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.