A Prescription for Health

Proverbs 3:7-8 "Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." 

 God has made a way for us to remain well and strong at all levels of our being. The process begins with fearing the Lord. This is not a dread or terror as of a tyrannical ruler, but a wholesome honour and awe of who God is, a heartfelt respect for what He does, and for the principles He teaches in His word. It means making Him so present in all areas of our lives that we will not want any part of evil. If there is to be a dread at all, it would be just that – an anxiousness to avoid doing anything that might affront our Lord or hamper our relationship with Him!  

This same wholesome fear and awe of God, precludes us from thinking of ourselves as wise in ourselves; experienced and confident in our own abilities without due acknowledgement that we need the Lord and cannot do without Him! When we become wise in our own eyes, we are proud and are attempting to impose our own thinking and ways over those God wants for us. This is not only self-deceiving, but also self-defeating because it replaces the true and God-honouring wisdom we are to have as believers.

We can make the mistake of claiming we honour and fear God and yet subscribe to ways of life which He considers evil. This is not wisdom from above! In serving God there must be a concerted effort to make our departure from what our Lord and Sovereign God sees as offensive to His holy nature. Second guessing God and His word is hardly living in awe of God!

True wisdom begins with fearing God. This is healthy and makes us vigorous at all levels, but self-conceit and arrogance can only bring ailment and self-destruction, whilst at the same time damaging relationship with others.

The 'navel', was seen as the centre of all human emotions, the place where the strongest feelings are formed and acted upon. We still refer in our modern language to the ‘butterflies’ in our belly and the ‘churning’ of stomach, or that 'gut' feeling, in an effort to describe certain emotions.

Fearing God and avoiding evil brings health to the navel and so is presented to us as a godly process of gaining and maintaining emotional stability and fortitude. In a modern world, with humanity marked by mounting troubled emotions and escalating mental traumas, we surely need an answer to our plight! God provides us with His prescription for the problem.

It has been said that the greatest evidence of the fear of God is obedience to Him. Perhaps we would not be hounded and conquered by so many fears and phobias, or overcome and destroyed by the ever-present stresses of life, if we truly obeyed and gave the correct place in our lives of honour and respect to God, the One who knows us best and loves us most! 



See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Staying True

"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life." 1 John 2:24-25

 The teaching, light and revelation God gave us by His Word when we first came to know Him, showing us His love, truth and holiness, is still the message and information which keeps us and saves us today. The same practices of prayer, study and obedience to His Word and sharing the good news of salvation with others are as important and essential today as when we first were shown them. 

We may think that modernizing, up-sizing, 'programmizing', organizing and socializing are the all-essential elements to Christian life and growth, but God is ultimately looking for enduring faithfulness to what He showed us in the beginning and the persistence of the 'first love' and passion with which we embraced those principles when we were first exposed to them. Staying with those basic principles and letting them remain is us, helps us keep our eyes on Jesus - the Author and Finisher of our faith - and is therefore the true goal of Christian living.

Holding those things as precious, and keeping them present and alive in our day to day living, abiding in our hearts and minds, means we safeguard our relationship with Jesus and ensure our eternal future in heaven. It is in this constancy and continuance, that the greatest power of Christian living is displayed. 

The spiritual message and input God supplied at the beginning was perfect and complete to start with and requires no adjustment, modernization or compromise, but only that we grow deeper in the understanding of it and more appreciative of the preciousness of it. 

How many have started out ‘in love with Jesus’ only to end up ‘in love with the world and the things of it'! This loss is tragic for it has eternal consequences.

This then, is the true expression of our faithfulness to God, that we never deviate from what He imparted to us at the beginning, and that we always maintain our fervent 'first love' toward Him and His Word! 

There is a reward promised by the Lord, to those who faithfully adhere to and do not turn or compromise from the principles and faith they first received – that promise is eternal life!


See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

Emptying Ourselves

 "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, ..." Phil 2:7 

Jesus who is God was willing to put aside His rightful place and position and by choice empty Himself (literally made Himself void) so He could purchase salvation for a dying humanity. This is the underpinning truth behind the great Gospel news. In His submission to the Father's will, the Lord did not concern Himself with what others thought or perceived of Him, nor with the humbling status he submitted to, in firstly coming in the flesh and then becoming a servant. Christ's example to us in this detail is of the utmost importance. 

Many are driven by image and what people think of them. To them even the casual observer, is all important, their perceived reputation therefore is to be maintained at all costs. It is true that as believers we have a witness and as such a Christian 'reputation' to uphold, however this should never get in the way of our obedience to God, His Word and His will for our lives. What people may think of us is relative, but what God thinks of us is of paramount importance!

If we are to have the mind of Christ in us, as verse 5 of this chapter exhorts, the example is set, the foundation of thinking at this level has been laid and the pattern of overcoming has been provided! When it comes to a choice between obeying God's direction versus maintaining a reputation which may please or impress those around us, we should follow the example Jesus gave us! We ought to be willing to empty ourselves as He did, and even at the cost of being perceived as base, vile or to be despised we should put God and His will ahead of our reputation. 

In a society and culture which highly exalts personal achievement, status, image and social relevance, becoming void, meaningless or unimportant in people's eyes, may be one of the hardest tasks we may ever face as believers, but if we want to be true followers of the Master we must be willing to go this far and further just as He did, if and when it is required of us. Yes, perhaps this is 'easier said than done', yet it is in the righteousness of 'doing' God's Word, that we are considered wise builders, erecting the edifice of our lives on solid rock; and for the 'doing' of it, we are assured of support and backing of the Lord's own strength and wisdom. 

How could we ever stand before the Lord and excuse our lack of obedience to Him on the basis that we didn't want people to think poorly of us!? If Jesus could shed His reputation as God in the the eyes of those around him on our behalf, can we rightly safeguard ours and protect it at any cost? The least we can do is be willing to yield our measly and by comparison worthless reputation to stand for the convictions, teaching and directions He has given us! Such choices in serving God may seem costly at times, but demonstrate the depth of our love for Him and the degree of our passion for His will and way in our lives. 

Some have paid this price for much lesser, man-made causes, which offer no lasting eternal reward or opportunity to bring God glory. Should we not willingly empty ourselves and become void in other people's eyes for Jesus, the greatest, most noble and most valuable cause? Besides, we may find that in emptying ourselves of "our self", we might make room for Jesus and space for His image and life in us! Food for thought.


http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion