Being Thankful

Because the 4th Thursday of November just rolled around I thought I would write a quick post about being thankful. 

It seems like every awards show when an actor, performer, or athlete wins a big award they have a long list of people they like to thank.  From their agent, to their cousin, to their grandma they don't want to leave anyone out.  However one name that is rarely mentioned is that of the Lord.  Most people today don't seem to know or care how the Lord has blessed them and provided them with opportunities to be successful. 

This attitude is nothing new.  In the 17th chapter of the book of Luke Jesus healed 10 lepers from a terrible and (sometimes) incurable disease.  Only one of the lepers thanked him and the passage indicates to us that Jesus expected the other 9 to come back and thank him. 

We should let God know that we are thankful for what he does for us and we should also thank our elders, preachers, teachers, etc. for what they do for us.  We should also thank one another for the help they provide us.

Comfort

I think the verses below provide great comfort.  In verse 3, we are told that he will answer us & give us strength.  Verse 8 reminds us that he has a plan for us, & it will be fulfilled with his steadfast, enduring love.  Let your comfort come from the Lord.

Psalm 138
3 On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.

Adjectives...

 ^{1 Peter 3:4}
but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

What 5 words would you use to describe yourself? Do you catch yourself leaning toward what you really are or what you know you should be? And isn't it wonderful when the lists match?! I guess the real test comes when someone else is asked to characterize you...

Making Choices

James 4:8a is a favorite verse. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." Unfortunately my relationship with God isn't always what it needs to be. This verse is a reminder that if there's an issue with our relationship, it's my job to turn to Him. That's all I have to do, because He is always there.

In v7 we see how we can apply this idea. When the devil is tempting us or trying to bring us down, we first need to recognize what is happening. This may sound strange, but I think saying that the devil is causing you a problem is a great way to call out the fact that you have a choice to either give in to the devil or resist him and turn to God. If we choose God, it says that the devil will flee from you.

Thinking of it this way helps me to make better choices. You should give it a try. :)

Practice Makes Perfect

We have to practice Christianity to be good at it. This shouldn't be a surprise since the same also holds true for basically everything else we do in life, but I'm not sure we approach it that way.

We need to immerse ourselves in the Bible's teachings, just like we would if we were trying to learn a new language. And we have to keep practicing Christianity every day, because to really learn something you have to apply it to your life, not just read or hear about it. I think that is what James is saying in 1:22-25. "...being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing."

Robin Hood

The Psalms aren't my favorite book in the Bible, because I'm not great with poetry and imagery, but Psalm 64 painted a vivid Robin Hood type image for me.

David is asking God to hide him from his enemies who are coming at him with figurative swords and arrows. I can picture David running from these guys and calling out to God. Then God steps up and David hides behind Him as He takes down the bad guys with His arrow.

Everyone who sees this fears the Lord and spreads the word about what happened. But the righteous rejoice because they see that they can call on God and take refuge in Him.

This works for us today too. We should pray for help & guidance in situations where we're facing enemies - whatever those my be - and be confident that God is looking out for us and will help us through those situations.

I think the key is knowing who to run to when you're being chased.

Be Still...

v10 of Psalm 46 is a favorite, I keep it on my desk at work.

It gives me perspective, so I don't get too stressed about things. God is more powerful than anything I can imagine and, fortunately, He is in control. :)

In my most recent reading of this Psalm, I noticed a footnote in v10 that referred to Ex 14:13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today.

I guess that means the same phrase is used when Moses is about to part the Red Sea. God is mighty and can do everything from saving the Israelites to giving us an opportunity to go to Heaven. We just need to keep that in mind and put our trust in Him instead of worrying about what might be going on around us.

Philemon

The book of Philemon proves that even though you are forgiven of your sins when you are baptized that doesn't mean that you can avoid consequenes of your previous actions.  You can't be a fugitive from the law, suddenly become a christian, and then say that it is cool for me to keep running because I am now forgiven.  You can't be in an unscriptural marriage, become a christian, and then say that everything you did prior in your life doesn't matter in the sense that you can stay in the unscriptural marriage.

Becoming a christian means that you have to ask for forgiveness of people you have offended in the past and honestly suffer whatever consequences those actions brought.  It does not provide a license to simply say that was before I was a christian, so I don't need to apoligize, be honest, or make things right as best I can.

Think on these things...

I know this is from a few weeks ago, but I was without internet access & unable to post.



We can get so caught up in our thoughts & emotions, allowing them to take us down a non productive path & distract us from the work we should be doing. This creates an opportunity for the devil to fill our minds with lies & create confusion. For many years my aunt has started her day by quoting this verse & has always encouraged me to do the same. Back in January I finally decided to give it a try & focus on the words true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, & commendable. I began to look for the things in my life that represented these words & meditate upon God's goodness. Once I took the time to think on these things, I discovered that I didn't want to spoil these thoughts with earthly trash. I still have a long way to go, but this verse is a great reminder for us to focus our minds on what is good & pure.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

The following verse encourages us to practice these things, meaning they don't just happen & that you can improve! It is our responsibility to figure out what to practice; to go back through the scriptures to find what they learned, received, heard, & saw.

Philippians 4:9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Peace? Yes, please

There is so much great stuff in Philippians 4, but I think v6-7 stand out to me the most where it tells us how to get the peace of God.

In this crazy world we live in where everything moves so fast and everyone is so busy, the peace of God is definitely something I want to have. And as with many things in the Bible, the answer is quite simple (although not always easy to put into practice):

Don't worry, just pray.

If we give our concerns to God and trust that He will take care of them, His peace will guard our hearts and minds. That sounds good to me! But the difficult part is trusting God enough to let go of whatever you're anxious about.

Of course this doesn't mean everything will go your way, but if we trust that God's way is much better than our way (Is 55:8-9) we can have God's peace with whatever is happening around us.

Rubbish

We all have lots off stuff in this life, physical things as well as accomplishments we've worked towards with school, work, etc. Paul says that all he had accomplished in his former life was rubbish compared to Christ 3:8. We need to have that same attitude where worldly things aren't what is important to us.

While we should definitely thank God for our blessings, we need to realize that everything we do here is temporary. Our focus should be on the eternal. Reading this brings a lot of perspective.

Things I'm concerned about don't seem so important when I weigh them against Christ. We need to work hard at everything we do in this life, but can't lose site of the ultimate goal of heaven.

Fighting the Spiritual Battle

The latter part of Ephesians 6 has a lot to say about how to successfully fight the spiritual war we are engaged in as Christians. Here are a few things I noticed as I was reading:

• Be strong (v. 10) It's not going to be easy, so we're going to have to be tough. But the important thing is we cannot fight the battle on our own strength. We have to be strong in HIS might.
• Have all of your equipment and weapons ready (v. 11, 13-17). You have to put on the whole armor of God. If you are missing one piece you will be vulnerable. But I think it's important to note that getting all the pieces in place takes time and preparation. We can't just put them on all of a sudden like putting on a suit of literal armor.
• Know who the enemy is (v. 12). We are not fighting people, but ideas. We have to appeal to the mind and the heart. See also 2 Cor. 10:3-5.
• Pray at all times (v.18).
• Be vigilant and on the alert (v.18). The devil and his forces are crafty and attack us in various ways.
• Pray for others fighting with you (v. 19) Paul asked them to pray on his behalf.
• Speak boldly (v. 19-20) See also 2 Cor. 3:12 and Eph. 3:12.
• Surround yourself with faithful helpers (v. 21) Paul talks about how Tychicus helped him by carrying a message to the Ephesians. Even Paul needed help carrying out his work and fighting the battle. This is obviously apparent in many other of Paul's writings as well (e.g., Rom. 16).

Fighting this fight is more important now than ever. As Rick talked about yesterday, we are surrounded by people who call evil good and good evil, and are actively trying to destroy the ways of God. And many young people these days tend to fall into this category. But let's be their spiritual opposition - let's go out there and fight back.

Spiritual Blessings

Something that has really stood out to me in Ephesians is how much Paul prayed for the Christians to receive spiritual blessings. Although some of them are difficult to understand, I still think they are interesting to think about. I know I have asked for or given thanks for "spiritual blessings" in the past, but I don't often stop to think about what all that means.

In Ephesians, Paul prayed that:

• God would give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him (1:17)
• the eyes of their heart would be enlightened (1:18)
• that they would know the hope of His calling, the riches of the glory of His inheritance, and the surpassing greatness of His power toward those who believe (1:18-19)
• that they would be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man (3:16)
• that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith (3:17)
• that they would be rooted and grounded in love (3:17)
• that they would be able to comprehend (3:18)
• that they would know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge (3:19)
• that they would be filled up to all the fullness of God (3:19)

I think we should all meditate on, pray for, and try to develop all of these things in ourselves and in our relationships with each other.

Paul...he's a man

I've gone back and reread these verses from 2 Corinthians chapter 11 the past couple of days and wonder how would I withstand these intense trials. Would I give up or would I persevere? I've never endured this type of physical pain or discomfort...not even remotely close.

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

One of his last verses he adds...

²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

I am amazed at how he was able to stay focused and still express concern for individuals and their ability to remain true to the gospel. He is barely alive, yet he is worrying about others. These verses provide an excellent example of empathy, faith, and commitment to serving the Lord.

How 'bout the Bible?

Paul starts Galatians with some strong words about false teachers "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed." 1:8

We are so blessed to have the Bible today. Complete copies of God's word are readily available in stores, online, even on our phones. Of course with all of this access to information, there is also the opportunity for false teaching, so we need to be on guard just like the early Christians.

There are tons of spiritual resources out there (commentaries, songs, sermons, books, etc.) and a lot of these are great ways for us to learn more about God. We just need to make sure we use these things to supplement our study of the Bible, not replace it. If we compare everything to the Source, we can identify false teachings and won't get turned around like the Galatians.

Every thought captive . . .

One of my favorite parts of 2 Cor. is where Paul defends his ministry by explaining that he is waging a spiritual, and not worldly, warfare. He needed no earthly weapons or methods, as his weapon was simply the power of the gospel, which is powerful enough to overtake anything raised up against it.

In v. 5 he says, We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ . . . . I like how the Holy Spirit uses that phrase to describe the power of the gospel to captivate people's minds.

As we will be called to account for all of our words and actions, the best way to change those things is to start with our thoughts. We should try to make sure every thought is captive to the obedience of Christ. We ought to filter every thought and make sure it is a slave to Christ and is in accordance with God's word. This will lead to words and actions that are also slaves to Christ.

"Our Proud Confidence"

In defending his character and behavior, Paul says in v. 12, For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

Though I have failed and will fail at it, I hope one day I can look back and say that my only reason to be proud is that I know I acted (or tried to act) properly toward everyone. I hope that, like Paul, I can look back and say I tried my best to act in holiness and godly sincerity toward those in the world and especially to my brethren. Paul made sure his character and behavior were such that he would lead no one into worldly ways, but would only advance the cause of the Gospel.

It's hard to do, but I hope we can all follow his example.

Love

Today a lot of people are celebrating love and it got me thinking about love in the Bible and how we as Christians need to show love today.

Last week we read about what love looks like in 1 Corinthians 13. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things - and it never ends. (v7-8)

1 John 4 tells us why this matters. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (v8) He showed His love for us by sending Jesus to take on our sins and bring salvation, while we as humans had done nothing to deserve it. In turn, we need to show love to one another.

This love is serious business. It's all over the New Testament and in reading 1 Cor. 13, you see that it's not easy - there is a lot involved. We (or at least I) need to work on showing love to fellow Christians and also those in the world, so they might see Christ's love in us.

Mature Infants

1 Cor. 14:20 says "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature."

I realize he is talking specifically about spiritual gifts in this context, but I think the verse has a broader application as well. It shows how drastically different we are to be regarding evil compared to how we are to be in our knowledge or thinking. Like infants, we ought to be innocent and naive when it comes to the ways of the world. But at the same time we are to be wise and mature in spiritual things. I know there have been times when I have had it backwards, being all too familiar with worldly things and ignorant of spiritual wisdom.

Hopefully meditating on the daily Bible reading will help me resist worldly things and at the same time increase in knowledge, so I will in evil be an infant but in my thinking mature.

True Rest and Happiness

Psalm 4 really brings home how true rest and happiness are found only in the ways of God, and not in the ways of the world.

I think it's interesting how David starts off addressing God by saying, "O God of my righteousness!" David recognized that not only was God righteous, but He was the source and sustainer of David's righteousness. We cannot be righteous on our own merit, but only because of what God has done. We cannot even truly do good things outside of a relationship with Him. This made me think about John 15:4-5, where Jesus is talking about abiding in Him and bearing fruit. I think it's interesting that the command is not to bear fruit; the command is to abide in Him, and then we will be able to bear fruit. "For apart from Me you can do nothing." (v.5)

Also, it seems that people of the world in David's time were much the same as people of the world today. He asks, "How long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception?" Today, many people of the world love engaging in what is wrong, and they make fun of those who do what's right. They call evil good and good evil, and they love to engage in deception and dishonesty.

But, as David says, the good news is that God has set His people apart to protect us and give us happiness despite all of this. If we will have the right attitude ("tremble"), examine ourselves constantly ("meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still"), do what is right ("offer the sacrifices of righteousness") and put our trust in Him, we will have rest and peace that the world cannot offer.

As in David's time, people today look for happiness and fulfillment in the wealth and pleasures of this world. They go around asking where they will find good (v. 6). But God offers happiness that surpasses the joy those people receive from things of the world. I don't mean to suggest we ought to derive no joy or pleasure from earthly things. I think God put many things here for us to enjoy and we ought to find happiness in our daily work and in producing and enjoying wealth. But these things will be gone one day and won't bring ultimate fulfillment.

I sometimes wonder what it's like to live life for those people who think this earthly existence is all there is. Thankfully, it doesn't have to be that way.

Can anyone explain the 1st 16 verses of 1 Cor 11?

I get confused every time I read these verses. I am not sure about why he gives these instructions about the covering and why they do or don't apply today. Also, he goes right in to conduct at the Lord's Supper which does indeed apply today. Perhaps he was talking about how a woman should behave when exercising spiritual gifts? I really don't know.

Shield About Me

Reading Psalm 3, I started singing Shield About Me which is inspired by v3. Have a listen, it will be in the new supplement.

Edifying One Another

One theme I have noticed in the readings lately is the importance of building each other up.

Going back to Romans, Paul discusses this towards the end of the book. In Rom. 14, when talking about eating meat and observing days, he says "therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this -- not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way" (14:13). He goes on to say "For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died." (14:15) Finally, he says in 14:19, "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another."

In Rom. 15, he continues this idea, saying we should focus less on pleasing ourselves and instead follow Christ's example: "Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification." (15:2). In Rom. 16, Paul lists several people who have helped him, helped other Christians, and helped the church in general.

He comes back to this in 1 Cor. 8, where he again stresses that we should not do anything that would make someone else stumble, but instead ought to live in way that edifies others. Today we don't have the problem of eating meat sacrificed to idols, but the same issue arises in other ways. I know there have been times where I was convinced it was okay to do something and could not understand why others did not agree. That is the wrong attitude to have. It would be better to do whatever is necessary to help the other person. As Paul explains, it is more important to have love than to know what's right in every argument. (1 Cor. 8:1-2).

What I don't get...

There are a couple of things I don't understand in 1 Corinthians 7. Hopefully someone can help me out.

1. In v10 Paul prefaces his instructions to the married with "not I, but the Lord." Then in v11 he says "I, not the Lord" when talking to everyone else. Any idea why? I mean, it's in the Bible, so I think we need to follow it, but it's interesting that he inserts those phrases.

2. Verse 14 reads: For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. I can see in v16 that he isn't saying the unbelieving spouse is saved, so I don't understand what he's saying.

Thoughts?

Present Distress

Context is key again when reading 1 Corinthians 7. I think the key to this passage is verse 26. The present distress probably refers to the persecution going on at the time. Paul is probably saying that is best not to be married if you are currently single because of the persecution which was currently being waged on the early church in that city.

Today in our county we are fortunate enough not to be dealing with such persecution. I don't think Paul is giving a rule for all time that it is better to remain single than to be married. I don't think he is telling us that the only reason to be married is to stay away from sexual immorality.

The bible speaks very highly of the marraige relationship and we know that he who finds a wife finds a good thing (Prov 18:22). So, when studying this chapter, don't forget the context.

Context

Today's reading showed me that context matters and helps the reader better understand what the author intends. For example, I was aware that verses 9 and 10 say that people that unrighteous people (fornicaters, idolators, etc) will not go to heaven and that verse 11 mentions that some of his the disciples at Corinth had been commiting those exact sins in the past but were now washed.

Today I learned why Paul mentioned this. He was trying to make a point that christians should not take one another to court. Why? Because the courts are filled with unrighteous people that commit all theses sins. Paul's point is that the righteous should not take other righteous people before the unrighteous to be judged.

Context matters and sometimes we can get in to trouble by trying to study with someone by just quoting a few verses and not giving the person the proper context. It is probably better to set up a bible study with someone and sit down together with someone rather than to just quote a verse or two. That way the meaning behind the words can be better understood.


He also talks about the fact that we "shall judge angels". I don't know what that means exactly but it sounds pretty cool! Has anyone done a lesson or research on that?

Accountability

1 Corinthians 5 talks about purging evil from the church (v13). Paul is addressing a situation with sexual immorality, but also mentions other sins in v11. This relates to Mark's lesson on Sunday - letting sin into our lives and tolerating it in other members causes problems to spread in the church.

Bottom line: We need to hold each other accountable for our actions. Not in a nit-picky way, but in love. We need to know each other well enough to feel comfortable asking tough questions when you think someone may be on the wrong path.

If we commit to this, hopefully we can avoid getting to the point of needing to purge evil from among us.

Meditate...

to think about something deeply; to reflect in a calm, deliberate manner; to focus; to consider.

Psalm 1:2 reads "but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night".

This is a purposeful act, with intention that requires time. The more we know of God's word the more resources we have to pull from when we are focusing on Him & applying his word to our daily decisions.

Romans: tough, but good

Romans is a difficult book, but I have enjoyed starting our daily Bible reading with it this year. There is definitely a lot to learn in these chapters. I like the way the book ends with lists of greetings to and from other Christians. It's clear that the early Christians cared about each other and that just reinforces the points made throughout the book. We're all sinners and we all stumble. But we're here to help and encourage each other so we can all continue serving God and get to heaven, despite these shortcomings.

How to Live Right

Romans 12 is one of my favorite chapters, I have almost the entire thing highlighted in my Bible.

It starts off with a couple of those "stick to your mirror" verses that we need to remember every day as we live in a world that will try to make us conform if we're not focused on God and growing spiritually. Then we see that we all have different strengths and we need to find ways to serve God with what we have while respecting and encouraging others. The chapter ends with very practical instructions in v9-21. Some that really stand out to me:

Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. - Don't just not participate in sin, but hate it and what it does in our lives. Fill your life with good things to resist temptation.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. - We're a family and we need to know each other, so we can be supportive in good times and bad.

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. - Don't get caught up in the world, but let the love of God show through your good actions in tough situations.

Romans 6

Thanks to Candace & Kendra for setting this up for another year!

In Romans 6 Paul deals with an issue that some people raised. People were saying that sin is okay because God loves to give his grace and mercy and the more that people sin the more God gets to display his mercy and show how forgiving he really is. Paul says that this is wrong. The Lord has always wanted obedience over sacrifice. We know that the Lord does make provisions to forgive his people of sin, but his people should not be sinning willfully or habitually. Yes, from time to time we may slip up and sin, but that isn't supposed to be the normal for us. Paul says clearly that we should not continue to sin that grace may abound.

Another topic addressed in this chapter is that of being slaves to sin or to righteouness. Sometimes christians may think that being a child of God restricts or limits us because we can't participate in many of the activiteis the world can. However, the bible argues that not being a child of God actually makes one a slave to sin. Doing God's will and trusting in him actually makes us free. John 8:32 says "and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Do Not Waver

Paul uses Abraham's example of faith in chapter 4 to help explain & I love the way he brings it all together at the end.

Romans 4: 20-21
²⁰ No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Abraham consistently trusted God & never doubted He would fulfill his promise. Despite various hurdles he faced, his faith was strengthened & a reminder that he must rely on God. These verses should encourage us to cling to God's word & stand firm in our faith. Look to God, obey Him, & amidst the waiting our faith will increase.

God's Kindness

Romans 2:3-4 jumped out at me in today's reading "Do you suppose, O man - you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself - that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

God is love, but He does not show kindness by letting us do whatever we want without judgement. I think that's a very human idea of kindness and it's definitely something that we hear about with "once saved, always saved" or people saying that God is a loving God, so He won't judge them for xyz sin.

God is on another level. He offers a much greater kindness - the opportunity to serve Him and have an eternal home in heaven. We need to make sure we're taking Him up on the opportunity to live a Christian life every single day and be on guard against the hypocrisy that we see throughout this chapter.