Pocketful Of Faith

Take this pocketful of faith, It is all I have today, I'm giving it all.

I don’t want to get there

At the end of it all

Looking behind me

To see there was so much more

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

CHORUS

You will always have my heart

Everyday I’ll trust You more, oh God

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

VERSE 2

Leaving the safety

Here at the shore

Beyond the horizon

I see there is so much more

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

BRIDGE

Anywhere You go I’ll follow

When You call my name I’ll run

Lead me on into tomorrow

Light my way like the rising sun

It is a good idea to schedule an inventory of your life on a regular basis if we are going to live as passionate followers of Christ then we have to make sure that we are really doing it. There are so many other things to choose to live for that it is easy to get distracted and off course. If you wait to long to look back then you will discover that there are times when you have wasted time and energy on things that didn't matter.

It takes faith to be obedient and passionately follow Christ, to jump out of the deceptive safety of being normal, it takes faith but thankfully it doesn't take a lot of it. Just a pocket full of faith is all you need to get started on the road of following Christ.

It is scary to ask God if I am playing safe or if I am truly following him with the degree of passion that he desires. Do I really want to know the answer? It may require that I make big changes, nobody likes big changes, big changes are painful changes.

Following anywhere is my goal, he moves, I move, he calls and I answer, he leads and I follow. I must die to self so that I can live with fewer regrets and accomplish the work that God has for me to do.

Perfecting The Saints

The body of Christ cannot grow without some assistance.

Ephesians 4:11-16 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

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Before Jesus left earth he provided the leadership that the new organization called the church would need so that the church would be sustainable throughout the ages. The church leaders included apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

The two main purposes of these leaders is to help the believers grow and to help them get along and work together in unity. Don't fall for the lie that these are the "professional" Christians that are employed to do all of the work of the church.

Ideally, if the leadership is successful then the work of the church will get done efficiently and the people in the church will be very happy doing their part. We don't usually take it very seriously but our maturity in the body of Christ is very important for two reasons:

1. Without maturity in our faith we will fall for the devils lies, he will send people that will try and trick us into believing something that is almost the truth, something similar to the deception that he used on Adam and Eve.

2. The world needs to see the body in a mature condition because a lack of maturity will result in behavior that will not be appealing. We must be mature so that we can be attractive to the world, if they see fighting and childish behavior and an absence of love then they will be repelled from us, love and unity are the best reasons for them to notice us.

Becoming like Jesus.
1 John 3:2  Dear friends, we are already God's children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is.

The work of perfecting the saints is a job that will not be finished until Jesus returns and takes us home to heaven. Until then the leaders of the church are here to equip us and help us grow to maturity. They will work along with the Holy Spirit and the Bible to help us grow more like Jesus. (Galatians 5:16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 13:17)

Thank you Lord for the men of the Bible that show me how to live, thank you for the guidance of pastors and church leaders that help me know you better and help me apply your teaching to my life.

Praying For Improvement

Praying for spiritual growth is a great way to bless your friends and neighbors.

Ephesians 1:15-19  Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God's people everywhere,  16  I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,  17  asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.   

18  I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called--His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe Him.

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The ultimate church planter was probably the Apostle Paul, his strategy for planting new churches is an example that is still valid today, God used Paul to get the message about Jesus out of Israel and spread it around the world.

Paul was happy to learn that his church plant had developed a strong faith but he didn't believe that they had arrived. Paul knew that there is always room for improvement and that the pagan culture around them could easily distort the truth of the gospel and lead this new church astray.

These new Christians needed to:

✔ Grow in their knowledge of God.
✔ Realize the hope that we have in Jesus.
✔ Learn about God's great power.
✔ Understand what God's will is.

As we become more mature in our faith and understanding of God the easier it will be to live in a manner that pleases him. The new disciples had to get beyond the basics and get to know God better, just having enough knowledge about God to understand the good news of Jesus work on the cross isn't enough, there needs to be a discipleship process.

Paul was concerned about planting churches but he didn't just plant them and take off down the road, he also worked to make disciples, often times he left his coworkers behind or he sent letters to help clarify doctrine but most importantly he prayed for them.

Maturity produces obedience.

Colossians 1:9-10  So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.  10  Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

What a great way to help the people that we know, to pray for their spiritual needs instead of concentrating on their physical needs, it is amazing that we are content to pray for the temporary instead of the eternal.

The greatest need that we have after our salvation is to become more like our Savior. To see the world through his eyes, to react to situations the way that he would, to put others before ourselves the way that he did.
 
Of course the right attitude is necessary when praying for somebody else to grow spiritually. If you are praying for them because you have judged them and decided that they "really" need improvement then you need to be careful. Don't forget the parable about "mister log eye."

No matter how faithful and spiritual we become we will never reach perfection and we will still need somebody that will go beyond praying for our temporary needs. What an awesome way to help our friends and neighbors. I need to pray for what really matters in the lives of the people all around me, those people that know the Lord already and for those that still need to know him.

Related articles

• Praying Often And Praying Well (diggingtheword.blogspot.com)
• Ten Simple Strategies for Prayer (thomrainer.com)
• Spiritual Prayers (wisdomhunters.com)

One With Christ

A series on Jesus final teachings before his betrayal.

John 15:1-8  "I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener.  2  He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn't produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.  3  You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you.  4  Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in Me."

5  "Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.  6  Anyone who does not remain in Me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.  7  But if you remain in Me and My words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!  8  When you produce much fruit, you are My true disciples. This brings great glory to My Father."

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In yesterday's post we talked about the old vine that God planted and how the weeds took over and the fruit was sour, God planted a new vine that he wants us to be a part of, that is Jesus.

When I became a child of God, I became a branch on the vine that brings life and nourishment to every branch, there is an equal opportunity for all of the branches to be prosperous. I cannot say that another branch has better potential for fruit production, each branch has an intimate connection with the vine, we are all responsible for our personal relationship with the Lord and our mission to go and bear fruit.

Sin slows down the production of quality fruit, just like the Jews did back in the Old Testament, we will produce fruit that is unpleasing to God. Nobody likes to be pruned but the Master Gardener needs to work on our branch, there are things in our life that he wants to get rid of so that we will produce the right kind of fruit and it will be of the highest quality. (Galatians 5:22-23)

John 17:21-23 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

We should find a common spirit on the vine. Jesus prayer for his disciples was for us to all be one with each other and with Jesus and with God. Our union with the vine should cause us to share common desires and interest and our opinion of sin should change as a result of abiding in Christ and growing more like him. After being on the vine for a while, we should look a lot like Jesus, it is a shame that so many that claim to be on the vine really are not.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

It is a disgrace that the world can say that about God's people. We forget that we have been raised to live a new live and that our thoughts and our ways should not look like the world's ways. (Colossians 3:1-3)  We need to remember that our life depends on staying on the vine and gaining the care and proper nutrients that the vine is eager to share with us.

A Warning To The Baby Christian

SCRIPTURE

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Heb 5:11-14 (NIV)  We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Heb 6:1-2 (Living)  Let us stop going over the same old ground again and again, always teaching those first lessons about Christ. Let us go on instead to other things and become mature in our understanding, as strong Christians ought to be. Surely we don't need to speak further about the foolishness of trying to be saved by being good, or about the necessity of faith in God; 2 you don't need further instruction about baptism and spiritual gifts and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

1 Cor 3:1-2 (NIV)  Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.

OBSERVATIONS

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Rick paraphrase:

You are still baby Christians so it is difficult to teach you anything beyond the basics that you know from the Old Testament. You know the teachings about repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgement. It is wrong that you are still immature and focusing on these teachings and still trying to learn them, well then you are not going to understand the teachings about righteousness. -Heb 5:11-14 (RIC)

Digging the word will help me:
• To keep myself pure
• See what is on the inside, that sword opens you right up
• Teaches me how to live to please God
• Shows me my loving God and Savior

APPLICATION

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I remember a couple of days ago I learned about God’s word being a double-edged sword. I better use the sword so that I will grow as a Christ follower.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.
I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
Praise be to you, O LORD; teach me your decrees.
Psalms 119:9-12 (NIV)

PRAYER

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Keep me faithful to meet with you each morning to study your word.