A Lasting Foundation

                        

“ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”- Jude 20-21

 Jude, the half brother of Jesus, didn’t believe in Jesus as the Son of God until He was resurrected. His name means praise and he certainly learned to praise God through his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As he writes this short, powerful book of 25 verses we see that Jude begins warning the people about the false teachers that were infiltrating the church and then takes a sharp turn encouraging the believers to build up their own faith.

Notice that Jude says; “build yourselves,” which indicates to me that we are responsible for the bulk of the building. No one can make us build…only we can motivate ourselves to do it.

Next, notice that it says “build yourselves up.” To build up means the act or process of increasing, to develop gradually in increments. The best way that I know to illustrate this point is by using the activity of exercise. Muscles are not built overnight, but are gradually built as we use them more and more each day. If you want to get bigger muscles you use more weight and push yourself further each time you work out.

The same is true with our faith, if you are seeking to build your faith you will need to use more weight and push yourself further and higher with the Lord…it’s not enough to just settle for where we are with the Lord…going to church once a week and reading a devotional each day…He wants more! The Christian life must never stand still…if it does, it will go backwards.

If you want to ensure that you are not going backwards with the Lord …you must press forward and build up your spiritual muscles by building the foundation of your most holy faith!  If you are seeking to build a single family dwelling you will need your foundation to go 6-8 inches down. But, if you’re wanting to build a skyscraper you will need your foundation to go a hundred feet down into the ground to ensure that your building will be secure and will not fall. The deeper the foundation the higher the potential building!  How high do you want to go with Jesus? Will you settle for a normal home or do you want to soar into the sky? If you want to soar high you must build your faith like Jude tells us in the remainder of the verse, by…

1.    Reading the Word of God

2.    Praying in the Spirit

3.    Loving the Lord and others

4.    Looking for His return

If your heart is to go higher and deeper with Jesus…you will need to lay a deep foundation in the Word of God. You will also need to use the your power tools of prayer to raise the walls and cover the building with the love of God. Lastly, if you are looking for His soon return you will have hope and your building will be able to withstand any storm that will come your way! Let your foundation go deep, pray in the Spirit, show the love of God and be earnestly expecting His return and you will be building your most holy faith!

The LOVE Challenge

"By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for  one another." John 13:35

   As Christians we should be the most loving, most caring, and most compassionate of all people because Jesus lives in us. It was D.L. Moody that said; "Faith makes all things possible, but love makes all things easy." Without love in the home there is strife and  contentions. But with love comes security and peace. Our love for God is displayed by our everyday love for others. You can really tell how much a person loves the Lord by how much they love others. 

   True Christian love cannot be manifested by the flesh, it can only come from God who embodies the very definition of love. "God is love" 1 John 4:8. Therefore, the more we love God the more we naturally love others.  John Wesley said; "An ounce of  love is worth a pound of knowledge." It's not how much we know, but how much we love that people take notice of. It's been said that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. This is a very elementary principle an yet we fail to put it into practice. Why? because we are selfish and self centered and loving others takes death to our self. Just as Jesus died on the cross to show His great love for us, we too must die in order to love like Jesus loved. All too often we try in our own efforts to love and consequently we end us frustrated, discouraged and disappointed.  Instead of trying in your flesh, concentrate on feeding your Spirit and the love will just pour forth as a natural byproduct of your love for Christ. 

   When there are problems in the family or in the marriage it is usually because someone is not loving as they should and self has taken the place of love. True love is unconditional and not based upon whether we are being loved back. Think about when it was that Jesus started loving you. Was it when you started loving Him? Nope...it was long before that...before you were even born He knew you and loved you...as He was fashioning you in your mothers womb...Jesus loved you. If you have children...think about when you first began loving them. Was it when they were born or when they were in the womb?

   It's so good to be reminded how much  and how unconditionally Jesus loves us! With Valentines Day right around the corner...take some time to think about the ONE who loves you more than any one else. The ONE who will never leave you...the ONE who is always ready to listen and eager to direct your life. The ONE who is the very definition of LOVE. Take some time to bask in His great love for you and then step out and show His love to someone else!

   I read a story recently about a church that was having gang related problems in their neighborhood and decided to do something about it. Every day for a month they went out door to door and asked each person they encountered how they could be praying for them. The results were astonishing as they prayed for the requests the gang problem ceased. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care...and one of the most effective ways for us to show that we care is to offer to pray for the world around us! I was so moved by this story that I too am going to try this in my neighborhood! You too can take the LOVE challenge and make it your aim to ask for a prayer request from someone outside your home everyday for a month and see how the Lord works!

New Years Resolutions...Where Will You Pitch Your Tent?

"And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east." Genesis 12:8



As we begin the new year we often take some time to reflect on the previous year. We look back at what we accomplished, succeeded in, and we look back on what we would've done differently. We also look ahead and make resolutions about the long list of things that we would like to accomplish this year. We learn from the previous year and seek to grow in wisdom, discernment and self-control. Some of us resolve to eat less...some to spend less...while others resolve to exercise more and read their Bible more. Whatever the case is...we often fall short of these goals because we are missing the main element in success...discipline! Discipline is training to act in accordance with rules. An activity, exercise or regimen that develops or improves a skill. If we look at our spiritual life in this context we see that it does indeed take diligence and training to grow in our walk with the Lord. Much like an athlete looks at  physical training to improve at their sport, we are to look at our spiritual life in the same way. We are to get up and focus on that very task that we are desiring to accomplish. As a gymnast, I never went into a competition unprepared. I trained diligently for one purpose...to win! As believers, we don't want to take 4th place... we want to take 1st place...giving Jesus our best as we live to serve Him and please Him with our lives. But, this requires commitment and discipline. I have noticed in my own life that the more disciplined I am in my spiritual life...the more balanced I become in all other areas of my life, and yes...that does include dieting and exercise. I agree wholeheartedly with Paul when he said in 1 Timothy 4:8;" Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and to come."(NLT) Discipline is training and training takes time, effort and energy. "Discipline, said Elizabeth Elliott, is the believers answer to God's call." Discipline and obedience go hand in hand. Discipline shapes our lives as believers, while obedience refers to a specific action.  Obedience is the first step in becoming disciplined. The Lord knows how we tend to lack discipline and obedience and was so kind to put the story of Abraham in the Bible for us.

When Abraham received the word from God to go out from his country, from his family and from his fathers house...to a land that He would show Abraham...he obeyed. But, he only partially obeyed. Genesis 12:4 says: "So Abram departed as the LORD has spoken to him...Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh....then the LORD appeared to Abram and said:"To your descendants I will give you this land" And there he built an alter to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east."

God had given Abraham a promise and was fully intending upon fulfilling it, but Abraham stopped short. You see...we're told that he pitched his tent between Bethel, meaning "communion with God" and Ai, a symbol for the world.  He was still serving God and sacrificing to Him, but he only partially obeyed. Why not pitch your tent at Bethel...as far away from Ai as possible? Why even go half way there? Why even give the enemy an inch? Lest we be too hard on Abraham...let's take a look at ourselves. As believers we have the tendency to do this same thing. We love the Lord and serve Him...but often times we pitch our tent too close to the world, therefore allowing ourselves to be influenced and taken back to the very place we were delivered from. And that's exactly what happened to Abraham, he was living between communion with God and the world and when a crisis struck he went back to the world..."Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to dwell there, for the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when he was close to entering Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, : Indeed I know that you are a women of beautiful countenance. Therefore it will happen that when the Egyptians see you, that they will say 'This is his wife' and they will kill me, but they will let you live. Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I may live because of you."  Here we see the results of pitching our tent too close to the world. When push comes to shove and there is a disaster, an illness, or a crisis in our lives and we are not in communion with God, we will lean on our own understanding...we will get in the flesh...and we will try to fix things on our own. I wonder if Abraham was living in Bethel, if God wouldn't have sent manna or ravens or water just for Abraham and his family. When we are in complete obedience to God we receive the blessing of God. Partial obedience leads to a lie...as we see with Abraham, who convinced his wife to lie and say that she was his sister and not his wife.

When we chose to live in partial obedience to God we will always suffer consequences, and often times we will hurt others in the process. To apply this very practically to our own lives at this time of year when we are all making new goals or resolutions ...how about we resolve to pitch our tent in Bethel and ditch all the other resolutions? I have discovered that when I am resolved to get up and commune with God first thing each day that all the other things get accomplished AND with a good attitude. As we chose to obey God and commune with Him, He guides us, He provides for us, and He gives us His power to overcome the enemy each day. As we chose to live in Bethel we experience the blessings of communion with God and grow in the fruit of the Spirit. We become more loving, more patient, more joyful, more kind, we experience more peace, more goodness, we become more faithful, more gentle and yes...more self controlled! The only way we can fulfill any resolution is to first pitch our tent in Bethel...then we will have our priorities straight and will be able to eat less, exercise more, accomplish more and grow in our walk with Jesus more! Choose Bethel and experience the blessings!

Perfect Through Suffering

"For it is fitting for Him, for whom all things are by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings." Hebrews 2:10

 After salvation, comes the real work of perfecting the Believer. This perfection can come no other way then through the trials and testing of our faith. Once we relinquish our will for His, He is free to begin the work of sanctification in our lives. Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Jesus...and Jesus suffered and died to accomplish His perfect plan on this earth. Why then do we think  His perfect plan could be accomplished any other way in and through our lives. If we are seeking to become more like Jesus then the only way to get there is the same way that He did...through death, through trials and through pain. 

Once our salvation is set...Jesus begins working on our character. Character is built through persevering through trials, testing our faith, and building hope into us. Jesus wants us to have faith when we cannot see and trust Him when we have no strength left. He then...gives us eyes to see, strength to continue and hope for the future. Austin Phelps said; " The great objective of this life is character, for it is the only thing we can carry with us into eternity. And gaining as much of the highest character possible is the purpose of our trials."

Steel is the product of iron plus fire. Soil is rock plus heat, or glacier crushing. Linen is flax plus the water that cleanse it, the comb that separates it, the flail that pounds it and the shuttle that weaves it. In the same way, the development of our character must have a plus attached to it! For great character isn't made through luxuries...it's made through sufferings....and the world doesn't forget people of great character! I think of  Elizabeth Elliott, George Mueller, Hudson Taylor, John Wesley and so many more that suffered much, developing their character to be used greatly for the Kingdom of God. 

We often rebel against the very things that the Lord is so wanting to use in our lives to develop our character. We run from it, ignore it, or try and hide from it. When all along the Lord is desiring to use it in our lives to build our character and mold us into HIS very image. God will often use those things...or people, that we find difficult, as polishing stones in our lives...much like a stone is polished, first sanding off the rough edges until it is smooth and perfectly shaped. It's all about perspective. Will we ask Why Lord or How Lord? It's not wrong to ask why, as long as you follow it up with how. "Lord, how do you want to use this in my life?" Embracing the trial or testing instead of rejecting it makes all the difference in the world. 

I read of a mother who brought a crippled boy home with a hunched back to play with her son. She instructed her son to be very careful not to draw attention to the boys deformity, since this was a sensitive matter. After listening to them play for a few minutes, she heard her son ask, "Do you know what that is on your back?" The crippled boy was embarrassed, and hesitated for a moment, but before he could respond, his friend said; "It's the box that hold your wings, and someday God is going to break it open and you will fly away to be an angel." 

Suffering is all how you see it! One author called suffering; "The great fertilizer for the roots of character." Someday we will know the plans and purposes of God, but until then, we must allow Him to mold and shape our character perfectly into His image. If you are struggling today, try and ask God "how" instead of "why". I was so blessed to spend the day with a friend who is going through radiation treatments...she said this very thing to me..." Michelle, I am not asking God "why" I'm asking Him "how". How do you want to use me Lord? What do you what to show me that you  couldn't any other way? Be blessed as you embrace your trial...people will look at you and see Jesus!

Thankful For The CROSS

Oswald Chambers said; " Restate what you believe, then do away with as much as possible, and get back to the bedrock of the Cross of Christ." Getting away from the cross produced nothing. It has no sting...no power...just an interesting story or entertaining message. The power of the message lies in the Cross!  When we first come to Christ we see this power up close and personal, but after a while, if we don't keep a consistent pattern at the foot of the Cross...it loses its sting and becomes an everyday sight to us. As believers it ought not to be so! We should not let a day go by without looking to the Cross and being thankful for it...for without the Cross where would we be?  I would be lost, bound in my sin, self consumed and on my way to eternal separation form God. Without the Cross of Christ where would you be? Take some time to get back to the fundamentals today, tomorrow and Thursday. Dwell on the Cross for a moment, breath in victory, and be empowered by the Spirit that is available for you! Let's get back to the Cross this Thanksgiving, be bold in proclaiming what you are most thankful for! "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes." Romans 1:16