Better Christians

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:2-6

Paul finished the letter with a flurry, fast and furious instructions written out like bullet points for life. He was almost done writing to the Colossians, but there were a few more things he wanted them to know.

Far more than an afterthought, these are building blocks for our lives, strategies for successful living. I find seven distinct things we need to see in these verses:

First, Paul shows us that we win our war through prayer. Does your life feel like a war right now? Your answer is prayer, because prayer is where you find God and get His heart written inside your heart.

Second, walk in wisdom. Wisdom sets us up for successful lives like nothing else because it teaches us the right thing to do in all circumstances. The world needs answers like never before. When we use wisdom toward unbelievers, it provokes them to demand an explanation for how incredible our lives are.

Third, a witness to the world. Our wisdom should be our witness, in that our wisdom just spills over into all things that we do. The world is watching, and we must be wise with our lives so that the world sees God’s transformational love when it sees us.

Fourth, redeem the time. Literally, this means to purchase time. When the moments of opportunity come, seize them! And in between these moments, work to produce more of them.

Five and six go together-Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt. The world needs answers, not arguments. It is good to be able to defend your faith, but you will not argue someone into the kingdom. A convinced mind is not the same as a convicted heart.

Seventh, we have a wonderful hope. When the world sees the power of Christ’s cross as it transforms our lives, they will ask us about our hope. When they see our confidence in the face of disaster, they will wonder how we can keep hope. And when they ask us about it, we need to have an answer.

These seven things will lead us to successful life and witness before the world. Do you have them in your life?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You that You help me to follow Your Word! I cannot do these seven things by myself; I need Your help. Please transform my life so that the world will want the life I have!

Amen

Heaven’s Open House

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2

How full is your life? No, I don’t mean your schedule; I mean your life.

Is your life everything that life should be? Is it full of joy and peace? Are you overwhelmed by how much love you encounter every day? Is laughter a rarity or a regularity in your household?

I imagine you reading those questions and thinking, Yeah, that does sound nice. How do I get there? Well, that’s a good question, and the answer is Jesus, because the place where that fullness of life becomes a complete reality is Heaven.

Many scriptures testify to God’s desire for us to be overflowing with life, and while this is something that should begin now, it can only be fulfilled in eternity. Our verses today speak to this coming fulfillment, and the picture they give us is absolutely incredible.

Imagine this-there is a river of water of life in Heaven. I don’t know how this works, how the water is transformed to somehow be life itself, but here’s what God says about it:

It’s pure. It is not just clean; it is pure! Nothing taints this flow of life; nothing pollutes this river. And it comes directly from the throne of God. He is the source of this river. And, what I think is the best part, it never ends. There is never a drought that could cause this river to dry up. It keeps on flowing and flowing forever and ever and ever!

The river isn’t the only part of this picture, though, for on either side of the river grows the tree of life. Ever-growing and ever-fruitful, you will never be disappointed with this tree. First, it keeps getting bigger-more and more life. Second, there is always fruit on it, and even a variety of fruit that changes with the season.

It is hard to imagine a more life-filled picture than the one God has given us in these verses, but you might be wondering what good that does you now. Well, aside from the hope it should stir in you for eternity, it shows you God’s heart.

His desire is for you to have more life than you can hold. He wants you overflowing with life, bursting at the seams, ready to pop with life! He is not some miserable old miser trying to steal your joy. No! Our God is the God of abundant life!

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You want to fill me with more life than I can hold! I want to have that kind of life. Please have Your way in me until I am living with all the life You desire for me.

Amen

The Integrity of Redemption

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 Hope.

It's amazing the power this little word has.

Just consider that the promise of hope elected President Obama. Proverbs tells us that Hope deferred makes the heart sick. Hope gives strength that helps the suffering to endure.

Hope is strong. Hope is powerful. Hope is life-giving and life-sustaining. Studies even show that hope prolongs and saves the lives of cancer patients, as many times people have died quickly when diagnosed early on with treatable cancers because they lacked hope and people have survived late diagnoses of horrible cancers because they held fast to hope.

What are you hoping for today? What hopes have you held in the past that you have given up on? And how do you grow in this powerful thing we call hope?

No matter how much hope you have today, let me encourage you-the God of all hope is also the God who redeems all things.

Look at our verse today. That's a life verse for me that speaks of the freedom that is found in our redemption. It speaks of the faithfulness of God where our redemption is concerned. It speaks of His forgiveness over our past, present, and future, over things that we're not even aware of right now that we're going to royally screw up.

His Word declares that we can know this, that all things work together for good-not just the good things, but also the bad things, not just the successes, but also the failures, and even the things that you look at in your life and would call somewhat neutral-all things. He promises to redeem all things.

I get questioned on this all the time because so many people are right in the middle of it. They're like, How could this be redeemed? This is sin. This is sick. This stinks. I've lost hope. That's a big question, and I don't want this answer to sound trite, but as soon as we look to God more than we usually do, redemption has begun. If we're looking to God more because of something, then it's worth it right there. Now that is not where God's redemption stops,

but it is where it begins.

Once we have fixed our eyes on the God of our redemption, we have found our God of hope, too.

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You are the God of both redemption and hope! I need hope refreshed in my life, so I look to You with joyful anticipation of how You are going to redeem my circumstances for Your glory!

Amen

How Do You Do Life?

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Philippians 3:20-21

What has God conquered for you? Go ahead, run the list through your mind. Here are a few that I can think of:

Death. Hell. Sin. The devil.

You already had those on your list? Awesome, what else do you have? Come on now, there must be something you can think of.

It’s really too bad if you cannot think of something that God has conquered for you. I mean, I absolutely am glad if you can say with confidence that Jesus has conquered death and Hell for you-that’s where our lives with Him begin, but that is not where His involvement in our lives ends.

You have a calling on your life, a path created by God specifically for you that He has called you to walk. Maybe you know something about this calling and you are asking God to show you the direction in life that He wants you to go. All of this is wonderful, but there is one more thing that you should know:

You will face obstacles as you work to live out your calling.

Perhaps you are facing some right now. What difficulties are staring you in the face today? Do they seem to block your road to the things you know God has called you to do? One last question, can you overcome these obstacles on your own?

The answer to that last question is almost certainly, No. However, many of us think we either can or have to handle life by ourselves. Let me break it to you-you could not get to Heaven by yourself, and you cannot fulfill Heaven’s plan for your life by yourself either!

Jesus is not only our champion who has opened the way for us to get to Heaven, but He is our champion who helps us conquer the obstacles that obstruct our callings.

How do you find His help against these difficulties? You find it the same way you found salvation-by faith. Believe in Him for the help you need. Let Him come and be your hero.

Prayer Lord Jesus,

Thank You for saving me, and thank You for not leaving me alone to walk through life by myself! Please help me conquer this difficulty that I am facing. Help me to fulfill all You have called me to be!

Amen

Knowing God’s Plan

For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:11-13

Do you know why you were born?

That’s kind of a big question, isn’t it? Yet it is a question that all of us must answer if we want to hear, Well done, good and faithful servant, when we get to Heaven.

I think it is more than that, too. We know that our lives will be the happiest, most fulfilling, most joy-filled that they can be when we are doing what we were made to do. God put a purpose inside of us and nothing else will satisfy us the same as doing what we were created to do in a loving relationship with our Creator.

Two things stand in our way. First, doubt stands in our way. We have to doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs. Don’t let anything convince you against the Word of God. Second, ignorance stands in our way. If we do not know God’s plan for our lives, then we cannot walk in it.

How do you overcome these obstacles? The obvious solution for the first one is spending time in the Word of God, searching out God’s promises. The answer to the second problem, however, is slightly different.

We have to seek God. And not just some half-hearted, when-you-feel-like-it, when-it’sconvenient, when-it-doesn’t-cost-you-anything-to-do-it kind of seeking Him. No. You have to seek Him with your whole heart!

Note that God says we are to do this kind of seeking through prayer. Have you prayed like this? Or are all your prayers no more than food-blessing, bedtime-type prayers? Look at God’s promise when we seek Him this way: We will find Him! Have you ever prayed until you found God?

This all means that God has to come first. What He thinks about your life has to be more important to you than anything else. You must have the mindset that says you will live, not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then you will discover His wonderful plans for your life; you will begin to live out the reason you were born.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your wonderful plans for me. I choose to seek You with all my heart! Help me to find You, and to find the reason You created me.

Amen

Crossing the Finish Line

Behold, I tell you a mystery, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

I bet you did this to your kids, just like your parents did it to you.

You better do as I say before I count to three! One! Two! And hopefully, if you were like I was, your parents rarely had to say, Three! because we all know what sort of trouble came our way if we pushed our parents that far.

Did you know that God has a counting system just like this? Paul tells us about God's last trumpet call in our verses today, and when that last trumpet sounds, then that's it, time's up, your chance is over.

When Paul says, last trumpet, he is probably referring to a practice of the Roman army, who would sound one trumpet to instruct the army to prepare to move. Get packed up, roll up the cot, and fold up the tent. Then a second trumpet would sound, which told the army it was time to line up. Finally, a third trumpet would sound, the last trumpet, telling the army that it was time to march-leave base camp and follow the general.

God's trumpets go like this: The first one sounds to your heart, saying, Hey, if you're not prepared to leave, then you'd better get ready. It's time to stop living for here and now and start getting ready to go.

Then the second one sounds, telling you, It's time to fall in line, time to get right with God, time to be steadfast and immovable. Time is short and it's time to get your life straight. Finally, the last trumpet will sound, and if you have ignored the first two trumpets then it will be too late. You will be left behind as the army moves out without you. And when that time hits, you will not like your options for trying to catch up.

But the good news is that our Heavenly Father has not counted to three yet. There is still time. Turn now from living for the world and put your faith in Jesus. Then, when that final trumpet sounds, you will be caught up with the Lord to enjoy the blessings of Heaven.

Prayer Father God,

I hear you counting to three and I want to respond to Your voice. I choose now to listen to You and believe in Jesus. Please help me to live for You as I look to finish this life well!

Amen

Wrong Way Worship

Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

Do you know what would hurt? It would hurt to have run a race and finished first, thinking that you have won, until a judge approaches you to say, You're disqualified. You violated the rules of the race, so you didn't win.

The rules of our race of life are pretty simple: God comes first, and we're supposed to look and act like Him because we're His kids. This means a lot of things, but you can boil it down to being this simple.

This whole God-first thing can be tricky sometimes. It means that our money doesn't belong to us, our family doesn't belong to us, our house doesn't belong to us, our car(s) don't belong to us, and our lives don't belong to us. In fact, nothing truly belongs to us. All of it is perishable, given to us for a time so that we have a chance to learn right stewardship and be entrusted with things of eternal value.

When we get this priority right-letting God guide us in all of these things that deceptively appear to be ours-that is true worship. In fact, only when we do these things have we truly made the Lord our God. If we are not following God in what He says concerning these things then we are only pretending that He is our God, while really we serve something else.

Serving God means that we don't tell Him, No. Our answer is always, Yes, Daddy. It means that we follow Him in our actions and not just in our words.

When we serve God only with our words, giving lip service to obedience, then we run the risk of being disqualified. We must serve Him with both our words and our actions, our heart and our hands.

Run with certainty. Fight the true fight. Discipline your body. Purpose yourself to this end so that you are not disqualified.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Jesus' example as one who stayed focused till He finished the race! I know that I need help to follow the rules of putting You first and living like You. Please help me, giving me all that I need to finish my race and not be disqualified!

Amen