Friday

Acts 16:5 (NIV) So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Many think of church as a building, a place to go and to worship or pray. It is obvious from verse five that the church is its people, not the structure they meet in. This gives new meaning to the statement, "I'm going to church today." For this writer it signifies I plan to spend time with people, to congregate with my friends, mingle with the Body of Believers, who are family.

Family is the correct use of the word, for in this section we are introduced to Timothy, the first second-generation Christian.  Timothy's mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, influenced Timothy to the ways of Jesus. That is what family does, they share the important things in life and they guide and influence one another.

It isn't always the parent who influences the child.  Sometimes it is the other way around.  The first Bible study I ever attended was led by my daughter when she was still a teen. I remember to this day, the women who were in the group and the things I learned from that time together in God's Word. Again, family the key, critical to living a life Jesus would want for us.

What does church mean to you?  Is it merely a facility, a place to go, a structure, or is it family?

Acts 16:1-5

Colossians 1:15-23

I generally begin my journal entry with Dear Jesus, Dear God, or Good Morning Father, and I feel uncomfortable not knowing just how to address my God and my Savior.  That will not be an issue from now on.  When I cry out to one, I am heard by all.  When I worship and praise my Lord, I am honoring and loving the entire Trinity.  I don't have to understand, I just have to believe.

Early believers struggled with the truth of Jesus being God.  Many of us have the same questions.  It isn't easy to understand, and that is where the Holy Spirit comes into play.  Praying for wisdom and understanding He will help us to grasp the meaning of the Colossian text. Paul points out that Jesus' death on the cross, the death that bought salvation for us, is proof of Jesus' deity.

"We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God's original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body." (Colossians 1:15-18 MSG)

The bold line above helps me to understand this better. Jesus is the head of the Church and the Church is living.  The Body of Believers is joined to each other and is the way Christ carries out His work.  This is a most intimate relationship and very real.  Having been on the receiving end of this 'work', I understand better.  When God's people care for God's people, hearts are opened and lives are changed.

Read Colossians 1:15-23 here

Listen to Colossians 1:15-23 here

Love Builds Up - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

I am preparing to write an essay for a contest I plan to enter.  The topic is diligence, and what a subject I am finding it to be. In fact, I might be able to write a book on that theme.  It is curious because I started doubting myself and questioning this call to writing I have been given.  When I am feeling fearful and doubts begin to assail my mind generally I turn to the Bible or one of my devotionals, trusting God to speak through them.  He usually does.

For some reason I turned to February 18^th which happens to be the date my husband met Jesus face to face.  Do you know the topic for that day was diligence?  Proverbs 10:4 was quoted, “Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”

It takes diligence to accomplish many things in life worth achieving.  Love is probably the most worthy goal; love of God and love for one another.  It takes love and diligence to ‘build up’ a community that loves—God and one another.  I think I am on to something here, you to?

How does God speak to you words you need to hear?  Does He use His Word or does he use someone in the Fellowship of the Body of Believers, the Community?

Read the 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 text here.

Love God and Each Other - 1 John 4:7-21

"No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us." (1 John 4:12)

Have you ever felt like you needed to have 'Jesus with skin on'?  This is a phrase we have probably heard a time or two, and have more than likely experienced this need a time or two as well.  For me, verse 12 above is the epitome of this saying.  To me people who are a vital and active part of the Body of Believers can be counted on to be just what we need during times of great need.

The love we Christians share with each other is a result of the love God has freely given us.  I know that if I did not feel the affection God has for me I would not be able to love people He puts in my path.  Until God's love was a reality, something I truly believed and therefore experienced firsthand, I was unable to care about anyone else.  The way a Christian cares is so much different from the world.

Many of you reading were a part of caring for my family last winter.  You brought food, you called to check up on us, you wrote cards of encouragement,  you visited, you sent message on Facebook and via email.  And most importantly you prayed.  You made such an impact on us at a time when we could have felt so alone.  I can say, I have not seen God, but the love you bestowed on us during Dave's illness illustrates how God lives in you and His love was made complete.  

This is what I call, "Building Up Our Communities".  It is all about love.

Read the 1 John 4:7-21 text here.

Fruit, house on rock -- Matthew 7:15-29

As parents we caution our children to beware of strangers.  We teach them to never be lured to follow someone we do not know, just because they are offering a piece of candy.  For some reason this is the thought I have this morning as I was reading from Matthew 7:15.  "Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."
  
In this world there is much to be wary of; to examine carefully before accepting as truth and goodness.  The children's story about Snow White comes to mind. Can't you visualize the witch offering the poison apple to the innocent Snow White?  There are poison apples all around us, but, if we stay close to the tree, the source of good wholesome untainted fruit, we will be nourished.

For me, God is that source of good, the One who provides me with real fruit to sustain during difficult and challenging seasons.  Today this fruit looks like the Body of Believers and it resembles all my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ; those who are reaching out in prayer.  "Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." (Matthew 7:20)

What does good fruit look like to you; or perhaps I should ask who does good fruit look like to you?

To read the entire text click here.