Making Faith Practical

Well, here we are again. Back after another one of those "disappearing" acts from the blogworld. May we all benefit from the journey of today's blog....

Is your faith practical? What? My faith, you may ask. Yes, your faith, your Christianity..... is it practical? What I mean is that does your faith in Jesus affect your daily life? Does it impact where you live and how you live? Does it affect how you respond to others and to situations of life?

This is a critical question. This IS the difference between Christianity and religion. Religion or religious works is our feeble attempt to do enough or be good enough to get to God. According to Ephesians 2:8-10 this weak, fleshly attempt to appease God NEVER works. But TRUE Christianity which is by grace through faith is a gift FROM God. It is not us working but HIM working! True Christian faith is God working for us (in salvation) and in us (after salvation). Thus the understanding that our faith MUST be practical. It must be lived out in our daily life. It has to reveal itself in shoe leather (how we live our daily life) or it is not real. See James 3...

Todays treasure is found in John chapter 4. We are observing a life lesson from our Lord Jesus. Read verses 1-42... I would like for us to examine just a few verses today....

So he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water..... vs. 3-7a

The first principle we must grasp in MAKING OUR FAITH PRACTICAL is found in these few verses....do you see it?

1) Our Faith Must Engage Our Daily Walk... vs 3-7... Jesus was making his way from Judea to Galilee..on foot of course. The mapping of his journey was such that the shortest distance was to go straight through a region called Samaria. We will speak more on this at a later time but what I believe we must see is that where ever his feet led him was where his ministry was. It engaged his daily walk.

Is that true in your world? Does your faith in Jesus work in that world? Or do you have one of those one day a week religions? Here Jesus teaches us that where ever we go, whomever we meet is where we exercise our faith. Have you thought about that lately? Where you work is you mission field. Where you live is your mission field. Your family, your friends, your acquaintances and even those we come into contact with today are opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Each and every situation is a God given opportunity for us to exercise our faith.

This is easy to say when it all fits within our scheduling, our plans, our purposes and such but when it is not on todays schedule is where we often miss the boat. Don't you want to be on the adventure with Christ? We are His ambassadors, His children, His representatives and He allows our paths to cross the paths of many who are desperate for Him. We are the designated drivers in this vehicle of faith. Leading and pointing others to HIM.

How sad it is when we miss those opportunities. It even happens in churches before, during and after services....This past week I personally witnessed several of these opportunities. During our morning and evening services I personally witnessed people who were visible broken and crying during our services. What saddened me was to see so many Christians seemingly not even noticing the brokenness around them.

Where are those hearts of Christ? Where are those who turn with hearts of compassion and simply say "can I help?" Do you think for a moment Christ would neglect the hurting around Him? I think not!

What kind of excuse could we ever offer to those hurting around us, or even to HIM who has given HIS life for us? Well, I am too busy to have time to help. I don't know what to say? Or perhaps, it is the pastor's job not mine? I've got to go and eat before the restaurant gets full? Do you think any of these will stand before the Great Judgement Bar of God? I think Not!

I am glad to say that there were some who caught up with the hurting and I was blessed to see some powerful movings of the Lord as a result. Just realizing that our faith MUST be a practical faith that engages our daily walk is the first step to joining Christ in the Great Work of God.

So, what changes do we need to make. Let's start by being observant to the needs of others. Asking God what and how we can get involved. Let's get off of our proverbial cushions and touch the world through Christ!

You'll be glad you did!

Blessings

Bruce

Everything We Need....Unleashing the Power! 2...Revisited!

My apologies for yesterdays literary/technical fiasco. I have no real clue as to exactly how things were published like they were, so I will retype and republish yesterdays blog....with a few additions.. It has been one of those types of weeks.... you know what I mean don't you...

Well, I hope you spent some time thinking on the truth we covered yesterday. To understand that God has provided all we need to live a godly life and even has given us the power to do so, is AWESOME! Jesus said it in John 10:10... "I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly." God's purpose to both reconcile sinful man (and woman, I am an equal opportunity kinda guy for you ladies) to Himself and then give them the power/ability to find life...true life, which HE called abundant life.

That statement alone stirs me. The CREATOR of the Universe, the Earth, the Animal Kingdom, Plant Life, Humanity and even life itself says.. HE has come so we MIGHT have .... LIFE, and have it MORE ABUNDANTLY. This would be defined as life outside of the realm of our own abilities, desires and understanding. We often believe that God simply uses the gifts that we already possess and talents we already exercise to glorify HIMSELF... but not entirely so dear believer. If godliness were attainable by HUMAN effort or work, then we would already be there... but it is NOT. True godliness equals true life. An interesting study....

Our treasure today continues to be found in 2 Peter 1....Read verses 3-11 again as we focus a bit on this passage...

Now lets highlight verse 4...

...and because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires.

Two key phrases that mark the beauty of this passage... vs. 3 GOD has given us... and again in vs 4...he has given us great and precious promises. Here the wonder of God's grace is revealed.... He has given us all we need to live a godly life and HE has given us promises that enable us to share in His divine nature and which will then lead us to escape the world's corruption...

He has given us His goal (godliness or godly life) and the means (power/ability) to get there. It is His promises that are the means of His getting us to His goal. Scripture, God's written revelation to us, IS His instruction book in greater measure than we could ever imagine. It is there He introduces us to HIMSELF. Who HE is. What HE plans. How HE works and so on...

It is estimated that there are some 10,000 promises in God's word. He acts in accordance to it. So for us to attain godliness (His goal), we will only do so as HE reveals Himself, and His ways to us and then performs His work in us! Each and every situation in life (our life) is brought to Him and filtered through His word. We submit these situations to HIS plans and purposes by engaging HIM in all of them.

Bible reading and prayer is key to engaging HIM in every area of life. Acknowledge His plan and purpose in every area of your life. It is freeing to do so. I know from personal experience in life. May I share a bit of our personal life with you? Here it is.....depression, job loss, cancer, fire in family business, business failure, foreclosure, long and deep financial difficulties, sickness, and sudden death and these are all that came to my mind.

This is the record of our life in the past 25 years. Sounds like fun doesn't it. How can this be abundant life??? You may ask that questions legitimately, and I will tell you that if you look only at the circumstances you will not see nor understand it. But look past the big C and understand that my precious wife and I both surrendered our lives to HIM decades ago. So each circumstance was and is under HIS control. We stayed in His word and lived each day in HIS presence. HE gave us the power to get through it. Our lives have been humanly tough but spiritually blessed. We are sooo blessed!!!

I must say that HE does give us life and give it to us more abundantly. In our passage we have learned the goal, as well as the power to attain the goal so what is left? Well , this is where our role comes in... What is our role in the whole scheme of things here? Verses 5-7 holds the answer...

In view of all of this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

I will leave today with us considering the portion of verse 5... Make every effort to respond to God's promises.... Is that true in your life??? Are you (and I for that matter) making EVERY EFFORT in our relationship with God? Is our relationship with HIM the MOST IMPORTANT relationship we have? Is HE above all people and things in our lives? Are we giving HIM the time each and every day that is necessary for us to adequately engage our hearts to HIS? How about our attitudes and actions to HIS plans for us? For the vast majority of American Christians, our relationship with HIM pales in comparison to our own agenda, our families, our jobs or our fleshly desires. We will never know the beauty of Abundant Life without Loving Him with ALL our heart. HE IS OUR PRIORITY!!!!

If we want to unleash the power of the Supreme God in our lives we must come to HIM, His way and using HIS method. It is not 92% HIS way and 8% ours but 100% HIS way! HE IS GOD! Have you forgotten??? HE is the Absolute Authority in Life as HE is Life. Is that proven out by your life? He has so much planned and purposed for us, yet so often we don't even scratch the surface. Saturate your heart and mind in HIM today. Don't just do it for one day or two, May this become your life's goal, to have and enjoy the godly life HE has planned. Let nothing and no one keep you from lining up at the table of God's provision. Life is at stake. Yours, mine and other's lives. Anything other than a life lived in harmony with HIM and in love with HIM is a powerless example of Christianity and a public tragedy.

He has provided all we need! It is Done! Believe it! Receive it! Act on it! Read His promises, claim them as your own, base your life on what HE has said....

You'll be glad you did!

Blessings

Bruce