DAY 107-FORGIVENESS-CHRISTIANS-1, SATAN-0

I’ll have to be honest. I really struggled with Philemon until I read the commentary and background. I found out the Philemon had a slave named Onesimus who had run away, hooked up with Paul, became a Christian and wanted to go back to confront his master—Philemon. At first I thought there was nothing in Philemon, but then I got to thinking about the message Paul was trying to convey. How often has one of our Christian brethren wronged us or disappointed us? And how often have we failed to forgive them or held a grudge? Philemon could have had Onesimus killed him, but Paul was asking Philemon to honor Onesimus as a fellow believer, and forgive Onesimus. Whew, that can be tough, but allowing division (holding a grudge or unwillingness to forgive) breaks the unity within the Christian body of believers. Being divided allows Satan to win. Think about it. Win one for the good guys. Do you need to get with someone and forgive them?

DAY 106-THE GOVERNMENT

In Titus chapter 3:1, we are told to submit to the government and its officers. This can be a struggle at times, but I believe Paul was trying to tell us that our first allegiance is to our Lord, but we are to honor and respect the governmental laws and those who carry out those laws. During the last election when the results were announced and even today, I have heard Christians talk badly about the candidates and our government. As Christians we need to respect those in our government. We need to do as Paul instructs in Titus.

DAY 105-WHY READ GOD’S WORD

2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

These verses say it all. God’s Word—the Bible—were inspired by God. The 66 books of the Bible just did not happen, no they were inspired by God. They are God’s instructions to teach us, prepare us and equip us to do His work. If the Bible is there to instruct us, why then to most Christians fail to pick it up and read it? How can we deepen our relationship with our God if we do not take the time to listen to what He has to say?

Where are you in your walk with our Lord? Are you reading God’s Word so God can teach you? Prepare you? Equip you? Take the time to get to know Him better. Read your bible !!

DAY 103-LIVING AS AN EXAMPLE

1 Timothy provides instruction on how deacons and elders are to act or perform. It also provides us with guidance on how each of us should carry ourselves in this world. 1 Timothy 4:12 sums up how all of us should act, both young and old. We should reflect Jesus to the world. We need to be an example by how we live, how we love and how we act. How are you doing? Is you life one in which people see Jesus?

DAY 102-BEWARE OF IDLENESS

Yesterday we talked about pleasing God and not people. We need to listen to God and what He has in store for us. Now in 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul warns us about staying away from idle Christians. Why is that? I believe that Paul wants Christians to be growing, giving and serving. An idle Christian—“Oh somebody else can do that, not me.” “I don’t have time for that.” And finally, “I’ll read my bible tomorrow.” An idle Christian is one who is not growing. Christianity is all about growing our relationship with Jesus. It is walking the talk. Do you have a relationship or a religion. If you are not living, serving or giving in order to have a relationship with Jesus, then you have a religion. Don’t be idle, work on your relationship with Jesus.

DAY 101

As I read 1 Thessalonians verse 2:4 stuck out. How often do people live their lives to please other people? How often are decisions made to make someone else happy—or so we think? How often do we listen to others and what they have to say instead of listening to God?

HAS God called you to serve, but you were afraid of what your fiends and/or family might say or think? I’ve been down that road myself. God wants all of us to serve and to use our talents. That’s right, all of us, even YOU!! Don’t worry about pleasing others, work on pleasing God. Looking back, I wish I had not worried about pleasing others. I need to trust in God and please Him. How about you.

DAY 98-JOY IN SERVING

For as long as I can remember, Philippians 2:3-4 have been my favorite verses. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”

The key ingredient for sin is selfishness. These verses instruct us to look outside ourselves and to put others needs above ours. I can honestly say that I have not lived this to the fullest, but I try to ensure that I lift up others and I try to help them whenever they need my help. Think about it, Jesus came to serve. We need to serve. In order to serve, we need to lose our pride and become selfless. We need to see the needs of others and experience the joy of serving others. In Rick Warren’s book, “The Purpose Driven Life”, he starts his book with the sentence, “It is not about you!”

Our purpose in life is not to focus our attention on ourselves and in turn make decisions to ensure that we succeed at all costs. Think about how many people have this attitude and never find happiness. True joy comes in serving and helping others. Think what the world might be like if we all lived in accordance with Philippians 2:3-4.

DAY 97-EPHESIANS-THE CHECKLIST

Two days ago as we were finishing up Corinthians, I mentioned that we need to stop and have a spiritual checkup. I now realize that I needed something—a gauge to use to measure or compare where I am and how I measure up. I believe that Ephesians provides a lot of material for me to be able to establish that gauge. Paul provides a lot of good material to help us know what is expected of a Christian. What he should do? What should she should not do. How should we act? How important is it to know that the skills and abilities that we have are “gifts” given to us by the Lord to be used to unify the church to help serve one another and help us to help each other grow?

Paul provides the components for the checklist so that I can begin to assess what a Christian should look like. Do you tell the truth? Do you use foul or abusive language? Are you bitter? Angry? Do you have the armor of God on ?

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. “ Ephesians 6”11-18

DAY 96-FREEDOM

In the first few chapters of Galatians, Paul talks about the “old” Jewish laws that people tried to live by. In Galatians, Paul is trying to open our eyes to see that as humans we are incapable of living by a set of laws in which to grow closer to God. God has provided us Jesus. Through Jesus we are able to grow closer to God.

There are no “permanent records” in which score is being kept for each of the laws we did not fulfill. Through Jesus we have forgiveness and grace. And all we have to do is ask Jesus into our lives and seek an everlasting relationship with Him. Through Him, we receive the Holy Spirit who provides guidance and we are no longer bound by the law, (Galatians 5:18). Having our lives controlled by the Holy Spirit allows us to produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These attributes provide us the guidance we need—we are free from the old laws. We do not have to seek favor with God by following the laws. Those chains are broken. Now God wants to have a personal relationship with Him. How is your relationship with God

DAY 95-TIME FOR A CHECK UP

As I read 2 Corinthians 13 I began to wonder why we never stop and have a spiritual checkup. We go to the doctors for physical checkups. We take our cars in for tune ups. We have test to review and test what we know. If you had a spiritual check up today, what would you find? “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test (v5). How well would you do? Take time to review your walk with Jesus.