Where Would We Be Without Moms?

Where Would We Be Without Moms?

Literally none of us would be here without our mom.

That's biology.

Most of us would not still be here if it hadn't been for our mom.

That's God's mercy and grace.

For many our moms are no longer here.

That is our loss.

Honor your mother, if she's living, so that your days will be long on this earth.

That's a promise from God.

This started as a simple FaceBook post, but I decided to elaborate on it in honor of Mother’s Day.

My high school friend, Jeff Jenkins, and I determined there are only two things certain in life. It’s not the proverbial “Death and Taxes” that is quoted by most. We concluded the only things certain in life are conception and judgment. Without the former we never exist. All have been promised the latter. What happens in between is determined by the actions of others, or ourselves.

However, without a mom we would never have the opportunity to be conceived. In the instant the egg meets the sperm God places inside the woman the potential to change the world. Each conception is sent by God as a blessing and as a seed to bring His Kingdom to earth. It is said that the human baby is one of the most helpless creatures on the planet. Most mammals can function within minutes of being born. Without care from a mother, or some other mature person, a human infant would die soon of being born.

This care starts long before birth. Even before the mother knows she is pregnant her body begins a transformation to prepare a place for the child. Hormones begin reacting to this new life inside her. An incubator or sorts immediately goes into construction phase so this tiny life form can begin the nine month process we call pregnancy.

Even though, technically, after the birth of a child the mother is not essential (in other words, someone else could care for the infant) there is no other person better suited to care for the newborn than its mother. Once delivery has completed additional hormones kick in to create milk to nurture the infant, providing not only the nutrients needed to sustain life but precious antibodies that will help the infant grow into a strong, healthy adult.

That is why I said, “Literally none of us would be here without our mom; that's biology. Most of us would not still be here if it hadn't been for our mom; that's God's mercy and grace.” A mom is required for conception. The care that comes after is give to us out of the love and caring heart of a mother.

My mother used to misquote a verse of scripture regularly. She was not being blasphemous, just her rye sense of humor (I’m sure that’s where mine comes from). She would always tell us, her children, “Obey me, so my days will be long on this earth!” After having children of my own I understand where she was coming from on this. Here’s what the verse actually says.

Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

The promise is actually for the child being obedient to their parents. When we choose to honor our parents (even if they are not honorable) we bless them while they are with us, but we also receive a blessing from the Lord. Most parents try to do what is right. We all fall short of being the Cleavers. (Google it if you have no clue what I meant.) We do all that we know to do and God takes care of the rest. But the responsibility of the Believer is to honor their parents, especially if they don’t deserve it. In doing so we are being salt and light to them, and we are demonstrating the grace God has shown to us.

If your parents are no longer living, I’m sorry. Mine are both gone. However, there are many around you that could use someone to speak to them some good news. There are many ladies that either didn’t have children, or have lost the children they had. They could certainly use a hug, kind word, or other act of kindness to brighten their day.

Take time to honor someone, whether it’s your mom, or someone else’s. Both of you will be blessed in the process. Happy Mother’s Day!!

Weapons for the Believer 4.1 – The Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

Weapons for the Believer 4.1 – The Fruit of the Spirit - Joy

According to Paul, there are weapons of warfare.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (ESV)

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We are considering ten weapons that the Believer has at their disposal. We looked earlier at The Fruit of the Spirit in the post “Weapons for the Believer 4.” If you haven’t read it I encourage you to do so.  Paul gives us two lists in the passage in Galatians.

Galatians 5:19-24 (ESV)

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

I guess the first list could be called the Fruit of the Flesh. We don’t have to work at getting this fruit in our life. We are born with a sin nature because of the fall of Adam. The “fruit” of the flesh is given as “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” That is some list. As a Believer these should become less evident in your life as you grow in your faith, and in the relationship with your Father, God.

These things are to become less evident as the other “fruit” becomes more prevalent. Once the Holy Spirit comes to live inside the Believer, He brings with Him the life-giving ability known as Grace to enable us to begin to bear The Fruit of the Spirit. Last time I asserted that THE Fruit of the Spirit is “love” and the rest of those listed by Paul flow from that. Even if this was Paul’s meaning, I believe it is worth looking at each fruit more closely, for each one has certain benefits and purpose for the Believer.

At the suggestion of my friend, Dale Moore,  I decided to make a similar list for each fruit like I made for Love. Here is the original list using the first fruit, Love, as the focus.

The Fruit of the Spirit is love.

Joy is love’s emotion.

Peace is love’s guide.

Patience is love’s behavior.

Kindness is love’s demeanor.

Goodness is love’s action.

Faithfulness is love’s testimony.

Gentleness is love’s approach.

Self-control is love’s constraint.

Using Joy as the focus let’s see how it is reflected in our experience with the Lord.

            The Fruit of the Spirit is Joy.

Love is joy’s reward.

Peace is joy’s goal.

Patience is joy’s result.

Kindness is joy’s reflection.

Goodness is joy’s substance.

Faithfulness is joy’s honor.

Gentleness is joy’s touch.

Self-control is joy’s play ground.

You see, joy is not an emotion, it is a force. You don’t “work” to gain joy. Joy given by the Spirit of God tempers everything else. Good day or bad day, joy keeps us focused on the real task at hand; not to be “happy”, but to be a light to a dark world. Joy keeps us on offense, pursuing the Kingdom of God, bringing it here to earth. Joy gives us glimpses of the “now and the not yet” as John described it.

1 John 3:2 (ESV)

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Living the life of the Believer brings joy. However, seeing Jesus, the One who provided joy for us in the first place, will be “joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

1 Peter 1:8 (ESV)

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Imagine joy that cannot be expressed! That is the joy brought into our life by the presence of the Holy Spirit. When you allow the Holy Spirit to change you into the likeness of Jesus, joy will come. Embrace it. Allow it to define you.

Weapons for the Believer: 10 – Knowing Your Identity In Christ – Part 2

Weapons for the Believer: 10 – Knowing Your Identity In Christ – Part 2

According to Paul, there are weapons of warfare.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (ESV)

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We are considering ten weapons that the Believer has at their disposal. We looked at the first nine in previous posts. If you haven’t read them I encourage you to do so.

The last “weapon” we considered was “Knowing Your Identity In Christ.” There are a few more things that need to be said regarding this.

One of the greatest misconceptions among Believers is Humility. A wrong understanding of this one simple area can keep someone from becoming the Christ-like person that God has predestined for every human being.

The following is how many in the Church perceive Humility:

I’m like Gideon, just the poorest of the poor. I’m not able to do much but I sure love Jesus!

I’m just a doorkeeper in the Kingdom. I prefer to work behind the scenes and help where I can.

I just hope I make it to heaven. I’m not worthy, but it’s just the grace of God.

I just want a little cabin in the corner of heaven.

Here’s the funniest, even though I’ve never heard anyone say this personally: I’m just the dirt under the toenail on the feet of Jesus.

This is not humility. When you get to the root of each of these you will find the motivation is actually pride! They want others to notice their humility. That negates the whole thing.

For a great example of humility you need to look at John the Baptist, the real Gideon, and Jesus. You see, real humility is to accept who you are in Christ, and willingly walk in that calling.

When people came to John the Baptist in the wilderness they asked, “Who are you?” He did not reply with, ‘I’m nobody. I’m just out here wearing camel hair and eating wild honey.’” No, he responded with, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the paths of our Lord!” And that, my friend, was somebody! He was not boasting. He was making a statement of fact.

Very few ever attribute “humility” to Jesus regarding His actions, but mostly in His teaching. They know He said, “Turn the other cheek.” But Jesus also said, “I must be about my Father’s business.” He also boldly stated, “If you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” That is most humble thing He could say; admitting who He was and why He was here.

The real story of Gideon is not his apologetic refusal to God when asked to deliver the nation of Israel from captivity. That was pride talking. Gideon was giving God reasons why his own plan was better than the one God had. That is PRIDE!! The humility came in receiving the call and walking in it. Once he “humbled himself” and accepted what God had planned, Gideon was able to do amazing things.

Until you come to grips with who you are in Christ you will wander aimlessly. Some wander into a good outcome. Those are rare, and most are well below the place that God intended for them. However, when you come to the realization that God has a plan and purpose for you, embrace it. Do not be afraid to state it. It is not pride to admit that God has given you an assignment. It is the ultimate demonstration of humility: yielding our life for His.

Let us learn to walk in TRUE humility and see what God will do!

Weapons for the Believer: 10 – Knowing Your Identity In Christ

Weapons for the Believer: 10 – Knowing Your Identity In Christ

According to Paul, there are weapons of warfare.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 (ESV)

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

We are considering ten weapons that the Believer has at their disposal. We looked at the first nine in previous posts. If you haven’t read them I encourage you to do so.

The next weapon on the list is knowing our identity in Christ.

One of the first things that I consider to be “revelation” from the Lord was regarding the “Believer’s Identity in Christ.” I was a freshman at Samford University. One of my hall-mates introduced me to a then young minister for Campus Crusade for Christ – Josh McDowell. I listened repeatedly to some of his messages on The Authority of the Believer and our need to Know God.

10. Knowing our identity in Christ,

Once converted, the greatest challenge for the Believer is to know exactly who they are now that their spirit has been recreated and the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in them. John put it like this:

1 John 3:1-3 (ESV)

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Paul said it like this.

1 Corinthians 6:19b-20 (ESV)

You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

If you don’t know who you are you will be vulnerable and open to believe what others may try to tell you concerning your identity. The New Testament is filled with statements regarding your identity. Once you know in your heart beyond any shadow of doubt who you are in Christ the enemy has lost a major access into your life.

Here’s a few of the things God wants you to know once you become one of His.

Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 12:4-5 (ESV)

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (ESV)

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 15:22 (ESV)

For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)

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.

Meditate on these until they get into your spirit. When you live from this perspective you are a force for the Kingdom of God. You will not be easily swayed off course as you pursue the destiny for which you were called.