Pray Without Ceasing

This verse may sound impossible at first glance, but we need to examine what Paul is telling us to do. He's calling us to a life of prayer, a constant walk with God. If we are obeying the spirit of this verse, our lives will revolve around God. Everything we do will point to God. Our lives will be lived for His glory. When we go to work, we will do everything as unto the Lord. When we see the beauty of nature it will remind us of God. As we relate to others, we will do everything as if it were to Jesus. When we make decisions, we will ask God first. We will remember that we are always living in God's presence.

 
 

This is a tall order and I feel that I have a long way to go in this area. Lord, help me to pray without ceasing. Help me to live my life in communion with You. Help me not to be distracted by all the things around me. Help me not to be too busy to pray. Help me to grow in my prayer life. Help me to speak with You and listen to You. Help me to fulfill Your plan for my life.

The Sin of Not Rejoicing

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/4133.mp3

Having Obtained Eternal Redemption for Us

Heb 9:12

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

KJV

What an amazing plan of salvation God has given us! In the Old Testament, He required His people to continually sacrifice and go through many rituals in order to cover their sins and stay within God's favor. But, today Jesus blood cleanses us from sin forever. We don't need to offer sacrifices. We just need to trust and believe. He has done the rest. He does require us to live holy lives and to serve Him, but that is a joy if we realize all that He has done for us.

 
 

Thank You, Lord, for the wonderful plan of salvation. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for us so that we can be saved. Help me to live my life for You without reserve.

He Learned Obedience

Heb 5:8

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

KJV

Jesus, while He lived here on earth, suffered much. For some of His life, He had no home. He was rejected by the religious leader and eventually killed. He did all this in obedience to His Father's will. He didn't question or complain. He simply obeyed. There is much we can learn from the life of Christ, but this is one of the most important lessons. Just as Christ obeyed, so must we. He was God Himself. Yet, He was obedient. How much more should we obey God's will.

 
 

Lord, help me to live in full obedience to Your Word and will. Help me to patiently take whatever You send my way. Help me to live a victorious life in You.

All Things Are Open

Heb 4:13

all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

KJV

God sees everything. There is nothing that we can hide. Of course, we know that, but do we live like we know it? Do we tell ourselves that we can sin and get by? Do we think that if we can hide things from other people, we can also hide them from God? This verse challenged me to live in such a way that I would not be ashamed if God were watching me, because He is.

 
 

Lord, help me to live an open, transparent life. Help me to live so that I will have no need to be ashamed at the judgment day. Help me to live with an eternal perspective and not become shortsighted. Help me to live my entire life in light of eternity.

A Merciful and Faithful High Priest

Jesus understands us perfectly. He has been through trials. He has lived here on earth. He could have understood us even if He had not come to earth, but He chose to come here and experience a difficult life. He suffered as a man. He bore the burden of the sins of all mankind and He died one of the most cruel deaths imaginable. Why did He do that? It was so that He could be a merciful and faithful High Priest. He came to earth to show His love for fallen mankind.

Heb 2:18

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

KJV

Who better to pray to than someone who has been here on earth and experienced trials just like we do. Who better to pray to than God who created us and understands how we tick. Who better to pray to than Jesus, Who loved us enough to give His life so that we can have life. Why would we go anywhere else than to our merciful and faithful High Priest?

 
 

Lord, I thank You for loving us enough to save us. Thank You for understanding our needs so perfectly. Help me to depend on You for everything in my life. Help me not to carry my worries on my own. Help me to leave all my troubles with you. Help me to live my life completely for You in return for all You've done for me.

Your Conscience, the Cross, True Faith, False Religion

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/3977.mp3

Build Up Yourselves

"Build up yourselves," but how?

Jude 20

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,

KJV

Jude had just given a list of the terrible things that were perpetrated by some evil people in the church. At the end of all this, he tells the true believers to build themselves up by prayer. Today, we live in an evil world. People who claim to be Christians are guilty of the same sins as people who make no claim to Christianity. Many churches have become nothing more than social organizations that don't even obey the Bible. So, what should we be doing? We need to build ourselves up by prayer. We need to spend time communicating with God. This will build our faith and fortify us against the devil. This we help us to be ready when temptation comes.

 
 

Lord, help me to be faithful in prayer to You. Help me to have a meaningful communication with You. Help me to live a life that points others to You. Help me to glorify You in everything I do.

Greet the Friends by Name

In the last phrase of the 3 John, we have this short instruction to greet the friends by name. There is no explanation or further discussion on it. It's just a simple command. I believe there are a number of reasons for this. If we greet our friends by name, it shows that we are interested in them enough to remember their name and take the time to address them by it. Learning and using the names of strangers helps them feel welcome and more at ease. This is something that I struggle with. It seems that I have a difficult time remembering the names of new people. I want to make an effort to do better.

 
 

Lord, help me to have a genuine interest in the people I meet. Help me to make the necessary effort to remember their names. Help me to make them feel important. Help me to have a true concern for their welfare and seek their best interest, starting by using their name.

As Thy Soul Prospereth

3 John 2

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

KJV

 
 

John was righting to his friend, Gaius, and in the introduction, this is what he said, and it was a challenge to me. If my body was in the same condition as my soul, how would my health be? God doesn't work that way. He blesses wicked people with health, and sometimes good people get sick. So, that 's not a good way to find out if your soul is healthy. Instead, we need to examine our relationship with God. Do we fellowship with God? Do we obey His Word? Do we believe His promises? Do we love His people as well as those who are lost in sin? Do we have a burden for lost souls? Do we witness for Him? These are all signs of a soul that is prospering. Is your soul prospering? Is mine?

Keep Yourselves From Idols

The last thing that John warns us about as he closes the Book of 1 John, is to keep ourselves from idols. Now, we may say that we don't live in heathen times. We aren't tempted to bow down in front of a golden idol in a heathen temple. But, I challenge you to examine your lives for idols that you may have. It may be different for every person, but I believe that the threat is just as real today as it was those 2,000 years ago in John's time, and the threat just keeps getting stronger and stronger. Today, millions of people bow to the idol of our American culture. They spend billions of dollars to buy the right clothes, drive the right cars and live in houses they can't afford all because the American culture dictates that they should do so. For me, the temptation is computers and technology. I tent to spend too much time and money on things that I don't really need. I want God's help to curb those things and to spend time doing things that are more valuable. In the USA, we even have something called "American Idol." It's just another thing that we can give our time to instead of God: celebrities. God demands that we give our entire life in service to Him, and He deserves it. After all, He not only made us, but also sent Jesus to die and save us from the sin problem that we got ourselves into. So, anything that takes our focus off God is an idol and we need to eradicate it from our lives or at least make changes so that it does not control our life and leave God back in the driver's seat.

 
 

Lord, help me to serve only You. Help me to eliminate the idols in my life. Help me to remember that You deserve everything I have. Help me not to be enslaved to money, power, pleasure, technology, popularity or anything else. Help me to live my life only for You!

There Is No Fear in Love

John goes on at length talking about God's perfect love for us and how we should return that love to Him and to those around us if we are His true disciples. Then he goes on to tell us that there is no fear in love and that perfect love casts out fear. This is incredible. Those who know God fear Him. It is a holy reverence that we give to God because He is so much greater than we are. However, love casts out fear, the dread of God. While we are commanded to have a healthy fear of God, there is no need to dread His judgment. We can have confidence that God is His love has made provision for our salvation and Jesus has died to take away our sins. If we accept God's love for us and reciprocate it, we have no need to fear.

 
 

Thank You, Lord, for Your great love for us even when we were rebelling against You. Thank You for showing us how to love. Help me to have Your love in my life. Help me to cast out the unhealthy fear in my life. Help me to have confidence, through You, that I am Your child. Help me to live so that others can see Your love in my life.

We Are of God

The first phrase in 1 John 4:6 says, "We are of God." This challenged me. Am I truly of God? Do my actions prove that I am a child of God. Is my life a living testimony that God is in control? Can people around me tell that I am "of God?" Is my life a witness to the world around me? I want to become more like God. I want to obey Him and keep in touch with Him. I want to be controlled by His Spirit. Am I really "of God?"

 
 

Lord, help me to live my life just as you would have me to. Help me to remember what is truly important in life. Help me not to become sucked in with the mundane things in life. Help me to keep my focus on heaven. Help me not to become attached to this earth. Help me to use Your blessings to lay up treasure in heaven and not to hoard for myself here below. Help me to be generous with all you've given to me. Help me not to be selfish. Help me to remember that everything You have given me is not really mine, but Yours. Help me to treat them that way. Help me to live so that at the great judgment day, You can say that I truly lived my life for You.

My Utmost for His Glory

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/4131.mp3

In Deed and in Truth

1 John 3:18

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

KJV

 
 

I was impressed as I read this verse this morning. How often do we love in word and in tongue but not in deed and in truth. We may meet someone that we look down on and we can say nice things to them. We act cordial, but then we talk them down behind their back. Is that really loving in deed and in truth. I know that I need God's help in this area. I want to truly have God's love flow out of my life and into the lives of others. I want people to be able to tell that I love them unconditionally no matter where they've been or what type of life they've lived. I want to learn to truly care about people no matter how disgusting their life has been. I want to freely associate with people who want help even if it tarnishes my reputation. Jesus did! He ate with publicans and sinners even though the Pharisees looked down on Him for it. Surely I am not more important than my Master.

 
 

Lord, help me as I reach toward my goal of loving everyone as You do. Help me to look past the disgusting sin and all the trouble that people have gotten themselves into and see a needy soul that is trapped in sin. Help me not to be repelled by the fact that they've gotten themselves into this mess. Help me to remember that it is only by Your grace and no merit of my own that I am not in that same situation. Help me to truly have a heart of compassion for those who are less blessed than I am. Help me to willingly give of myself for the service of the kingdom and to help other people find their way in life. Lord, give me the heart of Jesus. Help me to be willing to sacrifice. Help me to get my priorities right and to remember what truly will matter in eternity: not the number of dollars that I have earned, but the souls that I have helped influence for the right.

A Testimony From My Trip to Haiti

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/4134.mp3

Behold What Manner of Love

1 John 3:1

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." What an amazing love God shows us. We were sinners and lost to God. We had turned our backs on God and rejected Him. Yet, He freely sent His Son to die for us so that we could be saved and be called His sons. Because of that, the world doesn't know us or love us. They work against us and try to make us return to our old, sinful ways, but God gives us the grace to remain strong and resist those temptations.

 
 

Lord, thank You for saving us. Thank You for calling us Your sons. Help me to remember that the world will not love a child of God. Help me to faithfully live for you and not be ashamed of You.

You Know All Things

1 John 2:20 has an interesting phrase that captured my attention and got me thinking: "Ye know all things." John then goes on to remind to people to be alert and not to be deceived. This is so often our problem. Many of us as Christians have had training in the Bible since we were young. We have memorized Bible passages. We have read the Bible. We've gone to church and heard preaching about the Bible. We know "all things." Yet, in the bustle and hurry of life, we forget. We fail to remember the importance of Bible teachings, or we can become deceived by false teaching. John calls us to beware of false teachings and false christs. How can we do that? It's only by studying the truth. Only when we believe that God's Word is infallible in its entirety can we stay on the strait and narrow way without wavering. May God help us.

Love Not the World

1 John 2:15 urges us, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." That makes it very plain and simple. There are no two ways about it. We cannot give even one part of our heart to loving the world. God requires everything of us. To truly serve God, we must wholeheartedly give our lives to God's service. If we have mixed loyalties, then we do not truly love God. It's that simple.

 
 

Lord, help me to completely love You. Help me to banish the love of the world from my life. Help me to be completely loyal to you all the time. Give me the strength to resist temptation. Help me to live for you always without reservation and without question.

 
 

(if this is a little incoherent, I wrote it at 3 AM.)

The Overtaking Blessings on the Second Generation

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/GH15.mp3