Even If i Walk Alone

Instructing and encouraging you to live your life as a disciple of Jesus

Set Apart

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“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy”. – I Peter 2:9-10 (HCSB)

When we accept Christ, we become part of His family, His “chosen people”. Our obligation, as well as our desire if we truly love Him, is then to praise and honor Him by living a life where Christ shines through everything we do. Significantly, this “shining” must not only occur when we are around others, but at all times throughout our day. There is no “time-off” from Christianity. If we truly love Him, every moment, every aspect, of our life will be lived in such a way as to honor Him.

We are set apart by God, not because of who we are, but rather because we belive in Him and have accepted His gift of salvation through His Son. Once we receive this gift, we are honor bound to then live in such a way so that others will be drawn to Christ as well. We must live for God not only first, but always.

Father, thank You for offering such an amazing gift to me; thank You for considering me one of Your people and for setting me apart. May I strive always to live in a manner worthy of You.

Being Truly Filled

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Listen, my dear brothers: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that He has promised to those who love Him? – James 2:5 (HCSB)

The Kingdom of God appears upside down when looking through the eyes of the world.

We must humble ourselves to the point of being “poor” in the eyes of the world. Putting aside the trappings (material things) of this world helps to clear space for God. Becoming earthly poor allows us to become spiritually rich. God chooses those who are willing to sacrifice earthly possessions so that they may possess Him only. When we cast all aside and wait on God, we will be filled.

Father, loosen my grip on material things and anything else that might take my focus from You. May I let it all go and then I ask that You fill whatever is missing with only You. Fill me Father.

Pure Devotion

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“Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents to abstain from fleshly desires that war against you. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that in a case where they speak against you as those who do evil, they may, by observing your good works, glorify God in a day of visitation.” – I Peter 2:11, 12 (HCSB)

We need to live lives devoted to Christ regardless of how others treat us.

Every second of every minute of every hour of every day we make the choice to either live for Christ or against Him. There is no middle ground; we must always be focused in such a way that even our loudest critics are forced to admit that we live a life devoted to God. We don’t know how much time we have here in this life. We must love with an urgent passion, with every moment focused on our devotion to God. We must humble ourselves, put away our selfishness and seek Him constantly – without ceasing!

Lord, You know I often fall short of my goal of living for You; forgive me. Instill an urgent passion for You in the depths of my soul. May I hunger for You in a manner that cannot be satisfied until we meet in Heaven. “Give me reckless faith…”

Proper Focus

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As He was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “The womb that bore You and the one who nursed You are blessed!” He said, “Even more, those who hear the word of God and keep it are blessed!” – Luke 11:27-28 (HCSB)

Why did Jesus reply as He did to the woman in the crowd? Was it a rebuke? Was it a correction? It seems as if Jesus is attempting to refocus the attention of the woman. She is focused on His mother and the honor Jesus brings to her. Jesus wants the woman to focus elsewhere. He wants her to hear what He is saying and, after hearing, go out and put those words into action.

It’s easy to get caught up in the words of a good sermon or in the excitement of a Christian concert. We need to make certain there is more than simply emotion in play, however. We need to take the lessons we learn and apply those to our lives. When you are involved in a great church, particularly in the mega-churches today, it’s easy to look forward to the next service simply because of the atmosphere, the people you will see or the production of the service itself. The above passage can serve as an admonition against this type of attitude.

We must never lift up anything or anyone. Only Jesus should be lifted up into a place of worship. Don’t look forward to the next sermon; look forward to applying what you will learn to your daily life. Don’t look forward to the next performance from your worship band; look forward to the conversation you will have with God as the band leads you into the Lord’s presence. Take what the Lord reveals to you and simply obey. It’s never about the vehicle; it’s about obedience to the message. If we are walking in pure devotion, our very lives will cry out in praise to the Father without any additional help from us. We need to simply focus on His Glory and then obey.

Father, give me the discipline to obey You in every moment of my life. Forgive me when my focus gets distorted and I turn away from You. Help me see everything through Your eyes.

Jesus and Racism, Part 2

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“He sent messengers ahead of Him, and on the way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for Him. But they did not welcome Him, because He determined to journey to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do You want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?’ But He turned and rebuked them…” – Luke 9:52-55a

Why was this situation different from the countless other times that people had rejected Christ? Hadn’t he been mocked by the religious “elite” of Israel, laughed at by those in His hometown? Why on this day did the disciples react with such great emotion? What was stirring their disregard for those around them? Hadn’t Jesus been teaching them to love all people and that everyone was in need of His truth? What provoked such hatred from the disciples?

Maybe you think hatred is a strong word, surely the disciples didn’t hate those who were rejecting Jesus; surely they were simply demonstrating unbridled zeal. Or was something else in play? Interestingly, it was John, arguably Jesus’ closest friend that is credited with the vile, murderous words of contempt. “Do You want us to call down fire from Heaven to consume them?” I imagine it may have caused a great deal of sorrow for Jesus to see such a shallow emotion as that of racism being displayed by those He was working so diligently to teach. Even worse, they tried to conceal their sin by making it appear to be a statement of righteousness. They didn’t just want these people to die, they wanted Heaven itself to open up and destroy them.

Racism is seen in many forms every day. It is the exact opposite of what Christ came to declare: all people are valuable, created equally by the creator, loved equally by that same creator. We are called to imitate that love. Although it can be uncomfortable to think about, how similar are the disciples’ sentiments to that of Hitler? Both wanted to destroy others simply based on their race. Racism has been with us for thousands of years; it strikes everyone from the madmen (Hitler) to the seemingly devoted followers of Christ (the disciples). We are fed the concepts of racism through what we listen to, what we watch, what we read and what we have been taught as we were growing up. We must never forget that racism is purely of the devil. Jesus had no room for it, nor any patience for those who did.

Jesus rebukes our racism; let us rid all traces of it from ourselves.