kingdom travelin'

Yesterday I was pleased to teach about wisdom from James chapters 1 and 3.

The key point to share is this: We don’t need another checklist.

To live with biblical wisdom does not emerge from following a to do list.

Living with biblical wisdom (“from above”) happens naturally as we invest time in conversation with God. This conversation is most fruitful as prayer is informed by a growing knowledge of God. The Psalms are particularly helpful in learning God’s prayer language, it’s why I advocate reading Psalms daily.

So, if you’ve already given up on your resolutions, that’s ok. Today you get the chance to make time to spend listening to and speaking with the God who loves you enough to die for you.

This article is worth a click and three minutes to read‼️

Happy New Year! Are you a resolution maker? Many folks are and some are even a bit successful. But it seems that by the end of January most resolutions are history. Please don’t confuse resolutions with spiritual disciplines. (You can read about spiritual disciplines on page 51 of A Fresh Start.) No, spiritual disciplines are not resolutions, but they are an investment of time with the Lord you love to grow deeper in that love.

“Spiritual disciplines are not about making you more precious to God, they’re about making God more precious to you.” 

There are a whole bunch of Spiritual Disciplines, but to me, the big two are prayer and Bible reading. This whole bulletin is designed to give you resources to practice those two spiritual disciplines. The more we read and meditate on the Bible, the easier it becomes to pray, because we know Jesus better, and grow more familiar with God’s language.

“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭150‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Our Hope is in God, who sent His only Son to make peace with God possible for you and me. This is the basis for our ability to have joy, even when we are hurting – as many are during the holidays. All this is possible because of His love, or more specifically, His steadfast love.  I’d like to offer you a wonderful paragraph to meditate on from Paul’s letter to the Colossians: 

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (1:15-20, ESV)

So, this Christmas, I pray we’ll all reflect on the greatness of the Incarnation, that wonderful truth that Jesus, the perfect God-man came to earth to bring peace between us and God.

“Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” Psalm‬ ‭66‬:‭20‬ ‭ESV‬‬