Take It to the Next Level

Our journey through 2012 is almost over.  We can all look back and see where we were and where we are now.  We can evaluate if we made progress or did we take a step back instead.  There may be some of us that perhaps did not move at all.  The good news is whether you are 2° or 102° off course, it's not too late to change your direction. 

I believe our class has grown spiritually this year but also we have come together, built relationships, encouraged one another and enjoyed each other fellowship.  I know some of us have developed the habit of spending time with God each day and we have now completed more than 100 email lessons.  With the start of the new year thou, it's time to take it to the next level.  We must do more than just read God's Word and spend just a few minutes with Him each day.  If this is all we are doing each day, really in my opinion we are doing the bare minimum.  Should we give God, the Lord of this creation our bare minimum?  In order for us to build our relationship with God stronger and also to make ourselves ready for any assignment God has for us, we must do more than the bare minimum.  We must prepare ourselves for what God has in store for us.  It is similar to any other occupation, we must prepare and train.  Also in this preparation it will allow us to grow stronger in Christ to face whatever life has to offer us, whether good or bad.

You will start seeing in our email lessons where I ask you to read a certain passage of scripture.  I encourage you to take the time and look it up.  Think about how that passage relates to our lessons.  You will see more "homework" assignments.  I have found by researching and studying our lessons I get so much more out it.   What I am asking is for each of us to do more than "read" the lesson, but to study it, to ponder it, to pray about it and then determine how you can apply it to our lives.  Let's share our thoughts with each other so we can be an encouragement to each other.

Some of you may be saying, I do not know how to study the Bible.  First let me tell you, "don't over complicate it".  Sometimes it is about reading the same verse in different versions of the Bible several times.  If you do not have different version Bibles, no problem.  Go online, there are lots and lots of FREE Bibles online.  A tool that Amy shared with me is a software application that you can download for FREE called e-Sword.  It will give you different versions of the Bible, Commentaries, Maps, Dictionaries as part of their program.  If you want to get really serious about different ways to study, Rick Warren wrote a book called Personal Bible Study Methods - 12 Ways to Study the Bible on Your Own or How to Study the Bible for Yourself by Tim LaHaye that I found very useful.

The theme that God is still laying on my heart is from 1 Peter 1:15-16

1 Peter 1:15-16

But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.

If we are to be holy as God is holy, we need to know God better which means we need to study His Word with diligence. 

Ephesians 1:4

For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 (GNB)

 God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness.

Leviticus11:45

For I am Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.

Holy life starts as we detach ourselves from the source of sin. Then we shall become the children of God and holiness shall become a way of life.   What is holiness for us? It is that we live in obedience to God. To become holy is to obey him.  It is to emulate His life.  A reflection of Him in us.

We need to know what it means to be holy! Being Holy is an attitude of the heart.  It means you must desire and make a determined effort to do what the Lord wants.  You must make up your mind that you are going to do what the Lord wants, not what YOU want.  We have to make the decision to once and for all live for the Lord!  Sometimes we think we have made that decision but if you are still living for self, then you are deceiving yourself.

Why are people trained in advance to deal with emergencies? We are told to have a plan in the event we have a fire in our homes.  We have emergency numbers by our phones so we can call for help quickly.  We practice fire drills in schools and in our homes to prepare just in case a fire was to break out we would know what to do.  This training and preparation will help to know exactly what to do in the moment of danger.

As Christians we are also to be prepared. We face danger every day, are we prepared to know exactly what to do?  The danger may not be a fire as we may traditional think, it could be the danger of controlling our tongue or our temper.  First, we have to recognize our sin.  We are a blaming society.  It seems like it is someone else's fault for everything including our lives, our children, our marriages or other relationships.  We are so quick to see other people's sins and short comings but we are blind to our own.  We will not get better until we realize WE are the problem.  Let's stop trying to fix everyone else and focus on fixing ourselves and our relationship with God.  Then we must trust God to work out everything else.  Do you really mean business with the Lord?  Make up your mind to be holy!

Present your bodies (our life) as a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to God.  A sacrifice is an offering, it is something given in an act of worship and dedication to God. It is something that we do, an act of worship and thanksgiving on our part to God. We give up control of our lives, putting ourselves in the hands of God to be used as He desires.  I know with most of us being "control freaks" it is hard to do, but God has given us the power to let go, IF we let Him.

Some of us have been going to church for a very long time,  and know many of the things we need to be doing.  But knowing the principles of the Bible does not automatically make us holy or righteous. If we do not apply them to our life it is simply a mental exercise.  It is critical that we as believers mature and grow spiritually.  When we do, our lives will be changed. We need to move beyond baby Christians and grow spiritually. Some of us are still baby Christians even thou we have been Christians for years.  We have not grown because we refuse to do what God wants us to do.  Maybe we are holding on to anger, bitterness, unforgiveness,  or learning how to control our tongues.  We may wonder why God does not bless us or answer our prayers the way we want Him to. Could it be that He is waiting on us to grow as a Christian and follow Him wholeheartedly before blessing us or answering our prayers?

Being Spiritually mature is not a matter of how much one knows.  What matters is what you do with what you know! It is a matter of willing myself to do as God wants. It is a matter of commitment. It is a matter of dedication. It is a matter of faith!  A matter of trusting God for letting Him direct my life. It is doing what He says obediently.  Want to do right, then just do it. If you are a child of God, you have the ability; that was God's gift when we were saved.  It's all about choices.  What do you choose?

Do you ever wonder why we struggle with problems in our lives.  Why we feel defeated and feel like failures. It is because most of us are spiritual anemic. We are too weak to overcome even the smallest trials that come our way in life.  The goal of our life should be to bring glory to God.    When we obey, He is glorified.  When our lives are shaped by doing right He is glorified.

Joshua 1:8

This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it.  For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.

One of my favorite songs is Where I Belong by Building 429.  One of the verses goes like this:

When the Earth shakes, I wanna be found in You,

When the Lights fade, I wanna be found in You.

Where do you want the Lord to find you?  Are you holding on to anger, bitterness . . . unforgiveness . . do you spend more time tearing someone down than building that person up?  Do you spend more time with your hobbies, Facebook and other activities than you do with the God of the Universe?   Every time you have a conversation it is all about you and how someone has wronged you?  Are you taking control of your thoughts before they come out of your mouth.  Are you so focused on your problems, you see no one else's?  Is your only prayer for God is to fix someone else?  If you are, you are being nothing but selfish.  I am not pointing fingers for I am one of the most selfish people around.  God pointed that out to me recently.

Let it go and let God work in your life.  Make that choice to focus on strengthening your relationship with God.  When you are so in tuned (strong relationship) with God, your other relationships will fall into place.  It's about choices.  Are you happy and content?  If not, stop complaining about it and give it to God.  Only He can fix the problem anyway.  Take that energy used for complaining and use it to talk to God and then studding His Word and see what His reply is.

I am burdened for each of you; please know you are so often in my thoughts and prayers.  Each one of us needs to grow closer to God this year.  One of the things I having started is reading more of my Bible each day.  I have a Bible that is organized so you can read the Bible in 90 days. I have had this Bible for years and never used it until now.  To read the Bible in 90 days, I have to read 12 pages a day, which is approximately 45 minutes.  After reading the preface of the book, I found out they had a web page and on the web page you can also listen to the Bible.  The web page encouraged readers to listen to the Bible as you read it.  I tried it and it is totally awesome.  For one thing, they can pronounce all the words correctly.  It has been great and I am really enjoying it. 

USA Today Poll Results: Only 11%,” of Americans read the Bible every day. More than half read it less than once a month or never at all. 18% of born-again Christians read their Bibles once a day, while 23% who professed to be Christians said they never read their bibles at all. In which statistical grouping do you find yourself? Are you satisfied being there? If you’re not, today would be a great time to change your status.  It would take approximately eighty (80) hours to read the Bible from cover to cover.  Eighty hours?  Compare that to the number of hours you watch TV or on your computer.  Which is more important? 

I am also doing more research and study of our lessons.  I want to make sure I receive the message that God has for me in each of His lessons.  I also feel like I need to communicate some of the things that God is laying on my heart with you (hope you don't mind).  What is God telling you to do?  It's time to take it to the next level!