves of bread, and it will happen every time. It will not be a hit and miss situation. And John 14:20 is the close. “On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” Every believer has the opportunity everyday to experience the resurrection power of Christ and walk in it.
It’s amazing how many choose to still stay connected to the world and the pleasures of it over unity with the Father. My challenge to you this week is to make a few changes in your spiritual diet as you would your physical diet when you are setting goals to be more fit. In the physical diet, one of the first things I do with a client is to suggest they cut back on one bad habit like drinking too many sodas in a day. When they do this, they feel better, and then they take the initiative to stop the rest in time. In the spiritual diet, my suggestion is to cut back on talking negative about people. Be aware that you are staying away from talking negative of others, and if you catch yourself doing it set that thought down and walk away from it like you would that soda. It’s not allowed, and you understand why. You are trying to be healthy and fit.
Do this for a whole month and you will be amazed at how much spiritual body fat you will have dropped. By staying hungry for God, you will lose your appetite for negative, unhealthy words. Send this blog to a friend so they can get started on being more spiritually fit and connected to God as well. Share your victories with each other to encourage yourselves to stay on target.
The Goodness Of God
Posted On: January 12, 2020
The Goodness of God leads us!
John Gann
You know anyone who’s not a Christian? Now you may be thinking. “Well, yes. Of course I do. Don’t we all? What’s the point?”
Let me suggest something. The next time you pray for them, include something like this:
Father, show them your loving kindness. Shower them with your goodness.
You may be thinking, “Wait a minute. Don’t they need things to get so bad they’ll know that God is their only hope? Don’t they need conviction?”
Now, I know that according to the book of John, the Holy Spirit is here to convict, or convince the world of sin, ut Romans 2:4 says it is:
...the goodness of God leads you to repentance.
That’s the point. It’s God’s goodness that convinces us, and then leads us to repentance.
For more information about God’s goodness send us an email, or a social media message. We’d love to connect with you.
What is God’s Will For My Life?
Posted On: January 12, 2020
I have spent several years working with middle schoolers, high schoolers, and college students. A lot of changes happen from twelve to twenty, and many of the questions that are important to a middle school student are completely irrelevant to a college student. However, there is one question that pops up in lives of sixth graders and seniors alike. It also seems to be a question that can drive a young person (and many adults too) crazier than almost any other (read more about that here). That question is: What is God’s will for my life?
The will of God is an interesting theme in scripture. Compared to other scriptural ideas it is not a particularly prevalent theme. And when it is discussed, it rarely applies to the question what is God’s will for my life, at least not in the way that we tend to use it today. The bible talks about the decrees of God (they will certainly come to pass), and the commands of God (those things are up to you and me). Both of those speak of God’s will. The bible also talks about individual callings. But you cannot find a scriptural example of one of God’s people asking, “What is God’s will for my life?”
So, when you are haunted by that question you might want to first understand that no matter how much you want that questioned to be answered, it does not seem to be a very important question on God’s list. Before you get overwhelmed by the sting of that realization consider the following. You are both precious and unique to God. He values you more than any of us can really understand. At the same time, whatever it is that he calls you to do could be done by anyone else that he so chooses. That is because God’s will for your life has very little to do with what he is calling you to do, and almost everything to do with who he is calling you to be.
Go and read some of the handful of scriptures that deal with the phrase will of God (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 7:9-10; Eph 6:6; Heb 10:36; 1 Pet 2:15, 4:2, 4:6, 4:19). Take the time to read the surrounding verses and see if you notice what I notice. There is nothing there about vocational callings. Instead, they all talk to essence of the Christian life and the fruit that it bears. These are the things that are described as the will of God in those verses: having your mind renewed, having godly sorrow and repentance, striving to please God instead of men, endurance, submitting to human institutions (even ungodly ones), not living for the lusts of your flesh, to live in the Spirit, and to suffer.
So, if you really want to know what the biblical answer is to the question, What is God’s will for my life? Look no further. He wants you to live a holy life. He wants you to treat others well. He wants you to be submissive. He wants you to suffer. And he wants you to endure. Encouraging, huh?
Perhaps we wrestle so hard over the question because we don’t want to know what the biblical answer really is. We have replaced the scriptural idea of God’s will for our life with questions that center around our individual comfort and importance, and that’s what really makes us struggle so hard over the question in the first place. Here is the irony. Our struggle with that question is a sign of just how far out of God’s will we are in the first place.
ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND FIND GOD'S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE!
http://www.jesussaves.cc/index.php/english/prayer-of-salvation/
