Monday, October 27, 2008

Are you grown up?

Heb 5:11 - 14
* 11.Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

* 12.For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.

* 13.For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.

* 14.But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

In these verses we are told that we should grow up. Not remain babies or immature in our faith or spiritual life.

Rom 12:2
* 2.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Here is a good reminder of how we do that.

2 Tim 3:16-17
* 16.All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness ;

* 17.so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

These verses tell us where we need to look for help to mature in our spiritual life.

Pr 27:17
* 17.Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another .

This verse reminds us that we need to spend time with other christians.

Heb 10:22-25
* 22.let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
* 23.Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful ;
* 24.and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
* 25.not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

This again talks about how we should approach the situation and how important it is to be with other christians sometimes.

James 1:22
*22. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.

Ah and here is what God requires us to do with what we learned above. We can't just learn it and do nothing with it. We have ALL been commissioned to spread the Word of salvation. Does that mean we should all be knocking on doors? I don't think so, though I believe some are. But God has put you in the place you are right now for a reason. He has someone He is trying to reach through you. And He has a way for you to reach that person. Have you sought God recently about who He has in your life right now that needs Him and His saving grace? Have you listened for His answer? What about when He tells you someone you really don't want to witness to for whatever reason? Is that a valid excuse to not do it? Remember Jonah?

Gal 5:22-23
* 22.But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
* 23.gentleness, self-control ; against such things there is no law.

If we are filled with His Spirit, we should show the fruit of His Spirit to others. And I don't think He means just to people we like or love either.

2 Tim 2:2
* 2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also

Here Timothy (and us) are being told to share what we have learned, in that way the people we share with can share with people we may never have contact with ourselves.

Now for a sober reminder. Just cause you were growing or maturing as a christian 1 week ago, 1 month ago, 1 year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago, doesn't mean you are maturing as a christian today. And if you are maturing as a christian today, it doesn't guarantee that you will be in a week, month, etc. It takes conscious effort to remain in the word of God. It takes a desire to please God and to learn more about Him. The devil will give you (and me) many reasons to put aside our time of study. The devil will help you to forget you want to spend time with the Savior of your soul. Only you can battle through whatever the devil presents to you to stop you from seeking time with God. What choice will you make? The easy one, or the best one?

I also added a song after this post. It blesses me, I hope it does you too.

Here I am

Sunday, October 19, 2008

One ups

Do you struggle with covetousness? It is not really an area I struggle with but I have seen it a lot lately in the world around me.

What does God say about covetousness, or coveting?

Ex 20:17 says, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Rom 7:7 says, [Struggling With Sin] What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

Rom 13:9 The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

Well see even though I don't struggle with covetousness, I don't always love my neighbor as myself. And God lumps murder, stealing and coveting all together. Sigh.

So you may be wondering why I called this one ups. Do you have a desire when some one does something well, or gets something nice, to always one up them? Could it be you covet their ideas, their talents, their life? What is it about them that causes you to feel you must do better then them? Is it pride? Is it covetousness? Is it jealousy? God sees all of those as sin, just like murder and stealing and not loving your neighbor as yourself. Have you asked the Lord to deliver you from those feelings? And while I am at it, with the world we live in now who is our neighbor? Is it just the person next door? Or the person across the country or world from us that we have contact with through the Internet? I don't know about you but I will be hitting my knees on this one, cause I don't want to knowingly be in sin. And since I am not loving my neighbors (next door or some others across the world from me) as myself, I have some repenting to do.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

This morning, I received an email with a devotional in it talking about counting on God.

Then a few minutes later an online friend messaged me and she was upset about a very stressful and fear causing thing that happened to her this morning. So this blog comes from the devotional and the resulting conversation I had online.


"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV).

When a life crisis comes, we generally have an feeling of stress, fear and anxiety. But the word of God says that it doesn't have to be that way. He hasn't given us those feelings.

In our day to day lives we battle all sorts of stress. Sometimes we even cause or take on the stress ourselves. But even in those times God is faithful. Here is what God has promised in His word.

Heb 13:5 let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Mt 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow;for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Worry is trying to figure out what you will do in a situation that may never happen. Also remember that worry can't change the situation you are in, but prayer can.

Do you believe that whatever situation you are in right now, or find yourself in tomorrow, or next week or next year takes God by surprise?

IS 65:24 It will also come to pass that before they call. I will answer; and while they are still speaking. I will hear.
Psalm 46: 1 God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.