Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
11 The Messenger of the Lord came and sat under the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash from Abiezer’s family. Joash’s son Gideon was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 The Messenger of the Lord appeared to Gideon and said, “The Lord is with you, brave man.”
13 Gideon responded, “Excuse me, sir! But if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all the miracles our ancestors have told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and has handed us over to Midian.”
14 The Lord turned to him and said, “You will rescue Israel from Midian with the strength you have. I am sending you.”
15 Gideon said to him, “Excuse me, sir! How can I rescue Israel? Look at my whole family. It’s the weakest one in Manasseh. And me? I’m the least important member of my family.”
16 The Lord replied, “I will be with you. You will defeat Midian as if it were ⌞only⌟ one man.”
17 Gideon said to him, “If you find me acceptable, give me a sign that it is really you speaking to me. 18 Don’t leave until I come back. I want to bring my gift and set it in front of you.”
“I will stay until you come back,” he said.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
The biblical story of God meeting with Gideon ignites a fire of faith within me to be used by God to empower, to inspire and to powerfully impact the community.
Gideon exemplifies the truth that God anoints all he appoints.
He will perfectly equip and empower you to accomplish whatever task he has set before you.
In Judges 6, an angel of the Lord approaches Gideon, who at the time was beating out wheat in a winepress to hide it from the oppressive Midianites.
Scripture says, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor’” (Judges 6:12).
Now, if an angel appeared to me and told me something, I would like to think I would believe whatever he said.
Not so with Gideon.
Gideon immediately doubts the word of God.
He responds to God’s call to save Israel by saying, “‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man’” (Judges 6:15-16).
So great was Gideon’s insecurity that he didn’t trust a direct word from God.
But God still responded to Gideon’s doubt by meeting him at that place of insecurity and faithlessness and consistently speaking truth over him.
Before Gideon even had a chance to doubt, God called him a “mighty man of valor.”
God knew Gideon’s insecurities.
He knew that his past and present works were anything but full of valor.
But God called out the greatness he had placed in Gideon.
God knows our own severest insecurities which keep us in a preferred state of “go away God, don’t bother me, I am too weak and too incapable of service.”
God has called each and everyone of us, His children, His Body of Christ, His Church in the world mired and mucked down by everything everyone contrary. (Matthew 28:16-20, John 21:15-17, Acts 2:1-21, 2:42-47, Acts 4:8-12, Acts 9:1-19)
In meeting with Gideon on Gideon’s own ground, in the “security” of his winepress, he formed and fashioned him into a man full of faith and power.
In going into battle, the Lord took the vast number of men that were following Gideon, totaling thirty-two thousand, stripped them down to three hundred.
God took what might have been possible by the unsure, inexperienced hands of the insecure uncertain Gideon and made it only possible by his great strength.
And in response to God’s faithfulness to meet with him, to remain with Him, Gideon obeyed the Lord, confidently went into battle with three hundred men.
Judges 7:22-23 tells us, “When they blew the 300 trumpets, the Lord set every man’s sword against his comrade and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. And the men of Israel were called out from Naphtali and from Asher and from all Manasseh, and they pursued after Midian.”
Now Gideon, reshaped, retooled, powerfully defeated an oppressive army vastly outnumbering his own because of the great power of God working through him.
God longs to be in community with His children as He is in community with His Son and the Holy Spirit.
From within that divine community, God longs to fill us, empower us all today.
From within that divine community He longs to reveal Himself, to show us His ways, conquer the works of the enemy that oppress those he loves through you.
Meet with God today.
Allow Him to call us out of our unbelief, our uncertainties, our insecurities.
Allow Him to call us out of our Wine Presses where we hide from our enemy.
Allow Him to call out from deep within, the greatness he has placed within you.
Allow him to guide you into battles only he could win that you might bring his kingdom to earth all around you.
May we each be filled with his love, grace, and power today as we daily open up our hearts and souls and spend the time communing with our heavenly Father.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
1. Meditate on the powerful effect of God’s heart to meet with Gideon. Allow the grace God had for Gideon to fill you with an understanding of God’s grace toward you, to allow Scripture to stir up your heart and faith to meet with God.
“‘Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.’” Judges 6:15-16
“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.” Judges 6:36-40
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13
2. What are the Midianites in your life? What does God want to conquer in and through you today?
3. Open your heart to the Lord and meet with him. Meditate on his nearness. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal his presence to you.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
May Romans 8:35 and 37-39 encourage you and fill you with faith to conquer all that would stand in the way of you and the abundant life Jesus died to give you:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
16 Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You. 2 [b]I said to the Lord, “You are [c]my Lord; I have nothing good besides You.” 3 As for the [d]saints who are on the earth, [e]They are the majestic ones; all my delight is in them. 4 [f]The pains of those who have acquired another god will be multiplied; I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, Nor will I take their names upon my lips.
5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. 6 The measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; Indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.
7 I will bless the Lord who has advised me; Indeed, my [g]mind instructs me in the night. 8 I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. 10 For You will not abandon my soul to [h]Sheol; You will not [i]allow Your [j]Holy One to [k]undergo decay. 11 You will make known to me the way of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Throughout Scripture we see countless examples of God meeting with man and countless lives being transformed as the result.
These examples are in Scripture to stir our faith and fill us with a desire to meet with our Creator.
When we read about the life of David, we should be filled with a longing to live as he did, centered around meeting with our heavenly Father.
When we read about Gideon or Moses, we should long to know our God as they did. When we read about Jesus coming down to us or his heart for the woman caught in adultery, we should respond by pursuing encounters with our Savior.
When we read of Pentecost, the birth of the church, the entry of God in world community and Jesus’ second coming, we should seek out the fullness of God’s presence available to us on this earth in preparation for the age that is to come.
As we look at God in community with His children down through the ages, may all our hearts be filled with a wholehearted desire to pursue a meeting with God.
God’s Heart to Meet with David
The meetings between God and David shaped human history forever.
David knew what it was to be in the presence of God.
Being in God’s presence was his fuel, his strength, joy, and source of courage.
In Psalm 16:11 David writes, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
In verse 5 he writes, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.”
In verse 8 he writes, “8 I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
In verse 10 he writes, “For You will not abandon my soul to [h]Sheol; You will not [i]allow Your [j]Holy One to [k]undergo decay.
David was a man with many faults and failures who consistently chose to meet with God over filling his days with the fleeting, unsatisfying things of the world.
Despite his faults and failures, Kingship, He centered his life around meeting with God, and changed the history of not only his nation, but nations to come.
1 Samuel 17:34-37, we see a glimpse into the impact of David meeting with God early in his life. Scripture says,
1 Samuel 17:34-37 New American Standard Bible
34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock, 35 I went out after it and [a] attacked it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth; and when it rose up against me, I grabbed it by its mane and struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has [b] killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
Out on the fields, David learned of God’s power and desire for deliverance.
He learned what it was to meet with God in the daily work of life.
And he carried that knowledge with him into every battle, trial, and failure.
We see it in Psalm 16:1-2 where David prays, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”
King David, the greatest king that ever sat on the throne of Israel, claimed, “I have no good apart from you.”
David, about whom 1 Chronicles 29:28 says, “Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor,” claimed he had no good apart from the Lord.
David knew that God’s presence was the best part of life.
He knew better than most people of his day that meeting with his heavenly Father was surely far greater than any victory, possession, status, or honor.
And it was for that reason that he lived a life full of the very thing he sought: the daily community he shared with God, in maximum presence of the living God.
Your heavenly Father longs to be in community, meet with you as he did David.
He loves you the same, He loves me the same as he loved David -and through the powerful sacrifice of Jesus, you have even greater access to the heart of God.
You have the divine community of God, the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit dwelling within you.
I have the divine community of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit dwelling within me.
All of God’s children have the divine community of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit dwelling within them – because God created them.
Choose today to be in community, to seek your meeting with God above all else.
Center your life around the presence of your heavenly Father the way David did.
Live for transformational encounters with God and watch as the things of this world simply fall and fade away into their proper places – being their obscurity, providing us His transcendent peace, strength in the midst of any circumstance.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
1. Meditate on David’s longing for the presence of God. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to meet with your heavenly Father as David did.
“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.” Psalm 16:5
7 I will bless the Lord who has advised me; Indeed, my [g]mind instructs me in the night. 8 I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’” Psalm 16:1-2
2. Allow these other Scriptures to fill you with faith to encounter the presence of God. The Holy Spirit is dwelling within each of us, ready to lead us all into a transformational encounter with the divine community of our heavenly Father.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. 10 For You will not abandon my soul to [h]Sheol; You will not [i]allow Your [j]Holy One to [k]undergo decay.
“You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13
“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” Psalm 139:7
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
3. Take time to enter into divine community to meet with God. God, to reveal his nearness to you; ask Him to give you a passion for his presence like David had; choose to center your full life around the goodness of his nearness today.
“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Psalm 84:10
100 Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Serve the Lord with jubilation; Come before Him with rejoicing. 3 Know that the Lord [b]Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and [c]not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with [d]thanksgiving, And His courtyards with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. 5 For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting And His faithfulness is to all generations.
How much better would our lives be if we simply chose to center them around meeting with the eternal, living, and active God of love?
What would it be like to seek his counsel throughout our days?
What would it be to live wholly loved, liked, set free, filled with his presence?
Through Savior Jesus, more has been made available to us than we know.
We have each been granted max access to the fullness of life, love, and freedom.
All which is required of us is to deliberately make fresh space in our days and to intentionally seek community, meeting with the fullness of God above all else.
May the church, the bride of Christ choose to love our bridegroom above all else.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
14 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;[a] believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?[b]3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”[c]5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
At this moment in his earthly ministry, Jesus is preparing to leave the earth and return to heaven.
He is going back to heaven to prepare a place for his disciples (including us).
When the time is right and everything is ready, Jesus promises that he will return to take his disciples, including us, to their heavenly home.
The greatest blessing, however, is not just getting to go to heaven; it’s getting to go to be with the Lord forever!
Jesus is more than the direction and goal of our hope; he is also the basis for it!
Because of Jesus, we’re going home to be with God!
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.”
These eloquent words from the American poet Robert Frost express something of the deep human desire for a place to belong that God weaved into each of us.
Whether it’s out of obligation or—even better—because of others’ love for us, we long for a place where we are welcomed, known, cared for, and embraced.
Does such a place, such a community, really exist somewhere, somehow??
Can such a place, such a community for everyone exist somewhere, somehow?
Can a prayer for such a gathering place become a part of someone’s plea today?
In this world, every couch in every home, every place of gathering we make for ourselves, no matter how sweet, welcoming it may feel, will always fall short.
Sin and death bring an end to our earthly comfort, and even the best places in this life offer only a glimpse or a foretaste of full life with God in his presence.
In that room, Jesus has promised something remarkable to all who trust in him.
Even as he faced his own death for our sin, Jesus offered the hope of eternal life with God to all who will follow him.
He promised the hope of a home where people could come and gather in safety and impartiality, he has promised a fully furnished room where God is revealed.
He promised a place where community comes, to guide believers to the Father and to prepare a place for redeemed sinners longing to be at home with God.
Our Savior doesn’t merely taunt, tantalize us with the offer of a perfect home; He assures us that where ever we do gather in community, his light is revealed.
Believe his promise and trust in his grace to prepare you for the place where your Father will certainly take you in – and then we create the place for others.
Walk This Way: Walk this Way in Love
John 14:8-12 English Standard Version
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
Walk This Way
Learning to walk is a universal experience.
Indeed, learning to walk is one of the first lessons our parents give us.
Our parents teach us how to walk in at least two ways.
They teach us by motivation, and they teach us by prohibition.
“Walk this way! Yes, that’s right. Come on, then. You can do it. Walk to daddy!”
The father motivates his child with love.
The excited, smiling face of the father is an unseen but genuine force creating the child’s will to walk.
But there is another instruction.
“Do not walk over there!”
“Over there” could be a step-down in the living room, a sure danger zone for tumbles and tears.
By guiding the child to “walk this way, but not that way,” the loving parents erect a verbal “danger sign.”
Likewise, as the Lord calls us to walk towards each other, the Lord calls us to walk toward the Lord Jesus Christ, away from those sins threatening our souls.
The Lord God calls believers to never give up coming together, “walk the walk” “talk the talk” of truth, hope, obedience in Christ faithfully and yet cautiously.
How, then, shall we walk?
Walk in Love
Ephesians 5:1-2 English Standard Version
Walk in Love
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Verse one calls believers to be “imitators” of the Lord.
There are “incommunicable” attributes of the Triune God.
He is eternal.
We were created.
He is omniscient.
We see through a rose colored glass darkly.
Yet, there are “communicable” attributes, one of which is love.
God demonstrated His love to us in that He sent his only begotten Son to save us from sin and its consequences.
His perfect life, his walk through life and sacrificial death on the cross provide us with the righteousness and atonement each and every single one if us needs.
Our lives might then show obedience that flows from grace and gratitude, the wellspring of love.
Paul says that such offerings of love-prompted obedience are pleasing to God.
So, We Are To Gather and To Walk This Way
Ephesians 5:3-10 English Standard Version
3 But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. 5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
So, we are to walk this way: follow the Lord Jesus in the love of God that produces undefiled worship.
While we walk in love with Jesus and, thus, each other, we must walk cautiously away from the world.
The love of God is contrasted with the uncleanness of this world, specifically, the uncleanness of sexual impurities and of filthy language.
The uptick in the use of foul language in, for example, film and popular music is not unexpected though it is deplorable.
Filthy language is a sign of a heart unhinged from the love of God and subject to the foul winds of evil.
While our secular age is saturated with course language and the dehumanizing use of sexuality, we must be on guard.
Such sins are corrosive to your mind and your body.
Stay clear of the danger zone.
Walk this way.
The Last Walk
No walk matches the pathos and power of that footpath from Pilate’s kangaroo court to Golgotha.
The Via Delarosa—the way of the cross—is the ultimate walk of love.
This is the love we are to imitate: dying to self to live for God, and in doing so, knowing the fullness of joy in Christ.
This is the penultimate love that motivates us as the Church to “walk this way.”
Intersecting Faith and Life:
John 14:12-14 English Standard Version
12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[a] anything in my name, I will do it.
To walk like Jesus is to cultivate a life of love.
But how do we encourage such love in our lives, in our relationship with God and others?
“As for reputation, though it be a glorious instrument of advancing our Master’s service, yet there is a better than that: a clean heart, a single eye, and a soul full of God. A fair exchange if, by the loss of reputation, we can purchase the lowest degree of purity of heart.” – John Wesley
“When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!”John Wesley
I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.John Wesley
Through Scripture, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines, God has given us the necessary resources we need to labor and do greater works and to walk in love.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Loving Father and holy God, thank you for knowing my needs, my weaknesses, my dreams, and my future. I trust you completely with my future. I look forward to the day Jesus returns to bring me home to you. Thank you for the assurance that I will get to be with you forever, also with all those I love who belong to you, ergo, prepare me;
“I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it. And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”
Lord Jesus, help us to trust in you. We believe in God; may we also believe in you and in the power of your finished work for us. Prepare our hearts for our home with the Father and with you. Prepare our churches for their work to prepare the Way to You. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels[a] with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations[b] will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you took care of Me; I was in prison and you visited Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or without clothes and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and visit You?’
40 “And the King will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ 41 Then He will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!
42 For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger and you didn’t take Me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe Me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of Me.’
44 “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help You?’
45 “Then He will answer them, ‘I assure you: Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me either.’
46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Here, the Gospel of Matthew talks about the judgement day.
The final judgement is the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state.
There will come a time that the Messiah will gather all the people in the world and separate each of them from who will be rewarded in heaven and who will be tormented in hell.
While living here on earth we should do our best to fulfil our mission to God and that is to be a good and loving brother or sister to our fellowmen.
As God’s children, He expects us to help everyone around us, especially the poor ones, because in our Lord’s eyes we may be rich or poor, but we are all equal.
Our Lord also expects us to be humble and generous to everyone without any one single exception, even to those people who do and did bad things to us.
Matthew 5:43-48 New Living Translation
Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’[a] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies![b] Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends,[c] how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Despite our more natural desires and lesser more baser instincts, we should be patient, understanding, and learn mercy, how to forgive those kind of people.
In the end all people will die and we should put in mind that what we are doing here on earth we should do it not just because we want to enter heaven, but too because we are willing to do that for the vainer people around us and for God.
Living and Breathing Our Jesus, Our Most Authentic Friend
John 15:11-16 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. 12 Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. 13 The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends. 14 You are my friends if you obey my commandments. 15 I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for.
Folk and pop singers often write songs about alienation because it produces such raw emotions.
Paul Simon captured it very well when he sang of building impenetrable walls in his life and becoming a “rock” and his becoming an “island,” rejecting love and laughter because “friendship causes pain.”
But the hardest truth that all of us know deep down is that friendship is vitally important for each and every one of us.
From our conception, God Almighty has hard wired us to care for one another.
We long for relationships: to be known, to be loved.
We know that even one genuine friend makes us truly rich in this world.
Deep down in our souls, We don’t want to be known as either rocks or islands.
Yet while we may well have true friends who are genuinely, authentically loyal, sensitive, honest, we can only find the ultimate authentic friendship in Jesus.
He alone is the friend who “is the same yesterday today and forever”(Hebrews 13:8) and this is where we are covenanted by God to lead, guide, direct our enemies.
His brand of friendship extends far beyond the bounds of human friendship; He knew how to be a true friend even to tax collectors and sinners and even those who would come to profess his undying, unrelenting love, and then look him directly in his eye betray his friendship (Matthew 11:19; Luke 7:34, John 21:15-17).
One of the reasons that some find friendship so difficult is because it demands extraordinary vulnerability, openness to another person we don’t want to know.
But Jesus is never in a bad mood, never betrays, never forsakes, never lets us down, never treats us capriciously – died for us all while we were still enemies.
Romans 5:7-10 Holman Christian Standard Bible
7 For rarely will someone die for a just person—though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. 8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!
And He wants to be friends with us—with you and me and with our enemies!
As we come to Him in faith, the one through whom all things were created delights to call everyone, no exceptions, His friend – Let that sink in a little.
Every friendship requires effort, and friendship with Jesus is no different!
That’s why Jesus tells us, “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
When we all come to receive Jesus as a friend, we also accept Him as our King.
Perhaps you have found human relationships to be hurtful or fleeting.
Perhaps you are surrounded with friends, perhaps you can’t count a single one.
Perhaps everyone arrayed against you is believed to be your worst enemy.
In any case, here is the most wonderful friend: the enemy of sin, who is never our enemy, the one who 100% knows us completely and loves us all the same.
With Him we can have the kind of friend: “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
Desperate for Community – Building Bridges to the Kingdom
Scripture refers to “the kingdom of God” frequently, but many people are unclear as to its meaning.
Let’s look at the past, present, and future reality of this concept.
The first thing we must realize is the heavenly kingdom refers to everything under Christ’s control.
At the moment of salvation, we are transferred from the reign of darkness to the bright authority of Jesus Christ.
And we are eternally secure in Him.
As today’s verses from Matthew 25:31-46 explain, Jesus’ kingdom and reign have been planned since the foundation of the world.
From the beginning, God has been preparing all mankind for what is to come.
One way was by using prophets to foretell how He would redeem humanity and sovereignly rule over heaven and earth.
Once Jesus came and gave His life, He established the “present” kingdom.
This isn’t a geographical locale; it’s a term describing the heart, where God’s Holy Spirit indwells believers to lead, guide, direct, counsel, empower, inspire.
But there is also a very real future aspect of the kingdom, which we can each anticipate with excitement.
You are probably familiar with the words “Thy kingdom come” from the Lord’s Prayer (Luke 11:2 kjv).
This speaks of the new heaven and new earth, where we will enjoy freedom from pain and sin.
There, we will continuously worship Jesus with gladness and joy for all eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Holman Christian Standard Bible
The Ministry of Reconciliation
16 From now on, then, we do not know[a] anyone in a purely human way.[b] Even if we have known[c] Christ in a purely human way,[d] yet now we no longer know [e] Him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things[f] have come. 18 Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, certain that God is appealing through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the One who did not know sin to be sin[g] for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
As God’s kingdom ambassadors, ambassadors of reconciliation, we who are His children and we have the responsibility and privilege of sharing the good news:
Through Jesus’ birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection, and ascension, all who confess, trust in Him are forgiven of sin, assured of eternal life with God.
Whom can we tell about this amazing responsibility of Building Community?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we praise and glorify Your Most Holy Name. We thank You for all the blessings You give each of us everyday. Despite the problems we are all experiencing You still make a way to give us the strength and lead us to the right path. Help us to gain the gift of zeal in order to serve You well and also our fellow brothers and sisters. We ask for Your guidance in what we do everyday, may You help us to know what is right from wrong and also help us to understand always the people around us. May You also help us to overcome darkness, learn how to forgive the people who sinned against us and do good always at all times. Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
19 Therefore, [a]believers, since we have confidence and full freedom to enter the Holy Place [the place where God dwells] by [means of] the blood of Jesus, 20 by this new and living way which He initiated and opened for us through the veil [as in the Holy of Holies], that is, through His flesh, 21 and since we have a great and wonderful Priest [Who rules] over the house of God, 22 let us approach [God] with a true and sincere heart in unqualified assurance of faith, having had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word]; 24 and let us consider [thoughtfully] how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds, 25 not forsaking our meeting together [as believers for worship and instruction], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more [faithfully] as you see the day [of Christ’s return] approaching.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
For the vast number of God’s people living under the old covenant, access to God was only by way of the high priest.
Only he was able to physically draw near to God with any sense of intimacy—and this only once a year, on the Day of Atonement!
It was therefore dramatic and revolutionary for the writer of Hebrews to exhort his readers to “draw near” to God as they prayed.
What happened to cause such a seismic change in the way people are able to approach God?
The answer is, in short, Calvary.
When “Jesus cried out … with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit … the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51).
Under the old covenant, this curtain had highly restricted access to the presence of God—now, because of Jesus, because of Calvary, the barrier was obliterated.
By these radical shifts, now it was exceedingly possible for men, women, on the basis of Christ’s atoning death, to make their way directly into God’s presence.
Now they could be in truest community, draw near to the God who is majestic in His holiness and in whose presence no sinner could gather, live—until Calvary.
How should we respond to the writer’s invitation?
First, we ought to draw near with confidence.
The writer of Hebrews prefaces his exhortation by saying, “Since we have confidence…” (Hebrews 10:19).
Whereas previously our approach to God could only ever have been cowering, tentative, timid and fearful to the extreme, now we’re able to come confidently in faith, in hope, love, and great joy, on the basis of “the blood of Jesus” (v 19).
Second, we ought to draw near, gather together, with gratitude to the extreme.
We should recognize the awesome wonder of being able to come together, to gather together as one community, the church, into His presence directly.
We are not to draw near haphazardly or flippantly, for it took the life and death of the Son of God to open “the new and living way” to God (Hebrews 10:20).
We are therefore to approach Him in humble worship, reverent thankfulness.
Whereas the Old Testament way, as Franz Delitzsch puts it, “was simply a lifeless pavement trodden by the high priest, and by him alone,” the way that we now gather together in community as His Church, as we all walk together as His church, is indeed new and living – as Christ is in full community with God.
Thanks be to God that we now draw near in community with God and the Holy Spirit, through Jesus, fully, max assured that we are accepted by our Maker.
Why Is Christian Community So Important in the Bible?
“Community” generally means people who are gathered together in a particular place — a neighborhood or town — who have common background, interests, or cause. A more elevated meaning involves mutual love and care.
The concept of community reaches back to the beginning of time, and was taught in the early church as a foundational principle.
It is still important, even though many people have stopped attending church in local communities.
The Bible has much to say about community in both testaments, especially through the words and examples of Jesus, Paul, Peter, the Apostles and others.
What Does the Bible Say about Community?
The writer of Ecclesiastes suggested that people are designed to live in community.
“Two are better than one,” Solomon said, and “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Community brings friendship and support for times of adversity (Proverbs 17:17; 27:9).
Jesus expanded the scope of community, telling His disciples to begin their testimony and outreach in their own back yard (Jerusalem), and then reach out beyond their city to their country and surrounding countries (Judea and Samaria), and then into all the world (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19-20).
As Christ-followers expand their outreach, other people will, hopefully, see the power of community at work.
By modern definitions, “Christian community” can be: a denomination, network of churches, or organizations; a group of people following a specific Christian leader; or Christians who fellowship together based on shared beliefs.
When many hear the words, however, they think specifically of the local church.
The Greek word ekklesia, commonly translated “church,” is a called-out assembly or gathering.
It includes both the universal body of Christ and local groups of believers in specific churches (1 Corinthians 12:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 1:1).
In the early church, small community groups of believers met in house churches.
Even today, a local church may decide to add small groups or life groups to meet regularly in homes for Bible study, fellowship and service.
To function properly, small groups or life groups should function as extensions of the larger church body for greater connection and growth.
They are not meant to replace Sunday worship services, or remove the group from the authority and oversight of church leaders.
Is Community Important in the Old Testament?
Biblically, community began with Adam and God, and eventually included Eve.
They “walked” and talked together in perfect communion in the Garden of Eden until sin destroyed that perfection (Genesis 3:8).
In shame, the first couple hid from God. Adam and Eve’s perfect communion broke down, all relationships in community thereafter would be marred by sin.
The couple became parents, and cities were established from subsequent family groups.
The first city was built by Cain in the land of Nod (Genesis 4:16-17).
A famous city in the Old Testament, referenced repeatedly in stories from Abraham to David and beyond, was the Jewish community in Hebron.
Two infamous cities, where the believing community broke down, were Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Israelites received rules for right behavior — for relating to God and to one another in community — in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3-17) and in other teachings (Leviticus 19:5-18).
Yet because of the Jews’ stubbornness, disobedience, men of God prophesied their captivity and future exile to the Persian city of Babylon, where living in community was more difficult. But God commanded them to settle down in community there (Jeremiah 29:4-7).
After seventy years, many Jews migrated to major cities in the eastern Mediterranean world and lived in communities there, but 42,360 returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and city and restart temple worship (Nehemiah 1:1; 2:3-20; Ezra 1:5; 3:1-13).
An estimated 80,000 Jews remained, by choice, in Babylon.
Sometime later, these Jews in Persia faced a death sentence (detailed in the book of Esther); yet their community united and triumphed over their enemies.
What Did Jesus Say about Community?
The Greek word koinonia is often translated with words like “fellowship,” “partnership,” and “communion.”
It can refer to the marriage relationship, people involved in an outreach, neighborhoods — basically, people who have a giving-receiving connection, and local churches.
Jesus taught about being a good neighbor in the well-known parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37).
The Samaritan man ministered to an attacked and injured man, left on the roadside to die.
The good-hearted Samaritan took the man to an innkeeper, saying he would pay for the man’s care.
Although the purpose of Jesus in telling the parable was to illustrate mercy to a self-righteous Pharisee, He also pictured community in action, reaching out to a neighbor in distress.
Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” He said (John 13:35).
Love is meant to be the hallmark of Christian community.
Jesus modeled living in community by submitting to authorities, showing compassion, and ministering to needs.
His attitudes and actions affected both the local Jewish community and those outside His religious circle.
He told His followers to let their light shine before people so they will acknowledge the believers’ good works and glorify God.
Paul echoed this exhortation in Philippians 2:15.
Jesus also told His followers to be like salt in their communities and beyond, becoming a purifying, life-preserving, flavoring influence.
How Did the Early Church Focus on Community?
In Acts 2:43-47, it’s clear the early church had a sense of responsibility in community after the Day of Pentecost.
They showed mutual love and concern, close fellowship, and even shared their belongings.
And their neighbors took notice!
The Apostle Paul taught much about living together in Christian love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8), and standing for what is right in community.
Both Peter and Paul urged believers to build “the spiritual temple” in Christ in community living (1 Peter 2:5; Ephesians 2:20-22).
Paul, Peter, James, and John gave examples of what community looks like, citing humility, gentleness, kindness, love and compassion, cheerfulness, purity, patience, tolerance, unity, peace, wholesome conversations, building others up, forgiveness, prayerfulness, serving others or bearing their burdens.
Christ-followers were exhorted to do good to all people, but especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10).
Why Is Community So Important for Believers Today?
In today’s culture, with flagrant evil and massive corruption, Christians need to band together for courage and encouragement.
This can happen outside the church and in parachurch ministries, but primarily, Christians are strengthened to face the world as they consistently rub shoulders with other believers in the church.
Yet a survey that was reported by the Christian Post on January 8, 2023, noted that roughly a third of Americans have stopped going to church.
The COVID-19 pandemic greatly impacted church attendance in the United States, but many people didn’t return when the lockdowns ended.
Ask churchgoers why they think people in their communities don’t come to church and they’ll likely say, “They aren’t believers.”
But Joe Carter at The Gospel Coalition said that, according to surveys, lack of church attendance is more often for practical or personal reasons than lack of belief.
Carter offered two reasons why being part of a local church community is important.
First, it’s “not possible,” he said, to be part of the larger community (the body of Christ) without being part of the smaller communities that make it up.
Second, every letter in the New Testament “assumes Christians are members of local churches,” Carter said.
Biblical truth is taught and modeled in a local church framework.
Christ-followers learn how to get along with each other, encourage the weak, conduct themselves, deal with unrepentant sinners, etc. in a local church community.
Author Rhonda Stoppe suggested ten reasons to go to church — even if we don’t feel like it, when we’re turned off by hypocrites in the congregation, when we’re too busy for church, or even when we feel pulled to attend other good things instead.
Stoppe’s perspective is biblical and healthy.
“Church is not a place to go,” she said, “rather it is a living body where God wants you to become a part — for your good and His glory.”
Stoppe’s reasons to be part of a Christian church community included;
hearing the Word of God,
participating in corporate worship,
sharpening others spiritually,
exercising spiritual gifts,
encouraging the pastor (and I’d add the pastor’s wife, along with staff members and their spouses),
finding godly mentors,
teaching children to love the church,
learning how to be a light for Jesus outside the church,
bearing others’ burdens, and obeying God.
Notice all those action verbs!
The local community of believers is meant to be a vital, active group!
It’s a place of belonging, but also worship, fellowship, and ministry.
How Can I Get Involved in a Good Christian Community?
Certainly, we can find a good Christian relationships outside the church, but the writer of Hebrews sternly admonished us all; never to give up meeting together, and it is to be assumed he meant as part of a place of praise, prayer and worship.
Finding a good Christian community isn’t always easy.
While we may look in a whole host of online directories and search engines for possibilities, more often than not, finding a good church comes when we pray for direction and seek out godly Christians to ask where they attend church.
Be careful in your search; some churches claim to be Christian but they are not biblical.
There is no perfect church — but there are traits to look for that are both biblical, practical, and in some cases, personal preference.
These “traits” offer an expansive view of biblical community.
Do they show grace when others exhibit their human flaws?
Do the leaders appear to bully others?
Are congregants loyal and committed to each other?
Do they gossip and slander?
Are there strong, thriving marriages?
Are there small group studies for additional growth?
Do believers practice hospitality?
Is it a giving church, compassionate and generous?
Do believers enter regularly into the greater community to help and bring hope?
Third — and this is definitely not most important — look for personal preference traits.
Do you enjoy the musical style in the church and feel it contributes to your biblically worshipping God?
Are there ministry groups within the church that attract you and motivate you to become involved?
Remember: church attendance isn’t only about what you can receive, but also what you can contribute to the community.
God knows that our becoming a part of a good Christian community is a blessing, but He wants us to know that too.
It’s worth the time to investigate local churches and find the right local church family for personal growth, others’ good, and God’s glory.
Sticks and Stones and Broken Down Fences – Mending the Gaps
Are we holding back from becoming community, holding back from praying to your almighty Father for healing and mending out of an awareness of our sins?
Be sure that the blood of Jesus has covered it – all of it.
Are we under the impression that we, the baptized, need to collectively clean up our act, bring more than our good deeds before God if He is to bind us together?
Collectively, corporately, are we clear the curtain is torn, Jesus has done it all?
Do we skip drawing near to God out of complacency or busyness?
Hurts and hiccups, slights, grudges and bruised and broken egos?
Dogmas and Doctrines?
Be aware that Jesus died to give us the privilege of entering into God’s presence.
By His mercy, by His forgiveness of our sins, because of Calvary, the veil is torn to shreds and we can, and should, draw near with confident, grateful joy today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
14 Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Love.
It’s a word that can mean so many things.
We can say: “I love God,” “I love me,” “I love my mom and dad,” and “I love my mom’s spaghetti and meatballs,” and mean every single word of them.
The biblical idea of love is also multifaceted, but–unlike in the English language–there were different Greek words to express the nuances of different kinds of love.
What Is Paul’s Meaning, ‘Let All That You Do Be Done in Love’?
The unconditional love of God for us which the indwelling Holy Spirit empowers us to show back to God and toward others is called agape love.
This is the kind of love Paul is talking about at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians when he says: “Let all you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14).
In the lengthy letter, Paul has been giving the believers many instructions for how to live in the world as Christians and how to handle many thorny issues they have been facing, and now he is summing up before signing off with his own expression of love: “
My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen” (1 Corinthians 16:24).
What Else Does the Bible Say about Love, Loving Others, and Loving Service?
The command to love has often been used to sum up Christian teaching, such as when someone tried to trap Jesus by quizzing him:
“Which is the greatest commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36).
Jesus didn’t skip a beat, simply saying:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Earlier in his letter to the Corinthians, Paul has spent an entire chapter showing them the “still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31) of love.
Paul details what love is in chapter 13, which is often read at weddings but has an application on every day of a Christian’s life:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
Paul makes the crucial point that it’s pointless and even harmful to do even good things without love (verses 1-3):
“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”
Elsewhere, Paul says succinctly:
“The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Galatians 5:16 NIV).
What Does it Look Like to Let All We Do Be Done in Love?
As a fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit, love is something that God plants and cultivates and nourishes and grows in such a way that it can lend supernatural inspiration and motivation and power to our everyday actions and interactions.
But what does this look like practically?
Anchor yourself in the love of God.
1 John 4:19 reminds us that “we love because He first loved us.”
This is not simply a nice idea or a historical happening, but a real, moment-by-moment reality in which we live and by which we are empowered and inspired.
We can “know and rely on the love God has for us” because “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:16).
It is in the atmosphere of God’s love that we are filled up and enabled to love Him back and love others, giving freely what we have been freely given.
Love is the core of the Gospel, and it never loses any relevance in our lives.
As J.I. Packer said: “We never move on from the gospel; we move on in the Gospel.”
When seeking to grow in any other way, always combine it with love.
In any discussion of virtues in the Bible, love is always nearby and involved.
As Paul said in 1 Corinthians, doing anything without love being part of it is hollow and pointless.
In Colossians 3:12-13, Paul tells the believers to put the virtues of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness, but he cannot finish the discussion without bringing love into the picture:
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Colossians 3:14).
If we’re seeking to develop any Christians character quality in our life, it will be enhanced if you also “earnestly pursue love” (1 Corinthians 14:) at the same time.
Recognize your responsibility to make God’s love tangible.
1 John reminds us that “no one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:12).
What a wonderful responsibility and calling!
Jesus says:
“Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
Love is–or should be–the identity, the identifier, the identifying mark of a believer, for a believer has been filled up with such an abundant supply of the love of God he or she cannot help but overflow and share this love with others.
More Heavily Press into, Lean into, love when tempted to fear.
As we go through life, we will face many difficult circumstances and much uncertainty.
Yet we believe that fear has no place in the life of the believer, since, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).
Fear is nothing to be ashamed about–it is a natural response to recognizing our smallness when the world feels chaotic–
but it is also an invitation to live into Paul’s prayer: “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance” (2 Thessalonians 3:5).
Though the world may seem chaotic, we use our Spirit-empowered eyes to see that “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
If we feel tempted to fear, we can use that as an opportunity to shift gears, recognizing what is already true and living as if we believe it:
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” (Romans 8:15)
15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading again to fear [of God’s judgment], but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons [the Spirit producing sonship] by which we [joyfully] cry, “[a]Abba! Father!”[Amplified]
And what is the Spirit of adoption?
In a word: love. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God; and so we are…Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”(1 John 3:1-2)
Because of God’s incredible which has been and continues to be lavished on us, we can overflow with that same love.
This love can undergird all the actions of a believer, showing the world what God is like.
1 John 3:3 Amplified Bible
3 And everyone who has this hope [confidently placed] in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure (holy, undefiled, guiltless).
This love is a haven for us that casts out fear, empowers us to do hard things, and fills all of our life with rich relational meaning both now and for eternity!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Dear Father,
In watchfulness, may I stand firm in faith, be courageous, and be strong. Let everything I do be done in love. Help me to subject myself to those in your church who have devoted themselves to serving all the saints and to refreshing the spirits of your servants. May I be a true fellow worker and sincere laborer in your vineyard, always extending joyous greetings and sincere blessings to brothers and sisters in Christ. Most of all, help me to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all my heart and soul. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Maranatha! Lord Jesus, come. Come now in spiritual presence. Come finally in visible manifestation! May the love and the grace of the Lord Jesus, in whose name I pray, be with us for ever and ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
13-14 Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Throughout this letter to the Corinthians, there are practical admonitions and little encouragements for the saints in Corinth to live out lives that honor God.
Paul wanted all the believers there to grow in their Christian faith and to walk in the spirit of power and truth.
He tackled things that caused division within the church and exposed the foolishness of human wisdom, by contrasting it with the wisdom of God.
Throughout the letter he touched on marriage and related matters, and laid down powerful principles of godly conduct, he discussed the importance of the Lord’s Supper, and the varieties of spiritual gifts and the supremacy of love.
Paul reminds the Corinthian believers of our blessed hope in Christ and opens our understanding to the resurrection of the dead and the certainty of our own resurrection, because by the power of God, Jesus Christ had rose from the dead.
It is as he draws his letter to a close, that Paul offers his concluding exhortation, which is beneficial, eminently practical, for ALL those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus and to grow in grace and in a knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
“Keep your eyes open,” “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong,” he urges, “and always let EVERYTHING that you do be done in love.”
Perhaps, this last exhortation from Paul to the saints in Corinth umbrellas all his other directives and instructions, for when all that we say and do and think, is carried out in LOVE, it embraces every other lesson Paul taught.
“Let ALL that you do be done in love.”
“Love without stopping.”
It may be a simple instruction to admonish and encourage the Church but it is one of the greatest challenges with which any of us can be presented, for it is the Holy Spirit of God Who calls us to live as Christ lived, to love as Christ loved.
Such divine love is an impossibility in our own limited, human strength.
It is only as the power of the Holy Spirit is given absolute sway to carry out His work within, that this impossible command can be carried out before our eyes.
It is as we abide in Christ and He in us, that we begin to learn the lesson of love – godly love – sacrificial love.
It is as we die to self in all things and live for Christ alone that we begin to be fashioned and formed into the lovely image of Christ.
It is as we surrender to the power of God through the resurrection, permit the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out His good work in and through our lives, we can become conduits of power through whom His love can flow out unto others.
And in this final chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, he here exhorts both believers and unbelievers in the city, “to let all be done in love.”
What a sublimely simple instruction to the Body of Christ the Church of today.
Yet too what a profound depth of truth is contained within this simply stated, uncomplicated and divine directive.
Paul’s heart aches for all the body of believers everywhere and for all time, as Jesus’ heart ached for all God’s children in His much beloved city of Jerusalem.
Matthew 23:37-39 The Message
37-39 “Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Murderer of prophets! Killer of the ones who brought you God’s news! How often I’ve ached to embrace your children, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you wouldn’t let me. And now you’re so desolate, nothing but a ghost town. What is there left to say? Only this: I’m out of here soon. The next time you see me you’ll say, ‘Oh, God has blessed him! He’s come, bringing God’s rule!’”
Perhaps it is time for the 21st century “interpretation” of the Body of Christ to embrace that unrelenting unstoppable power of the heartaches Paul and Jesus both undoubtedly felt as they uttered their words to those biblical communities.
Can anyone genuinely underestimate the highest intensity of Paul’s heartache?
1 Corinthians 13 English Standard Version
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b]6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Love is the fulfilling of the Law, and only as we truly allow the love of Christ to saturate our being, as by our baptism, we die to self to live for Christ and walk in the power of the spirit and truth, can this Christlike characteristic be executed.
This simple statement is sufficiently elementary even for the youngest child to understand, and yet so lofty that man’s combined wisdom is unable to scratch the surface of its true meaning, or plumb the depth of its wider significance.
Jeremiah 23:28-29 The Message
28-29 “You prophets who do nothing but dream— go ahead and tell your silly dreams. But you prophets who have a message from me— tell it truly and faithfully. What does straw have in common with wheat? Nothing else is like God’s Decree. Isn’t my Message like fire?” God’s Decree. “Isn’t it like a sledgehammer busting a rock?
It stings hard the conscience of every man.
Sledge hammers our hearts of hardest stone which our sins have encased.
Goes straight to the marrow of our bones, convicts the attitudes of humanity.
It challenges the godliest saint and forever condemns the human race.
But this unreachable goal is the impossible command given to all believers.
It not only applies to the natural loving kinship within the inner nucleus of beloved companions and best-loved family members, but the beggar in the street, thieving politicians, the accusatorial religionist, the enemy at the gate, scoffers of our faith, and those that despise, reject, hate, persecute, and kill us.
Every action and every attitude,
every word and every work,
each thought of the heart,
each decision of the mind, even the motives that influence the choices we make,
Acts 14:14-15 The Message
14-15 When Barnabas and Paul finally realized what was going on, they stopped them. Waving their arms, they interrupted the parade, calling out, “What do you think you’re doing! We’re not gods! We are men just like you, and we’re here to bring you the Message, to persuade you to abandon these silly god-superstitions and embrace God himself, the living God. We don’t make God; he makes us, and all of this—sky, earth, sea, and everything in them.
needs to be bathed in the powerful purifying gaze of the Holy Spirit, washed in the fountain of God’s divine love and covered with the unconditional grace of Christ, Who for His unstoppable love of His church went to the cross willingly – so that like Him, everything which we do, may be done through HIM – in LOVE.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Loving Father, Author of my Life, Caretaker of my Soul, I confess that in my own strength, it is impossible for me to carry out all that I say and do in love, but I know that it is possible in the strength and power of the Spirit of love. You have promised to pour Your love through me to others, so that I may love others as Christ loved me. Use me to be a vessel of love in the lives of all I meet today, knowing that it is Christ that loves through me and not me myself. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
13 Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong. 14 Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Be On Guard
Stand Firm in the Faith
Be Courageous
Be Strong
These robust commands urge our readiness for warfare against Satan and his angels of darkness. [2] The battle is at hand. We must be prepared to Hold On!
But, were we a little surprised with that not so sounding warlike 5th command?
Let everything we do be done in love – motivated and inspired by God’s love for us – not physical weapons of destruction being waved around in greatest anger?
Be On Guard With Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed
When looking at the cornerstones of the Christian life, some tenets include prayer and worship, but the key cornerstone of being on our guard is our faith.
Putting our trust in God, that He will take care of the future, provide for needs, and provide for salvation.
Rabbi Jesus spoke about the power of faith several times in His teachings and then used multiple metaphors to explain what faith is and how important it is.
One of the most powerful is that faith can be like a mustard seed.
Jesus said to those struggling with belief,
“Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20).
God wants to work with His people, to strengthen them, but will not force them to become instruments of His will like puppets; instead He works through them based on their faith, challenging all believers to a deeper relationship with Him.
What Does It Mean to Have Faith of a Mustard Seed?
The mustard seed would have been a common enough plant in that culture; they would be able to picture it without reference.
Classified as an evergreen, the Salvadora perisica can grow to twenty feet wide and tall.
They can thrive in environments typically hostile to plants.
Their seeds are very small, but yet they grow large and expansive and tall.
The mustard seed in Jesus’ example symbolizes the potential in faith.
As a believer begins their journey, they’ve just begun to learn about how much God loves them, how much He wants to do for them, all that He has for them.
God wants to work with these believers to bring others to Himself, and to build His kingdom;
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12).
By faithfully following God’s plan, Christians will do great things for Him, even with the small mustard seed of faith they have at the beginning of their walk.
Of course, the truth about a seed is that it does not remain a seed.
Planted into the soils of our hearts, by the grace and nurturance of God, it eventually germinates, where, sight unseen, the seedling slowly breaks out of the shell, breaks through the ground surface and grows into a full-sized plant.
Mustard trees are huge, despite the size of their seeds.
Faith cannot remain static or the same in order to have a deeper relationship with the Lord.
The things people will do for God, and the cultivated, germinating courage they do it with for their neighbors, is correlated with the amount of faith present.
If someone has faith God has saved them from their sins, but that God cannot heal an illness, they have a smaller measure of faith than someone who does.
The courage to share faith in dangerous settings, it takes a lot of maturing faith.
James even wrote, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26b).
Faith must be cultivated, faith must be nurtured, faith must grow, must mature and be tested, to persevere, and be acted upon with good deeds and evangelism.
Does It Matter How Much or Little Faith We Have?
If Jesus is saying faith as small as a mustard seed is all it takes, then is that all that’s needed?
Can one “be on guard against the evil one” and have just a little “seed of faith?”
Putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ is an important step.
In the same chapter where Jesus tells the parable of the mustard seed, the people in his hometown reject Him, and lacked faith.
The Bible says, “And [Jesus] did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58).
It was not just in Nazareth where Jesus would not work great miracles because of a lack of faith.
He declared, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works one in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes” (Matthew 11:21).
In Mark 8:22-26, an account of Jesus healing a blind man in Bethsaida recounts that Jesus took the blind man out of the town before He healed him, and ordered the man, “Do not even enter the village” (Mark 8:26b).
The people of Nazareth, Chorazin, and Bethsaida had so little faith that nothing Jesus could have done would have led them to repent.
There are still people like that today.
The level of faith one has can also impact how God can bless individual Christians.
In the Book of James, the writer stated, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You cover and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2).
Believers in James’ time were fighting amongst one another because they lacked, but they did not have the faith to go to God and ask.
This statement does not mean that one can have anything, or that ‘name it and claim it’ philosophy is true, but that it is important to fully and faithfully rely on God, and ask Him in prayer, in supplications for the things of faith needed.
Without even a mustard seed measure of faith, the Christian life is inhibited, and lacking the fullness that God wants to bestow upon those who love Him.
What Does This “Mustard Seed” Mean for Us Today?
The importance of faith is as crucial today as it was when Christ walked the earth 2,000 years ago.
Jesus gave a commission to His followers as He ascended into Heaven, a command to follow until He returns,
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Once the seed of faith has been planted in someone’s heart and they are saved, the next steps of faith are for that seed to be cultivated and nurtured, to learn more about this new connectional relationship, obey this GOD commission.
Faith can be difficult, fleeting and failing, which is why it seems that in some moments in life it can be easy to have great faith, but at others, almost none.
When cultivating our relationship with God, growing that faith regularly can be truly empowering the believer to know their Savior better, and obey Him fully.
But, our great enemy of the faith Satan is always going to be, faithfully going to be on the prowl, like a roaring hungry lion looking for an easy, vulnerable meal.
1 Peter 5:6-9 Amplified Bible
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time, 7 casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. 8 Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. 9 But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, and immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.]
Be On Guard
The Scriptures make it clear that believers in Christ are to be on our guard because the enemy is against God, so He too will attack the Father’s children.
We are part of a spiritual battle that many days we wake up forgetting is going on – when our lives are consumed with the temporary, we forget the eternal.
When you stop and think about how you need to specifically be on your guard right now, what comes to mind?
In what ways is the enemy attacking you, your family, your friendships, your workplace, and your church?
Just as God is faithfully active, the Devil is faithfully active too.
He is prowling around like a roaring lion looking for people to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Being on our guard works best when we are not reliant on our own strength but on the help of the Holy Spirit and the armor of God.
We are not left in the greatest heat of the battle unguarded and vulnerable, we are equipped and we are empowered with the victory of our Lord, Savior Jesus and hopeful that this temporary suffering is for His glory. (1 Corinthians 15:57)
In Our Savior’s Victory – Stand Firm in the Faith
Here is the call to stand firm.
When we think of the word “firm”, what do we envision, what do we picture?
I think of a rock, a strong muscle, or a wall.
I imagine something immovable, unshakeable and steady, something that will not shake or even give or even minimally lend itself to the idea that it would fall.
We have a firm foundation in Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:11 says, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
There is absolutely nothing that I can create with my own hands to build my life on that will ever be more firm than choosing to steadfastly place trust in Jesus.
When Christ is the King over our lives, when we have placed our faith in Him, we too are now stable and immovable in Him.
He is the reason that we can have confidence and a place of refuge in the difficulties in life.
He gives us peace and bravery.
When a hurricane comes, it matters more what the homes are built out of to withstand the storm.
Although all will be hit by the storm, not all will crumble.
Because of Jesus, even though we are always in the midst of the storm of sin in this world, always under Satan’s ever watchful evil gaze, we will not crumble.
2 Timothy 2:19 says, “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.’”
We can be rest assured that our Father God knows we are 100% His Children.
He can help us, and He can remind us that He is our firm foundation in this life.
We can place our full trust in Him, more so than when we sit in a chair and it holds us up or ride in a plane and hope it lands.
We have the promise He is always with us, and He will keep us safe in His arms. (Psalm 121)
Psalm 121 The Message
121 1-2 I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
3-4 He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep. Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.
5-6 God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you— Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke.
7-8 God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life. He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.
In Our Savior’s Victory Be Courageous and Strong
Sin teaches us well – it is easy to live in fear when trials occur around us.
Satan is faithfully lurking – we can fall into the pit of anxiety and worry.
However, our victorious Christ has called us to be courageous and strong.
Joshua 1:1-9 GOD’S WORD Translation
The Lord Instructs Joshua
1 After the death of the Lord’s servant Moses, the Lord said to Moses’ assistant Joshua, son of Nun, 2 “My servant Moses is dead. Now you and all these people must cross the Jordan River into the land that I am going to give the people of Israel. 3 I will give you every place on which you set foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your borders will be the desert ⌞on the south⌟, nearby Lebanon to the Euphrates River (the country of the Hittites) ⌞on the north⌟, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to oppose you successfully as long as you live. I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will never neglect you or abandon you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will help these people take possession of the land I swore to give their ancestors.
7 “Only be strong and very courageous, faithfully doing everything in the teachings that my servant Moses commanded you. Don’t turn away from them. Then you will succeed wherever you go. 8 Never stop reciting these teachings. You must think about them night and day so that you will faithfully do everything written in them. Only then will you prosper and succeed.
9 “I have commanded you, ‘Be strong and courageous! Don’t tremble or be terrified, because the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.’ ”
Just like Joshua was chosen, commanded by God to be strong and courageous, we too have been chosen and called by God to do the same in our generation.
Although Joshua battled real people, today, we have a great spiritual battle going on, raging all around us.
The covenant calling from God for both is still 100% the same, “be strong and courageous,” the promise the Lord is always with His people remains as well.
In Our Savior’s Victory – Do Everything in His Love
1 Corinthians 16:14 Amplified Bible
14 Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us].
Apostle Paul finishes out his first letter to the Corinthian church with a few last guidelines.
He tells them do everything in love, inspired and motivated by God’s love for us.
Love is something that is talked or written about a lot.
Usually the thought of love is a physical, temporary love.
During the 1960’s many people talked about love being the most important feeling, however, it was a physical love.
The world understands the physical side of love very well.
God made man to know and need that type of love.
Yet, there is a different kind of love that Paul talks about here.
It is not the physical, nor the emotional type of love.
This type of love is God’s kind of love, eternal, selfless, pure love.
This type of love loves no matter what. It love each and every person, regardless of any past actions.
It guards.
It protects.
It remains firm.
It endures all things.
It puts others first.
It builds up, rather than tears down.
It believes.
It trusts.
It is self-sacrificing for others.
It is with this kind of love that every action that is done is to be done in.
Most of the actions of those in this world are done for selfish reasons.
Believers are not to act that way, they are to do things for others out of love for others.
Jesus showed this type of love when He left heaven to live on this earth.
He showed this love when He died on the cross for the sins of each and every person on this earth.
He shows this immeasurable victorious love as He forgives any person who comes to Him with repentance for their sins.
This is true love.
In order to do everything in the same way Jesus did, one must do it in God.
God is love.
He is that perfect love.
When the believer does things in God, he will do it in love.
As we go through our day, take a look at all of your actions.
Are we doing these things in the love and victory of God?
And are we doing these things in genuine love, true love?
Love for others can be shown no matter what is being done.
It can be revealed, it can be shown in our helping others, sharing the gospel message, prayer, and even in rebuke of sins.
God’s kind of love must be shown in every word and every action that we do.
It must permeate everything that we do.
Are we doing everything in love?
I pray today that we will know God’s love for us and others; that we will love others as God loves them; that all of our actions and words will reflect God’s love for others; and that our life will be a reflective and revealing one of true love for God and others.
Intersecting our Savior’s Victory: Our Faith and Life:
How do we sense the enemy trying to work his mischief in our life?
In what ways is our faith being tested?
How can we remember to stand firm on Christ and not in our own strength and abilities in the midst of our enemies fiery trials?
How is God equipping and enabling us to be courageous and strong through His Spirit today?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
ABBA Father, thank You for loving us in spite of how messed up we are – for the grace of mustard seed faith and for the promise of answered prayer. Help us, Father, understand that every answer to our prayers is filtered from Your heart of love, even when it doesn’t look like what we think it should. Fill those pockets of unbelief in our prayer lives with mustard seed faith. And Lord, when we struggle to believe You, please help our unbelief. Thank you that nothing is impossible in my life as I trust you in every area. Give me wisdom in all these difficult things facing me today. Give me the faith to be able to trust again, to forgive, to care, to love all those who have caused me pain. Give me the faith that I need to keep doing the right thing at work and at home. Give me the faith to be able to keep on trusting You for all the hard spots in my heart, home and work. I’m giving You all the worries and concerns facing me today, trusting You to do the impossible Lord. Increase my faith, today I pray.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
22-25 Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Embrace this God-life. Really embrace it, and nothing will be too much for you. This mountain, for instance: Just say, ‘Go jump in the lake’—no shuffling or hemming and hawing—and it’s as good as done. That’s why I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything. And when you assume the posture of prayer, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive—only then will your heavenly Father be inclined to also wipe your slate clean of sins.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
Faith has been wonderfully described in and throughout the length of the Bible, used by great people who loved God, would do anything and everything for Him.
Noah, at God’s command, working tirelessly, built a gargantuan ark of gopher wood with his own determined hands in the face of continuous scorn, threats.
Even the obedient at all costs Abraham, the father of faith, had such faith in God to the point setting himself and everything else aside, of sacrificing his only son Isaac (God intervened with a Ram, blessed Abraham as the father of nations).
Faith in the Gospel, which is accepting and trusting the One we cannot ever see, knowing that He came, he lived, died and rose and will come again — that is the faith of salvation in Christ Jesus, through which every single baptized believer who has confessed Christ as their Savior, received redemption for their souls.
Faith, as the gift of the Spirit, is another example of faith we have read and even seen; Paul, and the apostles worked tirelessly, and worked tremendously with this gift of God through the power of the Holy Spirit with great signs following.
We have seen and read of the great miracles that seemed impossible but done by the Holy Spirit through generation after generation after generation of all those great clouds of witnesses, great evangelists of our time, both past and present, because of their steadfast and immovable faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Faith to Move Mountains into the Sea
Mountains come to us in diverse forms, such as obstacles, opposition, sickness, death, difficulty, impossibility, and insurmountable situations.
Zechariah 4:5-7 Amplified Bible
5 Then the angel who was speaking with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This [continuous supply of oil] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel [prince of Judah], saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of whom the oil is a symbol],’ says the Lord of hosts. 7 ‘What are you, O great mountain [of obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who will rebuild the temple] you will become a plain (insignificant)! And he will bring out the capstone [of the new temple] with loud shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”
Isaiah 40:3-5 Amplified Bible
3 A voice of one is calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness [remove the obstacles]; Make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God. 4 “Every valley shall be raised, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged places a broad valley. 5 “And the glory and majesty and splendor of the Lord will be revealed, And all humanity shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”
The mountains here are not a literal mountain that we see as we drive through our National Parks, this mountain is a figurative mountain as expressed above.
Steadfast and immovable Faith in our steadfast and immovable God removes them from our way, it makes them plain and they become as nothing before us.
For nothing can stand in the way of a man or woman of faith (Mark 11:23; Matthew 21:21-22 The Message).
21-22 But Jesus was matter-of-fact: “Yes—and if you embrace this kingdom life and don’t doubt God, you’ll not only do minor feats like I did to the fig tree, but also triumph over huge obstacles. This mountain, for instance, you’ll tell, ‘Go jump in the lake,’ and it will jump. Absolutely everything, ranging from small to large, as you make it a part of your believing prayer, gets included as you lay hold of God.”
Jesus was telling the disciples, who were marveled because the fig tree dried up, that even this mount, the Mount of Olives if you say to it be thou cast into the sea, it will quite literally be cast into the sea because you believe it can be done.
Why?
Because we have that degree of obedience as Abraham did, as Noah did, that measure of unshakeable faith, that whatever we say we believe shall be done.
Just as we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is our personal Savior.
So, therefore, no matter how little our faith is, even if it is as small as a mustard seed, inasmuch as it has the backing of faith as we make our declarations, it will be, only but by the grace and mercy, forgiveness of God, just as we say it should.
That is why reading, study, speaking and praying in faith is important for us as believers, we are not just ordinary people, Christ says whatever you believe it shall be established unto you, the Matthew Henry’s commentary puts it better.
“Whosoever shall say to this mountain, this Mount of Olives, be removed and cast into the sea. If he has but any word of God, general or particular to build his faith upon, and if he shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he said, according to the warrant he has from what God hath said, shall come to pass, he shall have whatever he said through the strength and power of God in Christ Jesus, the greatest difficulty shall be gotten over and the thing shall be effected.”
Buttressing on this, Jesus went further in Mark 11:24
{24 For this reason I am telling you, whatever things you ask for in prayer [in accordance with God’s will], believe [with confident trust] that you have received them, and they will be given to you.}
telling them of the importance of believing while making a request in prayer,
and Hebrews 11:1-2 tells of how men and women of old used faith to move obstacles seen and unseen.
The Triumphs of Faith
11 Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses]. 2 For by this [kind of] faith the [a]men of old gained [divine] approval.
Seemingly Unmovable Mountains
We have been able to discuss faith as it applies to salvation and also as the gift of the spirit; we have also seen how faith no matter how small can move mountains, figurative mountains or literal mountains.
How then does our faith move mountains?
Having identified your mountain (mountains in the form of difficulty, failure, and sickness, etc.).
Anything we can think of that serves as an obstacle to enjoying the best life God has for us, how then can we exercise our immovable faith in moving them?
Matthew 17:14-21 New King James Version
A Boy Is Healed
14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is [a]an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O [b]faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your [c]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 [d]However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Using Matthew 17:14-21, the disciples could not cast out the demon, and then Jesus pointed out some factors that hindered them:
Unbelief; lack of faith
Payers
Fasting
*And I add, to be deeply rooted in the Word
Having these we can move any form of the mountains, which was buttressed in Matthew 17:21 because most times, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 10:4, the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world.
They have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Most of the time our unbelief restricts the manifest power of God in our lives, it is because of our unbelief that we bring little to pass if you have but a grain of true faith, though little as mustard seeds, you shall speak and it shall stand.
Note, an active faith can remove mountains, not of itself, but in the form of a divine power engaged by a divine promise (Word of God), both of which faith fastens upon.
Jesus, in all his teachings, always taught his disciples the importance of faith and why they needed to be in faith, any time his disciples fell short of this, he would ask, “Where is your faith? You faithless generation?” (Luke 8:25; Mark 9:19; Mark 4:40; Matthew 14:31).
But to anyone who shows his or her faith, he would commend, like the woman with the issue of blood (Matthew 15:28), the Centurion (Luke 7:1-10), etc.
This shows that when we truly apply our faith to our difficulties, God is always pleased because this shows we trust in him to make all impossibilities possible.
What Does This Mean?
There’s power in our words.
When we speak words of faith, awesome things can happen.
But how do we begin speaking faith-filled words?
How can we speak faith over a situation that seems hopeless or over something that seems dead?
We do it by beginning to dream.
Begin by dreaming and imagining what we’d like our situation to be like.
As we do, we’ll find that we begin to have faith to see these things come to pass.
When that happens, it’s easier to speak faith-filled words.
As we speak faith and life over our situations, we begin to see God gifted results.
For example, let’s say doing well at school has always been hard for you.
Maybe you have anxiety about taking tests.
To overcome this, you’d want to begin to dream and begin to imagine yourself successfully taking tests.
Maybe you’d imagine yourself getting a good grade, or a better grade or being really more confident the next time when it became time to taking another test.
Once we see something in your mind’s eye, it’s a lot easier to speak faith over it.
So if we can begin to imagine it happening, by faith, can speak it into existence.
Descending, falling, into the snares of fear, doubt, unbelief, and prayerlessness hinders the working wonders of faith in our lives, whenever we show the above, we are essentially communicating, “God, this situation is bigger than you, you just cannot solve this,” carelessly forgetting God is the God of all possibilities.
Matthew 19:26 Amplified Bible
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With people [as far as it depends on them] it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Steadfastly, immovably, genuinely trusting in God is leaving all to Him in faith, knowing that, by God’s grace alone, everything will work out just fine for you.
Romans 8:26-28 The Message
26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
But that does not mean we should not do our own part, for faith without labor, faith without “our getting both of our hands and feet in the mud,” works is dead.
Jesus did a spectacular miracle in withering the fig tree with his command (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21).
Now, Jesus wants his followers to understand that they can do amazing things too, if they will truly steadfastly labor to overcome their unbelief – to believe.
Bottom line: Jesus wants us to pursue his will without thought of limitations and without fear of asking too much.
“Have faith!” our Lord tells us, “and ask without doubt.” Let’s do these things!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
O Father, today I want to ask you for something that does not seem possible. I know this cannot be accomplished without your power and blessing. So I ask this of you in the name of Jesus my Lord … (Please heartily and fervently share with the Father your areas of acute and chronic “unbelief,” give Him all thy personal faith requests.) By the grace of God and In Jesus’ exalted name, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.
6 Jesus later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). 2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. 3 Jesus went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. 4 The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.
5 As Jesus saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 Jesus asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”
8 One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, 9 “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)
11 Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
14 When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
There is inherent power in doing the little things.
In fact, some of the most notable people who changed history knew this, even as they accomplished great and noble strides for humanity.
We should pay attention to their words of wisdom:
“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa
“Anyone who doesn’t take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either” – Albert Einstein
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” – Helen Keller
And of course, the greatest world changer that ever lived, Jesus Christ said:
Matthew 17:20 GOD’S WORD Translation
20 He told them, “Because you have so little faith. I can guarantee this truth: If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” [a]
The Awesome Power Displayed: “Smallest of Things”
When Elisha received twenty barley loaves and some grain, he saw that by God’s power the food would feed a hundred people (2 Kings 4:42-44).
Jesus took five barley loaves and two fish and fed a crowd of five thousand.
At both meals there was so much that there were several baskets of leftovers.
As in the days of Elisha, the Lord often did miracles to help with the personal needs of his people.
Jesus, the bread of life, is concerned that we have not only food for our souls but also our daily bread.
Sometimes we do not appreciate exactly how much God cares about of our smallest and seemingly most meaningless and mundane day-to-day needs.
But notice that Jesus does not feed the people by himself—he uses the disciples to distribute the bread and serve the people.
As Jesus’ disciples today, we should expect the same—Jesus will use us to share in his many ministries of compassion – even the tiniest of ministries have great value in the kingdom of God – even those of which are staffed by only children.
Without any display of partiality, He is always eager to bring us into His work.
He not only wants to feed our tiny bellies but also wants us to help him feed the tiny and tiniest bellies, souls, spirits of others whom God calls our neighbors.
Of course, like the disciples, we will look at our meager resources and wonder how we can make any difference – our supplies will seem small and inadequate.
But Jesus doesn’t care about how meager our finite resources might be.
Our call is to offer what we have to him and to trust that it will be enough.
Are we ready to stand by, ready to serve from our meagerness, to be surprised by what He does with the most temporary and very finite of resources we have?
The Size and Scope of What the World Presents to Us
This massive crowd was gathering and heading toward Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover holiday, similar to the thousands upon thousands which pour into Times Square, New York City to ring in and celebrate the coming New Year.
It was a crowd of 5,000 heads of households (men), along with their wives and children, that came to witness the ministry of Jesus.
So the enormous problem confronting the disciples which needed to be resolved was exactly how to feed a large famished crowd without having food on hand.
This was a big problem!
It was not going away.
The disciples tried to dismiss them for lack of money and available food.
Except Jesus refused to dismiss them without giving them something to eat.
So, all the disciples could do was look at them all in their great wonderment –
Imagine all of the shoulders being shrugged, all of the heads being scratched!
All the thoughts, “How impossible is this?” being thrown towards the heavens?
And how does it get solved?
Simply, by someone believing in the power of “small” doing something small – a small boy who had five barely loaves and two small fish, gave Jesus his lunch.
Even though we would all recognize this gesture was small in relation to the size of their problem, we probably do not understand exactly how small it was.
We might be able to visualize the meagerness of “five barely loaves and two small fish” as being the equivalent to loaves of French bread and two Tilapia.
But this was a little boy’s lunch, and the word used here by John describes the boy as a “lad,” which refers to a boy between the ages of 5 and 7 years old.
So, his lunch would have probably been more similar to five crackers and two small sardines from one “Lunchables” found in a grocery store! That’s small.
Now, everybody there – including the disciples – felt like the only way to solve the problem is with a big solution.
Recall that Philip said in verse 7 that two hundred denarii(about eight months worth of work wages) could not come close to being able solve their problem.
More than likely, the others unhesitatingly, nodded vigorously in agreement.
I imagine Jesus’ eyes lighting up with satisfaction as Andrew made the tiny little suggestion of the loaves and fish, possibly thinking, that’s it, he gets it.
He understands!
And then even Andrew caved to the snickering and peer pressure, and adds “but what are they among so many?” (John 6:9b)
It is a sad thing to witness, as we fail to reach our potential, either as individuals or as caring and compassionate communities (churches, neighborhood groups, school communities, charitable organizations), because we too often fall victim to this worldly snare which utters “what are they among so many” mentality.
What good will the once a month that I can serve do to make any difference in the life of our church, in our adult ministries, young adults ministry or in our kid’s ministry?
What good will my one compliment to a co-worker do to change the morale of our work environment?
What sort of good will my small donation make in the bottom line of such a large organization?
There is a very definite self-defeating, morale suppressing, mindset that needs to be broken off that teaches the little things do not really make any difference.
It’s a lie that keeps us paralyzed in life, and prevents us from being proactive. It’s what leaves us as Christ followers in the pathetic state that James refers to:
James 2:19-20 The Message
19-20 Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That’s just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them? Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?
We remain paralyzed in life because we have bought the lie that we are too insignificant to spark change, and too inadequate and weak to be impactful.
That our talent is too small and our time too limited and too unnecessary.
We belly up to the table of apathy and complacency, believe that our treasure, our financial contribution, is too insignificant to ever really make a difference.
The truth is, there is genuine power in one, no matter how small it may seem!
The Power of One
Nehemiah 8:1-11 GOD’S WORD Translation
The Public Reading of Moses’ Teachings
8 ⌞When the seventh month came,⌟ all the people gathered together in the courtyard in front of Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of Moses’ Teachings, which the Lord had commanded Israel ⌞to follow⌟. 2 Then Ezra the priest brought the Teachings in front of the assembly. This included men, women, and any ⌞children⌟ who could understand what they heard. This took place on the first day of the seventh month. 3 From daybreak until noon, he read from it in the courtyard in front of Water Gate to the men, women, and ⌞ children⌟ who could understand it. All the people listened to the Book of Moses’ Teachings.
4 Ezra the scribe stood on a raised wooden platform made for this occasion. Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah stood beside him on his right. Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchiah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam stood beside him on his left. 5 Ezra, standing higher than all the other people, opened the book in front of all the people. As he opened it, all the people stood up. 6 Ezra thanked the Lord, the great God. All the people responded, “Amen! Amen!” as they raised their hands and then bowed with their faces to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah—explained the Teachings to the people while they were standing there. 8 They read the Book of God’s Teachings clearly and explained the meaning so that the people could understand what was read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people told them, “This is a holy day for the Lord your God. Don’t mourn or cry.” All the people were crying as they listened to the reading of God’s Teachings. 10 Then he told them, “Go, eat rich foods, drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who cannot provide for themselves. Today is a holy day for the Lord. Don’t be sad because the joy you have in the Lord is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people by saying, “Listen. Today is a holy day. Don’t be sad.”
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do.” – Edward Everette Hale
One man – Ezra the Scribe – stood tall in the pulpit and read the Word of God to the gathered people for the first time is who knows how many years, decades!
Nehemiah, one man, a well respected advisor to a Babylonian King, gave up everything to return to the city of his ancestors and in a miraculously small amount of time, brought his nation together by rebuilding of the city walls.
From our reading of John’s Gospel, Andrew understood (at least for a moment).
But more importantly, the lad with the lunch understood that even one person doing something small, with the anointing of God, could make a big difference.
Is it any wonder why Jesus himself said:
Matthew 18:1-5 The Message
Whoever Becomes Simple Again
18 At about the same time, the disciples came to Jesus asking, “Who gets the highest rank in God’s kingdom?”
2-5 For an answer Jesus called over a child, whom he stood in the middle of the room, and said, “I’m telling you, once and for all, that unless you return to square one and start over like children, you’re not even going to get a look at the kingdom, let alone get in. Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom. What’s more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it’s the same as receiving me.
This little boy easily believed what the adult disciples struggled with, that big things could be solved through the power of doing something small.
And guess who made history that day?
The little boy.
He believed that there is great power in doing even the small and very smallest of things, so much that he was the first one moved to taking a positive action.
John 6:11-13 GOD’S WORD Translation
11 Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Jesus told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” 13 The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.
And because that little boy believed, people were drawn to Jesus as a result of it.
John 6:14 GOD’S WORD Translation
14 When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.”
Even the smallest size absolutely matters! How many people would be drawn to Christ if we, as His church, would begin to do more small things, like warmly greeting the people we come into contact with, or doing simple acts of kindness (can I get you a bottle of water, pick you up anything from the store, help you to meet your deadline, maybe help with the dishes, the laundry or the homework).
The Power of Everyone Doing Something Small
Acts 2:43-47GOD’S WORD Translation
43 A feeling of fear came over everyone as many amazing things and miraculous signs happened through the apostles. 44 All the believers kept meeting together, and they shared everything with each other. 45 From time to time, they sold their property and other possessions and distributed the money to anyone who needed it. 46 The believers had a single purpose and went to the temple every day. They were joyful and humble as they ate at each other’s homes and shared their food. 47 At the same time, they praised God and had the good will of all the people. Every day the Lord saved people, and they were added to the group.
If there is such tremendous power in just one person doing something small, how much more power is there when a group of believers join hearts and minds, and collectively, synergistically, begin to worship God, start working as a team?
We follow Jesus’ example together, I definitely believe we’ll change the world!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God who is my Abba Father, thank you! Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice. Thank you for the Spirit’s presence in my life. Thank you that these two parts of your being intercede for me as I pray. Lord, I want to be excited about life and the things you have in store for me and your people. I yearn to live with devotion for you and the things that matter to you. Father, I long for the Spirit to help me have a soul-level reverence and awe for you and your work in my life and the lives of your people. I know you will work this devotion and awe in my life as I live with the expectation for your work and power released through the Spirit to me and your other children. I commit to this expectation and pray with all reverence to your honor. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, Amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 