Others and pride

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.”

‭‭Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I must say this is the greatest challenge! We are a selfish generation! Everything is viewed through the lense of me.

Jesus spent much time teaching His disciples humility, servanthood, forgiveness, and giving. We need to be disciples in the same way. That is why we have the Holy Spirit and scripture. Our role is to craft an ear that hears and a heart that obeys.

Often, I will sense a trouble-making spirit in the house. It attempts to cause fights among us. By resisting him we become closer. After all, it is our flesh that becomes annoyed, not our spirit. If we become annoyed we can recognise the areas we need to work on and yield to the Lord.

Yesterday, I returned from college with red marks through some of my homework. One of my flatmates is my tutor. Initially when this happened I was miffed with my tutor. However, when I told her she humbly went to work to show me the big picture. I respect that! My flesh was proud and was not impressed with being wrong. Turns out I wasn’t as either answer would have been right, however, the teacher had his set way of teaching.

It was my turn to be humble and I was. My tutor then gave me a wonderful resource for college that I could share with the class. This I did and received much gratitude. All because of my tutor who is a good, humble woman.

Learning to be humble and not proud is a good lesson indeed!

What is a sin?

“Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”James‬ ‭4‬:‭17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you are to forgive, then forgive, if you are to repair a relationship, then repair it! If you are to repent of bad behaviour, repent! If you are to give and refuse, repent and give!

God prompts each of us in the right way. Our Bible tells us we will hear a voice behind us saying: ‘not that way, this way!’ (Isaiah 30:21). If we are being stubborn and refusing to follow the promting of the Holy Spirit we need to repent!

Repentance is a gift from God, if we continue to refuse it we may find ourselves like Esau. Scripture tells us ‘he sought repentance and could not find it’(Hebrews 12:17). God will not struggle with us forever. Then, with hardened heart we follow our flesh and not His spirit. 

We need God’s spirit! He is good and leads us into all truth. Amen!

The light

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”John‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus said He was the light of the world. Do we believe this? Or is a nod all this truth gets? If Jesus is the light He brings truth to my world. His words are powerful, He sets captives free. Hebrews tells us that: “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus cut through the darkness and the lies of our enemy. Paul tells us: “We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

What do we use to capture every proud thought? The word of God. Do not survive on one spiritual meal a day, read the word regularly, feast on it, speak it, sing it! Amen! There is power in the word of God! Satan would distract you with social media, don’t fall for his traps, turn to the Word of God for His release, healing, and deliverance! Amen!

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”Psalms‬ ‭119‬:‭105‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Giving up burdens

“Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭55‬:‭22‬ ‭NLT‬‬

When we have heavy burdens and someone comes along and offered to carry them, do we yield? If we know the burden is way too heavy of course we will. However, we can be convinced it is good for us to carry those burdens and foolishly carry on to our own detriment.

Satan attempts to rob us of peace. He pursues us with thought about our own inadequacies and failures and condemns us. We do not need to listen. We have a saviour!

When we are being attacked by our enemy it is because we are walking towards a godly victory. Don’t yield! Stand and wait to see the clouds disappear and confess God’s word over your life.

Be strong! Be bold for the Lord our God is with you! (Deuteronomy 31:6).

A faithful God

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I am grateful that my God has spoken to us through the Bible, that He has used simple people to do great things. I am grateful He sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins and complete the just requirements of the law, so that we can choose to live by faith in Him.

I am not required to do to earn righteousness but to live by faith in what has been bought for me. Being right with God is not about self-effort, but faith in Jesus who finished the work for me.

Today I awoke to a message from a Christian friend in England saying: “I have blocked your posts about Israel as they are lies, shame on you!” My friend has judged me and found me wanting. I am sad that England believes Israel to be the villain in Gaza, however, I will still support and pray for them. As for my friend, I pray for truth to arise. No amount of self-defense will satisfy. We live in a world awash with conflicting reports and we must trust our God for the right source. I praise God I will not be barred from heaven because I support Israel or Palestine, greater things are at stake here. Will I live by faith in the Son of God? Yes!

Making allowances

“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.”

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Making allowances for faults can be challenging at times, especially during times of stress. Little things can annoy us: tidiness or untidiness; cleanliness or uncleanliness, eating habits. 

Nepalis do all of these differently. In some things they go overboard and others they simply do not see. I flat with two Nepalis. Dishwashing is a big issue with them, but many other things do not rate. For me cleanliness is important. However, I must always remind myself: does this really matter in the big picture? Does the Lord care? The answer is probably not as much as I do. 

Jesus took the Pharisees to task: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence!”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭23‬:‭25‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I must allow scripture to tell it like it is! I must constantly focus on my motives and attitudes. These are the things that matter to the Lord not whether something is clean or not. If it bothers me so much I should clean it.

Fault finding is a sin, it is wrong in my own life as well. Find God! His perspective is a lot more loving! Amen!

Serving

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”Matthew‬ ‭20‬:‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬

At times I like to watch the clips of downtown abbey. It is the story of an aristocratic family in England. They had many servants. The divide between the two classes was ever present. Never would you see them change places.

However, the God of Glory did just that. He came as a lowly man child, born in a stable. He grew up in a carpenters home and obeyed His earthly parents. At the right time He entered His ministry. Never once did He Lord it over His disciples. He came to serve. He served well, even to desth on a cross.

He called us, His disciples to pick up our cross and follow Him.  We serve Him and others.

What others has He given you to serve? He has given me Nepalis. I am in Nepal to serve them just as Jesus would. My constant goal is to discover how to do this best.

I am not on this earth to serve my fleshly appetities but to serve my Lord and His people. Amen!