Choose a Good Day

And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 

1 Thessalonians 1:7

A blessed Monday to you all.

I want to encourage you to continue in your efforts to follow Christ. Imitate Christ. Imitate those who humbly and faithfully seek to follow the Lord. 

At work I like to greet people with "Happy Monday!" I don't say that to be glib because I view it more of a choice. I choose to find a way to make this a good day. The way I know best to do that is to seek to glorify Christ and serve others. This is and act of faith, prompted by the love of Christ for me, that gives me hope. I think that's a good model to seek to live like. 

Be blessed today. Choose to have a good day glorifying and serving Christ and others. Be a model of faith, hope and love.

Over All, Put on Love

And over all  these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 

Colossians 3:14

Love makes things truly work. What is compassion without love?What is kindness, humility, gentleness and patience without love? Is it possible to truly forgive someone from the heart without love? 

A godless, loveless attempt at compassion does not see someone who is bound by sin in a sinful godless world and therefore in need of the mercy and grace that can only be found in Christ. In Christ we are all sinners saved Christ. 

My grandmother, whenever we saw or encountered someone less fortunate than us would remind us that, "There, go I, save by the grace of God." We forgive because Christ first forgave us. We serve others because Christ first served us. Paul said, "Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst" (I Timothy 1:15).  We are compassionate, kind, gentle, and patience because Christ is compassionate, kind, gentle, and patient with us. We love because Christ first loved us. Love binds it all together. 

Memorialize and Realize

   That night the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.” 

   Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord. There he pitched his tent, and there his servants dug a well.

Genesis 26:24-25 NIV

God speaks to us in many ways. Every time we read the Bible he is speaking to us. When we listen to a sermon or participate in a Sunday school class he is speaking to us. Often we are storing away the truth in our minds preparing to live by faith in love. Sometimes it really hits us in a special way and we know the truth we are reading or hearing is for us at the moment. 

When the Lord appeared to Isaac he had a very real response. He didn't just think about it. He built an altar and called on the name of the Lord. He memorialized the moment and began to realize the promise. After calling on the Lord he pitched his tent and dug a well. He was afraid (see verse 24) but, after being assured by the Lord that he, the Lord, would be with him, bless him and increase the number of his descendants, Isaac began to realize the promise by acting in faith. 

What do you do when you sense the Lord is speaking to you? I encourage you to memorialize it and then begin to act in faith. If it was a verse that spoke to you, you might write the date next to it. If the Spirit is prompting you to take a step of faith, write it down and then take that step. Where God guides, he provides. Isaac dug the well but God provided the water. Like Isaac, we need to build our altars and dig our wells, memorialize and realize. 

Go Back to Your First Love

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Revelation 2:2-6 NIV

There was a lot that the Ephesian church was doing right. They were hard working people who persevered and even endured hardship for the sake of Christ's name. But, they had an issue. 

The issue was one I think we must all confront if we have walked with the Lord for any length of time. It's when what you do starts to be more important than the one you do it for. "You have forsaken the love you had at first." When you are first saved, you realize the depth of your own spiritual poverty. You just know you need Jesus. Isn't it true that at times we forget what is important is that we just love Jesus. We have no idea what's going to happen or how it's going to happen, we just believe that Jesus will work things out. So, we try to love. We forgive that person who hurt us so deeply. We stop trying to defend ourselves and just make up our minds to be more Christlike. We look to the Lord realizing that it only matters what he thinks of us and if we know we are trying to love others like he loved us. 

Listen. There is a big difference between when I first gave my life to Christ and now. I was a kid and now I am an adult. I was single and now I am married and have four children. Trusting God for a family is a whole different level of maturity. But, it's still trusting God and being Christlike. I friend of mine says, "I got married and than I began to realize I was selfish. I had kids and then I knew I was selfish." My first love was simply total dependance on Christ. My first love was realizing that everyone around me, like me, needed Jesus. My first love now is still the same. Everyone around me still needs Jesus. Frankly, I used to wake up and I would have to go someplace (like work) before I encountered someone. Now, I wake up to a house full of people who need Jesus' love from me. Then I go to work and there is more people who need his love. My first love was and is just trying to love like Christ loved me...

How did you first love Christ? Do you need to go back?

Worthy of His Calling: A Prayer

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NIV

Appeal to Answered Prayer

Do you remember an answered prayer? 

I like to pray that God would give me at least one redemptive conversation or moment (something I can do for others in his Name). Last Thursday, as I was walking back to my classroom from the office (it's just under a half mile from my room to the main office) I ran into one of our Building & Ground workers. I have known him for several years and it's always nice to hear how his family is doing. When I asked him how he was doing he told me that he honestly wasn't doing to well because his younger brother, a heart transplant recipient, went into the hospital the day before and was told he had two months to live. I listened and then asked if I could pray for him and he said yes. So, I did.  If you can, say a prayer for his brother.

The thing is, I normally don't walk that way back to my room, but because another worker was doing something I went through that wing. That's what is called a God-incidence. 

Tell us and answered prayer or God-incidence from your life.

Word of the Day: Resplendent

You are resplendent with light,

   more majestic than mountains rich with game.

Psalms 76:4 NIV

May God shine upon you with the glorious light of his presence.

Come...help us.

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Acts 16:9-10 NIV

Paul knew he was sent, so he went. The Spirit was keeping from entering Asia but then gave him a vision of a man of Macedonia begging for help.

Yesterday, I read a post from Anand V at Mamre Gospel Ministries  ( https://plus.google.com/u/0/+anandvmamre/posts )in India. I prayed for them and commented in the post that I was praying for them. He responded by asking for prayer that God would supply their minimum needs. Pray with me that God will supply all their needs in Christ Jesus.

Now, the cool thing is that I can reach out to someone on the other side of the world and in some small way try to help. 

My Prayer for You

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Philippians 1:9-11 NIV