Can you believe it is already March of 2019? It is hard to believe that we have already seen two months pass by this year. Time is sure moving faster. (By the way, time stays the same, we just miss it because we get so busy.)
How are you doing on your spiritual goals?
Some people set spiritual goals at the beginning of the year, were you one of them? If so, how much progress are you making towards your spiritual success?
Whether you are making progress or you simply need a reset, allow me to offer a few suggestions to get you back on track for this year. Below are a few simple suggestions to help you continue on the track of spiritual success. Take a moment and see which one will help you.
A Proverb a Day – Did you know that Proverbs has 31 chapters and several months have a total of 31 days? Take time and read a chapter of proverbs a day. (Example: on day 1 read Proverbs 1; day 2 read Proverbs 2)
Make Service A Priority – To really grow as a Christian, you will find that attending services will help you grow in two ways: (1) Closer to God and (2) closer to your brothers and sisters. The Hebrews writer says that brethren can “stir up one another.” (Hebrews 10:24)
Pray like Daniel – Reading through Daniel, you find that Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). As a result of his prayer life, you see the benefits of strength. Schedule sometime to pray at least twice a day and make it a goal to achieve at least three.
Teach the Young Ones – From the beginning, the Lord wants us to teach the young people about Him and the riches of His blessings. Teaching the young of the blessings, begins in our daily conversations. Take a moment and read Deuteronomy 6:1- 9. Make it a goal to mention God daily.
Remember to Teach Others – One of the goals for every Christians should be to teach others the lifestyle of Christ. Paul mentions to Titus that the younger should teach the older in Titus 2 and this is a great pattern to learn about the walk of a mature Christian.
Be Thankful – As the Lord blesses us each day, let us thank Him for His continual blessings. The blessings we have come from the Father (James 1.5). Remember to thank God daily in everything He has provided. (Colossians 3:17)
The poem below was discovered in the collections of Fannie Crosby. You may know Fannie Crosby through various songs in many songbooks, but here is a poem she wrote regarding an “Unanswered Prayer.”
“For What His Love Denies.”
God does not give me all I ask,
Nor answer as I pray;
But, O, my cup is brimming o’er
With blessings day by day.
How oft the joy I thought withheld
Delights my longing eyes,
And so I thank Him from my heart
For what His love denies.
Sometimes I miss a treasured link
In friendship’s hallowed chain,
And yet His smile is my reward
For every throb of pain.
I look beyond, where purer joys
Delight my longing eyes;
And so I thank Him from my heart
For what His love denies.
How tenderly He leadeth me
When earthly hopes are dim;
And when I falter by the way,
He bids me lean on Him.
He lifts my soul above the clouds
Where friendship never dies;
And so I thank Him from my heart
For what His love denies.
Moving is a mixed bag of emotions. When you begin to move, you begin taking an inventory of everything you own as you pack them into boxes. If you have ever moved once, you understand what it is like to find things you forgot you owned and find things you never knew you had.
Beyond the boxes, are the small, but important technical details like changing phone services, hooking up utilities, changing insurance and a variety of other things. Throughout the moving process one of those things you cannot forget is to leave a forwarding address.
A forwarding address makes sure that your mail will arrive at the right house, but it also is for others to know where to contact you. Leaving a forwarding address is a key for many people because they want to be sure people know where they are so they will be able to have them visit and stay in contact.
While we are packing, moving and settling in to our home, the preaching mind I have could not let it pass without thinking, “Where is our spiritual forwarding address?”
Do your family and friends know where you are going?
The Bible speaks of our citizenship in heaven (Philippians 3:20). I believe it is this reason that Paul encourages Christians to set their minds on things above and not on this Earth (Colossians 3:2).
Even Jesus left his followers a forwarding address of sorts,
“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe on God, believe also on me. In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be.
“And ye know where I go, and ye know the way. Thomas says to him, Lord, we know not where thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father unless by me.”
(John 14:1-6; ESV)
Does your family know your spiritual forwarding address?
Alzheimer’s has robbed Michael Joyce of his memory, so he forgot he’s married to his wife of 38 years.
Uniquely, he knows he loves her, so he asked her to marry him. Linda agreed, thinking he would soon forget, but he didn’t. The next morning the 68-year-old Michael asked, “When are we doing this?” That question began the process of putting together a plan for the married couple which live together in Frankton, New Zealand, to once again wed.
Michael woke up on their wedding day and proclaimed, “Today’s the day!”
They exchanged vows at a scenic lake near their home on January 20, 2018 with friends and family gathered to support them. The 64-year-old wife/bride wrote, “Amidst the often sad and frustrating times living with Alzheimer’s… there is joy!”* The resilience of love has a way of pleasantly surprising us.
Love is more than just a feeling, it is actions founded upon the commitment one has for another. The original language of the Bible uses different words for love. Each word has their own meaning and their own purpose.
In the marriage relationship, the commitment one has for the others is shown, not just in the word, “love” but in the actions shown. Those actions consist of honor, respect, commitment, protection and grace. Take a moment and read through Ephesians 5.21-33 and notices the actions of love between husbands and wives.
Further, notice how the love of a husband and wife is compared to Christ and the church.
A few years ago, I was asked to speak on a Men’s Retreat and I challenged the men to be…
Men of God
Men of Morals
Men of Leadership
Men of Passion
Men of Responsibility
Today, have things changed form a few short years ago? Not really.
Men are needing to step up more today than they ever have before. In a changing world, men nee to rise to the occasion. Whether it is politically correct or not, men need to stand up.
Christian men are needed today; not just men, but Christian men. Those men who are God fearing, need to stand firm. This firmness must be one based on the morals taught in the Bible.
So, what are Christian men to do? Let me offer a few suggestions…
Biblically Educate Yourself
Hosea 4.6 – “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.”
Deuteronomy 6.4-9 – The education must come at every opportunity.
As men, we are to be the leaders of our family. The pressure is on us. (Ephesians 5.25-34; Ephesians 6.1-2)
It is hard to teach others if we are not Biblically educated.
Shield Your Family
As men, our duty is to get our families to heaven. Imagine what would happen if everyone saved their family? How the church would grow.
Shield your children by teaching (Deuteronomy 6.4-9)
Do we know their friends?
Are we spending time with our children teaching them Biblical values?
Do What is Right
Men, are we choosing our family over football? How much will the football scores matter in eternity?
We must do what is right, even when others are not doing it.
Acts 4.12 – The apostles chose the right way in difficult circumstances.
Love the Brotherhood
1 Peter 2.17 – “Love the brotherhood.”
As men, we lead the brotherhood and to lead, we must love the brotherhood.
We must love those who take the life out of us (loving the unloving).
Regarding our wives, are we just telling them we love them or are we showing them we love them?
God not only told us he loved us, He showed us. (John 3.16)
God said He loved us and SHOWED it.
Do we only tell our wives we love them, or do we show them?
Do we only tell our children we love them, or do we show them?
Support What You Believe
Back up your words with your actions. (Note James 2.14-26)
If you believe in supporting the church, are you doing it? For instance, if we believe in our congregation, are we supporting it financially? Are we supporting it with our time?
What we support is usually what we value?
Our wives and children need to see what we believe by the things we support.
Do you believe in your family? Are you supporting them?
Supporting what we believe will take our time and our finances, but the legacy we will leave is powerful.
Serve Humanity
Jesus called on us to serve, not the government. (Matthew 10.42)
Serve others as you would serve the Lord. (Colossians 3.17)
Involve your children in areas of services. Involving them shows that you are a person of your word. Many times, we talk about serving the world, but our children never see us doing it.
Serve where you have the ability (Ephesians 4.11-16) – Some people have great ability for carpentry and others do not. There are some people you want to deal with an electrical problem and there are some you do not. Figuring out our area of service is a must to serving the people around us.
The adage, “Charity begins at home” can be adapted to “Serving begins at home.”
Pray Daily
This point can never be stressed enough, pray always.
God’s people were people of prayer and we must be so as well.
When I see him, he is an 85-year-old man looking to the prize set before him. He is standing looking off in the distance and asking for the prize, he was promised 45 years earlier. He says he is as strong now as he was 45 years ago, and I would not test him one bit. His speech is domineering and sincere; he has waited for this day. He has fought battles, wars and people to get here and now he wants what is his.
On this Earth, I will never meet my favorite veteran. He has long since passed, but the words of his life become a beacon for mine. He had a desire so bold and so powerful, he lived up to one of the meanings of his name, “bulldog.” His words bring motivation centuries later; we just need to read them.
His name is the same as my son. In fact, I was insistent that my son have the same name. So, what is his name – Caleb!
Caleb should not just be remembered as the one with Joshua telling the people they could take the land, he should also be remembered as one who obtained his inheritance!
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him,
“You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God.
And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness.
And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.”
Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance.
Caleb knew what he wanted, but he knew he must be a man of action. Over 40 years he waited. He walked the wilderness with those who kept him out of the promise land and everyday he waited for his inheritance.
Even while in his elderly age, Caleb wanted the gift, even though he would have to drive out the inhabitants of the land. His faith in God was working each day knowing the promise was ahead. Do you and I have the convictions of Caleb to press on to the prize which is ahead?
Let us remember the words of Paul,
“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3.12-14; ESV)
Also, remember the words of the Hebrews writer,
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12.1-2; ESV)
Notice the Hebrews writer makes two distinct points: (1) there are weights (things that slow us down) and (2) there are sins. Normally, our focus is on avoiding sins, but what about those things that slow us down? Are there things, circumstances, situations, or choices that are hindering you in your spiritual life?
