Category Archives: Christianity

Advice, Career, Child Raising, Child Rearing, Christianity, Disciplemaking, Evangelism, Family, Fatherhood, Inspirational, Mentoring, Ministry, Modeling, Motherhood, Parenting, Surrender, Uncategorized, Witnessing

SUPER GLUED


1 THESSALONIANS 3:13

“so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.”

That may sound silly – super glued! But I love that stuff. When something needs to be held tight and not move, pull out the super glue. Just make sure you have it set in the right place, because once the glue is applied, it’s not moving.

That’s the meaning behind the word “establish” in today’s verse. God will super glue your heart “without blame in holiness.” Of course, everything God does is eternal. He doesn’t mess around with temporal stuff. So, if He establishes your heart, He intends it to last for eternity.

APPLICATION

How do you apply this verse to yourself and your family? God can only establish your heart if it is yielded to Him. He won’t force you. As bad as you want your children to follow Christ, it is only possible if they surrender to Him. 

Our job as parents is to prepare our children’s hearts to be established by the Lord. That means we are consistently teaching them God’s Word. We know it won’t come back void. We are consistently teaching them to pray, so when the Holy Spirit draws them to surrender, they will know His voice. 

Have you fully, and I mean fully, surrendered your heart to Him? Does He have it all? If you are holding back, He can’t establish you as blameless or in holiness. If we insist of handling part of our heart ourselves, it will not be secure. Allow the Lord today to have it all.  He can handle it. He can secure it.

You are the Maker of my heart, therefore, You are the only one who can establish it. Thank You, Lord, for super glueing my heart today.

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Advice, Child Raising, Child Rearing, Christianity, Disciplemaking, Evangelism, Family, Fatherhood, Inspirational, Love, Mentoring, Ministry, Modeling, Motherhood, Parenting, Thanksgiving, Witnessing

MORE THAN ENOUGH


1 THESSALONIANS 3:12

“and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you;” 

Paul is making a wish here – that the Thessalonians would increase and abound in love. Now, even though this was a wish he hoped to see come true, it was a pretty, sure wish. Paul had confidence that they would do just what he hoped. Why? Because he knew their love first hand. He had experienced  their love. He knew they were quite capable.

These two words, “increase” and “abound,” mean very similar things. They can both mean more than enough, overflowing or abundant. Paul was simply trying to overemphasize the point to them. But it is important to remember that they could only “overflow” what was in them. This love came from an unending source – God.

APPLICATION

Tell me this – do you ever run out of love for your children? Of course, not. And let me tell you, it’s even more true with your grandchildren. I have four (as of this writing), and the love I have for them just gets stronger each day. I don’t have that capacity in myself. Any love I feel for anyone comes from the love the Father has shown me.

I want to challenge you to let that love you have for family extend to your church family, to your neighbors and even to strangers. Teach your children to love abundantly. Teach them to overflow with love. Show them what that looks like, not just to them but with others. 

If you will commit to love like that, you will experience an even deeper love of the Father. I know the Lord is well pleased when we love well. When He sees His love poured out on others through us, He smiles. After all, He still uses us to spread His Word and His love on this earth.

God of love, thank You for using me to love others. Help me to love those whom I find it hard to love. You can love them through me.

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Advice, Career, Child Raising, Child Rearing, Christianity, Disciplemaking, Family, Fatherhood, Inspirational, Mentoring, Ministry, Modeling, Motherhood, Parenting, Suffering

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?


1 THESSALONIANS 3:11

11Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you; 

You must excuse me, but I love word studies. I love to look up different words in Scripture to see what the etymology of the word is and where else it is used in the Scriptures. This verse is no exception. I had to look up the word “direct.” I found something interesting.

It is only used three times – right here, in Luke 1:79 and 2 Thessalonians 3:5. It means to direct without any deviations, to go straight to a destination. What is really interesting is in these three verses where it is used, it is directing three different things, but they must go together.  In today’s verse it directs our way. In Luke it directs our feet, and in 2 Thessalonians it directs our heart. If your heart is directed correctly, your feet will take you the right way.

APPLICATION

I bet you use a GPS when you travel. Most of us do today. It’s hard to find a road map anymore. With those you could contemplate different routes to your destination. Now, all you have to do is punch in the address, and your route is mapped for you.

The next time you travel with your family, get one of your children to set the GPS. Get them to direct your family to its destination. Then talk about this verse. Just as they just put in the address to take you to your final destination, God has punched in our eternal destination. He wants us to take the path He has chosen. But just like the GPS, when we stray, He will reroute us in order to get us back on the path.

Where are you going? Is your heart right? If it is, your feet will follow. Then and only then can you stay on the right path. Following God’s path does NOT guarantee the smoothest roads. Sometimes He takes us on bumpy roads. Sometimes He takes the scenic route. But the final destination will be worth it all.

You are in control of my life path, Lord. I give You control of mapping it out for me. I may complain from time to time when I don’t understand the route, but I will trust You.

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