Memory Verse Challenge - Week 6

This week's verse reminds me that no matter how weary we get, God IS our strength.  He will infuse us with His power, His strength and His determination.  We will not be defeated. We WILL soar in victory on wings like eagles.  What a great feeling that will be plus the view will be spectacular!

How are you doing on your challenge?  Just getting started?  Don't worry - you can review past verses here.

Sunday Blogvotional: Let's Get United

Dissension by definition is a difference in opinion which causes disagreement and conflict. As Christians, we are always going to have differences of opinion. That’s just a given. How we react to those differences is the difference between someone who “stirs” and someone who extends grace.

Max Lucado once wrote that if we truly accept God’s grace then we recognize that only God can forgive and only God can judge.  We must accept those who God accepts. This means we can't judge the methods, traditions, or motivations of other Christians from other groups.

Unity is important to God. He doesn't want us to argue and fight with each other.  He wants us to love each other, accept each other, and work with each other. If the world sees that we, as Christians, are united and we love each other (despite our differences), we will more likely convince nonbelievers that Jesus is real and that His love is real.  How can we demonstrate the true extent of God's love if we can't love one another? 

There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.  

Proverbs 6: 16:19

Encouragement for the week: Pick another Christian or a group of Christians that you have disagreements with.  Pray specifically that God helps you to extend grace to them and that you're attitude toward them won't get in the way of a nonbeliever's view of God. Pray that we love and accept each other and are united so the world will know the true love of Jesus.

Today's blogvotional contributed by "the hubs".

Remain Calm

Here's a picture of my beloved cat Spunky.  Those of you that knew him knew he was anything but calm, cool and collected.  It just wasn't his personality.  He had his moments though when he was calm.  As you can see in the pic those moments were usually when he was sleeping.

 

Now this blog post isn't really about pets or sleeping (I just like any excuse to put in a cute pet picture).  It is, however, about remaining calm.  You see, whether you want to admit it or not, each and every one of us is in a spiritual battle.  It's vitally important we remain calm in order to be effective warriors.

Imagine you're on God's football team and the opposing team is, you guessed it, the devil's.  You're eager to get out there and play but, frankly, you're a little out of shape. You go on a strict strengthening regimen.  You're making progress and gain some strength but try as you might you've still got weaknesses that can be exploited.

The coach (God) tries to reassure you that you're still a valuable member of the team - that training is a growth process.  He tries to give you wisdom -  to tell you that sometimes strategy is more important than braun. Sadly you don't hear a thing He says.  You're so frustrated and angry at your failure to get stronger that's all you can think about.

You'll go out on the field because you don't have a choice.  The game goes on.  But even though the clock hasn't started you've already been defeated.  Instead of learning how to compete against the other team - you've been competing against yourself.

We all have sins we struggle against.  Sometimes they're pretty easy to overcome.  Other times conquering them is a life-long process.  The devil knows our weaknesses.  He is relentless in his attacks.  If we remain calm in the battle, we'll be able to hear God's direction - His reassurance and His wisdom for overcoming our sin.  But if we get all riled up at the wrong thing (our failure) we lose sight of the main battle. 

The way I see it the devil gets two for the price of one.  He attacks us with our sin struggle and then gets a bonus of confidence bashing.  There are many instances in the Bible where God's chosen warriors could have lost it emotionally because they didn't have "Super Christian" strength.  David, Joshua and Gideon come immediately to mind. They weren't perfect or sinless and neither are you.

Take it easy on yourself.  Remember always that you're a work in progress.  Eventually you will overcome your battles or your strongholds. But you can't do it if you're busy being angry at yourself.  Remain calm.  Don't give the devil the satisfaction of getting you off your game.

Memory Verse Challenge - Week 5

This week's verse continues with the theme of peace.  God has not left us to fend for ourselves.  We can have His peace if we'll only tap into it.  It's there for the taking.

 

Click below to review past weeks. (The verses for week 1 and 2 can be found with week 3).

Week 4, Week 3

Sunday Blogvotional: The Love of a Friend

 When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

 Luke 5:20

These are undoubtedly the finest words a person could ever hear.  They come packaged in a relatively simple phrase and yet they hold an enormous amount of meaning.  First, to be called “friend” by the Almighty should not be tossed about or overlooked.  We, ourselves, only label those closest and dearest to us as “friend”.  So it seems surprising, if you read the entire passage, that Jesus would use such a term of endearment on a man it appears He didn’t even know. 

But Jesus did know him.  He knew this man long before he was ever born. (Call it a divine privilege.)  He knew him well and He loved him dearly!  The same applies to you and me.  And after He calls the man “friend”, He goes on to bestow the on him the greatest act of mercy – the forgiving of his sins.  Jesus wasn’t just healing the man’s infirmity; He was giving the man life – eternal life.  By dying on the cross, Jesus spoke those same words to you and me.  We are His friends and we are forgiven.

Encouragement for the week:  Never forget that by our faith we have been forgiven by the one who calls us friend.  Look forward to the day when you will hear the second best phrase ever spoken: "Well done good and faithful servant."