Get Ready!

“Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them–to the Israelites. ³I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” (Joshua 1:2-3)

Moses is dead. For a short moment the people of Israel are unsure of their new leader Joshua. He is to fill the sandals of Moses…a tall order. After all Moses gave them the words of God. Moses lifted his arms up as God dealt with the Amalekites. Moses was the conduit in which God set his people free. Now Joshua is to step into this role.

You can almost see the uncertainty in the people’s faces. If Joshua had not been a seasoned warrior and general already, mass mutiny and hysteria would have most certainly broken out. Yet Joshua was the right leader for the job! His resume was full, and he trusted God.

Looking out onto the mass of people that he now commands, for a mere moment Joshua is nervous. People are depending on him. So many lives depend upon him to make the right decisions as their leader. As the momentary panic escapes his chest with a quick exhale, he pushes all doubt aside. ‘I have full confidence in the Almighty to provide us the way’; he thinks to himself.

Though they have yet to cross into the Promised Land, Joshua is just as certain as he was 40 years ago when Moses had initially sent in the spies. Thinking back to that moment when He and Caleb were the only spies to give a positive report while the other ten spread doubt and dissension among the people. ‘Had they only listened then’; he utters to himself, ‘things would be so different now.’ Again Joshua sighs, this time in sadness and regret. ‘Perhaps if we had been more persuasive, they would have listened’, He wonders aloud. He grits his teeth in renewed frustration as he dwells for just another moment on the memory. Then, with rebirth of confidence and stubborn conviction he thinks to himself; ‘I won’t let that happen again!’

Then it happens, all at once. God speaks to Joshua. He had witnessed the glow emanating from Moses as he came down from an encounter with God, tablets in hand. But now as the voice of God speaks to him, he can’t help but quiver in fear. Joshua, the mighty warrior is in the presence of Almighty God. In his quaking and quivering, Joshua hears God say, “Be strong and courageous!” The words of God give him encouragement and instant strength! The One who spoke life into everything promises to be present and available. Joshua has the ultimate adviser known in the entire universe!

God tells Joshua to get the people ready and cross over the river Jordan into the Promised Land. This is the moment that he’s been waiting for! The wilderness has been inhospitable to God’s people. The hot sun scorches the barren rocky earth and destroys any attempt of planting crops or grazing cattle. Crossing the Jordan will provide them new life! A New hope! It is a chance at finally sampling the promises of God in a land that He has granted them.

Many have died before witnessing this day. Those who had not listened to God were all gone. Now redemption, a second chance…Joshua was not about to blow it! He would ensure that the people were ready this time! God again said to Joshua; “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Joshua led with conviction and faith. He prepared God’s people for the crossing and the conquering of the land. He did not want to see the failure of an entire generation again! Later in his epic journey Joshua tells the people; “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

What faith Joshua possessed! When God told him to get ready and cross the Jordan, he got ready and crossed. When God instructed him to conquer Jericho through a daily march around its walls, he and his people marched! These new territories were foreign to him, and yet he trusted God to lead and to provide!

Application:

How about you? Is God calling you to get ready? Is He asking you to make a faith journey across unknown territories? We can’t sit on the sidelines and do nothing when God calls us. We must act! God tells us to gear up and get ready. Our response depends upon how much we trust Him. Will we go? Will we do what the Lord has for us to do? Joshua was a fearless leader who relied upon God to direct His path. May we do likewise in our lives today! We may not have to face huge armies and fortified cities like Joshua did, but may we but faithful to God! May we be prepared to cross our river Jordans when they come…whatever they may be.

-Just a thought.

July 9, 2013 0

Breaking The Stone Altar

It started out as a random conversation about our favorite books. Each person told us what was their all time favorite novel and why. Some were books we all knew and loved, while others were books somewhat foreign to us. As the conversation wound back around to the originator, someone hit upon a truth. We all were in agreement that we really loved the C.S. Lewis books, “The Chronicles of Narnia”. Someone indicated that they really fell in love with the Narnia world. Another lauded the characters of Peter, Susan, Edmond and Lucy, giving particular moments in the books that really struck them as ‘wonderful’ or ‘brilliant’ through these characters. Again we all went around the room and shared specifics of the books that we thought we memorable and epic.

Then, someone said it. I’m not sure who it was, but once the words were loosed it hung in the air like a lingering fog in the early morning hours. The lights went on in all of us as we all nodded in agreement.

The Epiphany: Aslan giving up his life resembled that of what Christ had done for us. Aslan was sacrificed by the White Witch on a stone altar.

For a moment no one spoke. Each person recalled the scene.

Then, it hit me. Aslan died for all of Narnia (which represented our world). He willingly laid down his life before the evil White Witch. Then, Aslan died. As a kid I remember hearing this story, my father reading it to me, and I wept. Still a lump forms in my throat even now as I remember it. Though, the story didn’t end in the death of the mightiest lion. As a matter of fact while Lucy and Susan wept bitterly over Aslan, something miraculous and completely unthinkable takes place. As the sun begins to rise from the darkness of night the stone altar that Aslan’s body is still resting on breaks in half and the great lion is resurrected.

How awesome is that?

Like Christ, Aslan dies for all the world. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Aslan is killed in the darkness surrounded by every evil thing in the world. But as soon as the sun crested the horizon that morning, resurrection takes place.

Jesus, God’s one and only Son arose. Aslan arose.

When Jesus died an earthquake shook the ground. The curtain in the temple, which separated the holy of holies, was completely torn from top to bottom.

Significance: God’s presence was said to dwell in the temple within this sacred space called the ‘Holy of Holies’. Only High Priests who were clean could enter this place. It was not accessible to common people. But when the curtain was torn it signified that God’s presence was accessible to everyone, and that He was not bound by four walls. He was omnipresent and and omniscient.

The Stone Altar Broke:

At sun rise, Aslan is resurrected. He comes back to life and at the same time the stone altar on which he was slain breaks in two. What could be significant about this? Could it be that the power and ‘creature made’ order was broken? Could it be that Aslan couldn’t be bound by evil? Could it be that Aslan couldn’t be bound by any creature? Could it be that the old ways were now destroyed while original intent was now restored?

YES TO ALL OF IT!

Do you see the significance of the breaking altar?

Man’s order of things, man’s fall, man’s rituals are broken. They are not paramount to the redemption that Christ offers! Christ came, He died, the curtain was torn, He was dead no longer and God’s original intent for the world was now restored!

The only thing that stands in our way from restoration then is OUR CHOICE.

We can choose to be restored and be made clean through His blood, or we can choose to reject Him. Either way it boils down to a choice we all have been given and we have to make. But the really amazing thing is that God has made Himself available to us…everywhere! Man’s order doesn’t bind God. Man’s rituals don’t impress Him.

The Stone Altar has been broken for all of us. Each of us are free to receive His presence…but we have to choose to received Him! We have been set free, what we do with this freedom and redemption is now up to us…I hope you choose Him!

“None of the children knew who Aslan was any more than you do; but the moment the Beaver had spoken these words everyone felt quite different. Perhaps it has sometimes happened to you in a dream that someone says something which you don’t understand but in the dream it feels as if it had some enormous meaning–either a terrifying one which turns the whole dream into a nightmare or else a lovely meaning too lovely to put into words, which makes the dream so beautiful that you remember it all your life and are always wishing you could get into that dream again. It was like that now. At the name of Aslan each one of the children felt something jump in it’s inside. Edmund felt a sensation of mysterious horror. Peter felt suddenly brave and adventurous. Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. And Lucy got the feeling you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is the beginning of the holidays or the beginning of Summer.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

“If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most, or else just silly.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

July 4, 2013 3

Attention: People Pleasers…it’s pointless.

When it is all said and done, our feeble meanderings and our efforts of people pleasing will be meaningless…in the grand scheme of things and in God’s glory if we have not lived as servants first and spent our time sharing the grace of God with others we will have little or nothing to show of our earthly efforts and endeavors. -Just a thought.

June 25, 2013 0

Broken Bread

Broken Bread

One night

Quite late

In adoration

Kneeling,

I pleased with

My new found Lord,

“Reveal Thyself

To me.”

So sleep stole in

Enfolded me

In sweet and

Welcome rest.

Now, in my home

Famished, hungry,

I found a loaf

Of bread unbroken.

Even as

I reached

To satisfy

My need,

Stood a Stranger

By my side

His eyes

Upon my bread.

Without a word

I broke it

Giving Him

The larger half.

Then as He passed

Into the room

Where dear Mother

Had lain in death

With burning heart

I shyly spoke,

“I know ‘tis You,

You’re Jesus.”

Round me His arm;

In Mother’s tongue

He softly said,

“Ich Bien!” (I Am)

Oft when I’m tired

Careworn and sad,

He whispers,

Oh, so gently,

I need you still

To break the bread

My hungry ones

To feed.”

So strengthened,

Satisfied, content,

I carry on

For Him!

(By Brigadier Harry Strissel, my Great-grand Father)

June 5, 2013 1

A Steadfast love!

Lamentations 3:21-23 (NIV)
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Do you sometimes have trouble recalling the love of God in your life? Are you far from God right now? Are there days when you wonder what God is doing with you? Are you struggling right now?

If the answer is yes and ‘I don’t know’ to these questions let me encourage you today. The inventor of love, the Creator of the Universe thinks that you are special! He thinks that you are worthy of His fellowship! Now when I bring that statement to mind how do you feel? I hope it evokes in you a warmth of love and peace because our Father in Heaven wants us all to know that we matter to Him!

These beautifully written verses tell us that His grace and love are new every morning for us. How awesome is that? No matter how badly we’ve screwed up in the past our God wants to mend and forgive. The only issue that keeps us from receiving these promises of love and compassion…is us. Do you doubt? We cannot allow doubt to replace faith in our lives. Doubt can pull us away from God because we just can’t grasp Him in a tangible sense. But know that He is there and faith is the evidence of things unseen and believing in Him!

Do you stumble and trip in sin? I want to caution you that this life isn’t a game. We are granted grace by God, but that grace isn’t some ‘get out of jail’ card that we flash every time we choose to sin and think callously ‘oh well God will forgive me.’ We have to get serious about our faith, meaning if it is in our power, which it is and God can grant us that power, we must avoid the trappings of temptation all together.

Yes God’s love and compassion are steadfast! These attributes of God are not going anywhere, but we have to wise up and shake up our lives in order to receive them from God! He is spurring us to change our patterns and to accept Him and His renewing grace every day! Will you receive it anew today? He loves us so very much and desires for us to love Him back without strings or conditions attached.

This beautiful passage always strikes a chord in my life and evokes for me a sense of His perfect peace that He offers anew to us each and every day. How awesome is that?!

June 5, 2013 0

Have You Forgotten???

Psalm 103:2-6 Praise the LORD, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Do you have trouble remembering what God has done for you? Are you lacking in your confidence that He is actually there for you? Sometimes it’s beneficial to read scripture passages such as Psalm 103 to bring to mind once again in great detail what the Lord has done for all of us. Look at these verse above once more…it says right at the beginning “forget not all his benefits.” The psalmist stresses the need to never forget the things that God has done for us, and then he goes on to list them for us, just in case we’ve indeed forgotten.

What Are the Benefits of God?

1. He forgives ALL your sins!

Not just some of your sins, but all of your sins! Think of it, what God offers to each and everyone one of us is complete and total absolution for our sins. The slate is literally wiped clean! When the slate is wiped clean, we are provided freedom from sin and death. This first benefit is epic in that we can be brought back into a right relationship with the Father. No longer do we have to be bound by the shackles of sin, but instead the binds of bondage are taken from us…we are free indeed!

2. He Heals all your diseases:

Don’t misunderstand here, perhaps we may yet have to endure actual physical health issues or struggles, but ultimate we will one day be complete healed and given new heavenly bodies. But God does in fact still heal His people here on earth. Miracles do still take place and He can provide this blessing of healing to those He deems in need of it…but the problem arises for us when we consider the question, ‘what if He doesn’t choose to heal me?’ When we submit our lives to God we take on a vital component of the Lord’s prayer in action in our lives when we pray, ‘Thy will be done.’

3. (He)… redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion

Because God forgive ALL of our sin we have been saved from eternal punishment and instead have been given the right to be called sons and daughters of God! We have been grafted into the family of God because of Jesus Christ! He stands before us with nail scared hands and wraps His arms around us and showers us with His love! Isn’t that awesome to think about? His love and compassion escorts us into the family and we are able to sit before the Father of all creation because of Jesus and what He’s done for us!

4. (He) “satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s”

Does God provide for you? Is He not the Jehovah Jireh in your life? God have given us all that we need, not all that we want. He provides us with the things that are vital to our lives, but be careful that you don’t mistake wants for needs. God will always give to his children that which we ask for in His name, not ours. Make sure the things we ask for aren’t for any selfish intent or prideful purpose, but rather humbly ask for things which God will grant to benefit his children living His kingdom out here on earth right now! He does satisfy our needs and He will sustain us and renew us within all our energies and motivations.

5. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Be assured that those who are oppressed, those who are serving Him through difficult circumstances and facing trials and persecution will one day find justice from those who have wronged them. This isn’t a vindictive statement but a holy truth. God is Lord of all including those who are unrighteous and those who oppress His people. Everyone will one day have to stand before God and take account for their actions here on earth. I know that God will bring His pure and true justice upon us all. I also know that God still works through the oppressed and impacts this world for His glory regardless if man and their kingdoms oppose His message. His will always prevails despite the attempts of the enemy to discourage and dismantle His cause. Know that despite their trials, and even ours that we serve a God who doesn’t fail even if we do. If we are faithful to Him and do what He asks of us, He will provide the victory even if we do not get to see it fulfilled in our life time.

Have you forgotten? Do you lack understanding of what it is exactly that God has done for us? Read this passage again and be encouraged! Understand the God is on your side and wants you to know that He prevails in and through all things! Don’t forget these awesome facts and bring them to mind whenever you feel discouraged or downhearted. May the Lord remind you in your times of trouble that you matter to Him and also what He provides to you still today!

June 3, 2013 1

Salt: Flavor & Preserver

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” Matthew 5:13

Did you know that salt is not only a flavoring element within food, but is also a preserver of food? Salt has been one of those ancient ways in which people have used to prevent food from rotting. So when Jesus told those gathered there that they were salt of the earth, he chose a topic with which the people would understand. Still today food is of epic importance to our survival as people. We can last for a long time without it, but food nourishes us, sustains us and provides us with the appropriate vitamins and nutrients. Without those vital components in life, we will eventually perish.

Jesus brought his message home to those who would listen that this world is perishing. All things have an expiration date…yet what will preserve us? What will make us last a little longer? What will inject much needed flavor into our world? The answer is simply those who will follow after God’s own heart!

This world will eventually pass away, and sometimes we may think it may be in our life time when we see unspeakable horrors and violence, humans turning on other humans, death and destruction…our world is a violent place. Yet, the preserving element of life is God who is the author and sustainer of all things. When we align our hearts, body and soul to Him, we find that the outpouring of this faith is love, peace, hope and joy…something this world desperately needs more of!

When we display love without strings attached, a joy without ulterior motives other than for others to find this same joy as well, we will inject our worlds with just a little bit of God’s epic flavor.

So how about it? Are you prepared to be God’s preservationist? Are you prepared to offer a dying world hope in the eternal one? Being salt to a flavorless and empty world is what we ought to strive for!

Another interesting notion in this passage of scripture for us to grasp is that typically all of the salt that was utilized in Israel at the time of Jesus was brought up from the Dead sea, which as you may know is extremely salty. But there is also something else about the salt content of the Dead sea that you may not know. The salt deposits within this body of water is full of impurities and often, after time, will lose its flavor.

Jesus instructed, perhaps even pleaded with this audience that we should never lose our flavor. If we are to provide a flavorless world with the undaunted grace and richness of God then we must be mindful to always draw from His source of power and might. Because if we stop drawing from Him and instead begin to rely on our own merits and flavor, we will lose the very essence of His character and love to a world so desperate to find hope.

Be flavor and a preserver to this world through the power of the One who sent us out into it! Never let this hope diminish or lose its flavor!

May 28, 2013 2

Give us today our daily bread

Do you know where your next meal is coming from? Do you wonder how your next month’s rent or car payment or other bill is going to get paid? Our basic essentials in life obviously come because we can pay for things…right? What we make at our jobs generally helps to pay for our lifestyles. Sometimes, though we realize that we have not been living within our means when we run up a credit card or lease/buy a vehicle that we cannot afford the payments on. Living within our means forces us to realize that we ought to separate our needs from our wants.

When we pray to our Father in heaven the way Jesus has instructed us in what we call “the Lord’s prayer” what we realize is that we are placing our entire being, fully surrendered, at the foot of God himself. When we pray “give us today our daily bread” we are not praying for tomorrow’s supplies or tomorrow’s worries, we are strictly and implicitly focusing on what is right before us within this very day. Who knows what tomorrow holds, but when we focus on God, his might and power and his kingdom, we can’t but help realize that He is ultimately in control over our basic needs.

When we pray this portion of ‘the Lord’s prayer’ we quickly realize that it’s not our wants that He will supply but our needs. What is it that you need today? What do you struggle with daily? Have you prayed about it? Is it really a need or is it a want? “Daily bread” isn’t necessarily the food that we eat but every human supply of our needs is included here. God is supremely over all and through all! When we come to this conclusion even the little things in life are blessings given to us by God and we ought to thank Him for these daily…even moment by moment.

Do you have needs? Are you lacking today? Have you prayed about it? Are you surrendering it all to your Father in Heaven? Consider the works of His hands today and consider how blessed we are because He can and will provide for us the things that we need.

May 22, 2013 0

YOLO?

It’s been around for a while, but I think the significance of this four letter acronym should be explored. “You only live once” is what it tells us. What does it mean? People have used it as a hashtag signifying & justifying poor judgement and bad decisions with this excuse “you only live once”. There is even a ‘YOLO’ clothing line that has been started. We’ve gone from ‘Just Do It’ and ‘No Fear’ to ‘YOLO’. Hmm…it seems to me that what culture is telling us is that it’s okay to do what you want, when you want, where you want because you only live once.

I recognize that everyone makes mistakes in this life but if we don’t learn from them and acknowledge that we’ve made them we run the risk of never growing and maturing. As a Christian I don’t believe that I am going to live just once and then nothing, I believe that there is an eternity and that this life we live leads us to the next, and what we do here and now counts…it matters! So if I adopted ‘YOLO’ as my philosophy , what I’m saying essentially is that the only thing that matters in life is the ‘here and now’. The problem with that is that it doesn’t account for the consequences. For example if someone sleeps around aren’t they more likely to contract an STD than someone who waits until marriage? If someone starts smoking and burns through at least a pack a day aren’t they opening themselves up to a slew of medical problems down the road the worst being cancer and death? I could add so many more examples of choice = consequence here but these are just two examples.

YOLO isn’t really a new phrase, it’s just wrapped in new packaging. Some have taken scripture out of context as well when they quote passages like “Let us eat and drink,” you say, “for tomorrow we die!” Isaiah 22:13 (NIV) The meaning behind it has been eliminated and taken to mean ‘well what the heck, we can do what we want because we know we’re all going to die someday’.

I’m not too keen on living that way because I recognize that one day each person is going to have to account for the life that we’ve lived before the Father in heaven. That doesn’t mean that we can’t enjoy life, on the contrary God has given us this life for enjoyment and pleasure but we ought to recognize that He also wants us to include Him in our lives. When we forget consequences and forget about the future, we lose focus on what is at stake.

One of my favorite bible verses is a good guide for each of us in how we ought to live.
“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (NIV) If we are walking humbly with our God we will enjoy this life so much more than the emptiness of comes knocking on our doors after we have lived it up and gone down roads that we now regret.

On the plus side, perhaps there is merit to ‘YOLO’…perhaps you can take this phrase to mean ‘hey you only live once in flesh and bone so make it count, do what you can to live a godly life and glorify the Lord in your living’! I think if I were to embrace YOLO that is what I would take it to mean. Will I make it count? Can I live a God pleasing life? Can I help lead others to Him along the way? ‘YOLO’!

-Just a thought for today!

Here’s some humor for your Monday:

May 13, 2013 0

At the Construction Site:

Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)
²⁴“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

When I was a child I used to enjoy watching construction workers build things. I could sit for hours watching them work away at mixing concrete, hoisting support beams, laying rebar…it all fascinated me. I longed to see the finished product, a completed project that took hours, even days to complete. I would go by the construction site day after day on my way to school just to see how much progress they had made in the hours that I had been away. I was invested in witnessing the completed project, though it wasn’t my house, I still wanted, I longed to see it finished.

By the time the construction of the remodeled home was completed, the workers there knew me by name. Why? Because I wasn’t content in just watching, I wanted to know why and how they were doing any and every task. I was insanely curious…and so I asked a lot of questions. Luckily, the foreman (who must have had children of his own) was a patient man who didn’t mind giving me an answer from time to time. He was competent and considerate of my age and so explained it as a parent would to a child; in simple terms. He explained why they put wire mesh in with the concrete or why rebar was there at all…it would make the structure stronger and would last longer. He also explained why the bubble on the level had to be in the middle so that the work they did would stand and not fall down because it was uneven. I asked many questions and thankfully that foreman answered most of them with the patience of a saint.

Why talk about this experience? Why mention it? Am I just trying to relive my childhood? Perhaps…but it’s more than that. It makes me think of what kind of foundation I am laying in my own spiritual with God. Many times in my life I have thought about those conversations with that foreman in the context of my spiritual journey with Christ. Am I living a balanced life? Have I continued to be firmly rooted in His word? Is the foundation of my life what it should be? Introspectively I have asked myself these questions many, many times. I don’t say this in boasting, by any means, but a right relationship with God is that important to me. Is it to you?

Years later I tried my hand at building stuff…turns out I’m just not that gifted at construction with my hands. But I will never forget those lessons that I learned as a child by simply passing by a construction site day after day on my way to and from school.

How is your foundation? Has it been reinforced with the rebar of fellowship with other Christians? Are there cracks forming along the walls of your faith because of wear and tear and pressures of life? At our conversion we align ourselves with Christ. We accept His sacrifice on the cross for our sins and we essentially say God rebuild me. Tear down the old, remove the dirty and broken, and start again. In that process we gain new life, a new construction takes place and there is life on our spiritual property. But here’s a big issue: Many remain at the altars of their lives professing Christ and declaring “I’m a Christian”, but they never grow from there. God expects us to mature in our faith. He has provided us the best foundation in His son Jesus Christ, but we have to allow the Holy Spirit to begin the transformation within us. We can’t remain baby Christians…or essentially just a foundation without a structure built on top. God’s presence within us, which is the Holy Spirit, wants to develop in us a deeper, stable structure of maturity and faith.

If your life needs some renovation, some rebuilding…will you allow God to begin that in you today? He’s the best foreman for the job and He can be trusted to finish that construction of holiness in you! The foundation is already firmly laid. But without a strong, stable structure on top, which is holiness and spiritual maturity, we are still vulnerable and unstable in the temptations and elements of our old lives.

Prayer:

Father in Heaven, thank you for your Son who made it possible for me to be redeemed, I ask now that you would continue in me Your work. Transform me through the work of Your Holy Spirit, grant me the strength to address issues that still exist within my life that are yet remnants of my old ways. Allow me wisdom and discernment to study your word and to apply it in my living day by day. I want to be the creation you have intended for me. Deliver me from sin and from temptation, as I know I must avoid their trappings in order to mature and to grow in Your grace. May it be so in my life today. Amen.

May 1, 2013 0

Tag: God