Faith Like A Mustard Seed

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The great thing about our relationship with God is captured well in the text above…it “transcends all understanding”. When we witness God working in our lives, it is often difficult to accurately explain the experience to another…it’s hard to explain that where we once stood so consumed with worry, fear, and anxiety, we are now actually at peace…and it’s REAL peace, not just a passing feeling or a polished façade to appear confident. And we often times pause and look at where we were standing and where we stand now…and we shake our heads, smile, and maybe even chuckle a bit at what has transpired. We can’t logically explain it or draw scientific conclusions as to what has happened…but we can display the effects of the transformation in our lives. When we attempt to navigate the world on our own, depending on our own devices instead of reaching out to God, we deprive ourselves of the incredible, and often unexplainable, impact that God can make on our lives. It’s crazy…yet we do it every day. We think we can manage on our own, God is too busy, our issue is not that important, or we simply don’t have the time, energy, or desire to seek his hand. Yet when we do, we witness his positive impact on our lives…it may not be instant or in a grand display…but it is real. We find that peace that we had been searching for…a peace that we can’t explain and have been unable to produce on our own…yet it is there…and we stand back and smile, hands in the air, shoulders shrugged, no other explanation except to look heavenward and give thanks. God is something awesome…may we tap into his awesomeness today, and watch the life changing effect on our lives! To God be the glory!

For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

When we are a member of a household, we are a part of the family. We are not a guest visiting for a brief period, but rather we have a permanent place under one roof. When we are in our home, amongst the members of our household, we are at our most comfortable state…our guard is down, we are prized, we are protected, we are loved. In the text above, it is confirmed that through faith in Christ, we are a part of God’s household. Wow. Is there any more prized or desired position imaginable? It doesn’t matter how wealthy, powerful, or famous we can get in this world, nothing compares to the incredible gift of being a member of God’s household…to be called one of his own, to be revered as family, to be at peace with our Father. What an incredible gift, opportunity, and privilege! May we take time to pause and reflect on this wonderful status we have attained through Christ and give praise to the one that showers us with mercy, grace, and forgiveness. To God be the glory!

http://daily-for-him.blogspot.com/

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

Two things jumped out to me in the verse above: 1) We must wait, and 2) We must expect a response. How often do we pray to God and fail to wait? We live in a world of instant information…we request information from our fingertips tapping on a backlit screen and we expect an instant response. If there is a delay, we get annoyed and start shaking our fist at our device. But God does not operate like Google…God doesn’t hear our prayer and respond instantly with a list of options. Rather God operates in his own time. And if God is perfect, then we can rest assured that even if the response seems delayed in our world, it is perfectly timed. We must wait patiently for it…not getting angry at God if the answer doesn’t come as fast as we like. He knows what we need and he knows exactly when we need it. Often times it is when we are waiting for the Lord that we grow the most in our faith. Secondly, we must expect a response from God. We cannot entertain doubt, thinking that maybe he doesn’t hear us, doesn’t have time for us, or simply doesn’t care about us. We are each deeply cherished by God…if we weren’t, then why did he put his Son through such incredible agony for each of us? Know with absolute certainty that God not only hears every single word that we speak to him, but also responds with exactly what we need. It may not be what we had in mind, but it is just what we need. May we continue in prayer to the Lord, confident that he will respond, patiently waiting for his perfect timing. To God be the glory!

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Do we make decisions in our lives to please ourselves or to please the Lord? When we choose to speak, are we speaking in a way that serves the Lord? When we choose to act, are we acting in a manner worthy of the Gospel? Or are we acting in a manner that deserves only punishment, condemnation, and rejection? We are not prisoners to our surroundings….we are bound to the direction that this world takes. We have the ability to reject sin…we have the ability to say “I am not going to fall prey to this sin…I am going to put God first…I am going to deny myself and follow him completely…in absolutely everything”. It may not be fun, enjoyable, or desirable at the time…but it is worthwhile. When we choose to serve sin instead of the Lord, it is not someone else’s fault…we cannot blame the “world” for setting a bad example…we deserve the blame, and we must own it. We must admit that we messed up and admit that we are hopeless, pathetic, lost. Then we must turn to the Lord…expressing deep repentance for our mistakes and acknowledging that without him, we are hopeless. When we get to that point where we really acknowledge our sin…where we no longer disguise our sinful ways as appropriate, acceptable, or “not that bad”…where we decide that we are no longer going to tolerate the sins in our life or the lives of others, we begin to truly SERVE the Lord. If we only serve the Lord half-way or when it is convenient and comfortable, then we are missing out on an incredible relationship with our Father…a relationship that will produce more fruit in our lives than anything else could in this world. What an AMAZING privilege we have each day to serve our Creator, our Father, our Lord…the giver of all good things and the one that sacrificed in a mighty may way so that WE might receive salvation. May we actively choose to live as a servant to our Lord, trusting in the path he sets us on, and remaining unbreakably committed to his plan. What an INCREDIBLE opportunity we have to “sell-out” to the Lord, choosing to be his servant in every part of our lives! To God be the glory!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjRiNL1HKns

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

It’s probably a safe bet that the majority of us are not well-versed in the laws outside the U.S. We probably have a pretty good idea of right and wrong in a foreign country and would most likely be able to navigate through our trip without any trouble. But if it came down to specifics, we would probably be pretty hopeless. We could gather cues from locals in the area and attempt to mirror what they do. The only trouble would be if the locals themselves chose to not follow the law…or chose to “bend” the law a bit to fit their desires. The last part of the text above from Romans provides an interesting view into our awareness of sin: We only become conscious of our sins when we become aware of God’s commands. We only know we are breaking the law when we actually know the law. Think about it…if we didn’t know that God instructs us to have no other God before him (Exodus 20:3), it would seem logical that we could explore any religion in this world. Or if we didn’t know that adultery is committed by simply looking at another with lustful eyes (Matthew 5:27-28), then it would seem completely normal and acceptable to look at another with lustful eyes. The trouble we encounter in our faith is that we tend to lean on a general understanding of God’s Word rather than an intimate knowledge. And when we get out into the world armed with this general understanding, we might skate through a few things, but eventually we are going to start a series of falls…some minor, others significant…because our foundation is weak. We will be more likely to look to the world for right and wrong, assuming that if it is culturally or socially appropriate, then it must be acceptable for our lives. We start living according to the world’s standards…and we know we can’t live for God and for the world at the same time (Matthew 6:24). Now don’t get me wrong here…we do not receive salvation by studiously following God’s commands. We cannot earn his mercy. Rather salvation comes through genuine faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8)…understanding that we completely depend on his sacrifice…and apart from him we are complete failures (John 15:5). Then why live according to God’s will? Why follow his commands if we are saved by our faith alone and not by how we live? Because we are called to do so in the words spoken by Christ in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command”. May our genuine love for the Lord lead us to a greater understanding of his Word, the courage to apply it in our lives, and the discipline to not be lead astray. To God be the glory!

He must become greater; I must become less.

This is a short verse yet it is packed with a lot of meat. God must become more, we must become less…God must increase, we must decrease…God takes center stage, while we sink into the background. What does this look like in our commonly self-centered world? What does it look like making more of God and less of ourselves? Perhaps it means that we explore what God wants for each of our lives….through his commands, his instruction, and his direction…and we put it above our own wants and desires. Perhaps it means when we want to react to another in anger and rage, we instead respond with tolerance and forgiveness. Then he becomes greater. Or maybe when we want to hoard our wealth for our own consumption, we instead give to the hungry, the sick, and the homeless. Then he becomes greater. When sleep sounds much better than rising on a Sunday morning, we deny ourselves and choose to spend the morning worshiping him, making the day about him, and not ourselves. Then he becomes greater. When achieving worldly success requires taking a dishonest path, we deny the lure of success in favor of his righteousness. Then he becomes greater. When selfish pride leads us down a path of strife and conflict with another, we deny ourselves, embrace humility, and allow God to work through us. Then he becomes greater. The list could go on and on…lending to the incredible depth of the short verse above. Bottom line, when we consider the Lord’s will in every situation in our lives…and we accept that will into our lives…we are becoming less and he is becoming more. Anytime the Lord is increasing in our lives, we stand to benefit immensely. Period…no question about it. May we embrace the opportunity to put the Lord in the spotlight in our lives while we fade into the shadows. To God be the glory!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHnZRZiCYHE