Random thoughts The following are some random things that I wrote during moments of contemplation. I hope you enjoy them and that they cause you to pause and think. Are we Christians, Believers or Followers? The world is full of those who call themselves Christians; but Christianity is a religion that is full of all kinds of sects, cults, factions, denominations and anyone who believes there is a higher power in their life. They are all labeled by the world as “Christians”. Many of them have no identification with true Christianity, which is founded on faith in Jesus Christ as the Son Of God and savior of the world. It is easy to call our self a Christian and there are many who do so. A believer is one who believes that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died for their sins, that He was buried and rose on the third day and that He will give them eternal life. He believes that the Bible is the inspired word of God and he believes all that the Bible says. Paul’s jailer asked Paul and Silas ““Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:30b-31) This is what a believer is. There are not as many believers as there are Christians. A follower is a believer that does what Jesus says we must do. He takes every direction for his life from Jesus. We are told in Mark 8:34-35 “34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” This passage clearly states that we must deny ourselves before we can follow Jesus Christ. I prefer the same thought as it is expressed in Luke “23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24). I prefer it because it reminds us that we must deny ourselves on a daily basis. There are fewer followers than there are believers. So, the question remains, “Are you a Christian, a believer or a follower of Christ? In Christ, John Are we ready for Battle? As soldiers of Christ, we must be ready, in season and out, to defend the faith. The battles that we will be called to fight, will not be fought man against man or country against country. Our battle will be in the spiritual realms! “12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (1 Peter 3:12) The accepted term for this battle is spiritual warfare. We cannot prepare for spiritual warfare in any conventional manner. Our pride and macho image of ourselves will not do us any good when we are called to this war. In fact; the enemy will use our pride and our egos against us! The only way we can prepare for spiritual warfare is through prayer, worship and Bible study. I am not talking about going to church and Sunday school. I am talking about personal worship, prayer and study. It is said that the test of a man’s character is by what he does when he is alone. When we invest time with God, in prayer, study and worship, we are in fact training ourselves for spiritual warfare. Very few Christian believers today are prepared for spiritual warfare. It is not directly taught in mainstream churches and many pastors teach against it. We are all called to be soldiers for Christ “3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2 Timothy 2:3-4). As soldiers, we need to be ready at any time to stand against the enemy but before we do we must submit ourselves to God per James 4:7 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Are you preparing yourself for battle? In Christ, John Are We Ready To Minister? Jesus was constantly demonstrating His role as a servant to all! His most memorable act of serving was the washing of the disciple’s feet as told in John 13. The reason that this is so memorable is because of the debasement that was demonstrated by Jesus. When a guest entered a home, the host showed his respect for that guest by having his feet washed. This task was given to the lowliest servant in that household. There were very few animals available for riding at that time in history and only the rich had them. Most people had to walk wherever they went. The roads were dirt and were by any standards, filthy with the offal waste of animals, the detritus of humans, and the waste of households that was routinely thrown into the streets. Because the common foot-ware was open sandals, the feet would be covered with all of this; so the task of washing ones feet was undesirable at best. Jesus demonstrated that as a servant, there is no task to menial for us. He is showing us that we must be ready and willing to do the most distasteful thing for the most distasteful people. Jesus ministered to all who had a need. He ministered to both the lepers and the rich. He loved both beggars and tax collectors. Jesus did not see the class or status of the people He ministered to, He just saw the need in them and He went out of His way to meet that need. Many churches have ministries to the poor, the homeless, the prisoners and to the needy. That is admirable and many of their congregation members join in and participate in these ministries. They share a Thanksgiving meal with them and possibly a Christmas party; but what about the rest of the year? Jesus wants us to minister to these people when we are not with a church group. It is this type of personal ministry to the people that Jesus is talking about in John 13. I use the poor and the homeless as an example; but the Holy Spirit will give you a burden for who He wants you to minister to. You just have to be earnest in your desire to serve. We are all called to be ministers of the gospel. Our actions will always say more than our words! Show someone the love of God today! Are you ready to minister? In Christ, John
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 16:27:02 +0000
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