Gentle Joy and Peace

Does you have joy in everything you do? Think back to the last time you did something you know you shouldn't have; did that bring true joy to you, or did it drag you down? How long did it take you to get back up, or are you still struggling? Philippians 4:4-5 tells us God is near, and we should rejoice in Him always. Can you rejoice in the Lord while doing something that drags you down spiritually?

Then, after you realize that you've sinned yet again, you wring your hands and worry; you worry about getting caught, worry about whether or not God will forgive you yet again, worry that it won't be the last time. But Philippians 4:6-7 tells us not to worry about anything, but to talk to God about everything and His peace will guard our hearts and minds. His peace will be our shield if we'll stop worrying and just turn our problems over to God.

The last two verses of this section, Philippians 4:8-9, then gives us the most simplified version of everything that the entire Bible contains and teaches. If we all practiced just these two verses, and truly lived by them, we would have nothing to worry about. I love the last sentence there, "And the God of peace will be with you." Not "He might be" or "He'll occasionally be", but "He will be".

If you're having problems, struggling with addiction, or you've got worries weighing you down, I would encourage you to write down these verses somewhere where you'll always see them or commit them to memory. When Satan comes to try to drag you back into sin, into worry, or take away your joy, repeat them to yourself. It's a promise in the Word of God, and you can count on it in your life.

Pick of the Litter

Have you ever gone to pick out a new animal as either a pet or maybe a farm animal? The first thing most people do when the start to pick out a new animal is to look all the available ones over and try to gauge the potential of each one. Then we try to pick the one with the highest potential to meet our current needs.

Jesus seems to have done the same thing when He was on earth with us, calling Simon Peter to be His first disciple. Jesus seems to have been drawn to fishermen, and Peter was a great example of what it means to be a man as well as a follower of Christ.

Peter had a blind faith like few people I have ever met. When Jesus came walking on the Sea of Galilee, Peter was the only disciple to ask if he could join in the water-walking (Matthew 14:25-31). Peter was also still a man, and shortly after joining Jesus on the water began to sink in doubt.

Peter also directly denied knowing Christ (Mark 14:66-72). However, as soon as he realized his mistake, he was sorrowful and wept. After His resurrection, Jesus reassured Peter of His love in a parallel to his betrayal, by asking him if he loved Him three times, and telling him again to follow Him (John 21:15-19).

After having betrayed Jesus, he subsequently renewed his faith in Him. Then, Peter soon preached the first Spirit-filled sermon on the day of Pentecost to the crowd gathering to see what the commotion was (Acts 2:14-41). Acts 2:41 says "Those who accepted his message", meaning Peter's message, "were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day." Peter's message led to the salvation of about 3,000 people in a single day!

What an amazing testimony Peter had. Certainly, Peter had his moments of failure, and some of them quite bad, but he always repented, and came back even stronger than before. As men we will sometimes fail; we sill stumble and fall, but we need to get back up and try again. Jesus will gladly restore our faith and make us even stronger than we once were if only we'll let Him.

Jesus saw the potential in Peter for a great man, and He wasn't disappointed. Sure, as God, Jesus knew that Peter would betray Him. As God, Jesus knew Peter would have doubts and fears. He knew that Peter was a man, and that Peter would make the same mistakes that we all make as men. Jesus still picked Peter first. How great it is that God looks at our potential for serving Him and chooses us, rather than looking at our potential for failing Him.

Fruit

What kind of fruit do we bear? Matthew 7:15-20 tells us a little bit about the type of fruit we bear, and it tells us also that "a good tree cannot bear bad fruit". Do we only bear good fruit? I know that sometimes still my depraved nature of Adam takes over and I bear bad fruit. I have to continuously watch for these bad branches, and ask the Gardner to remove them; ask for Him to prune me so I don't have bad branches, and bear bad fruit.

Matthew 7:21-23 goes on to tell us that there are a lot of people who will even claim to have performed miracles and cast out demons in the name of Jesus, but God will tell them, "I never knew you." Galatians 6:3 tells us that if we lift ourselves up undeservingly, we are lying to ourselves. We may show "some" good works, point to some things that we've done and say, "but look at what I did", but we are not saved by works, we are saved by faith.

Galatians 5:19-26 then gives us a good reference point for what fruit is of God, and what fruit is of the flesh. It sets a basic moral code, it's not all-inclusive; we do need to follow it in spirit, and not just by letter. We should confess our faults, and pray for each other according to James 5:16. We shouldn't be shy about falling into an altar and asking God's forgiveness. And we shouldn't hesitate to go pray with a brother at the altar.

Stephen: The Love of God, Loved by Godly Men

In Acts 6:5-8 we are introduced to Stephen. Stephen was chosen as one of the first leaders of the church by the apostles. He was "full of faith and the Holy Spirit." We even see that the people who persecuted him saw his face was "like the face of an angel" in Acts 6:15. Stephen, though it was apparent even to those unbelievers, was killed for his faith, becoming the first recorded Christian to be martyred. We can read the entire account of his persecution and death in Acts 7.

The verses that I'd like to point out, however, are the verses at the very last of Stephen's life, Acts 7:59-60. In these verses, we see the love of Christ spilling out of Stephen much in the same manner as Christ's love as he died for our sins in Luke 23:34 and Luke 23:46. Stephen showed a perfect example of Christ's love for us as he showed Christ's love to those who were stoning him.

We follow the end of Stephen's story into Acts 8:2, where we find that "Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him." These men knew the character of Stephen, Godly men, and they mourned deeply for him. Will Godly men mourn deeply for us when we die? Will they say we were "full of faith and the Holy Spirit"? What kind of people will mourn our passing? I pray that the world because of conviction will be glad to hasten my departure, but that Godly men will mourn when I die.

Justification and Reconciliation

As children, most of us at one point or another stole some insignificant thing from a store while we were out with our parents. And most of us got dragged back into the store, made to apologize begrudgingly, our parents had to pay for our stolen candy bar that we had already opened, and then if they didn't think that we were really, REALLY sorry, we got a nice thrashing for it, too.

Romans 5:8-9 tells us that the blood of Jesus has given us justification. That's the payment that our Master made for our sins. This "saves us from God's wrath". This is where our parents have gone in and paid for our stolen goods. It's what keeps us from having the store owner press charges against us for shoplifting. According to Wikipedia, "When an act is justified, a person is not criminally liable even though his act would otherwise constitute an offense."

Justification, however, is only half of the equation. Now that the shop owner knows we steal, he's going to be suspicious every time we come in. But Romans 5:10-11 we see that we can also have reconciliation with God as well. This is where our parents tell us to apologize, and we can either give a true apology, or we can be snide about it. We now have an opportunity to be reconciled, or "have cordial relations reestablished". However, this takes not only the reconciliation and justification of the parent for us, but also our sincere apology for the wrong that we've done.

It takes both parties in a relationship to be in agreement in order to have reconciliation. We can have complete justification, and still be the enemy of God. There is no way that we can make restitution for our sin, there is no self-justification. We've already seen in Romans 5:8 that God has reached out to us. Our responsibility is that of reaching out to God with an open heart, being truly sorry for the sins that we've committed, and asking for reconciliation with Him. Jesus has opened the door for us to have a great friendship by offering the opportunity for reconciliation. Will we be snide, or will we with open arms cry out for our forgiveness?

Saved!

Today, as I was driving home, I spotted a car on the side of the road with the hood up, the standard symbol of “my car isn’t running”, and I decided to stop and offer a hand. I did all that my limited knowledge allowed, offered all the advice i could, asked if I could offer any further assistance, and then when there was nothing more I could do for her, I went on to my house.

Are you “broke down?” The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Every one of us has been broken down spiritually. And like a car with a broken thermostat, if we go down the road ignoring the problem, we will ultimately be far worse, and often irreparable damage will be done. Romans 6:23 tells us that the payment for our sin is death, but that debt is paid through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:8 explains why the blood is important; because, despite our sins, Jesus died for us in a demonstration of God’s love. Jesus was crucified and died so that we could be forgiven. He’s stopped on the side of the road to give us a hand. But how do we let Him help us? Romans 10:9 says that the one and only thing we can do is acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins, believe that God raised Him from the dead, and then confess (declare) that Jesus is now the Master (Lord) of our life.

Romans 5:1 tells us that because of our belief, we are no longer at war with God, because now our Master gives us peace with Him. Jesus started this intercession for us with God as he was hanging crucified on the cross, when he said in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

If you haven’t done so already, I can tell you that turning your life over into the hands of Jesus is the single best thing you can ever do. All you have to do is just believe that Jesus died for your sins, and was raised from the dead by God, and then just talk to Jesus like you would talk to a friend. Tell Him that He is the Master of your life. Admit that you’re a sinner, and that you need forgiveness. Just like the lady on the side of the road, we have to get out of the car, admit we have a problem, and then let the One who stopped to help us take care of it. If we just take that step of faith, He will help us with everything else.