DaySpring Daily Word of Inspiration: Jude 1:20-21 – But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Yesterday we examined how once we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is God, he is faithful and faithful to us in accomplishing his promises to those who love him and keep his commandments. Today, we’ll evaluate another side of our mindset that, if not checked, will not allow God’s love and promises to be evident in our lives.
Apart of being faithful to God in our love toward him is having a deliberate effort to do what he wills. In simple terms, we have to stick to his teachings, principles, and commands for your lives in utter obedience. This task isn’t achieved on our own, if so everyone would just do the right thing from the jump. No, it is achieved by building up our faith in God through his word and joining with the Holy Spirit to send up prayers and petitions for his help in keeping us course. Remember we all have and were born with a sinful nature. It is actually natural for us to want to sin or do things against what God says, but this is where God’s word proves so crucial and beneficial. His word teaches us to “deny ourselves and take up our cross daily to follow him. (Luke 9:23)” This is his instruction to keep us living as he wants; to simple deny ourselves of the things we normally would do or are used to doing or want to do and carry that burden (like the cross Christ bore) without giving in to it. It’s called fighting the good fight against what your sinful nature, your friends, or even this world says is ok.
We learn this from being versed (built up) in the scriptures and actually applying them to our lives daily. This is an absolute indicator to God that you love him; because you are making a deliberate effort to do what he has instructed. If we want to stay in God’s love, we have to be fortified with godliness and continue to increase in it. The Holy Spirit is our agent that helps to discern between what is right and wrong in God’s eyes. If we’re not building our faith up and praying in combination with the Spirit to God on how to lessen our sinful desires and make his more prevalent, then we lose out on quality info that impacts our minds on how to stay under the covering of God’s love until Jesus returns; not to mention we won’t be able to help anyone else be impacted by God either. We essentially walk around claiming to have Christ in our lives but aren’t doing any of the things that his word would tell us to do. There is no evidence of change or true repentance because we haven’t been praying for God’s attributes to take over nor are we being led by his word in faith on what we should be doing to stay strong and built up when trials, hardships and adversities come our way.
God is faithful. God is merciful. God is love. How do we experience that now? We have to first know who God is. Next, we have to make the commitment to put our faith in only him through his Son Jesus Christ. Then, as we keep his commands and build up our spiritual strength and nature through obedience, prayer and faith – we are assured of his promise to those who have been faithful to all he’s taught us and we look with expectation to seeing Christ revealed in the last days while spending our eternity with God the Father. How do you want your story to end? God has promised an ending like no other to those who actively do what he has commanded….what is it that you’re looking forward to? If we can change our mindset, we can change everything!
Today we pray that as we go through this introduction of seeing what we can do for God, that it puts us on track to being different in increasing measures which direct us heavenward and fills us from the inside out with a new attitude, desire, focus and foundation of building God’s Kingdom and not our own. As we seek to stay in his love by display our love and reverence in obedience, service, repentance, and an increasing faith in his Word and teachings, may the Holy Spirit works in each of us to allow the attributes of Christ to flow from within us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!