When
it comes to humility Jesus is our example. In Philippians 2:5-9 (KJV) we have
the description of how Jesus gave up all the privileges of heaven and came to
earth and: "took upon himself the form of a servant". In verse 5 of
that chapter we are told to let Jesus be our example in humility.
We
have another great example of Jesus humbling himself and becoming a servant in
John 13:14-15: "If I then your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye
also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye
should do as I have done to you”.
We
also learn very clearly from these verses that we need to do the same thing for
our fellow believers; in fact, the command is stated twice! “For even the Son
of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom
for many” (Mark 10:45). Enough said!
If
we want to be like Jesus and be obedient then we must serve one another. For
some people serving comes naturally; they have a servant’s heart, others of us
have to work at it a little harder. Nevertheless, there is great blessing in
serving others, because: “when you do it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
you do it unto me”, (Matt. 25:40).
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“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth
understanding unto the simple” (Ps 119:130; KJV). “Thy word is a lamp unto my
feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps 119:105) We all need specific direction and
guidance in our lives and according to these verses one of the ways in which
God can lead and direct us is through his word. As Christians, prayerfully reading
and studying the word will allow the Holy Spirit to bring illumination and
reveal things to our spirits that would not be possible to the natural mind (John
14:26).
Keep
reading the word, even in the dry times. God promised that: “So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it
shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto
I sent it” (Isa 55:11).
In
addition to studying the word we can pray for guidance. God can speak directly to
our spirits in a: “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11); an idea, a scripture or
words that well up silently in our spirits with a sense of peace and assurance
(James 3:17). If we are unsure as to what God is saying we need to seek counsel
from our Pastor or someone who is a mature and seasoned Christian (Pr 24:6).
If we
are praying for guidance and are still unsure which path to take, then we need
to keep doing what God told us last until we have an assurance that it's time
to change direction.
Always
remember that God does have a plan for our lives and it's a good one; we just need
to discover it (Ps 139:16).
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
Paul
said, that when he preached, he didn’t not do it in his own wisdom but by the
power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:4). In other words, the Holy Spirit gave him
the words to say and when he spoke God’s word, the power of the Holy Spirit was
released to change people’s lives and to heal them.
In
John 6:63, Jesus is recorded as saying that it is the Spirit that brings life
and that his words were spirit and life. The Bible is God’s word, inspired by him
through the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:15-17). The Holy Spirit reveals God’s word
(the Bible) to us (John 14:26). The word in our mouths is God’s: “sword of the
Spirit” with which we can defeat all the attacks of satan on our lives (Eph 6:
17).
For
us to have the power of God’s word to affect change and cause satan to flee
from us (James 4:7) we must have the word living and abiding in us (1 Peter
1:23). This means we need to spend time to get the word down into our spirits
so that it comes out of our mouths automatically when we need it. Now here is
the rub. We need to make God’s word our priority, there are no short cuts.
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“But speak thou the things which become sound
doctrine” (Titus 2:1; KJV). The word, become, suggests our conversation be
fit or proper for Christ men and women.
The apostle Paul goes on in the second chapter in
his letter to Titus to describe some traits of godly living, listing them as:
sobriety, temperance, holiness, love, patience, faith, discretion, chastity,
loyalty, sound speech, honesty and obedience. Do you get the picture?
We
are supposed to be easily identified as Christians by what we speak and how we live.
Paul
tells Titus our lives should adorn or be ornaments to the things of God (v10).
In verse 12 Paul teaches us that God’s grace has trained us to have nothing to
do with ungodliness and worldly desires and to be self-controlled and upright.
This does not allow us to cheat, be dishonest, tell white lies, gossip etc.
In
2 Timothy 2:22 Paul further preaches that we should grow up as far as sin is
concerned; in fact, he says to flee sin and pursue being like God in our
thoughts and actions. We should aggressively seek to walk in faith, love and
peace with all of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
This
is kingdom living, this is aiming for perfection or maturity (Matt 5:48). I
know it seems almost unattainable, but notice above that Paul said to Timothy
to pursue godliness. It’s good to have
something to aim at; we’ll miss the mark from time to time but that’s better
than aiming at nothing. Paul also said of himself that he was not perfect but
he pressed on toward the goal (Phil 3:12).
Remember
that God is always with you and that his word and power will always enable you
to do what he expects of you (Phil 1:6).
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book: “On the Way: Basic Christian Training”, including how to purchase it and
also to see more encouraging Bible based blogs. Please recommend our book to
others.
The
Bible tells us in so many places to give thanks to God. “Let us come before his
presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms” (Ps
95:2). The word for thanksgiving there in the Hebrew is "todah", it
means adoration, praise, and giving thanks. This word occurs over 30 times in
the Old Testament.
In
the New Testament, the apostle Paul taught us to voice our thankfulness to God
(Eph. 5:4). In 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Paul exhorted us to thank God in everything
no matter what the circumstances are. It is also interesting to note that in teaching
about prayer he very much emphasized the importance of accompanying all of
those prayer requests with thanksgiving (Phil 4:6).
We
don't need to thank God for the challenges we face in life but for the way out
of those challenges. "We are more than conquerors through him that loved
us” (Rom.8:37). If you have a thankful heart you won’t have a complaining
heart; so, let's have thankful hearts for all of God's love and blessings, and
look forward expectantly to what he will accomplish through us.
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