Tag: God

Re: Verse reading–Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:3-13 (day four)  We are one body in Christ…the church.  Our scripture tells us that each of us has gifts, given to us by the grace of God.  It also tells us that we are to use our gifts…to exercise them in the body.  What is your gift or gifts?  Are you using them for the good of the body?  For the church to function to its full potential, each member must be at work.  Working in the church is not an option. God places each member in the body to fulfill a specific task or tasks.  Prophecy…service… teaching…exhorting… giving…leading…showing mercy…each of us must find our place to serve.  Our scripture also tells us that our attitude when we serve is important.  Love without hypocrisy, abhorrence of evil, brotherly love, honor, diligence, hope, perseverance, generosity, and prayerfulness…the Christian life is never static.  It is always active.  There is no retirement from serving the Lord or His church. 

Re: Verse reading–Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:3-13 (day one) 
“For he’s a jolly good fellow (repeat twice more), that nobody can deny.”  It is a song we sing to recognize friendship.  More than friendship, fellowship.  Fellow comes from the same root word as follow.  To follow the same commander (in the military sense), or the same Lord (in a religious sense) is to become a fellow to other members of your unit or church.  Not something that happens automatically.  Effort is involved.  “They DEVOTED themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship.”  (Acts 2:42)  Probably means that they were careful to include, to learn names, to spend time together, to listen, to forgive, to “do life together”.  Friendships require time and effort.  Fellowship even more.  Maybe we should add a song to our hymnal.  It would remind us of this gift from God, this proof of the Spirit’s presence.  “For he’s a jolly good fellow. . .”  I  look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Re: Verse reading–2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 13-15; Matthew 6:16-18; Acts 13:1-3 (day six)
“Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.”  (2 Chronicles 20:3)  The human heart is naturally proud.  Self-centered.  No instruction required.  Big problem with God!  Intimacy with Him (and help from Him) requires a “pride-ectomy”.  Fasting can be helpful.  Self-denial from a meal or a pleasure can be a strong signal to the human ego that someone/something of higher priority is present.  Fasting temporarily puts human desires and demands below the pursuit of God on the ladder of priority.  It humbles the constant craving and ceaseless demanding that so often shouts its way into soul control.  The squeaky wheel . . .  “If my people will humble themselves” is a familiar line of Scripture.  What is often lacking is the practical  understanding of the path toward this beneficial goal. Fasting may be a helpful place to start.  How could you, today, say “no” to yourself in pursuit of God?

Re: Verse reading–2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 13-15; Matthew 6:16-18; Acts 13:1-3 (day four)  Crisis has a way of bringing out our true colors when it hits.  Jehoshaphat had a crisis.  Word came to him that a mass of armies was headed his way and they were not coming for a friendly visit.  Verse 3 says he was afraid.  The first thing he did was to turn his attention to seek the Lord.  When crisis hits in your life, where do you turn.  Do you begin to figure out your next move?  Do you begin to calculate your own resources?  Do you start contacting potential rescuers?  Jehoshaphat made the right move…he sought the Lord.  We may want that to be our first response, but in the middle of the crisis, we just don’t think about it.  2 Chronicles 19:3 says of Jehoshaphat, “and you set your heart to seek God.”  Jehoshaphat had determined beforehand where he would turn in time of crisis.  Don’t wait until crisis hits, decide before to seek the Lord!

Re: Verse reading–2 Chronicles 20:1-4, 13-15; Matthew 6:16-18; Acts 13:1-3 (day three)
“Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.”  The indulging of bodily appetites become habits—but these habits are at their core spiritual habits, born as they are out of a longing for certainty, safety, love, joy, intimacy, dominion, community.  These habits are attempts to fulfill these longings, and they will prevent us from placing our bodies before the Lord and listening to him.  We cannot, by direct effort alone, hear God; our habitual practice has not trained to hear him but to hear our bodies instead.  When we deny our bodies in a fast, the demands of our bodies grow louder at first, then weaken to the level at which we can isolate the Lord’s voice and listen to him.