Building Begins With Us

When I think about how we as a church are to build each other up, I try to look past the words to the doing of it. How is it done, really? It seems to me that no matter what, there has to be a start, right? In my life someone shared Jesus with me. I had to choose. But even beyond that we each have a responsibility to look to our own lives and with our whole heart seek God.

In Psalm 119:10 the psalmist he is talking to God and says he has sought God with his whole heart, and asks God not to let him move away from God’s commands. From verses 9-16 he looks to God, commits to the relentless pursuit of God, and the interaction with God. He was wise enough to know his own shortcomings. Even though he committed to do his best, to say what God said, he realized he needed God to get on with life on a daily basis. Me too.

Prayer
Father, King of the universe, I ask that You reach out to Your people today, even now, to help us not stray from your commands. Please help us to keep our heart dedicated to You. We make mistakes. Please pick us up and help us get back on the path. You alone are God and Judge. In Jesus name. Amen.

Building Unaware

I have a friend that has repeatedly said to me that they do not believe the bible is a true accounting, that Jesus is God, or that there is anything beyond the human being and the human spirit. Interestingly enough this person has asked me and the prayer team at my church to pray to my God for physical and mental healing. They has reported to me that the prayers are working and her serious illness is noticeably healing quickly. My point is this person is denying the very God from whom they hope to receive help. The bigger point is, this person is building something from this, but what?

Every day whether we are consciously aware participants or not, we are building. Our words and our actions become a part of a stack of timed events, once after the other. That never goes away. In essence, we are building our own story, our own time stack, our own book of our life. One day it will be read in heaven for all to see. That is what we are building, whether we do it on purpose or not. The great news for believers is God gives us a way to improve the things we messed up by granting us forgiveness and washing them with the words of Jesus, and covering them with His blood. Pretty good deal for us, really, if we take it.

What are you building?

Prayer
Father, King of the universe, we love You. Thank You for covering for us in the mistakes we make and for helping us to have the power to stop making them. I ask today father that you would reach out to those that need You that have not yet accepted that they do. Let them know You are there and that You love them. Father, in these challenging times, we have enemy activity that disguises itself in many ways, acting as if it is there to help us get and have things, protect us, etc. Sometimes the claims are true. Often they are not. I ask that you do as it says in scripture, and bring the evil plans to nothing, showing these cruel enemies for what they are. Deliver Your people again Father. In Jesus name. Amen.

When Buildings Show Up

When it is time for something to change, I can be one of those people that can get impatient. Sometimes all I know is I want what I want when I want it. That can be a recipe for failure because God works in His time – eternity – not ours. No one likes to hear that, I don’t think. I know I don’t, but it is true. It is not only true in our spiritual life, it is true in the every day physical world as well.

Have you ever driven by some place regularly and watched as a house was being built. It seems like nothing is happening for the longest time. Materials begin to accumulate. There is a hole in the ground. Then there is a block structure in the hole. Then it has the sub-floor. Then, all of a sudden, what looks like a house magically appears as the shell goes up quickly. Then it seems to take forever before it is done. First, the foundation is a hard fought battle. Then there is a rather quick change with the shell. Then it seems to take a life time to finish every detail for the house to be complete. Sound familiar? That same process takes place for us spiritually. We have to have everything in place before we put on the roof, for example. We always start with the tedious foundation. We have to be patient and work with God to get to us as a finished work. It takes a lifetime.

Prayer
Father, please help us to be patient and trust in You. Please help us to believe that You are there every step of the way. Help us to know that You always finish what You start. In Jesus name. Amen.

The Many Builders – Part 1

This past weekend I heard a message from our pastor that was quite good. He was introducing a series of teachings focused on the Psalms. There was something very interesting in what he said. He spoke of spending time reading the scriptures daily as a good practice, and was speaking in particular of the Psalms. The Psalms are one of my favorite books, as those of you that read this daily may now know. He pointed out the many people that have stated that the Psalms deal with emotions. I agree. They are filled with the strong convictions of the psalmists. There are cries to God, with God answering. There are also calls to us to live lives dedicated to God and His work. There are many places that tell us how to build our faith for victory over our enemy with our voice in praise and thanksgiving to God. These scripture build us up.

It occurred to me as I listened that he was building in me and others the instructions and directions to becoming what God is calling us to become. Paul spoke about the many builders in 1 Corinthians 3. It takes more than us alone to build us up. It takes the church community around us. We are becoming the bride, the New Jerusalem spoken of in Revelations 21:9-11. Nehemiah needed many people to rebuild the old Jerusalem and the wall. It is important then that we do read daily, as much as is within us. And it is important to realize that we also need the builders of the community to help us build.

Prayer
Father, thank You for the many people You send our way to help us to be built into the bride of the Lamb. I ask that You bless those that build, and those that are being built today, Lord, with the desire and the ability to continue to press towards the mark of the high calling in the Messiah Jesus. Please forgive us all for those things we do that we should not, and for not doing that which we should. Help us to shift that. In Jesus name. Amen.

Building With The Master

Some times when I have had a day of reflection, like our holiday here yesterday, the following day starts a little different. That day was today. I thought this morning about how Jesus taught on the mountain that we are to hear His words and do them. What came to mind first was “wood, hay, stubble” from 1 Corinthians 3. It seems God will give us the freedom to be and to do what we see fit. The question is, is it good stuff or not? Maybe even more importantly, since we are all human and imperfect, how do we get yesterday’s wood, hay, and stubble out of the walls of the house we are building on the Rock, Jesus? It caused me to wonder exactly what was Jesus saying when He finished the sermon on the mount, talking about building on a rock or sand.

It would seem the most important point is to start on the Rock. For believers, this would be having Jesus as our Messiah. If we build on what men say, whether they are the long lists of the Pharisees of old or the long lists of the church leaders today, those are NOT the Rock. From the Rock (Jesus as our own Messiah) we lay up the walls, one piece of understanding at a time. And, being human, we will get parts of it wrong, and get some wood, hay, and stubble in there. We can leave it to be burned out in the end (1 Corinthians 3), or we can turn from building that way (repent), ask for God’s forgiveness, and build with good stuff again. And what shall we use to do it? Well, the sermon on the mount holds many nuggets worthy of being our wall. I like Matthew 5:13-20; 7:7-12. What works for me is not so important. What is important is that each of us spend time each day with the Master Builder, and let Him guide us, let what He says rule our lives, and not what men say.

Prayer
Father, thank You for Your guidance and direction in life. Thank You for allowing us to repent from the evil and the stupid things we do. Thank You for helping us each day to find the lighted path, the lamp unto our feet. We praise and thank You. In Jesus name. Amen.

Thoughts Shared With A Friend

Earlier this week I had a friend contact me and another person to pray for them concerning a possible business venture. We did pray, and we shared with him what we felt God was saying to us in our prayer time. It did not mean much to me at the time, but apparently it meant something specific to my friend. A few days later my friend contacted me on another matter and mentioned that he felt he was being attacked by doubt. He had thoughts like, “You can’t do that. You have never done that.” etc. After considering what he was going through, I prayed and read some scriptures. That’s when it occurred to me that we may have a say in this in our own lives when it happens to us. Here are the thoughts I shared with him.

What has God said to you about this subject? That is what you need to say to yourself out loud. When you do that, you hear it (as does our enemy) and you are proclaiming what God has already proclaimed. When we say what God said, it changes things (like the running conversation in our head). Secondly, what do the scriptures say about this situation? Say those out loud as well. We actually have the power to edify ourselves (or tear ourselves down). This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 10 when he was quoting Moses Our mouth and our heart, working together, is powerful to change things. When we say what God has said, we have that power behind us.

Prayer
Father, please reach out to Your people right now. Those that are struggling with bad thoughts, help them to say what You say and do what You are doing about these things. Help us to be Your ambassadors for truth and light here on the earth. Help us to help others, and bring the kingdom to earth. In Jesus name. Amen.

Building Thoughts

Last night with a group of believers I listened as someone read a verse I had heard many times. In II Corinthians 10 Paul is talking about warfare, but specifically in verse 5 he addresses thoughts. We are to take every thought captive. In that moment as our group was praying together it began to really sink in that it is our mind that we must control in a way that takes the thoughts captive. We sometimes think good things and other times we have to take control and make our mind think things that are exalting of the Messiah. But how?

Then I had an opportunity to understand just how that works. Waking from some dreams through the night I had thoughts that I did not want to have. I was tired and trying to escape them by thinking about something else. I was not having any serious luck with that. Then I remembered that the same Paul talked about how we change things with our speaking in Romans 10:8-13. This is how we become believers. It is how we are made whole. It is how we take control of our minds. I began to pray out loud to God for His help. I also began to say out loud what I would think about in detail. I said out loud generally that I would not think about the things that were trying to enter my mind, but did not give them voice with specific words. This lasted about five minutes. My mind was clear and I went off to sleep. God is good.

Prayer
Father, please help us to remember Your blessings. Please help us to have the power to speak the things that You speak. Please help is in times of trial to say out loud the things You would have us to say. Be with Your people today and build them up. In Jesus name. Amen.

Construction 101

Some things are just very obvious if we just stop to think about them. For example, what is the first thing we need if we are to build a building? I would suggest it is a place to build it. To edify one another, to build each other up, implies that there is a place to build. That place is a person, or we should say, the heart and the mind of that person. To me, this is one of the reasons David was constantly searching his own heart and also talking about drawing near to that which was good and moving away from that which was not good. It was not because he thought himself special. It was because he thought God was special.

In Psalms 101 we see a short but clear picture of this idea. David must have been an interesting king and leader of the people because he is always talking about singing. It seems safe to say that there is more to the idea of singing that meets the eye at first pass. He states that he will sing of mercy and justice, which I find to be an unusual combination. This entire Psalm speaks of standing fast on only what is good, only considering that which is good, only looking at that which is good, only being around people that are trying to do good, and so on. He will put perversity away from him, away from his heart. He will push away the haughty from him. He will separate himself from those that do not seek God.

Just like building a building in life today, start with a good piece of ground, use only good material, and labor only with those committed to building the right way. Sounds like pretty good advice for edifying one another, right?

Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your commitment to helping us build the house we call “us” with only the good stuff. We thank You for Your mercy toward us, that You help and encourage us to do and build the right things. Father, help each one of Your people today, Lord, to have what they need to build themselves up today, and to help those around them build well today, that You may be glorified today. Praise be to the King! In Jesus name. Amen.

What Are We Building?

Life is a reflection of what I see in the scriptures. This really makes sense, if we think about it, because God created both. Same author, same theme. As believers, we look to the scriptures to guide our path and light our way. We see in the scriptures we are to edify ourselves and others. Ephesians 4 makes it plain that this is part of the job description for the leadership of the church. God was smart. In 1 Corinthians 14 we see this is also extended to all believers through the gifts of the Spirit. And there are others, like Acts 15, Romans 15, 1 Thessalonians 3:2, and so on. The need to edify ourselves and others is well known. What is more challenging is, how do we know when we are doing this?

The easy way is to speak scriptures that are positive in nature to ourselves and others. We can also sing the Psalms and the hymns we know. Paul speaks of this in Ephesians 5 when he says to speak to ourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. These are excellent directions for us to go. However, is there anything else we can do? How do we know if we are actually edifying others, and that we have good intent? This leads us back to the title of this post.

When you are speaking or taking an action, stop and ask yourself, “What are we building from this?” If you like what you see, keep doing it. If not, stop, seek forgiveness (and accept it), and move on to something that has a good end.

Prayer
Father, thank You for making us into a building. Thank You for giving us a good Chief Cornerstone, Jesus. Thank You for being a very positive Father to us all. Praise Your Holy Name. In that name, the name above all others, Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Where to Begin

When I awoke this morning I was thinking about houses. My son has just purchased his first, and we have been working on it to get it move in ready. As I thought about houses in general it made me think about what happens when we build anew. Where would we begin?

A house has to start with a foundation. If there is something wrong with the foundation, the building is doomed because it is built on top of that. It occurred to me that we are just like that. We have to have a good and solid foundation or the rest of us, the building we call our life, will be doomed as well. So what should we be start with in us that will make the building we call our life to have the best chance at turning out to be something we can enjoy? Let me start with a hint – It’s not a good job, or a spouse that’s perfect, kid’s that don’t act up, or a boss that treats you with respect. These are all great things to experience in our life, but they are not the first thing, the foundation. What is the foundation?

Jesus. In the time I have been writing these short messages, these daily devotionals, I had not stopped to consider that someone reading these may not know this, that Jesus is the Rock, He is our foundation. We all need to lay that first foundation stone, calling out to Him, asking for His forgiveness, asking Him to cover us with the blood of His sacrifice, and giving our lives to Him as our Messiah, our Savior King. For those of us that have taken that first step, I suggest it is good at the start of each day to check out the foundation, to re-establish that right position with God in prayer. If you are someone that for whatever reason has not taken that step, or you just do not feel sure that you have received that newness of life in Jesus, won’t you do that today?

Prayer
Father, You have said to us that You so loved the people of the world that You gave up Your only begotten Son Jesus to die and be raised from the dead that we might have not perish but have life, and that more abundantly forever (John 3:16). Father, let me now pray for, and with, anyone that reads this that is uncertain. Jesus, You alone can save me from anything and everything, even from me. Please forgive me for my sins. Please be my King forever. In Jesus name. Amen.