The Good Ole Days

Job. 29: 4,5 “as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;

when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me”-

We see life through the lens of our present circumstances. We sometimes look back and wish for the old days. Maybe there were days when we had more friends, or days when it seem that God was blessing more. “The good ole days”. Job remembered days when things were good and life was blessed having a home and family to love. Now, his circumstance have changed and he wonders why God has deserted him. When things are not going good, we our tempted to think that God no longer cares and has left us to fend for ourselves. But, God is the master orchestra director and composer and knows the song of our life. He sees the start to finish and wants us to trust Him. “Father, my circumstance don’t always look favorable, and I sometimes wish for the days of old. But today is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. For you Lord, have all things under control, and I choose to trust you for today”

Count For God

Psalm 39:4 ““Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail I am.”-

Every day is given to us by God, we must not waste time for we know not when time will come to an end. David desired to know how many years he had left to live, but our life is in the hands of God who knows the measure of our days. It is our responsibility to make sure that every day counts for God. The cares of life consume much of our lives. We toil through the day to make a living to provide food and shelter. We go to work so that we have the means to take care of our needs and our wants. We come home and take care of our homes and to be with our families. Our time is spent on legitimate things that are good and wholesome. But often the most important things in life are left out and only done if time is permitted. We must make our time count for God. Time to worship Him, time to talk to Him, time to read His Word and meditate on Christ. Time to serve in ministry to give of our time to show others the grace of God. This is what separates us from the world. Life is more than a journey of survival, it is a life lived in Christ. “Dear God, time is so quickly moving and my days and years will soon come to an end, help me to live each day for you and let each day count for God”

Forgiveness

Luke 23:34 “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they parted His raiment and cast lots.-

Forgiveness- What does it mean to forgive? Forgiveness is an action and not an emotion. It is done with purpose regardless how we may feel. It is one of God’s graces that is given to Christians who face injustice to self or others we love. Temptation to retaliate and get revenge are real emotions that Christians with human emotions must resist and overcome. We live in a selfish world and people will act in ways that will cause others to be hurt. They are blinded by sin and they know not what they do. Even when they know they are doing wrong, sin justifies their actions. Forgiveness will not justify the wrong doing, but will see that people living for self and self gratification need to come to Jesus and be saved. Learning to forgive is not always easy, but it is the way of Christ. If we are to be like Him, we must learn to forgive. For God, who has forgiven us of our selfish living, desires that we also forgive them who do likewise. “Dear Lord, it is not always easy to forgive those who have hurt and have done us wrong, but give me the grace to overcome my feelings and give me the power of Christ to forgive others, even as you have forgiven me”

Sincere in Heart

Joshua 24:14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord.”-

A sincere heart is a tender heart. Sincerity is a character trait that speaks of someone who has good intentions. It is possible to be sincere, but yet misguided in our purpose. Being sincere is a good start, but it must be focus on truth. Being sincerely wrong or placing our purpose on things that are not true will lead us down a dead end path. Serving God with sincerity is to have a motive to do what is right and to walk in truth. Truth is given to us through God’s Word. There are many religions that are built on faulty premises and many good people sincerely adhere to the teaching of those religions. Their religion is built on a foundation created by a man’s belief. Christianity is built on the teaching of Christ, who is God and is truth. Putting away other gods is to put away the religions, or teaching that are not founded on God’s Word.

Our Petitions to God

1 John 5:15 “ And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.”- 

According to His will, His will is that all be saved, sanctified, and His name glorified. We can know that He hears us when we pray in His will. Our petitions to God for the salvation of those who are lost in sin and away from God will not go unheeded. Our petition to draw closer to God, to be set apart in holiness is the desire of our Lord. The request that we make that will bring glory to Him, God will not ignore. Whatsoever we ask, according to will, we can know that He hears us.

Sinless Life

1 John 1:8, 2:1 “ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not…”-

Believers in Christ are to walk in the light of God to keep them from a life of sin. A person who lives in sin is a sinner and is in need of God’s grace of forgiveness. If we sin, and deny that we have sinned, we are declaring that God’s word is not true. It is only through the blood of Christ that we are able to live a life without sin. There is nothing in ourselves that is able to keep us pure. We need the light of God, the presences of the Holy Spirit to empower us to resist temptation and to continue to live in the light of God. But it is possible to let our guard down and allow temptation to defeat us. In times like this, we need to confess to God our failure. He desires to stay in fellowship with us, but sin in the life of a Christian keeps us from fellowship. He is our advocate, He loves us too much to just let us live in our sin. He has provided a way, the way of forgiveness. The blood of Jesus has the power to keep us, but it also has the power to forgive us. 

The Church- One Body

1 Corinth 12:18 “But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased Him.”- 

For church to be non functional, it must be able to work together without division. Because we all come from different backgrounds, with different ideas, it is not uncommon to have different opinion on how things are done. Every part of the work of God is important and God has given each member of His church a gift and talent to be used to create a church that will please Him. There is more than just one function of the church, and each one is important for a church to be health. The church is foremost a body of believers who have come together to worship God, they gather together to learn more about Jesus and to build and edify each other in the Lord. Thirdly, the church is place where people who need God can come and find Him. The church has a responsibility to reach out to those who are hurting and to those who don’t know God. The church is more than a hospital for the sick (sinners). We gather together as one to worship Him and encourage each other in the faith. Division often comes when we think one of these is more important than another. We are one body, we all are in Christ, and our purpose is to please Him.