Promise for Today - Complete Sentence

Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.

1st John 2:6 NLT

You may not have noticed that our Promise for Today is a complete sentence. There are no qualifying phrases such as "unless they are provoked"; "as long as they're not tired"; or "if they want to or feel like it".

Are we living our lives as Jesus did? In direct, immediate obedience to God? 

No murmuring, no complaining, no excuses, no arguing with God about circumstances or anything? If not, we must repent.

Repentance is sincere regret or remorse. It's a turning away from. It's hating ANYTHING that separates us from God. 2nd Corinthians 7:10 NLT tells us, "For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death." 

True repentance frees us from sin, enabling us to live as Jesus did. Complete.

Prayer:

Father,
           Turn our hearts toward Your way and Your will. Help us to live as Jesus did. Holy and acceptable unto You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Complete

"Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did."
1 John 2:6 NLT

Are we living our lives as Jesus did? Direct, immediate obedience to God? No murmuring, no complaining, no arguing with God about circumstances or anything?

You may not have noticed, our Promise for Today is a complete sentence. There are no qualifying phrases such as, "unless they are provoked"; or "if they're not tired"; or "if they want to or feel like it".

Truth - If we're not living our lives as Jesus did, we must repent.

Repentance is sincere regret or remorse. It's a turning away from. It's hating ANYTHING that separates us from God. 2nd Corinthians 7:10 NLT tells us, "For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death."

True repentance frees us from sin, enabling us to live as Jesus did. Complete.

Prayer:

Father,
          Turn our hearts toward Your way and Your will. Help us to live as Jesus did. Holy and acceptable unto You. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Not to God - I Needed the Reminder

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1st Corinthians 13:12 NLT

It doesn't take any faith to believe for something you know you can afford. It doesn't require a concerted effort of faith to remove a splinter. However, if you lose your job or get a bad report from the doctor, it's a different story, right?

Not to God...

This is a great Truth that we must come to understand. Our faith - or lack thereof - does not make God greater nor diminish Him in any way. Everything WE know now as partial and incomplete is NOT partial and incomplete to God. 

In Hebrews, the Word tells us He is the same yesterday, today and forever. We look back on the events in the Bible - think about parting the sea and crossing on dry land or Peter walking on the water - and we find it almost unbelievable! 

Not to God... 

Jesus said in John 14:12 (NLT),  I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.  Greater works than Jesus did?!? Or even doing the same works?!? Like raising people from the dead?!? Authority over evil spirits and casting them out?!? Doesn't that seem impossible??

Not to God...

Prayer:

Father,

         You have given each of us the measure of faith and we are so grateful. Thank You for the tests and trials that provide the opportunity to exercise and to grow our faith. Forgive us for those times when we haven't walked in faith. We want to please You, Father. Help us to keep Your commandments and to love one another so that we may be pleasing in Your sight. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

Friends' Favorites - Holey, Wholly, Holy

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. 

Colossians 1:19-23a NLT

Have you ever paused to reflect on holy? On what it is and how it applies to your life? When I think of holy, I think of pure, undefiled, perfect... none of which are naturally included in the list of top ten adjectives I would use to describe me. (I know I can get an 'Amen' on that - I don't even have to ask for one.)

I am so humbled when I stop to think that the God of the Universe sent His perfect and perfectly holy Son to die in my stead, to pay the price for MY sin, so that I could stand - stand, mind you! - in the presence of the Almighty God, holy and blameless, without a single fault. It is almost unbelievable, but for Grace.

When I was thinking about Holy! Holy! Holy! this morning and about how it applied to my life, I thought of it more like Holey! Wholly! Holy! Most of us start our walk of faith holey... Holes in our hearts where hurts blew through. Gaping holes in our love toward each other because of lack of trust. Then we ask Jesus into our hearts and He fills us - makes us whole again. So because of Him our holey can serve Him wholly...and stand holy and blameless before Him. What a mighty God we serve!

Prayer:

Father,
           Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty, You are perfect in power, in love and purity. And we humbly bow before You, Lord, to worship and adore You. In Jesus' Name we pray, the One who made it possible. Amen

* Working and Working and Working Some More

God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:13 NLT

I find great hope in this verse. 

Increasingly, I find I have more of a desire to do what will please God, and I am encouraged to know that He is at work in me to give me the power to do it. At work in me to provide the discipline to override my flesh that just wants to be a couch potato after a long week. At work in me to accomplish and complete those God ideas pulling at my heart and the tasks that are calling my name. 

In John 9:4, Jesus tells us, We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.

I know I'm playing catch up from the moments and hours I have wasted in this life. When that night comes, I want to be able to say that I have finished what God assigned to me. I do not want to stand before Almighty God and not be finished. That's why it gives me such great hope to know that God is working in us... working and working and working some more.

Prayer:

Father,
           We want to do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize us. Help us to live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Most of all, Father, we want to finish our assignment and fulfill Your purpose for our lives. Thank You for providing such great hope by working in us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

* A Go-By

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1st John 3:16 NKJV

In your line of work, do you ever use a Go-By? They're very similar to a template, but much more practical and hands-on. They can be a real timesaver; not only are they instructional, but you also have the end result in your hand, so you know what you're supposed to have when you're finished. It's a sure thing to complete because it's all right in front of you.

In the engineering world, there are all kinds of go-bys. One may work better than another, but all of them are about getting the job done. Finishing what I started. Taking it to completion.

Our walk of faith comes complete with Go-Bys. If you can't do it like Abraham, try Jacob. If that doesn't work for you, how about Isaiah? Or Moses? How about we don't let another day go by, without modelling our lives after the Consummate Go-By, Jesus Christ? The One who loved us so much that He laid down His life for us... That's the example to go by.

Prayer:

Father,
         Help us to see and to understand the ultimate sacrifice of Your love toward us. Help us to lay down our lives, our love, our time... In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen