Spirituality is how we live out the story. In our faith tradition, we have a tendency to live out our faith with great human effort. Human effort is good.
We are called to hold to (abide) the teaching of Jesus. But Jesus makes it clear that we don’t need to abide alone (we can’t). Rather, he’s given us
the Holy Spirit as a helper so we can live for God and in God.
As we continue our journey exploring the idea of Yahweh and the People, through the Thread Podcast, we focus our attention in this week’s episode on the idea of “Why Story?” Why is it important to understand the story of God in the scriptures and how that may intersect and impact our story?
This week we started a three-year journey where we explore God and man through His three persons, Yahweh and the People, Jesus and the People, and The Holy Spirit and the People. “Our Image of God” focuses on how formative experiences both spiritual, emotional, and physical affect our image of God and therefore can shape…
A lasting, fulfilling journey with God starts with faith. Like Abraham, we must start the joinery without having the answers to all the questions and trust that God will lead us to the destination.
Preparation and consecration for a journey with God is important if we are to make it to the end.
As we embark on a new journey this season let’s make sure we prepare our hearts and minds for new challenges, new sacrifices and new attitudes. To get to a new level of relationship with God our time with Him has to be consecrated and uninterrupted by worldly things. Let’s start a new chapter in our walk with God!
We never know what life will bring and when. Therefore, we must examine ourselves that our faith is based not on man’s wisdom but on the work of the cross. As humans, we are often more concerned with how we look than with how we worship Christ. As Christians, however, we try to concern ourselves with nothing else but Christ and Him crucified so that none can boast.
To outsiders, the Bible seems like a book of NOs. We look at the story of Jonah and how his hubris (defiance) of saying no to God turned into the humility of accepting a no from God. When we pray, sometimes the answer is no, but we can rest assured that God generally says no to protect us (from ourselves) or because he has something better in mind that requires you to be exactly where you are in that moment. Therefore, the best road forward is one where we put aside our defiance and humbly submit to God.
As we look at the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 we see that, when we encounter Jesus, our priorities change. This woman who went to the well in shame to get some water during the high noon heat left her water jar behind to share the news of Jesus with her neighbors. Like the Samaritans in the story, when people are truly thirsty for a Saviour, they go from curious to present to changed as Jesus works in their lives. Are you thirsty?
Can you live your life without regrets? With faith in God, you can. Living by faith does not mean your life will be easy or have no challenges. God gives you a purpose that makes your life meaningful. Do you feel like your life is making a difference? Does it have a purpose that would give it a lifelong meaning? What can you do with your life right now so that in the end you have no regrets?
The world that we live in has many distractions that take us away from our loving devotion to Almighty God and his Son Jesus Christ. Come as we learn together how to be watchful and wait for the return of our lord Jesus Christ
