The Christian Life

The Christian life must be built upon and centered around Christ and his teachings and commandments. Many Christians live defeated and disappointed lives because they think that the Christian life is about them, let’s be clear it’s not. The Christian life is not about us achieving our dreams in Jesus name. Jesus is not a representative of our kingdoms, we are called to be ambassadors of his. The Christian life is about Christ being formed in you and Christ being expressed through you.

  1. The Christian life is about sacrificial love not self preservation.
  2. The Christian life is about self denial not self gratification.
  3. The Christian life is about Christ’s significance not our security.
  4. The Christian life is about the Savior not our savings account.
  5. If your savings is your security mammon is your God.

Our security comes from knowing Christ intimately and our significance comes from serving Christ faithfully. Do you really know Jesus? Have you committed to serving him?

Growing through it

4 People You can’t help

  1. The proud – even God is resisting them. “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” [James‬ ‭4:6‬] Pride will turn your advocate into your adversary. We can either choose to humble ourselves or be humiliated.
  2. The liar – someone who is not honest is not ready for help. Real help actually begins with honesty.
  3. The wanderer – someone who is everywhere but nowhere. They have no roots and so they aren’t able to receive help until they commit to plant themselves somewhere.
  4. The sinner – if someone is not willing to confess and forsake their sins they are stuck and you can’t help them out of where they want to be. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but the sinner finds identity, direction and pleasure in their sin until it totally crushes them and brings them to Jesus. But not everyone lives through their sin. Some actually die in it. That could have been me, but by the mercy of God I didn’t.

The fear of the Lord brings an awareness that one day we will give an account to God for our intentions, words and actions. That is how the conscience is awakened and then we realize that we really need God. The kindness of God leads us to repentance. His patience with us is not his approval of what we are doing. Often the kindness of people is how God reveals his kindness to us. We can help to break up the fallow ground in the life of others by praying for and being kind and generous with people. Once humility begins to happen then grace appears and then change can happen for that person who was previously un-help-able. Just keep praying for and loving on folks. Leave the results to Jesus.

Longevity

One of the first things you need to know is who not to listen to. If you listen to the wrong people you won’t last. Learning who and what to listen to is critical, especially if you want to last. I wrote this short blog entry because I want you to last, I want you to have longevity and I want you to be successful at what matters most. Psalm 1 begins with telling us that there is blessing for the man who doesn’t take council from the ungodly. Someone’s lifestyle will tell you if they are worth taking advice from or not. The Psalm goes on to talk about the man who focuses on God’s law will have success at whatever he does. The purpose of meditating on the law of God is so that you would premeditate to do what is right. Real success only comes from doing what is right in God’s sight. The Psalm goes on to use a fascinating metaphor. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” [Psalms‬ ‭1:3‬ ] God plants you to prosper you. If you are not planted you can’t really prosper. In the verse above David writes, “whose leaf shall not wither.” This is speaking about supernatural longevity because you are not listening to the wrong people, you are focused on God’s word and you are planted to prosper and so God is giving this man who he called blessed supernatural longevity because his leaf shall not wither. My prayer for you is that your leaf will not wither in Jesus name!

Faith Rests

Restored

Finding Rest

School of Faith pt 2

School of Faith pt 1

The Purpose of Faith

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV)

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. Faith is a conviction with a commitment that produces real evidence. That evidence is called a testimony. The purpose of faith is to please God. Our faith is not just for our goals. It’s actually and primarily for God’s purpose in bringing heaven to earth in and through Jesus by the Holy Spirit as we walk in the obedience of faith. Faith believes that God is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Many people think of God as a punisher, but faith believes that God is a rewarder. When you are convinced that God is good and his intentions for you are good you will be committed to diligently seeking him. Remember to seek God not a reward, his reward is with him. He is our exceedingly great reward. The Father knows what you need and what you want. He also knows what you can handle and when. Trust that he will reward your diligence in dew time. The good news is that we are not the author and finisher of our faith; Jesus is. He will finish what he started in you, but you must be patient and persevere. Your patience is further evidence that you really do trust God. Remember that from the time that you pray to the time that God answers he is producing patience in you. And it’s through faith and patience that we inherit the promises of God. If you are wanting to grow in faith click here to register to a free School of Faith this Saturday at Rescue Church in West New York, NJ.