Relationship

Affirming One Another – VOTD.04.10.18

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Last time we looked at how to affirm ourselves in the promises of God. Today I want to look at affirming others. One of the unique things about today’s verse is that Paul actually demonstrates affirming the people of Thessalonica in his admonition to encourage and build one another up when he says, “just as you are doing”.

A lot of times, we don’t focus much energy on actively encouraging others and building them up… Especially if those people seem to be doing OK.  It’s a lot easier to be encouraging when people are down…then it’s a “ministry opportunity”, right? And besides, we feel their pain, ourselves… when we know they are walking through difficult times. So we react to needs around us. Paul’s saying, “Encourage the hearts of your fellow believers and support one another,” even when they appear to be doing just fine.

Paul even tells his readers why this is important: it’s because we share in Jesus’ resurrection life and this is part of what being in union with Him is all about (v. 10). And by extension, because we are children of the light, not the darkness (v. 5). Believers who are living in resurrection aren’t discouragers, fault-finders, holier-than-thou, step on others to get to the top. No, we love as Jesus loves. And part of the expression of His love is encouraging, affirming, building up.

People living in resurrection life will increasingly become encouragers. They will increasingly see others through Jesus’ eyes. So how can we build one another up?

As we saw last time, most of the time, we don’t see the good qualities in ourselves. Others can see them in us, and if they don’t tell us what they see, we may never know. We need to affirm what God has given to each one of us. We are inspired and encouraged through affirmations. (more…)

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Waiting on God’s Promises – VOTD.03.12.18

The One who began this glorious work  in you will faithfully continue the process of maturing you and will put his finishing touches to it until the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ!  Philippians 1:6

A common question when considering the promises of God is, “Why haven’t my promises come to pass yet?” What does it mean when the gap only seems to widen between promise we’ve received and promise fulfilled? And what do we do with the time in between?

Often, when we find ourselves waiting for God to fulfill some promise He’s given, it means that God is creating a new level of partnership and fellowship with us – and you and I are invited to join Him. He’s making us able to receive the fulfillment of the promise – capable of handling the responsibility that goes along with any of the gifts that He gives us.

And sometimes when we find ourselves waiting a long time for God to fulfill His promises, we become distracted from those promises. We remember them, but we’ve stopped actively agreeing and aligning our hearts with God’s intention. When we do that, we step out of the place of agreement that He has for us and lose some of the and fullness that is needed to walk out His promises.

So how do we rediscover and realign with God’s gifts of promise?
1) Hear the unchanging commitment of God in His promises. Dwell on His loving commitment to keep fulfilling in us all that He promises, just as today’s verse promises us. (more…)

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Finding God’s Promises – VOTD.03.06.18

For all God’s promises find their “yes” of fulfillment in him. And as our “amen” ascend to God, we bring him glory! We owe our position in Christ to this God of positive promise. 2 Corinthians 1:20-21

Everyone likes a positive promise from God, but often the more complicated part of living out God’s promises, or waiting for them in faith, is discovering what God’s promises are in the first place. Sure, there are plenty of promises in the Bible and they’re all ours, and we should claim them. But there are also more unique promises God has; one-off promises for you or me. How do we find them and how can be sure we’re putting our faith in the right place?

1. Ask. Want wisdom? James tells us to ask God for it (1:5). Want to know God’s promises? Ask God for them. Many of us forget this and think we have to figure things out on our own or get them from some especially spiritual person. Ask God. Trust that He’ll answer.

2. Be faithful where we are. There are lots of God’s promises we already know – they’re in the Bible. Faithfully hold onto the promises God gives us collectively in His Word. When we handle the little He’s given us, He trusts us with more (Matt 25:23).

3. Listen. Continue to study the Word of God and pray (two way communication) (Mal 3:6, James 1:17). Sometimes it helps to get away with Jesus and just talk it out. Take a walk, a drive, do something mindless and manual – get beyond the distractions and spend some TIME. This leads to:

4. Get to know God. Many are afraid they’ll get tricked into “presuming” a Promise that God hasn’t really made. But the better we know God, the less of an issue that will be, because we know He won’t give us a promise that is contrary to His nature.

By the way, Jesus is not worried about our presuming. We’re the ones who are worried about presuming. Do we really think the Lord is fretting in heaven because His followers are believing Him for too much? Is it Jesus who wants to put a brake pedal on our faith? Or would that be the enemy of our souls?

Can we presume too much? Sure. But Jesus can handle that… He can deal gently with people who believed Him for something we’re not ready to receive yet. He can lead us into a fuller revelation of the Truth. But if we shy away in unbelief or double-mindedness, it makes it tough for Him to gently nudge us in a better path. Some of us are so fearful of presumption that we’ve not actually moved. And the only one who profits from that is the enemy.

5. Wait. Waiting is not usually easy. But the good thing about waiting on God is that it drives us deeper into Jesus, where our trust of Him grows and toughens. Waiting on God allows us time to think, pray, and listen for that wisdom God has promised. (more…)

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Contact with the Spirit in the Trinity – VOTD.06.12.17

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Romans 8:15

There’s a brilliant theological concept we call the Trinity, which amazingly, nearly all Christians agree upon. It’s simply a way to describe the ‘three in one’ nature of God: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. These three are One God. Not three parts of God, even though they can act individually. (It can get a lot deeper than that, but that’s all we need for this meditation.)

The ‘Father’ and ‘Son’ are concepts which we can understand pretty easily in the Bible. They have a sort of mental and emotional resonance with us and we can pretty much figure out how they act individually and in harmony with each other and with each of us.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is more difficult for many of us to grasp (just as Jesus implied when He spoke of those who are ‘born of the Spirit’ and how they would be (Jn 3:8).

The ‘Spirit’ or in the old English, ‘Ghost’… ‘Holy Ghost’ sounds alien and just a little spooky. So those of us who like to define and pigeonhole things into neat packages so that they are easily taught and understood are going to find the Holy Spirit pretty elusive because He isn’t easily defined—and that’s exactly what Jesus was saying to the theologically-bound Nicodemus in John 3 (v. 10). The Spirit works mysteriously but so tangibly…if we’re watching. (more…)

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Restoring that Which was Lost: Acceptance – VOTD.05.23.17

Always be completely humble and gentle, patiently putting up with each other and loving each other. Ephesians 4:2
With compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bear with each other and forgive one another Colossians 3:12-13

The New Testament has an amazing number of passages about accepting each other. I could have picked from dozens of verses about acceptance. Paul wrote, “Accept one another just as Christ accepts you” (Rom 15:7). We must accept others even though they have faults and sins—just as God accepts us even though we have faults and sins.

To fail to accept each other is sinful, itself, because God is no respecter of persons and shows no partiality with any of us (Rom 11.2)…If we don’t accept each other, we are setting ourselves up as their judge and that is God’s job, not ours (Rom 14:4).

Acceptance is the first ‘A’ in honoring the people around us. People we live with. People we work with. People we church with. Neighbors, friends, extended relatives…wait-staff, the guy at the gas station, the list goes on. Obviously, we have more opportunity (and authority) to honor some of those around us than others, but the characteristics I’m sharing, fit no matter who we find ourselves in contact with.

These people around us all have legitimate, God-given needs for “the 4 a’s” we talked about last time: Acceptance. Affection. Attention. Affirmation. Jesus intends for His followers to receive them from each other, laying a foundation of a healthy sense of their individual identity in Him and their place in His Kingdom. This is how we honor each other. Nothing will kill honor faster than seeing it as a one-way street. (more…)

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Judgment vs. Restoration – VOTD.05.22.17

Heaven was opened, and (Jesus) saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

We saw last time that love does not stratify the value of people. Judgment depends on that kind of stratification. The person judging is often seen as or wants to be seen as having a higher status than the person being judged. The need to be seen as or consider oneself as above or below others feeds this stratification and further judgment.

And it is to this that James refers when he writes that Christians must not show favoritism (2:1). The brand of favoritism he speaks of is wealth and most of us have seen that kind of favoritism in our local churches and perhaps in our own lives. But we’ve all seen the same thing in regards to any number of other judgments. (more…)

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Returning to Our First Love in 2017 pt 12 (final) – VOTD.02.28.17

Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in your sight, show me now your way, that I may know you, that I may find grace in your sight  Exodus 33:13

Have you ever read a Christian book on rekindling the spark of love in marriage? These books not only show how to diagnose the nature of marital problems, but also give specific, practical steps and activities to help correct the problems. All of this might be helpful, or it might be useless, depending on the readers and their problems.

The same goes for dieting books, exercise, and a myriad of other problem-fix books and programs out there. There is a market for a “simple formula” we can employ to fix our not-so-simple problems. That’s one of the reasons it’s difficult to give a one-size-fits all answer to solving the first-love dilemma.

I think this is what Jesus faced in writing to the Ephesians. He knew a 3-step process wasn’t going to be useful to them. So what does He do? He gives us some broad relationship-improvement ideas. (more…)

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Lifestyle Glory – VOTD.08.09.16

Be filled with the Spirit. Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:17-21

Last time we were looking at what being filled with the Spirit looks like: First of all, it looks like worship, Public Worship, Private Worship, Experiential (thankful) Worship and Lifestyle Worship.

We saw that lifestyle worship is treating our brothers and sisters in Christ as if they were Jesus. If we are involved with sins against our brothers and sisters in Christ and we have not made things right with them the Holy Spirit’s filling is still available but we won’t experience it.

How do I know that? In introducing the passage in Eph 5 that we are looking at, Paul says “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Eph. 4:30,31) (more…)

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