Focus

This is the excerpt from Chapter Four, Focus:

The thing that has our attention has our focus, and what has our focus has the potential to rule us. As Christians, we need to find ways to keep our focus on our Lord. Anything that has our focus tends to have our heart. Let us set our focus on Christ! Nothing can motivate quite like a grateful heart. Jesus deserves our focus. 

We need to resolve to be like King Josiah, who did what was good in the eyes of the Lord. He did not look to the left or the right. Let us not allow the world to blind our gaze with all its distractions; instead, keep our focus on Jesus.

Next, we see where we can go to set our gaze on Him. I can think of no better place than His Word. Let us set our focus there. 

So, I wanted to put the concepts I talked about in the last article about the Believe/Faith/Trust chapter together into some insight I received as I worked on this chapter about Focus. 

In 2 Kings 22:1-2, we find an 8-year-old king, Josiah, who the Word says did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, not turning aside to the right or the left. In Joshua 1:7, most notably known for the statement "Be strong and courageous," it is also a warning to obey commands and not turn from them to the right or the left. 

Psalm 100:4 tells us we enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with Praise.

I began to look at this in light of the information in the summary of the last post about Faith/Believe/Trust. 

The summation of a person attending the bible study, Grow Up

We Believe with our heads.

We Trust with our hearts.

Our Faith is a divine gift that allows us to act out in hands of action.

Information below was pulled from the website RDR Bible Study:

• Faith – the act of the will
• Belief – the act of the mind or intellect
• Trust – the language of the heart

So, as I read in the Focus Chapter and did the homework, I could see the connection between this chapter and the conversation we had about Chapter Three in such new ways. I will attempt to share my revelation with you.

Seeming Psalm 100:4, I looked at how I can focus on the Lord and His word. I noted that it tells me to enter His gate; this led me to think about the gate... Jesus is the gate, according to John 10:9. He is the way we enter into the presence of the Lord. The verse tells us we enter this gate with thanksgiving. This led me to evaluate what it means to thank Him. So, I thanked Him for what He had done for me in order for me to be accepted by the Father. I thanked Him for dying for me and then opening up a real relational connection in His resurrection and ascension to heaven that gave me the Holy Spirit.

The second part of the verse tells me to enter into His courts with praise. So, in His courts, I am in His presence. His presence is the Holy Spirit that dwells, abides, and lives in me. I praise Him for who He is.

I was reminded that my faith is in the Character of God. His actions will confuse me at times because His ways are not my ways, so I cannot understand Him fully. When I cannot make sense of the circumstances, I can always make sense of who I know Him to be.

Faith/Believe/Trust are Essential to Our Spiritual Growth

This includes the summary excerpt to Grow Up, chapter three, about believing, trusting and our faith.

We are made right with God because we believe what God said about Jesus and His sacrifice for us. We receive the faith gift He has provided for us. This counts as our righteousness and proclamation made about us upon salvation. Then, we begin a process of cooperating with God by His Spirit. As we allow Him to build our confidence in Him, it strengthens our faith, which is revealed in our actions. With faith, we trust Him and surrender to Him, where He matures us little by little. He grows us up into the righteous one He proclaims us to be by our faith. We see His faithfulness working in us, which grows our faith and trust in Him. We have faith in the work of Christ. 

Faith exists for everyone. We all believe in something. Remember, the object of our belief defines our faith. Followers of Jesus Christ believe God exists. We believe what God says about Jesus’ death and place our faith in the sacrifice that pays for our sins. The activity in our lives reveals what we believe. We mature in our relationship with Him by believing what He says, and to believe what He says, we need to know what He says. To know what He says, we must read the Word of God. All of this will grow our trust and confidence in Him. The next two chapters will look at this concept of being in the Word of God and see clearly where we need to place our focus.

In a discussion group this week, one of the members in the class made an observation about these three words; this is the gist of her summation:

We Believe with our head.

We Trust with our heart.

Our Faith is a divine gift that allows us to act out in hands of action.

I began to dig into this as I was pondering this distinction with her. The following is what I came across. 

The word trust is the heart word of faith. It is the Old Testament word, the word given to the early and infant stage of faith. The word faith expresses more the act of the will, the word belief the act of the mind or intellect, but trust is the language of the heart. The other has reference more to a truth believed or a thing expected.

Trust implies more than this, it sees and feels, and leans upon a person… (No author’s name is given)

The difference in meaning can be outlined as followed:

• Faith – the act of the will
• Belief – the act of the mind or intellect
• Trust – the language of the heart

Every use of faith, belief/believing, and trust will not fit into this box. But the outline is extremely useful in thinking about the differences between faith, belief, and trust. 

This information is pulled from RDRD Bible Study | A Simple Framework For Thinking About Belief, Trust, And Faith

A Simple Framework For Thinking About Belief, Trust, And Faith

Posted by T Whitfield | Dec 22, 2018 | Theology, Thinking Theology |

A Spiritual Discipline for Disciples to Grow Up is Prayer

Below is an excerpt from my bible study, Grow Up: Maturity in Christ Build Real Community, from the summary of the Prayer chapter. 

To take away the mystery of prayer, we need to understand that it is simply communicating with God. It is not pompous, eloquent, or well-spoken words. We were created to communicate with God. We speak, He listens, He speaks, we listen. Jesus taught His disciples to pray in the Lord’s prayer. Anytime we are at a loss as to how to pray, the format of this prayer can guide us. We can begin by acknowledging who God is, recognizing His exalted place above all else, praying for His will to be done, asking for provisions, forgiveness, and protection for self and others, then recognizing that the glory truly lies with Him. 

We are here to change the world for the better for Jesus. Prayer will impact and affect the world. Prayer often does not change our circumstances. More times than not, it changes us. The mighty weapon of prayer can hold back much on behalf of the people of God.

Prayer is a significant and very important way for us to connect with our Creator. It grows our relationship with Him. Prayer is such a key component in growing up spiritually. It is an open dialogue with the One who feeds, molds, and perfects us. Avoiding prayer cuts us off from our source. Prayer helps us remain, abide, and commune with God. He serves as the source of our growth, guidance, and everything.

Let us be prayerful people who stay connected to our wonderful Creator!

Book is available on Amazon 

How Great Thou Art!

Hey, feeling super grateful today.  I have had worship music playing in the house this afternoon, and boy, is it reviving my soul.

For some time, as a follower of Jesus Christ, the Lord has done something for me at just the right time, and today I was reflecting on it. I was in church this Sunday, and one of the songs the Lord uses to remind me, encourage me, and lift me up was the last song before we moved out of the praise time into a time for the sermon. That song is an oldie but a goodie, How Great Thou Art. Below are the printed-out lyrics. Those words this Sunday caused me to "gasp cry." I was in a super sweet moment with the Lord. 

1. O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
consider all the works thy hands hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed;

Refrain:
Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Savior-God, to thee:
How great thou art! How great thou art!

2. When through the woods and forest glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze; 

3. And when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die, I scarce can take it in,
that on the cross my burden gladly bearing
he bled and died to take away my sin; 

4. When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home, what joy shall fill my heart!
Then I shall bow in humble adoration and there proclaim: "My God, how great thou art!"

 

There was one Sunday I was struggling. Just had lost my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law had to go to the emergency room at the hospital. My husband was taking care of his mom's details while my sister-in-law and I stayed with our father-in-law. During our time at the hospital, my sister-in-law discovered her mom had also passed.  Sometimes you just have to say, "REALLY."

So, with that in my near rearview mirror, that Sunday I was in need of serious encouragement. I was talking to the Lord about it. I turned on a Christian radio station, and How Great Thou Art started. I just started crying and felt so heard and loved by the Lord at that moment. I got to church and was telling a friend of mine at church about it. Once the music started in our service, How Great Thou Art started playing. Wow!  I turned to her and had my mouth fully agape. (side note: as I typed out that word, it wasn't lost on me that it is also the Greek word for God's love for us) I felt very loved at that moment.

Over the years, the Lord has lined that song up to remind me of HOW GREAT HE IS just when I need to be reminded. It is our thing between Him and me. 

I hope today, as you read this, you think through what that song may be for you with Him.

Hope this encourages you today.

As I end this article, note that if you are in Christ, you and I have the best news ever. However, with the good news is also bad news.

If you are not in Christ, know this: I share this part of the message with you because I care. The bad news is that you are separated from your Creator, which we call the fall of man. (Sin: which comes from an archery term, meaning missing the mark.) We all have missed the mark. The really bad news is that if we don't do anything about it during this lifetime, we will be separated from our Creator forever. That is so bad, but even worse, we will join the enemy of our Creator and his followers in hell which was created for them forever, eternally.

YIKES!  That is the really bad news.

But the great news for us was bad news for our Savior and His enemy. He came to pay the death price for the mark I missed and imparted His right standing with the Father in heaven to me when I first believed that He died for me.  Hallelujah!!

You too can enter into this GREAT NEWS. If you sense the Lord drawing you even as you read this, respond to Him. Tell Him you believe His sacrifice on the cross is the only acceptable payment for your sin and repent from your sin (simple means stop doing it. To repent is to turn from.) If you know any Christians, consider reaching out to them and asking them to pray with you. If you are able, find a Bible-believing church and start going regularly.  Not to go there and find perfect people.  YOU absolutely will never find perfect people at any church. If God is at work in them, you will find beautifully broken, humble folks who will love you, walk with you, and fellowship with you. True Koinonia can be found in the body of Christians.

If you watched the Charlie Kirk memorial, that was a beautiful demonstration of the body coming together to celebrate the Lord.

My prayer is that you do turn your life, your attention, your devotion, your focus all on the Lord!!!

Come now, just as you are. No need to clean yourself up. That will be a lifelong journey with you, the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God that comes through Jesus to carve us into the image of the Father's Son, Jesus.

All in all, this will be the best decision you will ever make. It will not be easy, but boy, it will be SO worth it.

Go and be blessed today and be a blessing to others.

What is Spiritual Immaturity?

One of my passions is to spur others on to grow in their faith. I long to see those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior grow up in their salvation. A discipline that helps with this is regularly reading the Word of God, the Bible, so that the Word of God can be in them!  I love to observe the lights that go on in a young believer's head and heart as the Word of God comes alive in them and they connect with it. 

Did you know that the Bible defines spiritual immaturity for us? Look at these two quotes from scripture below:

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?  1 Corinthians 3:1-3

About this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. Hebrews 5:11-13

The goal of a Christian is to grow up into a spiritual adult and pursue maturity, rather than returning to the elementary teachings of Christianity. We study the principles given to us in scripture that give us a solid foundation. Eventually, we need to come alongside younger believers, teach them these truths, and make every effort to grow up individually and communally. Primarily and foremost, we need to start on the spiritual milk, but eventually we need to move on to study the solid food of the Bible. (This is an excerpt from the 1st chapter of the bible study Grow Up)

If you are getting an appetite for the word, I pray you find a Bible-believing church to attend that teaches the Word of God. Also, I pray you find a small group to do life and study with. 

Hope you have a blessed day.