Once again today we hear of Christians being slaughtered for their faith.  The TV replays their deaths over and over; we can’t get used to wholesale murder, lives snuffed out before our very eyes. We must keep the persecuted ever before us in our prayers.

Please join with Only By Prayer in praying for those in so many countries around the world who suffer at the hands of evil. Let’s lift up our prayers for the persecuted and their persecutors. If you feel so led, please add your prayer in the comment section below and share this post so we can keep their plight fresh in our minds and hearts. 

Pray on!

Nourishment and refreshment for the soul.

“Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.” James 5:3

On my earring rack hangs one lonely silver hoop earring.  I lost it’s partner three years ago during Christmas play practice. It fell out of my ear, rolled across the floor, and was crushed beyond recognition underneath the size 12 tennis shoe of a 6th grade boy. Since they were sterling silver, I couldn’t bring myself to throw the remaining earring away. I hung the lone hoop back on the rack and forgot about it … until the other day.

I was searching my rack for a fresh pair of spring-like earrings (yes, the snow has finally melted in Michigan), when I spotted a dull black earring, hanging by itself in a dark corner of the rack. What is this? I asked myself as I picked up the dingy earring. As I turned the earring over in my hand, I recognized my long-ago favorite hoop earring, now corroded from neglect and disuse.

All of my other silver earrings gleamed on the rack. What kept them shiny? Not polish, but daily use. Slowly my mind made a connection to a Bible verse from the book of James. If we do not use our gifts and our resources, but let them sit idly on a shelf, they will corrode. They’ll turn black and dingy from disuse, and will eventually disintegrate. Ultimately, no one will benefit from our gifts; they will be a complete loss.

God gives us gifts to bless others, and we reap blessings in return. Let’s dust off our gifts and use them today.

Action Points:

1. Are your gifts corroded or shiny from daily use?
2. What do you love to do, and how can you use that gift to serve others?
3. Find a way  to use your gifts to bless someone today.
4. Ask God to show you your gifts and how to use them for His kingdom.

Day 4: The Life Which I Now Live

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galations 2:20

As Americans, we live in a culture of more, where enough is never enough. We want more money, more house, more car, more technology, and more status. The “next big thing” is still not enough. Americans want more and more. All of this striving for more and more does lead to a net gain of more and more debt,  more and more stress, more and more aggravation, and more and more dissatisfaction. Seeking more and more of the American Dream leaves us empty, drained, and depressed.

There is one thing, however, we can have more and more of that will not leave us empty– God. The more and more we seek the Kingdom of God the more and more He will bless us and transform us into the image of His Son. God is waiting and longing to pour out more and more of His spirit upon His children so we can minister to the lost and hurting, make disciples of all nations, and bring God great glory.

More and more God … more and more grace, peace, love and righteousness.

To do part 14 of the A Life of Faith, please click on the link below.

1 Thessalonians, Part 14: More and More

For related articles please click on the following links:

The Stuff Monster

Making Room for God

9 For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God,  10 night and day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect what is lacking in your faith. 1 Thessalonians 3:10

Picture perfect … practice makes perfect. These well-known idioms are part of American culture.  People long for perfection. Perfectionism is a cruel task master, especially when one is … well, …imperfect.  Despite our flawed condition, we continue to seek perfection. We work, strive, and labor for perfect test scores, perfect teeth, perfect children, the perfect job, the perfect wedding, the perfect vacations,  the perfect house, the perfect outfit, etc.  We try everything except the one thing that will help achieve our goal–prayer. Prayer, however,  helps us not to be perfect, but to be perfected. Biblical perfection is very different from the human idea of perfection.

What does perfection have to do with a life of faith? The Bible does have a good deal to say about perfection,

“Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Whew! That sounds like a perfect impossibility until we read,

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:23

and,

“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 1:28

God’s plan in for man to be perfected, but Biblical perfection will not be achieved apart from Christ. To learn how to be perfected, please click on the link below.

A Life of Faith, Part 13: Pray and Perfect

“Maybe I should … maybe I shouldn’t. I think I will, but then again, maybe I won’t. Nope. Yep. Final decision. I most definitely probably won’t.”

Have you ever had a conversation like the above with a friend, co-worker, family member …  yourself? Have you ever had trouble making a firm decision; swinging back and forth from choice “A” to choice “B” like the pendulum of a clock? Tick-tock, tick-tock, yes-no, maybe so.

I must admit I have had trouble trying to stand firm concerning decisions. Most of my wobbliness could be traced back to one deadly sin: people pleasing. In the not so distant past, my “stand firm” decisions were quickly toppled by one opinion contrary to my own. I was as firm as Jello at a July picnic.

My lack of ability to stand firm has cost me plenty (stress, wasted time, consequences, REGRET). After much prayer, soul searching and the storing-up of God’s Word in my heart, I am learning to stand firm, but not on my own two feet. I now stand firm upon the Rock.

To learn what it means to stand firm, and continue our study in 1 Thessalonians, A Life of Faith, please  click on the link below.

1 Thessalonians Part 12: Stand Firm