QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION ~
Psalm 138:1-8
Do you feel that God is fulfilling a purpose in you? What?
Romans 12: 1-8
Are you using your gifts in a way that is "holy & pleasing to God‟ [v.1]? If so, how? What holds you back from using your gifts more fully?
Matthew 16:13-20
How would you answer the question, "Who do you say that I am‟? What difference does your answer to this question make in your life?
Let me start by answering the last question first. How we each answer this one is the most important, More than any that follow. If we answer this one wrong, we are lost! By admitting He is our Lord and Saviour. We are saying He alone can save us, sustain us and keep us. He alone is the author of all good things in my life. Coming to Him in prayer with thanksgiving puts any credit or merit to where it is due.When storms and trials come in life, laying them all before the Lord in humility, and asking for His help and guidance, admitting I cannot do this on my own.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to try I would surely fail miserably, and indeed I have. He wants us to rely on Him for everything, if, as is often the case with me, through fear and pride, (which are very closely related I've been shown) I try to hide things, doubts, feelings, fears etc. through my false pride, lack of trust, or faith, to take the Lord at His Word, I will not only continue to fail but worse fall away and risk offending Him more through unbelief. He sees right through me, He knows me better than I know myself, he sees my deception. Coming back broken, bruised and ashamed, in sincere humility, on my knees, crying to the Lord for forgiveness, is when He'll do His best work in me. It is a constant struggle for me to surrender my control to Him.
For me to think I can be Holy and pleasing to God, without Christ is pure folly. Aside from Him there is nothing good in me. My love has conditions, I meet it out or with-hold it at my will, I attempt to do good at my will, when I choose and to whom I choose. As He increases in me, my prejudices decrease, which helps me to love more authentically.
While still in the early stages, I'm not where I'd like to be in my walk with the Lord. But keeping in mind we live in an "instant" society, and the fact that, with respect to eternity, this life is only an instant in time, as a woman in childbirth must be, I too must be patient.
Matthew 16:13-20
ReplyDeleteHow would you answer the question, ‘Who do you say that I am’? What difference does your answer to this question make in your life?
I believe that Jesus was a man - not just any man, but one who by his example and teachings has shown us ‘the way’ to live our lives so that we help bring about God’s kingdom here and now. This means that compassion and justice [or equal sharing of the resources of this earth]has become the focus of my life – a concern and caring for all of God’s creation.