Remaining in Him

"As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have obeyed My Father's commands and remain in His love." -- Joh 15:9-10

Starting the day with praise is one of the best ways to remain in Him. It gets us off on the right foot. If you have yet to memorize a few praise songs or Scriptures, take time to do so. It will add a spring to your step and help keep a smile on your face. As little girls my mother put my sisters and I in a children's choir. To this day I sing hymns, both while sleeping and throughout the day. Those within earshot may not enjoy it, but it keeps me smiling.

A thankful heart is pleasing to God. After all, He has provided us with everything. When we stop to think about all that He has done for us, we soon realize that we have much to be thankful for. Even the poorest of us can say He gave us air to breathe, the sun to brighten our day, ground to walk on (really, we could be floating in space), water to drink, and salvation for our souls. Further, in salvation is the hope of all eternity, the blessings of heaven, the mercy of His love . . . one could go on all day. Some of my favorite blessings are the green of spring, the blue of the sky, the shade of trees, and the smell of roses. In His riches He blesses us with so much that thankfulness should be a big part of our lives.

Praise and thankfulness abound when we remain in Him. To be near Him is to appreciate His incomparable kindness. The more we seek Him the more we desire Him and the closer we draw to Him. All good relationships take effort. Our relationship with the Lord is no different. If we are to have His joy, His peace, and His mercy; we must first firm up our relationship with Him. This requires that we put the same type of effort into being His that we would to be a good wife or a responsible husband or a close friend. Truly, our Heavenly Father is the ultimate helper, provider, and confidant. He is also the eternal Sovereign, the One before Whom all knees will bow. So He doesn't just care for us, He is completely in charge of us.

How much wiser it is to submit to the One Who is in complete control than to resist the inevitable. God's rules are unbreakable, meaning that we do not break them without facing consequences. When we remain in Him, He remains in us. When He remains in us, praise and gratitude just naturally flow from our hearts. It is a beautiful circle of love that stems from obedience.

Let Us Not Stand Silently By

Dear Professing Christian,

If you're not deeply insulted and repulsed by the effort to silence or marginalize Christianity, then you should seriously consider whether or not you have anything of substance to lose. Because we were not purchased by the blood of Baptists nor Methodists nor Catholics nor any other denomination under the sun, but by the pure and holy blood of the Son of the great I AM -- the same Son who was with the Father at the beginning of creation and now sits at His right hand in Heaven. So, while it may be considered acceptable to ignore so great a sacrifice when made by a mere sinful man, it must be held entirely reprehensible to ignore the sacrifice of One so completely holy and Supreme -- if indeed we are, as we claim, purchased by that blood.

For such is this salvation -- if we are in Him as His children, then He is everything to us. The desire to please, to serve, to glorify Him permeates every part of our life. To expect us to be silent is akin to asking us to cease to breathe or take nourishment. Our hearts yearn to share Him with others, our minds are filled with His words, and our souls overflow with His love. To disregard His sacrifice as though it mattered not is profoundly reprehensible – unthinkable even, because He is our holy and most worthy Lord. Whether profitable by the standards of man or not; we must speak of His righteousness, His mercy, and the eternal wealth of belonging to Him.

Consider rightly then to whom you align yourself. If man, then silence is acceptable. But if God, would not that same silence be both highly offensive and unacceptable to Him?

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the Spirit He caused to live in us envies intensely? – James 4:4-5

The simple truth is that our God, the great Creator of the Bible, is a jealous God. When we prefer man’s approval more than His, we literally say to Him we value man more than Him. Further, the idea that we should “keep the peace” is contrary to the will of the God we claim to serve. We are not here to “play nice” with others. We are here to fight for the souls of our neighbors, our relatives, and even those strangers we meet in our everyday lives. That is what it is to be truly Christian, to contend for the faith. Consider how the disciples lived. Did they not contend for the faith as though salvation was all that mattered, giving even their very lives to reconcile us to Him? Therefore if being silenced in regards to the things of Him does not offend us to our very core, then we need to recognize that our core must – by the examples set before us -- not be fully His.

In closing, to stand by while the truth of the cross is silenced, marginalized, belittled, maligned, and/or compromised; is to say that we regard Him not and, having said that, that we are indeed not nearly as committed to Him as we profess – for salvation does not lie in the mere professing of belief – even the demons believe (James 2:19); but rather, in the transformation of our sinful natures by the Spirit of God within us (Romans 12:1-3).

God’s peace.

More from "The Air of Heaven" from "Regarding Salvation . . .", "It's Not About the Money"

If our hearts are truly His, we do not serve for money. The satisfaction of knowing we’re pleasing Him is high reward for us. We’re not in it for prosperity’s sake. That isn’t to say that those who work don’t deserve to be paid. They most certainly do, but such payment should not afford the worker a lifestyle worthy of “Forbes” nor should it be obtained at the cost of misrepresenting His word.

The simple logic of it is that if Christ, Himself, lived a life of poverty then we, as His follows, should not think that we need to live lives of opulence. Yet, many get caught up in just that. Some even try to justify taking advantage of their brothers and sisters in Christ as necessary for the work they are called to. This is not Biblical. I hear it all the time, but it simply is not Biblical. No, that’s arrogance.

If we are to be crushing our brothers and sisters to maintain the lifestyle we think we deserve, how are we to be discerned as different from the lost? Peter didn’t take advantage of Paul nor Paul of Timothy, but the Christian aristocracy often takes advantage of its fellow laborers. Where do we see Christ demanding a second or even a third home? He didn’t have the first one and He had to borrow a ride. So, when you crush someone who is working in the Spirit, what you are really doing is saying that what you desire is more important than what the Spirit desires.

Money is a tool. When it becomes more important to us to have what money provides than to be in line with His will, we have stopped serving the Master and started serving ourselves.

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted wine or pugnacious, but gentle, uncontentious, free from the love of money. – 1 Tim 3:2-3

For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.  – 1 Tim 6:10