Abiding through Obedience...Craig Denison Ministries

 Abiding through Obedience

Craig Denison Ministries

Weekly Overview: 

The absolute, most important single act of the children of God is making space to encounter our heavenly Father in the secret place. Abiding in God is the foundation on which every other aspect of the Christian life finds success. It establishes roots which enable us to receive all that we need to bear the fruit of the Spirit. It guides us to constant refreshment and revival in God’s presence, thereby supplying and sustaining the abundant life God intends for us. My prayer is that you would be marked by wonderful, satisfying, and fulfilling encounters with the presence of God as we look at John 15:1-17 this week. Make room in your heart and mind to rest in the love of your heavenly Father as we look at the different ways we are to abide in true vine of God.

Scripture:“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” John 15:9-10

Devotional:    

The concept of obedience has become shrouded with a connotation of negativity. When we think of obedience we normally infer a feeling of doing a task apart from a desire or longing. We associate obedience with obligation rather than fulfillment. But when Jesus walked on the earth he carried out a very different lifestyle of obedience. Jesus’ life demonstrates what obedience to our heavenly Father is meant to look like. Obedience to God is choosing to live a lifestyle of love and devotion to our God who has loved us completely.

Jesus says in John 15:9-10, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” Too often we miss the heart of God when he calls us to obedience. Jesus illustrates here that he lived his life reciprocating the love he was shown by his Father. He lived his life in obedience to God out of the wealth of relationship he had, not out of obligation. And Jesus simply asks us to do the same. He invites us into the process of receiving and giving love as the foundation of our life that we might abide in the depth of relationship with our heavenly Father as he did.

In Luke 10:27, Jesus states the greatest commandments, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” How incredible is the heart of our God that he doesn’t call us to a lifestyle of obligation or undesired sacrifice, but a lifestyle in which we reciprocate the vast love we’ve been shown in Christ to all the earth. God doesn’t merely set rules before you but relationship as the goal. He’s after your heart totally and completely.

In a world wrapped up in a self-seeking, self-satisfying agenda, God sets us free to step outside of the burden of ourselves and frees us to live for others. In a world wrought with the weight of pride, God pours out his unceasing, selfless love which has the power to transform us into children who abide in our heavenly Father. If we will choose to abide in God’s commandments and love wholeheartedly, we will experience a satisfaction unknown to those with the attitude of selfishness and pride. We will experience the abundant life only those who abide in God can obtain.

So, abide in God’s commandments today. Choose to live a lifestyle of wholehearted love of God and others. Choose to live in obedience to God in response to his amazing love. And discover the power, purpose, and freedom that comes from ministering to others with the very love you’ve been shown in Christ.

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on God’s commandment for us to love him and one another. Receive the call to a lifestyle of love as you reflect on God’s word.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” John 15:9-10

“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:16

2. Spend time receiving the love of your heavenly Father. God always desires to fill you up with the knowledge of his love before he would have you love him or others in return. Our obedience is always meant to be a response to his loving nature. So take time and receive a fresh outpouring of the love he has for you today.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

3. Ask the Spirit to guide you to a lifestyle of love today. Spend time allowing him to reveal different ways in which he would call you to love others. How can you love your spouse better today? How can you love your best friend, coworker, neighbor, etc.? Ask the Spirit to pour out the love of God through you today. And commit to loving others even when it goes against the tides of comfort and culture.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” James 1:22

May we abide in the love of our heavenly Father today. May we choose to live a lifestyle of love. And may our prayer be like that of the Psalmist in Psalm 119:32-35 as we go about our days living to see God’s glory come on earth as it is in heaven:

I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. 

Extended Reading: 1 John 4

Fighting Lies With the Power of God’s Living Word...ELLIE HOLCOMB

 Fighting Lies With the Power of God’s Living Word

ELLIE HOLCOMB 

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword …” Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

Years ago, I sat across the table from a friend who was going through a dark time.

As she shared her heart, I got mad. Not at her but for her. It was clear the enemy was feeding her so many lies, and she was believing them. As she continued to share, my anger grew because I realized there is a mountain of lies I believe, too.

I was sick of the enemy stealing our hope and peace — our life “to the full” that Jesus promises us (John 10:10, NIV) — and I decided that day that I wasn’t going to let the enemy do that anymore without me putting up a fight.

Telling my friend to get her journal, I flipped through my Bible as fast as I could, looking for anything and everything I’d ever underlined. (Do you ever do this when you’re desperate?!)

Asking her to write down different verses, I told her the truth of John 8:44c: Satan is called “the father of lies,” and “when he lies, he speaks his native language” (NIV).

My heart was beating fast. “I don’t think it’s enough for us to just keep acknowledging the lies,” I said to my friend. “We desperately need to hold on to what is true. So you and I are going to start memorizing God’s Word together.”

She was hesitant but willing, and I was seriously worked up. “God calls His Word a sword, and we’re gonna use it!”

So we started memorizing verses in God’s Word together. We call them our “fighting words.” And guess what? Our lives have been transformed!

Memorizing Scripture hasn’t necessarily changed our circumstances, but it has changed us from the inside out. It’s given us something solid to hold on to when the shame storms roll in; we’re reminded that God is not lying when He says that His Word is “alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword …” (Hebrews 4:12).

He’s also not lying when He says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish … so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will … achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11, NIV).

We have seen God’s Word water our souls, grow good fruit in our hearts and give us an anchor that holds fast when the storm waters rise.

Truth be told? My husband was recently in the hospital. It was scary. We know now that he’s going to be OK, but there have been many unknowns, and he has been in a world of pain that the doctors haven’t been able to control.

It’s in dark places like this that I cling to my fighting words. For example, passages like Psalm 139:7-12 often exhale out of me as prayers: “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? … If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you. The night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you” (NIV).

I’ve whispered these words in the dark while my husband was struggling in the hospital, and I whisper them to this day when hardship descends. They comfort my worry and raise the burden off me, up to the face of Jesus. As I speak the Word, I fight back fear and keep the enemy’s lies at bay.

And so can you.

God, thank You for Your living Word that helps me fight against the lies of the enemy! Help me hide Your Word in my heart so that I’ll be equipped for victory, no matter the battle. Lead me to the verses You want me to use as a sword when the shame or the fear starts rolling in. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Recognize Your Vulnerability...Dr. Charles Stanley

 Recognize Your Vulnerability

Dr. Charles Stanley

1 Corinthians 10:12-13

Some Christians see a fellow believer fall into sin but fail to acknowledge that they, too, could stumble. That's dangerous. Satan has them right where he wants them: deceived by a false sense of confidence. Three enemies are constantly at work trying to bring us down: the Devil, his world system, and our own treacherous flesh.

Even though believers have a righteous standing before God, we must each, like Paul, acknowledge an internal problem: "sin which dwells in me" (Rom. 7:20). Satan takes full advantage of this weakness, luring us with fleshly and worldly temptations. He stokes our pride so we'll be blinded to our own vulnerability to stumbling.

Christians need to be continually on guard. Since ignorance--of the nature of sin, the strategies of the Enemy, and our own areas of weakness--sets us up for failure, we cannot afford to be careless in our thinking. Anytime you find yourself excusing, redefining, or rationalizing sin, you've lost your sensitivity to the Lord. God's Word must always fill our minds and direct our steps.

If you've drifted from the Lord, turn back to Him by acknowledging your sin and accepting full responsibility for it. Repentance simply means changing your mind and going in a different direction--toward God instead of away from Him.

The next step is harder. Respond with gratitude for the Lord's chastisement. Every time believers fall into sin, God lovingly works to bring them back into a fellowship with Him. His discipline may be painful, but it's always good because it brings us to our senses and reconnects us with our Father.

How God Gives Strength through Weakness...By Lynette Kittle

 How God Gives Strength through Weakness (2 Cor 12:10)

By Lynette Kittle

Today's Bible Verse: “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” - 2 Corinthians 12:10

Have you ever wanted to reach out to others but feel so discouraged, broken, or unqualified in your present condition, that you believe you couldn’t possibly encourage or help anyone else?

Many of us have felt that way in our lives. Yet, the Apostle Paul tells us to delight in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties because in our weaknesses, God will give us His strength.

Of course, feeling delighted by verbal attacks, powerlessness, struggles, and mistreatments is not an emotion most of us experience. In fact, most of us have quite the opposite reaction when we face these things. Instead of delight, we feel defeated, hopeless, and worthless.

It’s part of the enemy’s plan to make us feel crushed, worn down, and useless. He wants us to hesitate to reach out and help care for to one another.

How the Enemy Works to Wear Us Down

By telling us we aren’t up to it and need to get our act together before we can be of any help to anyone else, the enemy convinces us that we aren’t well enough to tell others about Him.

He tries to keep our struggles, failures, and weaknesses continually before us to cause us to believe we are in no shape to reach out and encourage others, or equipped to share God’s love with them.

Although the enemy tells us our weaknesses disqualify us from reaching out to others, God assures us that we aren’t ever supposed to be moving in our own strength and power.

Instead, we are to depend upon Him and draw our confidence from Him, rather than ourselves. When we do it’s evident to those around us, that it is God at work through us and not by our own strength.

2 Corinthians 4:7, explains, “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

Our Power Source

Although we may feel like we’re just too fragile, walking around broken and beaten up, it’s not ever supposed to be about us reaching out of our own strength but of letting God be our power source.

During our weakest times, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 encourages us that even when we feel hard-pressed on every side, we aren’t crushed. How even in despair, persecution and abandonment, we are not struck down or destroyed.

Whereas the world tells us we have to be strong and ruthless to survive on this earth, it's in our weaknesses where we really find the strength and power we need to face each day.

Philippians 4:13, urges us when feeling defeated and disqualified, to remember we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

When we feel powerless and without resources of our own to reach out to those around us, Ephesians 6:10 urges us to look beyond ourselves and find our power in the Lord.

“But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

A Prayer for When Your Spirit Starts to Fade...By Maggie Meadows Cooper

 A Prayer for When Your Spirit Starts to Fade

By Maggie Meadows Cooper

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of the Lord stands forever."  - Isaiah 40:8

Last summer my family went and picked up leftover pieces of sod for our backyard from a local sod farm. We put the pieces together like a puzzle: a little brown, a little yellow, and some bright green mixed in for good measure. And as I sat admiring our work, the Lord showed me something.

Each of those grass squares, when cut off from their lifeline-roots and water, is left to die in the scorching heat. Some of the pieces that had just been cut were still green and damp. Those cut a little earlier were yellowing and dry, and those cut the longest ago were brown and brittle. The ladies at the farm assured me that the yellow pieces could be brought back to life with water and care...that their roots would grow and bring vibrant life back to them. And, y'all, as I thought about it, I realized that I have felt like one of those yellowing pieces recently.

This is so like our walk with the Lord. When we are rooted and grounded in the Word, spending quality time in fellowship and prayer, we are filled with Living Water, green and bright and vibrant. And even if we pull up roots for a time...we can stay green and full for a little while...we can fake it ‘til we make it. But the longer we are away from the Word, we start to yellow a little. We begin to fade in areas, maybe, where others can't see, but we can behind closed doors. Our joy, our peace, our love, our kindness and gentleness... even our faith can start to fade.

But here's the beauty...we can get all of that bright vibrant joyful, hope-filled abundance back, y'all! We just have to take care with what we sow. We have to grow our roots down deep by sticking close to those who are close to the Lord, who will speak truth and lift us up and away from the things of this world! We need to drink up the Living Water and not hold back. We need to be patient in the waiting of reaping a harvest. We can't give up, no matter what this world or the people of it throw at us.

I share this for all of you who may be in this place. You may have been cut off...you may not be full. You may be in a really dry, hard place. But I am here to tell you that the Lord is there with you, urging you to come back to Him and let Him be your fulfillment in this world. He sees you and knows right where you are. Look for Him and He will be there. If you are green and bright and in an amazing place with the Lord right now, come alongside your friends and offer His love and comfort and encouragement for those who need it, because one day you may need them to return the favor.

Check in on your people. Pray for the Lord to give you wisdom and discernment for those who may be fading right before your eyes. Dig in the Word. And drink up the Living Water that only He can give.

"I rejoice in your Word like one who discovers a great treasure." - Psalm 119:162

Let's pray:

Dear Lord,

Forgive me for wandering from you and your Word. Draw me back to you and the Life that only you can give. Help me to resist the things of this world and keep my focus on you alone.

In Your Mighty Name,
Amen

Living in Grace...By Kyle Norman

 Living in Grace

By Kyle Norman

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” - 2 Corinthians 13:14

As an Anglican, the words “The Grace” are ingrained in how we do Church. Many of our church services either begin or end, with these words. These words do not just appear in our services; they are also the standard close for any Bible study, meeting, or potluck. In fact, so familiar are we with these words, that some may not even recognize them as a passage of scripture.

Of course, when Paul penned these words, he did not have in mind potlucks, Bible studies, or liturgical services; nor were these words designed simply to conclude his letter in a crisp and poetic fashion. Rather, in writing these words, Paul pronounces a reality which encompasses the lives of all Christians. Simply, the words of the grace declare a truth about your life. This truth has three components.

Firstly, the grace of Jesus Christ is upon you. Scripture uses the word “grace” as a shorthand for the entire redemptive activity of our Lord. The entire arc of salvation history is contained in this small 5-letter word. Grace is Jesus entering your world in the most vulnerable of fashions; It is him walking toward you amid threatening storms; It is Jesus touching you in the place of your brokenness and offering his healing presence. Grace is Jesus weeping with you as you mourn the losses and struggles of life; It is Jesus journeying into the place of death and sin, violence and pain, to dethrone their power over your life; It is Jesus rising in the power of God, and extending that resurrection like a blanket over you. Grace is the intimate presence of the Lord precisely in the places where you feel that you do not, or cannot, deserve it.  

When Paul writes “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. . .be with you” everything stated above is declared to be a truth for your life. In hearing these words, you are invited to live in this reality and to allow these promises to enfold you. Jesus, the exalted Lord, surrounds you.

Paul does not stop there. Paul also writes about the reality of God’s love over you. I encourage you to sit with the awesomeness of this proclamation. Consider the sheer delight in being able to declare, under the authority of scripture, that the love of the creator surrounds you. The declaration of God’s love isn’t just something quaint we say. It is not a slogan of faith that sounds nice but lacks reality. No, God’s love is extended to you. This is a fact. 

Scripture is replete with declarations regarding the activity of God’s love upon our lives. No matter what is going on in life, no matter how far off course one may have gone, God surrounds us with the deepest expression of love that we can ever imagine. And to top it all off, such love will not change or diminish.  It will not lessen in degree or intensity.  The love of God is constant.

Lastly, Paul concludes this life-giving verse by invoking the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This statement refers to an active engagement with the Holy Spirit in our lives. This flows naturally out of the other two statements. If we truly recognize that we are immersed in our Lord’s redemptive work, and rooted in the sacrificial love of God, then how can we not see ourselves as filled with the power of Spirit? The Spirit invites us to participate in God’s activity in the world.  We are invited to share in the work of the Kingdom.  

Intersecting Faith and life:
How might you embody the words of The Grace in a deeper way? Perhaps the place to start is by acknowledging the area that you find most difficult and then choosing to live as if the words were true. For example, if you have a hard time accepting God’s love, simply choose to live as if God’s eternal love was a full reality for your life. Dare to believe that God’s eternal love is powerful and effective in your life. You may decide to make a list of biblical verses that speak of God’s love, and then wilfully read yourself into such verses. You just might be surprised at the transformation that takes place.  

The grace of Jesus, the love of God, and the activity of the Spirit surround you. There are no moments in your life where this is not the case. The fact is, the more you live as if these words are true, the more you experience their reality in your life. 

For further reading: 

• Ephesians 2:1-9