e-mail 12/6/6

As the apostle Paul was concluding his 2nd letter to the Corinthians he said, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-" (2 Cor 13:5)

Here at the end of the year, each of us should challenge ourselves to examine ourselves as to whether or not we are in the faith. In this particular instance, Paul is not talking about our denomination but whether or not we are truly saved. Earlier Paul had told them (2 Cor 11:13-15) that Satan and his angels (demons) can come into the fellowship "transformed into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." (Minister in this instance does not refer to pastors but to anyone who is helping another.) Is it possible that people in our fellowship of friends and church family have not truly met the Savior?

We can tell who is truly "in the faith" by their walk with the Lord. A person who knows Jesus Christ as their personal Savior cannot hide it. There is a burning desire in their heart to tell others. After we believe IN God, we must believe God. Then we make adjustments in our life towards obedience to God. We cannot go instantly from belief to absolute obedience without making adjustments. Mature Christians should not have to make as many adjustments as a young believer does; however as long as we live on this earth, we will always be making adjustments to line up with God's will for our lives. We will adjust until we are perfect.

Godly people with right motivations often fail. Many times I have believed that I was doing the right thing only to find out that Peggy messed up. It takes daily meditation and prayer to stay in God's will. I believe that every person, who calls Jesus his or her Savior, should begin every day with our Lord, Jesus Christ. Why? We love Him because He first loved us. We should pray every morning, before meals (even in public places) and go about the day with a prayer on our heart and lips. (Do you ever think to pray every time you hear an ambulance? Some body's in trouble or the siren would not be heard.)

Our kids should be told that they can pray in school. The Supreme Court ruled that there could be no organized prayer and children cannot be made to pray but they cannot keep a child from bowing their head and praying silently to God to help them begin their day, to give them knowledge before they have an exam, or to give them wisdom to answer the teacher or handle non-Christian situations that come up.

Our daughter was blessed that she was able to attend a Christian school where prayer, memorizing verses and Bible study was a daily part of her schedule. After my granddaughter came to our house recently and told us about a friend of hers whose grandfather had a temple with an 8 armed lady statue in his bedroom, I was glad the school did not require her to pray a Hindu prayer. But as a Christian, she can be an example of Christianity to her friends and she can and I believe she does pray silently.

As adults, can our examples as a Christian be any less? If we are in touch with God at all times, we will mess up less. Being a Christian does not mean we will not have trials and problems in our lives but God will always be with us because He promised and God cannot lie.

As we are examining ourselves, let's also think about others and how we treat them. We are to be kind, loving, tenderhearted, patient, caring and forgiving. We should not put ourselves above anyone. We should always strive to be helpful yet be mindful that the one we are helping also has feelings. I am one of those people that find it very hard to accept help but I love helping as I am led of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit must be in everything we do; He should be the instigator of our actions.

As we think about others, we must help where ever we can and as often as we can. There are many needs during the month of December. There are both ministry and mission needs locally and far away that we are asked to help with. Paul also said to the Corinthians "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7)

As the New Year is soon to be here and we are examining ourselves, let's consider also our attitudes and our actions towards the church that we attend. We have a minimum of 3 opportunities to come together to worship God each week: Sunday Morning Worship, Sunday Evening Worship, and Wednesday Evening Prayer. Each of these worship times is important for us to grow as a Christian. Leave one out for selfish reasons and you are hurting you faith and your testimony. It hurts the church when you deliberately stay away as if you don't care. Like I have said earlier, your faith shows when and how often you spend time worshipping and praying with God's people. My Bible teaches that the entire Sabbath day belongs to the Lord. If I only love Him on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights (for choir practice), I am not as committed to Jesus as I want others to think I am. We need to examine ourselves.

There are many adjustments some of us need to make in our lives. The most important one will rule everything we do. That one thing is love. Jesus loved us enough that He died for us. As we examine ourselves, ask what am I willing to do for Him? I pray that I will be found faithful and....

Sharing God's Love,

Peggy

"In the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." (Mark 1:35) Since this was a daily habit in Jesus' life, how much more do I need to do it?