Tag: Unity

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Beginning to Forever, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study

All Powerful God

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based on the LGG Study, From Beginning to Forever/w1d5

Read: Genesis 11:1-9; SOAP: Genesis 11:8-9

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.

3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.

Genesis 11:1-9 NLT (KJV)

“My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are His the oceans are is, the stars are His handiwork to. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do.”

As I wrapped up my study and notes from today’s journey, this little chorus that I sang to and with my girls as they were growing up, ran through my mind and then flowed from my tongue. Here’s why: Today’s journey begins with the people of the “whole earth” sharing a common language, settling on a plain in Shinar, and eventually coming up with a plan to build a city and a tower that reaches to the heavens. I suppose this isn’t a bad plan, I mean, my grandson loves to build things with blocks and tiles, he finds the activity fun and exciting to see how high he can go before they topple over, or he knocks them down, whichever comes first. His objective is purely from a creative mind and a desire to have fun. However, this was not the case for the people who had settled in Shinar.

Scripture clearly says their goal was to make a name for themselves. Clearly, they enjoyed and/or knew the benefit of their unity through one common language; they realized that there was power in numbers and did not want to be scattered. Some commentators suggest that their motive was born out of a deliberate attempt to guard against another flood by making a structure specifically intended to protect mankind from God’s judgment.

As I continued on in today’s journey, moved past the people of the plain, and read about God’s reaction to their plan, I noted that God was paying attention. There is no plan or motive that He does not know or see, and He is in perfect control of it all. It was then that I zeroed in on verses eight and nine, where we read that the people stopped building the city, now known as Babel, because the Lord had confused the people with different languages and scattered them all over the world. It is important and helpful to note here an observation by Bibleref.com concerning God’s actions in this matter:

God points out to the Trinity or the angels (it is unclear who He is speaking to) that “mankind is capable of enormous evil, when their sinful natures become aligned. God is not attempting to stifle mankind’s potential to accomplish ‘anything’ good, but He is very concerned about their potential to accomplish ‘anything evil.”

It was here that the chorus began playing in my mind, and I jotted down the following note in the margin of my journal – a good reminder for us all:

We cannot protect ourselves from the power of God. No matter the language or the location or the power and control we obtain, no person or group of people will ever be greater than God or clever enough to outsmart Him. There is comfort in this truth.

Me~from the Inside-out🦋

May the words of the chorus ring through your mind and penetrate your heart. May it be an encouragement to lean into the power of God, to rest in His power, and to depend on it – rather than to run from or attempt to overcome or go around His plan and will for your life.

“My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do. The mountains are His the oceans are is, the stars are His handiwork to. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do.”

Posted in Bible study, Devotion, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, LGG Study, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time, Secure In Christ

The Importance and Way of Unity

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based on the LGG Study, Secure in Christ/w4d1

Read: Ephesians 4:1-6; Matthew 5:14-16 and SOAP: Ephesians 4:2-3

 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Eph 4:1-6

Friends, as believers, we must never forget that, like Paul, we have been called to live and love like Jesus (John 13:34; Luke 9:23-24). Knowing that Jesus was sinless and loved us even to death on the cross, it may be easy to think this is impossible and skip right over it. However, in Paul’s letter to the believers in Ephesus, He laid out four principles or characteristics to help them in their quest to accomplish God’s calling on their lives. Humility, gentleness, patience, and love are the chief characteristics, but he also tells them to “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

Humility is defined by gotquestions.org as meekness, lowliness, and absence of self. Biblical humility is not simply an outward expression or show. Instead, it is an attitude of the heart. Between us and Christ/God, it is a heart change that reflects our understanding that we are utterly helpless and hopeless without Him. We are completely dependent on Jesus Christ for life here on earth and eternity in Heaven. Likewise, we are utterly dependent on Him for godliness, ie, living and loving like Jesus. (This attitude/mind-set is a game-changer.)

Gentleness, as one commentary says, “involves humility and thankfulness toward God, and polite, restrained behavior toward others.” We cannot produce it in ourselves, for it is a fruit of the Spirit(Galatians 5:22-26). Gentleness has, by some, been mistaken for weakness. Yet, certainly, when we consider the opposites of gentleness, such as anger, a desire for revenge, and promoting oneself as better than others, we are able to see that gentleness requires great strength.

Every person is powerful. We can speak words that influence others; we can act in ways that help or hurt; and we can choose what influences will inform our words and actions. Gentleness constrains and channels that power. To be gentle is to recognize that God’s ways and thoughts are high above our own (Isaiah 55:9). It is to humbly realize that our worldviews are shaped by exposure to sin and the misinterpretation of experience. It is to accept God’s worldview, reflecting truth about the spiritual and the material worlds.

Gotquestions.org

Patience, in this passage, implies bearing with or putting up with one another (in love). Similar to gentleness and humility, it requires putting others above ourselves and living in the power of God’s Spirit. On the flip-side, In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul identifies patience as a by-product of love – so it appears you cannot have one without the other.

Particularly as it is used in the New Testament, “love” is not merely a feeling or an emotion. It means taking actions which benefit others. A feeling which doesn’t result in action is not biblical “love.”

Gotquestions.org

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor 13:4-7). These were the words Paul used to define love to the church of Corinth. Love was also the answer Jesus gave to the one who asked Him to name the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind; the second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). Thankfully, we don’t have to guess what Jesus meant when He told us to love. In John 13:34, John records what Jesus said this love is to look like when He introduced the “new commandment” to His disciples, saying: “I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” Again, I urge you not to set this aside as something you cannot do, and as an extra measure of encouragement, I remind you, as I have often reminded myself, that God has given us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3-4).

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

2 Peter 1:3-4

Paul wraps up this list of characteristics by which we are to live out God’s calling on our lives with a final instruction (or perhaps reason) for living with all humility, gentleness, patience, and love. They are to practice these attributes… “making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” As we have been reminded throughout this journey through Ephesians, Jews and Gentiles were now united in Christ, and should live in peace with one another. As Bibleref.org puts it: “This unity ought to also take place “in the bond of peace.” Peace is another theme that Paul mentions multiple times in this letter (Ephesians 1:2; 2:14, 15, 17; 6:15, 23). Christ is our peace; He made peace, preached peace, gives unity in peace, and offers a gospel of peace. Peace is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and important for every believer (Romans 5:1).”

When we live and love like this, we fulfill another calling of God on our lives, which is to be lights in this dark world. May we remember that to maintain the light, we must faithfully practice the teachings of God through Paul to “live with all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The love Jesus has for his followers cannot be duplicated by them in one sense, because it effects their salvation, since he lays down his life for them: It is an act of love that gives life to people. But in another sense, they can follow his example (recall to the end, 13:1; also 1 John 3:16; 4:16 and the interpretation of Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet). In this way Jesus’ disciples are to love one another: They are to follow his example of sacrificial service to one another, to death if necessary.

bibleref.com
The More We Know

For more insight, read today’s Love God Greatly’s post HERE

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, LGG Study, Living In Community, Not Made to Be Alone, Quiet Time

The Way of Peace and Unity

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Today’s Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17 / SOAP: verses 12-14

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy,kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others. 14 And to all these  virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.

Colossians 3:12-14
Putting Off and Putting On

Paul has just been telling the believers of Colossae how they have been made new – through their faith in Jesus Christ – explaining how their life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:1-11). Now he points them to the way of peace and unity with others by instructing them how to live as chosen children of God. Having just informed that they are to put off anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander and filthy language – He now tells them what to put on in order that the peace of Christ might control their hearts. He says to put on … actually to clothe ourselves with these virtues:

  • a heart of mercy
  • kindness
  • humitlity
  • gentleness
  • and patience
  • making allowances for other’s faults
  • forgiving anyone who offends you
  • remembering that God forgave you
  • on top of all of these – LOVE
The Call of Christ

Living this way is the call of Christ on our life, it pleases God, and it will lead to peace and unity as we are united together as one. When this happens, not only will we know the joy of life in Christ (John 15:1-13) but we will be the salt and light that makes God known to the world (Matthew 5:1-16).

Response to God’s Word

Father, we aren’t meant to live alone – certainly we have been created for “community” – living, working, interacting with others. But admittedly, Father, this isn’t always easy in our own strength. So, please help us to put off the old and put on the new – showing mercy, loving and forgiving others even as You have forgiven us – being kind to each other – humble in attitude and actions – patiently bearing with one another and gentle in our responses, so that You might be glorified and we might live in peace. In Jesus’ Name and for the fullness of His Joy – to Your glory – Amen+

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Don’t miss the Friday Blog Post at Love God Greatly

Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Journey Through The Word, Quiet Time

One In The Spirit

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 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Ephesians 4:3

We live in a world that is ‘self-driven’. The ‘I have to have the best’, ‘be the best’, and ‘be better than her’ attitude is prevalent. Not only do we expect better than the best from ourselves we demand it from others, and we have little to no tolerance for those who do not measure up. While there is nothing wrong with being motivated and wanting to ‘do your best’, or even expecting others to do their best – Paul teaches us here and throughout his writings, that we are to be God-driven rather than ‘self-driven’. His words to “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit,” are preceded by the wisdom of how to do this, wisdom that basically teaches putting others first. He teaches humbleness, gentleness, patience, and making allowance for other’s faults – and he bases it on our love – which, according to Jesus’ teaching, is supposed to mirror His love for us, (john 13:34) – and His love was anything but selfish and self-driven. Where this love is absent, self will be prevalent and there will be no true unity. This is why Paul doesn’t suggest that we do this on our own but instead says to “make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”

It strikes me as I’m writing and glancing back up at verse 1, where Paul begs the believers to lead a life worthy of someone who is called by God – that we are not just called to salvation but rather to live out that salvation. To love as Jesus loved, to be His hands and feet to the world, to go and make disciples, to edify and encourage others, to lift up the weak, and pray for the sick, and so much more. God’s calling is not easy but He made it all possible by giving us His Spirit – who not only binds us together with peace and in love but empowers, teaches, and guides us to do all that God has called us to do, even live at peace with other believers who we may not see eye to eye with.

Are you having trouble living at peace with someone or a group of someones? The Spirit of God is your answer – your strength and hope of overcoming the barriers to the unified peace God has called us to. May we heed Paul’s words and “because of [our love] make every effort to keep ourselves united in the Spirit, binding ourselves together with peace“. In this, God will be glorified and we will know His peace.

Response to God’s Word

Father as the old hymn says, “bind us together – with cords that cannot be broken – bind us together in love” – In Jesus’ name I pray, amen and amen!

Notes from the insideout journal –
Posted in Bible study, From the Insideout, Prayer Starters, Quiet Time
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So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:1-4 ESV

In this portion of his letters to the Philippians believers Paul was encouraging them to live in unity with each other. So important was their unity that he equated it with completing his joy, as one who had mentored them in the faith. When believers are motivated by the same love, the love of Jesus Christ – when they are motivated by the same purpose or cause, salvation for those who are lost – when they are full of compassion and affection for each other …. when we think more about someone else more than we do ourselves – only then will there will be true joy in the midst of us all, and perhaps especially for those who are teaching or shepherding us in the faith. This type of unity won’t always be easy but Paul gives the perfect pattern for success as he encourages the believers to consider their attitude … namely, the same attitude of Christ (vs 5-8) who, though He was God, didn’t consider equality to God something to be grasped … instead He took on human flesh, and in the form of a servant He humbled Himself – even to the point to death on a cross +

Me, from the Inside-out💙

Posted in Bible study, LGG Study

Everlasting Covenant: Week 3, Friday – Unity in the New Covenant

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After focusing on 2 Cor 3:4-6 this wee, without looking, where does our adequacy to be God’s servants come from?

Question of the Day: What happens every time we “eat the bread and drink the cup’?

Today’s Scripture: Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-34 (S.O.A.P. 1 Cor. 11:25-26)

Luke 22:14-20 New Living Translation

 When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table.[a] 15 Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. 16 For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

17 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. 18 For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

19 He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

20 After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.[b]

1 Corinthians 11:23-34 New Living Translation

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.[a] Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against[b] the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,[c] you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died.

31 But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. 32 Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

33 So, my dear brothers and sisters,[d] when you gather for the Lord’s Supper, wait for each other. 34 If you are really hungry, eat at home so you won’t bring judgment upon yourselves when you meet together. I’ll give you instructions about the other matters after I arrive.

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