Sunday Prayertime - June 15 - Father's Day

God, bless all the fathers in the world.

Guide them to be good role models

and loving to all their children.

Help them to be a father like You are.

Give them grace and patience

to handle situations in a loving way.

Amen!

Saturday Prayertime - June 14

Dear Lord, Thank you for this day. Thank you for my being able to see, to hear, to speak, to move about this morning. I'm blessed because You are a forgiving and understanding God. You have done so much for me. I have witnessed your hand of blessing, your miraculous power in my my life and the lives of those I love, and you just keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you. I ask now for Your forgiveness. Please keep me, my family, and my church family safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a positive and Christ-focused attitude and plenty of gratitude. Please clear my mind of distractions so that I can hear from you and please direct my steps today. Thank you so much, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Abiding in Christ - Know the Truth

John 8:31-32 - "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Continuing in the study of what Abiding in Christ means, we come to the understanding that abiding in Christ means that a person walks and is in fellowship with Him. We already noted the words of the prophet Amos - "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" If we are in fellowship with God, we are walking with Christ in an intimate and continual way. Our verse at the start of this musing speaks that we ought to walk in a state of freedom by the knowledge of the Word.

To often believers take lightly the time spent reading the Bible. There are two things we need to do each and every day - Read our Bibles and Pray. I have many books in my library that I have read. Each one was important to me as I read it. However, most of these books I read once and shelved for future reference in ministry. Very few books have I read more than one time in their entirety. Having read them, I gleaned the information that I needed, and will go back if I need to refresh or annotate the information.

That is not so with the Bible. God tells us in Joshua 1:8 (NLT) - "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do." Notice God says continually. Not once, twice or even a few times - He says continually. And then to stress it again, He says day and night we are to be meditating on what we have read. I think He is trying to make us understand the importance of reading His word. 

You see, as Jesus said in our verse and in John 17:17 (HCSB) - "Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth." If we as believers are to abide in Christ, to dwell in Him continually, then we must know how to live this way. And the way to know the truth of abiding in Christ is found only in God's Word. There are many good professors, instructors, commentators, writers, preachers and teachers of God's Word, but the way to know the truth is to spend time in God's Word. 

Today, start the habit of reading God's Word daily. Today is the day to take that first step. And, if you are reading it daily, recommit to God that you will read, study, and apply His Word to your life. This is abiding in Christ in truth. 

Abiding in Christ - Open Confession

1 John 1: 6-10 (NKJV) - "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."

Continuing in the study of what Abiding in Christ means, we come to the understanding that abiding in Christ means that a person walks and is in fellowship with Him. We already noted the words of the prophet Amos - "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" If we are in fellowship with God, we are walking with Christ in an intimate and continual way. Our verse at the start of this musing speaks that we ought to walk in a state of open confession with the Father.

Sin. Something that is detestable and unaccepted in the sight of God. Some say that when we accept Christ that we no longer sin. We are perfect. That we know from experience and looking at the world (and Church) around us is not true. Only a deceived and deluded person thinks that they are without any sin in their life. In fact, John makes it clear that "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." Uhh, wouldn't calling God a liar be a sin?

So, if God cannot be in the presence of sin, and if we are sinners (even as believers) can God fellowship with us? The answer is that "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." (Psalm 66:18 NLT) We break our fellowship with the Father, not our salvation. So, how do we restore this fellowship? By keeping a constant confessional open between ourselves and God. We need to immediately confess (Greek word means to agree, or say the same thing) to God that we had sinned, and ask His forgiveness for it. When we do - the sin is forgiven, we are cleansed, and we are restored to full fellowship with our Father.

BTW - if you are wondering how confession connects with abiding in Christ - we cannot abide if we are not in fellowship. Remember what Amos said. Today, pause and reflect upon your communion with God - is there anything between you and your Father? Set it right now.

Abiding in Christ - Fellowship

1 John 2:6 (NKJV) - "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked."

Continuing in the study of what Abiding in Christ means, we come to the understanding that abiding in Christ means that a person walks and is in fellowship with Him. We already noted the words of the prophet Amos - "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" If we are in fellowship with God, we are walking with Christ in an intimate and continual way. Our verse at the start of this musing speaks that we ought to walk as Jesus did.

So, does that mean sinless perfection? Of course not. It is not possible while living in this body to be completely free from all sin. Sanctification (the cleaning up of ourselves) has three parts. We are positionally sanctified when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior. At that point in time we appear to God the Father pure and righteous because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Receiving Christ moves us out of the condemned category and places us into fellowship with God. We are daily being sanctified from the sins that we commit through confession to God (1 John 1:9), and we will have total sanctification when we die and go before God in our glorified bodies. So even though we are sanctified by the Blood of Christ, we still need the daily confession and restoration of fellowship because we still maintain the old sin nature until death.

So, how did Jesus walk while on this earth? He walked by believing the Father, He walked by worshipping the Father,He walked by serving the Father, He walked by seeking others, and He walked by loving others. There is not enough room here to go into each of these, but let me challenge you to go to your Bible today and find verses that support what I have just written.  And then, apply these truths to your life on a daily basis and you will continue in fellowship with God. Tomorrow, we will consider the area of open confession in our abiding with Christ.