Written For You

Belief in Jesus is everything. Without the faith to believe that he is the messiah prophesied about in the bible; the one who is the Son of God who came to take away the sin of the world; without this kind of faith, we would be dead in our sin. That is why the bible exists and that is why the account of Jesus’ life was written down. John puts it this way in chapter 20 verses 30 and 31:

"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

The bible doesn’t exist for historic purposes. It wasn’t assembled and inspired of God so that we could form a religion. It was written “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”. I encourage you to revisit the gospels; the first four books of the new testament. Read the account of Jesus. Hear from the Son of God himself. Allow the Spirit to remind you, or show you for the first time, the love of God and the plan he devised so that sinners like you and me can be saved. Read and gleam from the scriptures the truth that is intended for you to understand that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

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The account of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were recorded so that we might believe and be saved. We don’t have to rely on oral stories told from generation to generation throughout history. We have the written account. The words we read have not changed for thousands of years, and are as powerful as they were when they were first pinned. It holds just as much power for you and me as it did for our great great grandparents. And after we die, it will hold just as much power for our children and our grandchildren. I encourage you to reverence the holy bible. It was written for you and me. It was written so that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing we may have life in his name.

Enemy of God

Have you ever heard the term, “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”? We always want to have it both ways don’t we? We want to eat whatever we want, yet not gain any weight. We want to have expensive clothes and the latest tech gadgets, but we don’t want it to hurt our bank accounts. We want get away with neglecting our responsibilities at work and still get a raise or promotion. We want to have the best of both worlds with the consequences of neither. But one thing that life teaches us is that, more often than not, we can’t have it both ways. With God, that truth is even more stark and the results are even more devastating. In James chapter 4 verse 4 it says:

"You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

As the cultural temperature in America becomes more and more friendly with sin and reject more and more the values of God, we, as believers, must choose a side. We must decide who we will align our hearts with. Because even if we wanted to, we can’t have our cake and eat it to. We can’t have it both ways. James tells us that we are either friends with the world and an enemy of God. Or we are opposed to the philosophy of the world and are dedicated to the way of our creator. Where do you land? Do you find yourself more and more accepting cultural values and philosophies that are contrary to the holy scriptures? You can’t have it both ways, because James warns us that friendship with the world is hatred toward God.

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I love the book of James because he never menses words. He is very blatant and very straight forward. Sometimes his words are hard to hear, but at times, they are exactly what we need to hear. He tells us that friendship with the world is hatred toward God; that when we become friends with the world we also become enemies of God. We can’t have it both ways. We can’t condone and agree with the moralistic and spiritual decay of our society while at the same time truthfully align ourselves with God. So I encourage you to heed this warning from James. With God, sin is sin. There is no gray area. If we begin to agree with the sin that our world says is good, then we automatically become enemies of God.

Crushed Spirit

I am so thankful that we serve a merciful and loving God, because I know that it didn’t have to be that way. His nature has nothing to do with me. It’s kind of like being blessed with loving, caring parents. You didn't choose them, but I’m sure you’re happy if you have them. I feel so privilege to know that God is slow to anger and abounding in love. He loves us so much that he sacrificed his son for us. He loves us with a jealous love and promises to never leave us or forsake us. We didn’t choose to have a God who is so loving, but we are blessed to have him. He is not a hard God, but in reality he is quite the softie. He cares even when we hurt. He is there for us when our world falls apart. It says in Psalm 34 verse 18:

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

The world may abandon you, your friends may abandon you, your parents and family may abandon you, but the Lord never will. When you are in pain and are brokenhearted, the bible assures us that the Lord is close. And when everything is going wrong, when your spirit is crushed and you’ve hit bottom, the Lord can save you. When we are in pain, God cares. I hope you can appreciate what a blessing that truly is. The God of all creation cares for your pain.

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Psalms assures us that “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”. Our God is a good God. Like a good parent’s heart breaks for their children, so does our heavenly Father’s heart break when we are in pain. When we are walking through the fire, God is right there with us. And when our world has fallen apart, when our spirit is crushed, God is there to save us. I hope and pray that you never forget that.

Morning Prayer

Are you one who prays often, or are you one who finds it difficult to carve out time to pray? Mature believers know how important it is to pray. It is important because there is so much we can’t do on our own, there are so many people who need God’s intervention and because we were made to worship him. Without prayer, we can’t adequately communicate these things to God. But at the same time, life can force our priorities to be different than what we want them to be. And as a result, prayer can often take a back seat. King David always found time to pray. And I believe that one of his favorite times to talk to our creator was in the morning, right when he woke up. David writes in Psalm 5:3: 

"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

Prayer was the first thing on David’s agenda. It was that important. I encourage you to make prayer a priority. Why not do as David did? Right when you wake up in the morning, talk to God. Worship him, commit your day to him, ask him to guide you, ask him to move through you. Giving God your attention the first thing in the morning will almost certainly start your day off on the right foot.

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If we are true followers of Christ, we should have a strong relationship with God. And no relationship will flourish without spending time together. We can work on our relationship with God by reading his word, and by praying to him. Several of my Christian friends read a bible devotional at the beginning of their day to set their minds and hearts on God. Some do as David did; they pray to God even before they take their shower. And there are still others who do both. It is a good, righteous habit to develop; one that will inevitably cause us to grow in our faith and to grow in our relationship with God. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to get in the habit of praying in the morning.

Habitual Sin

It is incredibly hard to break a bad habit. And it is especially devastating when our bad habit involves sin. Paul lays out the struggle well when he says that the things he doesn’t want to do, he keeps on doing. But Jesus was clear when he said to the woman caught in adultery, “go now and leave your life of sin”. How can we tame the flesh, especially when Satan has a foothold in our life? How do we avoid willfully sinning against the God we claim to love? David’s answer was to pray to God for help. It says in Psalm 19, verses 13 and 14: 

"Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression."

As I’ve said before and continue to maintain, there are things we face in life that we cannot handle on our own. And that is okay. That is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. Please understand that it is only through him that we can defeat the evil one. Only through him can we attain blamelessness and freedom from sin. Yes, we also have to purpose it in our hearts. We have to decide that we want to be free and surrender to him, but he does all of the heavy lifting. We will only continue to struggle in our own strength, trying to “will” ourselves to obey. Jesus walked this earth and experienced the same struggles we experience. He knows how weak we are in our own strength. That is why he is, and always will be the answer.

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I don’t want to minimize, or make light of the struggles of willful sin. Temptation is a strong agent. We want to sin while at the same time, we want to be blameless before God. If you are struggling with habitual, willful sin, I encourage you to do what David did… Pray. Pour out your heart to God and ask him to keep you from willful sin. Pray that it will not rule over you. If you truly want freedom, he can set you free. Your road to freedom may not be an easy one, but you do not have to walk it alone. There may be pain and struggle along the way, but that is one reason we call him the comforter.