2022-11-11
Good Morning Dear Ones,
The Lord has given us enough information in the Scriptures that those with faith in Him, those who do their best to live as the Lord would want, know that our relationship with Him can and should be priority one. My own experience has shown me that all my other relationships seem to work out when the one I have with the Lord is right. When I do or say something that displeases Him, I go through a time of trouble. Then, the Holy Spirit directs me to pray, listening for Him answer and bring me to necessary contrition. And yes, there are times when I have thought or behaved like that destructive, uncontrolled Labrador retriever, “Marly.” Thankfully, the Holy Spirit has the patience and love for us that He works with us to correct our minds and hearts. He does the heavy- lifting and shares the Lord’s wisdom in advising a believer how to correct situations like this.
To recap, joy and peace come from restoration, remaining in Christ, relating to God’s people, and serving God using the skill set He has given us to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This effort must be done in ways that are sensitive to the person who is listening. The example above demonstrates how genuine prayer can lead to restoration. It asks the question, “what can I change to align myself with the Lord’s will?” James 5 talks about healing the sick but allow me to focus on JAS 5: 15b-16, which is necessary reconnaissance for anyone who has sinned and wants redemption. “A prayer offered in faith can make the sick people well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”
Remaining in Christ is another way peace and joy can come into one’s life. There are times when we are tempted to reject the Lord Jesus. Being able to remain obedient and faithful to Him may be tough, but it’s necessary to walk through “the narrow gate that leads to the rocky path to eternal life” [MT 7: 13-14]. How can one do this? Genuine and humble prayer is one way. Another is to study the Scriptures. Remember 2 TIM 3: 16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful in teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” A man was being interviewed by one of our pastors. He is an engineer, and the subject was how faith in the Lord can be brought appropriately into the workplace. This gentleman told us that he manages a whole department and has worked at his company for 35 years. “I keep a Bible on my desk,” he said. “When a co-worker comes into my office because he/she has sustained the loss of a loved one or has some other chaos in his life, my knowledge of the Scriptures can really come in handy.” As believers, the Lord is near to us wherever we are. PS 145: 18-19, “The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.’
As for relating to God’s people, we’ve been told that we should share the Gospel; there are many ways to go about it. I used to volunteer for In Search of Shalom doing just that. My working knowledge of the Bible was a huge help. I would connect in real-time computer chats with seekers. Starting out in prayer was a necessary approach. Then, after hearing the seeker’s questions, I would use the Scriptures to answer this person where he/she was in their walk with the Lord. That is one way to approach this task for the Lord. There are others, depending on the person and/or things troubling him. Often certain seekers would chat with me several times. I would often give my testimony following the guidelines we have in 1 PET 3: 15-18, which I hope you will read. My joy came when one of them said, “I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior, resulting from our many chats.” There are as many good ways to serve God as there are people with different skill sets given for this purpose. Sometimes success comes not from words exchanged but from the example we set as others see us.
PRAYER: Dearest Father, I come in awe and reverence to Your great throne to seek the best advice Your Holy Spirit can give us. Knowing how to navigate in fallen world wanting us to deny our faith is difficult. None of us want to invite trouble: loss of loved ones, temptation or other forms of chaos. However, while we know You are listening with interest to our prayer, we also know You allow a certain amount of this trouble to come to us in accordance with 1 COR 10: 13. This trouble is so that our faith is tested, and You can teach us what You want us to know as we work through it. No one loves us, as You do [RO 8: 38-39]. We acknowledge Your importance to our lives and all the many blessings You bring into them. As You interact with us through the Holy Spirit, we recognize our need to depend on You [JN 15: 5]. We offer You loyalty, love, praise, and thanks, in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: Peace and joy are desired by us all; more about getting them will be my subject next week. I remember a stretch of years in my life when through the chaos of my childhood, I knew that somehow, I could find a way to more happiness but didn’t know how. My parents were good people who had no idea how to parent a child. My maternal grandmother was a big help when she visited us for a third of the year. But when she wasn’t with us, I would revert to words and behaviors that brough chaos into my life. This unhappy situation went on until the Lord made His presence known to me in a most unusual setting. I was in an 8th grade Sunday school class at our synagogue. The subject of the discussion was the historical efforts of Gentiles trying to assimilate Jews into their culture and destroy Judaism. I was too immature to be interested and sat there listening to textbook stories of the Seleucids [Greek and Arab peoples living in what is now Lebanon and southern Syria]. They were at war with the Jews in the first century BC. Antiochus IV Epiphanes wrested control of the temple in Jerusalem, In 168 BC. He had a swine offered on the highest altar, a horrific affront to the Jews, known as the Abomination of Desolation. Jewish guerillas under Judas Maccabee wrested the temple back into Jewish hands three years later, in 165 BC [Maccabee I of the Apocrypha, should have been considered canon, except for political reasons wasn’t]. I suddenly said, “Why wasn’t the Lord Jesus able to prevent loss of life in this war?” I didn’t even know what prompted me to this interjection! Even I didn’t know why I interjected this way. I wouldn’t know that till many years later. My teacher called my father that night, and I was in big trouble in our traditionally conservative Jewish home. That was the beginning of my journey with Jesus Christ—a journey I’m happy to say I am still on. This part of my testimony has a lot to do with the subjects at hand, when the Lord Jesus—restores, keeps us with Him, and leads us in relating to God (vertically) and to other people (horizontally). He wants us to use our skill sets to serve Him with obedient faithfulness. He uses us to do tasks that conform to His will and work for our benefit. Blessed be the Lord forever!
Grace Be With You Always, Lynn, JS 24: 15; © Lynn Johnson 2022, All Rights Reserved.
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