Read Colossians 3
You have been raised with Christ. You have died with Christ. Your life is hidden with Christ. You are chosen by Christ.
All the believers you attend church with are in the same boat. Think about tomorrow’s church service. Together you will stand before your Lord and Saviour. Together you will taste and see that the Lord is good. Together you will sing His glories and praises. Together you will seek His hand in various people’s lives and in certain events. Together you will get a fore taste of heaven.
Will you go tomorrow and stand before your Lord and Saviour with the characteristics of vs 5 in your heart? Will you go with hatred and unforgiveness? Will you stand before God with adulterous thoughts in your heart, with lusts and covetous desires? Or will you go as a dearly loved child of God with compassion and love? Will you go with kindness and compassion ready to give sacrificially? Will you be ready to bear another’s burden, to forgive any sin against yourself? Will you go with gentle and patient words that build up and edify others?
Today is a great time to prepare yourself for tomorrows meeting with the Lord God Almighty. What will that preparation today look like?
* Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
* Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
* And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray for this nation of ours. Tomorrow thousands of people will stand in God’s presence in the churches across the land. Pray that the characteristics of vs12-14 will be growing in believers. Pray that the gospel will be faithfully preached and that all who would pervert the gospel for their own ends would be silenced and removed. Pray that God’s Spirit would work powerfully bringing a wide spread and long term revival throughout this land.
ÿ Pray that those who teach our children tomorrow would be faithful and true to the Word of God. Pray that we would see this young generation of believers growing strong in the Word and putting their faith into practice even at their young ages.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Friday, 29 October 2010
Friday October 29, 2010
Read Colossians 3:14
Whether we like it or not, or choose to believe it or not, our walk with the Lord is much like a staircase - it’s either going up or down, but it’s never stagnant! How’s your relationship with God? Is it going up or down? Now you may think that this is a strange question to ask in the midst of a passage that is talking mainly about my relationship with others. But read vs 14 slowly and carefully in context.
To love others, to be kind and compassionate towards others, to be gentle and patient with them and to forgive them and to put up with them is not something that I naturally possess within myself. I am by nature self centred and biased towards self gratification. As I grow closer to God, His love and His grace allows me to love others, to forgive and to share and to be kind and compassionate and so on. The more I receive from Him, the more I can give to others.
When the Word tells us to bind up all these other centred things, it’s calling us to bind them up and secure them with the love of Christ that has been poured into my heart. Love of God is the anchor that holds me near to God and allows me to continue serving, giving, forgiving etc without being hardened and embittered by sin’s deceitfulness. Love of God is the motivation and foundation that keeps me going in selfless service and sacrificial giving. Without that love I will naturally spiral downwards into “self.” Notice that the terms used in vs 5 are all things that seek to fulfil and meet my natural and earthly desires? Notice that none of these things leads to selfless service and sacrificial love?
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray that the individual Presbyterian Churches throughout your area will be united and bound together in love. Pray that they will work together for the cause of the gospel and to grow the kingdom. Pray that this will glorify Christ.
ÿ Pray that our brothers and sisters in Iran will be able to show the love of Christ to those who persecute them and who seek to remove them from the land. Pray that God’s love will melt hard hearts and bring many to Himself in repentance and faith in Christ.
Whether we like it or not, or choose to believe it or not, our walk with the Lord is much like a staircase - it’s either going up or down, but it’s never stagnant! How’s your relationship with God? Is it going up or down? Now you may think that this is a strange question to ask in the midst of a passage that is talking mainly about my relationship with others. But read vs 14 slowly and carefully in context.
To love others, to be kind and compassionate towards others, to be gentle and patient with them and to forgive them and to put up with them is not something that I naturally possess within myself. I am by nature self centred and biased towards self gratification. As I grow closer to God, His love and His grace allows me to love others, to forgive and to share and to be kind and compassionate and so on. The more I receive from Him, the more I can give to others.
When the Word tells us to bind up all these other centred things, it’s calling us to bind them up and secure them with the love of Christ that has been poured into my heart. Love of God is the anchor that holds me near to God and allows me to continue serving, giving, forgiving etc without being hardened and embittered by sin’s deceitfulness. Love of God is the motivation and foundation that keeps me going in selfless service and sacrificial giving. Without that love I will naturally spiral downwards into “self.” Notice that the terms used in vs 5 are all things that seek to fulfil and meet my natural and earthly desires? Notice that none of these things leads to selfless service and sacrificial love?
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray that the individual Presbyterian Churches throughout your area will be united and bound together in love. Pray that they will work together for the cause of the gospel and to grow the kingdom. Pray that this will glorify Christ.
ÿ Pray that our brothers and sisters in Iran will be able to show the love of Christ to those who persecute them and who seek to remove them from the land. Pray that God’s love will melt hard hearts and bring many to Himself in repentance and faith in Christ.
Thursday, 28 October 2010
Thursday October 28, 2010
Read Colossians 3:12-14
We talked about the replacement principle earlier. To help fight off temptation and sinful habits we need to replace the sinful habits with godly and righteous ones. We need to proactively and consciously take
one out of our life and put in another.
Let me encourage you to work through the list in vs 12-14 and describe each term in practical words. Describe what each word would look like in your life, personally. Think about the people that these terms are directed at. Think about how they change your words, your thoughts and your actions. Think about specific examples.
All too often we read the Bible and skim over what it will look like as we apply that passage in our lives. Don’t make that mistake any longer. Take the time and put in the effort to think deeply about today’s passage and how it applies directly to you.
Prayer:-
ÿ Select 10 people from your congregation and pray vs 12-14 into their lives. Pray it for yourself.
We talked about the replacement principle earlier. To help fight off temptation and sinful habits we need to replace the sinful habits with godly and righteous ones. We need to proactively and consciously take
one out of our life and put in another.
Let me encourage you to work through the list in vs 12-14 and describe each term in practical words. Describe what each word would look like in your life, personally. Think about the people that these terms are directed at. Think about how they change your words, your thoughts and your actions. Think about specific examples.
All too often we read the Bible and skim over what it will look like as we apply that passage in our lives. Don’t make that mistake any longer. Take the time and put in the effort to think deeply about today’s passage and how it applies directly to you.
Prayer:-
ÿ Select 10 people from your congregation and pray vs 12-14 into their lives. Pray it for yourself.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Wednesday October 27, 2010
Read Colossians 3:9-10
The picture of a Christian presented here is of a man who has changed his old dirty clothes and has put on new clean clothes. This newly dressed man is being renewed in the image of his creator. He is growing more and more like his creator.
To understand what’s happening, picture, if you will, a child playing in the mud. He’s dirty and messed up from head to toe. That’s the picture the Bible paints us in our old sinful condition. Our clothes were dirty. We were sinful from head to toe. But our Father has called the child in to get changed for the wedding feast that’s about to start. But before being changed into new clean clothes he has to be bathed. You and I are washed through the work of Jesus at the cross. His death and resurrection washes us completely clean. Then and only then can we put on the clothes of righteousness. How silly it would be for the child to be dressed in new clean wedding clothes before the mud and filth are washed off! Likewise with us. We must be cleansed by faith before we can adorn the new wedding clothes of righteousness.
As the child prepares for the wedding the father warns him against playing in the mud and dirt. He must strive to keep clean and to act in a way that
befits the occasion. Have not you and I been invited to the wedding supper of the lamb? Have we not been washed by the work of Lord at Calvary? And how, like that little child do we yearn to play again in the mud and dirt of the past! But it cannot be. We will soon participate in the wedding feast and dirty clothes are not appropriate. So the heavenly Father warns us against playing any further in the mud and dirt of our past life. Those clothes have been taken off. New clothes have been put on and we are called to act accordingly.
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray that God would convict those in your congregation who are wanting to play in the mud again. Pray that He will lovingly restore them and strengthen them so that they live appropriately. Pray for holiness to be pursued by everyone in your congregation.
Thursday October 28, 2010
Read Colossians 3:12-14
We talked about the replacement principle earlier. To help fight off temptation and sinful habits we need to replace the sinful habits with godly and righteous ones. We need to proactively and consciously take
one out of our life and put in another.
Let me encourage you to work through the list in vs 12-14 and describe each term in practical words. Describe what each word would look like in your life, personally. Think about the people that these terms are directed at. Think about how they change your words, your thoughts and your actions. Think about specific examples.
All too often we read the Bible and skim over what it will look like as we apply that passage in our lives. Don’t make that mistake any longer. Take the time and put in the effort to think deeply about today’s passage and how it applies directly to you.
Prayer:-
ÿ Select 10 people from your congregation and pray vs 12-14 into their lives. Pray it for yourself.
The picture of a Christian presented here is of a man who has changed his old dirty clothes and has put on new clean clothes. This newly dressed man is being renewed in the image of his creator. He is growing more and more like his creator.
To understand what’s happening, picture, if you will, a child playing in the mud. He’s dirty and messed up from head to toe. That’s the picture the Bible paints us in our old sinful condition. Our clothes were dirty. We were sinful from head to toe. But our Father has called the child in to get changed for the wedding feast that’s about to start. But before being changed into new clean clothes he has to be bathed. You and I are washed through the work of Jesus at the cross. His death and resurrection washes us completely clean. Then and only then can we put on the clothes of righteousness. How silly it would be for the child to be dressed in new clean wedding clothes before the mud and filth are washed off! Likewise with us. We must be cleansed by faith before we can adorn the new wedding clothes of righteousness.
As the child prepares for the wedding the father warns him against playing in the mud and dirt. He must strive to keep clean and to act in a way that
befits the occasion. Have not you and I been invited to the wedding supper of the lamb? Have we not been washed by the work of Lord at Calvary? And how, like that little child do we yearn to play again in the mud and dirt of the past! But it cannot be. We will soon participate in the wedding feast and dirty clothes are not appropriate. So the heavenly Father warns us against playing any further in the mud and dirt of our past life. Those clothes have been taken off. New clothes have been put on and we are called to act accordingly.
Prayer:-
ÿ Pray that God would convict those in your congregation who are wanting to play in the mud again. Pray that He will lovingly restore them and strengthen them so that they live appropriately. Pray for holiness to be pursued by everyone in your congregation.
Thursday October 28, 2010
Read Colossians 3:12-14
We talked about the replacement principle earlier. To help fight off temptation and sinful habits we need to replace the sinful habits with godly and righteous ones. We need to proactively and consciously take
one out of our life and put in another.
Let me encourage you to work through the list in vs 12-14 and describe each term in practical words. Describe what each word would look like in your life, personally. Think about the people that these terms are directed at. Think about how they change your words, your thoughts and your actions. Think about specific examples.
All too often we read the Bible and skim over what it will look like as we apply that passage in our lives. Don’t make that mistake any longer. Take the time and put in the effort to think deeply about today’s passage and how it applies directly to you.
Prayer:-
ÿ Select 10 people from your congregation and pray vs 12-14 into their lives. Pray it for yourself.
Tuesday, 26 October 2010
Tuesday October 26, 2010
Read Colossians 3:1-10
It may seem as though we are going backwards in our reading but the issue of putting to death the earthly nature of the body (the lusts and desires of the flesh) is such an important topic that it needs further consideration.
Let me suggest several ways and strategies to move forward in this area of putting to death the misdeeds of the body:-
Firstly, you must want to change. Many people lament their sins only because they are caught. Deep down they have no desire to change. If this is true for you, you will always make excuses and find reasons
1. to indulge your sinful nature. Ask God to change you from the heart, from the inside out. Spend time pleading with Him to change you .
2. Learn and memorise the Word of God that relates to your temptation. You must know what the Word says about your particular temptation. Get searching for relevant verses and memorise them. When I am tempted, the Lord brings a relevant verse into my head/heart. It’s very hard to sin when the Word of God is uppermost in your head/heart.
3. Know, realise and understand that you will be called to account for your sinfulness. As you are struggling with temptation, ask yourself this question, “How will I explain this sin (be specific, eg adultery, idolatry, drunkenness etc) to the Lord?” Though you may forget this incident in a few days or weeks, God will not.
4. Have an accountability partner with whom you can share your struggles on a regular basis. If your computer or phone is the issue, get them to look at it regularly or install software that emails the sites you visited to the other person. Meet regularly and confess to each other and pray for each other. Make sure that you can ring this person the moment you are struggling with temptation.
5. Take note of the way in which temptation comes to you, the times it comes, and the areas in which it attacks you. As you realise the recurring pattern you can take proactive steps to ward off temptation. One fellow realised that watching TV late at night caused him to fall regularly because he channel surfed and was soon hooked on watching inappropriate shows. In his fight against temptation he refused to watch TV without his wife present and put a lock code on the TV that only his wife knew. The TV was locked from 8:30pm until the morning.
6. Listen and learn the way that your mind deals with temptation. Often we tend to flirt with it and skirt around its edges. We let a subtle form of temptation into our mind or heart and enjoy the sweet smell of it. It’s only a small step from here to indulge that temptation. As soon as we start smelling temptation we need to take immediate and drastic action.
7. Take note of the way that you justify giving into temptation and indulging your sinful nature. You need to stop this justifying reasoning. You need to realise that in God’s eyes there is no justification for your sinfulness. In God’s eyes what you did or are doing is an abomination and He hates it, no matter what circumstance you are in and no matter what justification you give.
8. Replace sinful behaviours with righteous ones. If you read Philippians 4:6-8, Ephesians 4:28 etc you’ll see that to successfully stop a sinful habit, you need to replace it with a godly habit. The man who steals must do something productive with his hands so that he can give to the needy. What godly, righteous things can you start doing to replace the evil and wicked habits in your life?
9. Realise that every thing you do either feeds your habits and addictions or mortifies them. There is no safe ground when it comes to sinfulness. You cannot and should not flirt with sin, thinking that you can slightly peer over the edge and have just a little look. You will be hooked and dragged into full blown sin very quickly. Run, flee from temptation as soon as it knocks at your door.
Prayer:-
ÿ If you struggle with a particular sin then spend time confessing it to God. Tell Him about it and ask Him to change you from the inside out. Ask for wisdom to know how to move forward in godliness and righteousness. Plead with God to strengthen you and make you more and more holy and more like Jesus.
It may seem as though we are going backwards in our reading but the issue of putting to death the earthly nature of the body (the lusts and desires of the flesh) is such an important topic that it needs further consideration.
Let me suggest several ways and strategies to move forward in this area of putting to death the misdeeds of the body:-
Firstly, you must want to change. Many people lament their sins only because they are caught. Deep down they have no desire to change. If this is true for you, you will always make excuses and find reasons
1. to indulge your sinful nature. Ask God to change you from the heart, from the inside out. Spend time pleading with Him to change you .
2. Learn and memorise the Word of God that relates to your temptation. You must know what the Word says about your particular temptation. Get searching for relevant verses and memorise them. When I am tempted, the Lord brings a relevant verse into my head/heart. It’s very hard to sin when the Word of God is uppermost in your head/heart.
3. Know, realise and understand that you will be called to account for your sinfulness. As you are struggling with temptation, ask yourself this question, “How will I explain this sin (be specific, eg adultery, idolatry, drunkenness etc) to the Lord?” Though you may forget this incident in a few days or weeks, God will not.
4. Have an accountability partner with whom you can share your struggles on a regular basis. If your computer or phone is the issue, get them to look at it regularly or install software that emails the sites you visited to the other person. Meet regularly and confess to each other and pray for each other. Make sure that you can ring this person the moment you are struggling with temptation.
5. Take note of the way in which temptation comes to you, the times it comes, and the areas in which it attacks you. As you realise the recurring pattern you can take proactive steps to ward off temptation. One fellow realised that watching TV late at night caused him to fall regularly because he channel surfed and was soon hooked on watching inappropriate shows. In his fight against temptation he refused to watch TV without his wife present and put a lock code on the TV that only his wife knew. The TV was locked from 8:30pm until the morning.
6. Listen and learn the way that your mind deals with temptation. Often we tend to flirt with it and skirt around its edges. We let a subtle form of temptation into our mind or heart and enjoy the sweet smell of it. It’s only a small step from here to indulge that temptation. As soon as we start smelling temptation we need to take immediate and drastic action.
7. Take note of the way that you justify giving into temptation and indulging your sinful nature. You need to stop this justifying reasoning. You need to realise that in God’s eyes there is no justification for your sinfulness. In God’s eyes what you did or are doing is an abomination and He hates it, no matter what circumstance you are in and no matter what justification you give.
8. Replace sinful behaviours with righteous ones. If you read Philippians 4:6-8, Ephesians 4:28 etc you’ll see that to successfully stop a sinful habit, you need to replace it with a godly habit. The man who steals must do something productive with his hands so that he can give to the needy. What godly, righteous things can you start doing to replace the evil and wicked habits in your life?
9. Realise that every thing you do either feeds your habits and addictions or mortifies them. There is no safe ground when it comes to sinfulness. You cannot and should not flirt with sin, thinking that you can slightly peer over the edge and have just a little look. You will be hooked and dragged into full blown sin very quickly. Run, flee from temptation as soon as it knocks at your door.
Prayer:-
ÿ If you struggle with a particular sin then spend time confessing it to God. Tell Him about it and ask Him to change you from the inside out. Ask for wisdom to know how to move forward in godliness and righteousness. Plead with God to strengthen you and make you more and more holy and more like Jesus.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Monday October 25, 2010
Read Colossians 3:5-10
John Owen, the great Puritan wrote about what it means to put to death or mortify the sins of the flesh. He captured the essence of today’s verses. He wrote: Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin… To mortify the sin does not mean to kill it completely because that, though we pursue it, is not possible in this life. He is to bring it to the point where it has no fruit or root in his life. Even Paul said he had not attained perfection…. Mortification of sin is not putting on a hypocritical face. It must be a change of heart. It does not consist in the improvement of a quiet sedate nature... A sin is not mortified when it is simply diverted. It will break out in another way... Occasional conquests of sin are not mortifications of it. A man may think he has mortified sins when there is a sad eruption of it – when his conscience is struck, his peace is disturbed etc. It may appear dead but arises again when the going is safe to cause havoc. He may think he has mortified it when there is judgement, affliction or calamity. Psalm 78:32-37. This is not the putting to death of the lusts of the body.
The mortification of a lust is an habitual weakening of it. The heart is bent towards evil. Lusts will darken the mind, extinguish conviction, and remove reason. By mortifying the flesh it will not rise up as regularly or as powerfully… We must contend and fight continually against sin. To know that a man hath such an enemy to deal with, to take notice of it, to consider it as an enemy indeed, and one that is to be destroyed by all means possible, is required hereunto. To labour to know the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success, is the beginning of this warfare. The godly man seeks to wound the lusts, kill it, load it up with things that are grievous each and every day.
Regular success over sin – bringing it in line with God’s law and condemning it – is another example of mortifying the sins of the flesh.
John Owen captured beautifully what it meant to mortify the sins of the flesh. Put positively it is a proactive pursuit of holiness, choosing at every turn or step to do and think and react in ways that please God. It means doing everything in my God given power not to give in to the lusts of the flesh.
Prayer:-
ÿ There are many people in churches struggling with sin and temptation. Spend time praying for the people in your congregation - namely that they would be free in Christ from the power and mastery of sin in their lives. Pray that those who are struggling will be strengthened and equipped to fight the good fight, to stand in the face of temptation and to choose that which pleases God.
ÿ
John Owen, the great Puritan wrote about what it means to put to death or mortify the sins of the flesh. He captured the essence of today’s verses. He wrote: Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin… To mortify the sin does not mean to kill it completely because that, though we pursue it, is not possible in this life. He is to bring it to the point where it has no fruit or root in his life. Even Paul said he had not attained perfection…. Mortification of sin is not putting on a hypocritical face. It must be a change of heart. It does not consist in the improvement of a quiet sedate nature... A sin is not mortified when it is simply diverted. It will break out in another way... Occasional conquests of sin are not mortifications of it. A man may think he has mortified sins when there is a sad eruption of it – when his conscience is struck, his peace is disturbed etc. It may appear dead but arises again when the going is safe to cause havoc. He may think he has mortified it when there is judgement, affliction or calamity. Psalm 78:32-37. This is not the putting to death of the lusts of the body.
The mortification of a lust is an habitual weakening of it. The heart is bent towards evil. Lusts will darken the mind, extinguish conviction, and remove reason. By mortifying the flesh it will not rise up as regularly or as powerfully… We must contend and fight continually against sin. To know that a man hath such an enemy to deal with, to take notice of it, to consider it as an enemy indeed, and one that is to be destroyed by all means possible, is required hereunto. To labour to know the ways, wiles, methods, advantages, and occasions of its success, is the beginning of this warfare. The godly man seeks to wound the lusts, kill it, load it up with things that are grievous each and every day.
Regular success over sin – bringing it in line with God’s law and condemning it – is another example of mortifying the sins of the flesh.
John Owen captured beautifully what it meant to mortify the sins of the flesh. Put positively it is a proactive pursuit of holiness, choosing at every turn or step to do and think and react in ways that please God. It means doing everything in my God given power not to give in to the lusts of the flesh.
Prayer:-
ÿ There are many people in churches struggling with sin and temptation. Spend time praying for the people in your congregation - namely that they would be free in Christ from the power and mastery of sin in their lives. Pray that those who are struggling will be strengthened and equipped to fight the good fight, to stand in the face of temptation and to choose that which pleases God.
ÿ
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Saturday October 23, 2010
Read Galatians 5:13-26. Romans 6
My heart broke as a fellow believer stood before me and declared that in Christ he is free to watch pornography and read similar magazines. He went on to talk about the judgement being averted in Christ and his complete lack of a guilty conscience in doing these things. My heart broke because this believer, as you are well aware, had absolutely no idea what the freedom of Christ was about. I doubt that he had any freedom in Christ. I suspect he was chained to lusts of the flesh.
In Christ we are indeed free. We are freed from the mastery and slavery of sin. We are freed from the condemnation of the law. We are free to follow Jesus and to live lives worthy of our calling. We are not free to indulge our passions and to do as our sinful nature pleases. Indeed, we died to sin. How can we live in it any longer. We are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. We are beloved Children of God and spurning anything unrighteous or evil or wicked or contrary to the sound doctrine of our Lord should be a regular habit that we cultivate.
As you think about gathering for your church service tomorrow, realise that in Christ you are free to serve your brothers and sisters. How will you serve them tomorrow? How will you bless others in your congregation? How will you give of yourself so that others are edified? What can you do tomorrow to be building others up?
But notice the qualifier? We are called to serve in love, not in anger or bitterness or with a negative spirit. We are to serve in love.
If anyone deserved to be bitter or angry in the midst of service, it was Christ Himself. As He was being tried and judged and nailed to the cross He could have been bitter. He could have been angry. He could have been exceedingly negative. It was grossly unfair. He had no sin that deserved punishment. He was there because you and I deserved that punishment. He was there to serve us, to bless us and to edify us. And yet we see no anger or bitterness. We see no negativity. But we do see love - as Jesus was being nailed to the cross, He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing’. My Lord and Saviour has served me in love and wants me, urges me, beckons me to serve others in love as well.
And hallelujah. God not only calls me to serve in love, He equips me to serve in love. As I walk in step with the Holy Spirit, as I am led by Him, He strengthens me and allows me to kill or mortify the desires of the flesh. He allows me and equips me to put my needs on the bottom and to lovingly serve the needs of the others. Even more so, the Holy Spirit grows in me great and more abundant fruit that bears forth even greater heights of loving service.
Prayer:-
ÿ Ask God to give you a servant heart. Ask Him to bless you with a deep understanding and experience of the freedom in Christ to serve others in love. If you are negative, hurt or angry or bitter, ask God to forgive you and to heal you so that you can serve in love.
ÿ Pray that the work of Shiloh Church ministries in India will continue as they seek to love and serve orphans, widows and others displaced by the violence in Orissa state. Pray that God would bless them with the funds, materials and man power they need to continue serving.
Prayerfully consider one way that you can show loving service tomorrow to your congregational members. You can choose a particular individual or a group or the entire congregation.
My heart broke as a fellow believer stood before me and declared that in Christ he is free to watch pornography and read similar magazines. He went on to talk about the judgement being averted in Christ and his complete lack of a guilty conscience in doing these things. My heart broke because this believer, as you are well aware, had absolutely no idea what the freedom of Christ was about. I doubt that he had any freedom in Christ. I suspect he was chained to lusts of the flesh.
In Christ we are indeed free. We are freed from the mastery and slavery of sin. We are freed from the condemnation of the law. We are free to follow Jesus and to live lives worthy of our calling. We are not free to indulge our passions and to do as our sinful nature pleases. Indeed, we died to sin. How can we live in it any longer. We are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. We are beloved Children of God and spurning anything unrighteous or evil or wicked or contrary to the sound doctrine of our Lord should be a regular habit that we cultivate.
As you think about gathering for your church service tomorrow, realise that in Christ you are free to serve your brothers and sisters. How will you serve them tomorrow? How will you bless others in your congregation? How will you give of yourself so that others are edified? What can you do tomorrow to be building others up?
But notice the qualifier? We are called to serve in love, not in anger or bitterness or with a negative spirit. We are to serve in love.
If anyone deserved to be bitter or angry in the midst of service, it was Christ Himself. As He was being tried and judged and nailed to the cross He could have been bitter. He could have been angry. He could have been exceedingly negative. It was grossly unfair. He had no sin that deserved punishment. He was there because you and I deserved that punishment. He was there to serve us, to bless us and to edify us. And yet we see no anger or bitterness. We see no negativity. But we do see love - as Jesus was being nailed to the cross, He prayed, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they are doing’. My Lord and Saviour has served me in love and wants me, urges me, beckons me to serve others in love as well.
And hallelujah. God not only calls me to serve in love, He equips me to serve in love. As I walk in step with the Holy Spirit, as I am led by Him, He strengthens me and allows me to kill or mortify the desires of the flesh. He allows me and equips me to put my needs on the bottom and to lovingly serve the needs of the others. Even more so, the Holy Spirit grows in me great and more abundant fruit that bears forth even greater heights of loving service.
Prayer:-
ÿ Ask God to give you a servant heart. Ask Him to bless you with a deep understanding and experience of the freedom in Christ to serve others in love. If you are negative, hurt or angry or bitter, ask God to forgive you and to heal you so that you can serve in love.
ÿ Pray that the work of Shiloh Church ministries in India will continue as they seek to love and serve orphans, widows and others displaced by the violence in Orissa state. Pray that God would bless them with the funds, materials and man power they need to continue serving.
Prayerfully consider one way that you can show loving service tomorrow to your congregational members. You can choose a particular individual or a group or the entire congregation.
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