Tag Archive for 'Faithfulness'

Keeping Spiritual Decisions!

by Jonas Harley | July 19, 2010

Summer Bible Camp is such an exciting and needful time! I’m so thankful that my church as the opportunity to take teens and juniors to camp at The Wilds for an entire week where they receive solid Bible preaching, consistent devotions, encouragement and rebuke in their walk with God, and biblical counsel about life decisions.

Summer after summer the teens come home “on fire for God” with the desire to be a pace setter in their realm of influence. However, camp decisions often become just that…camp decisions…and not life decisions. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

The Bible states in 2 Timothy 3:14, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” How can one keep his or her camp decisions? Here are few things to implement.

Inform your Parents – Saved or unsaved let your parents know what God is doing in your heart. Allow them to see how God is working in your life and that you want to do right. This will speak volumes to your parents! Oftentimes, teens will come home and just tell their parents about all the fun they had and friends they made, but don’t overlook the most needful thing (and really the whole point in going) and that is the spiritual lessons you learned. Don’t be ashamed of the gospel in your home!

Focus on the Long Term – Discouragement seems to be Satan’s favorite tool to destroy any zeal Christians have for serving God. When you decide to put God first in every area of your life Satan works to place obstacles in your way to hinder you from godly living. One of those obstacles is to get discouraged with the short term struggles in hopes to derail you from the long term view. Keep your eyes on the prize! When you establish a high level of concentration on the long term view you will maintain daily obedience.  Remember, spiritual growth takes time. It’s not an overnight process. As you remain focus on the long term you will stay encouraged with the present day.      

Accountability – Two are better than one (Eccl. 4:9-12)! Seek out someone who will strive to keep you accountable on your decision. Someone who will ask the hard questions, confronts you when necessary, and encourages you in difficult times. I strongly recommend your parents and/or Pastor or Youth Pastor (or their wives) to be your accountability partner. They have a desire to see you grow and stay faithful in your walk with God. Don’t delay. Accountability will help you stay on the right path!  

Review – Many people roll their eyes, deeply sigh, or cry out in frustration when it comes to reviewing. But reviewing is where it’s at! Lessons that you have learned will not become permanent and productive unless you are constantly reviewing them. Do not get caught up in the trap that you always have to be learning something new every day. It is easier for you to be a forgetful hearer than a doer of the word. Therefore, you must take your time and assure that you are truly learning the current lesson by reviewing, reviewing, and reviewing. Action Tip: Listen to the same sermon more than once, look over your notes, re-read through your devotional book, etc.      

Be Spirit-filled – Lastly, do not depend on your own strength to live the Christian life. God never intended for you to be self-dependent. A God-dependent Christian is a victorious Christian. Take a look at some of these awesome promises in the Bible:

  • Zechariah 4:6 – “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
  • 2 Corinthians 9:8 – “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.”
  • 2 Corinthians 12:9 – “…My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
  • James 4:6 –“But he giveth more grace. Therefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

I pray this will help guide you on making these camp decisions lifetime decisions! Be reminded what Ecclesiastes 5:4 states, “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.”

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The Believer’s Payday!

by Jonas Harley | May 20, 2010

Workforce 101: The basic elements of the workforce are employer, employee, and paycheck. Simply put, the employer hires a person (aka employee) and as the employee carries out his or her job description to the satisfaction of the employer he or she receives a paycheck on payday! That is workforce 101!

Think about this. As a Christian God is your employer and you are the employee and if you satisfactorily carry out the job description (aka God’s Word) you will be greatly rewarded for your faithful service on payday! 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, weather it be good or bad.” Immediately after the rapture every church age Christian will stand before Christ to give an account on how they lived here on earth. This judgment has nothing to do with salvation. Your sin was paid in full when Christ died on the cross. This is known as the believer’s payday!

This judgment seat is commonly called the “bema” seat. ”Bema” is the Greek word Paul used to describe the judgement seat of Christ. A “bema” was a seat or raised platform where a judge sat and made his decision regarding a case (Examples in Scripture- Matt. 27:19; John 19:13). Also during the Olympic games the “bema” seat was the place where the winning athletes would receive their rewards. The “bema” seat is where God will evaluate your life and then reward you based on that, but the question that is often asked is, “How will I be judged?”

1) You will be judged by your obedience to the Bible – God will use His Word as the standard (measuring stick) to evaluate your life here on earth. God will NOT use a school’s handbook, an ethics manual, or the world’s standard of living. He will use the inspired Word of God. Furthermore, He will not evaluate you based on your experiences, traditions, or status. Paul Benware states, “The studying and application of God’s Word is a key to our rewarding.” How serious are you about hearing and doing God’s Word? See James 1:22; 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

2) You will be judged by your stewardship with the things God has entrusted to you – Matthew 25:14-30 is a great parable to read in order to grasped this concept. God has given you spiritual gifts, natural abilities, material resources, and opportunities to serve. How are you using them to magnify God? You will be held accountable for what God has given to you for your earthly life. Consider yourself a manager that is responsible for advancing God’s kingdom purposes with earthly resources. Don’t waste your life! 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards (that’s you!), that a man be found faithful.” 

3) You will be judged by your motives - Read 1 Corinthians 4:5. Notice the phrase, “…counsels of the hearts…”, in other words, God is not only interested in WHAT you do but WHY you do it (or don’t do it). You can do all the right and godly things and still lose your reward in heaven because you did it for the wrong reasons or motives (self-promotion, greed, fame, money, get your own way, get out of trouble, etc). If you serve God with the motive to please Him you will receive a great reward!   

In conclusion, it is God’s desire to reward you at the Judgment Seat of Christ! Think about this…God cannot wait to reward you for your work here on earth!!! Why? Because that brings honor and magnification to His name! You serve a God who wants to honor you only if you biblically honor Him!

The Believer’s Payday is coming, are you ready?

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How to Keep God First!

by Jonas Harley | May 4, 2010

This past Sunday (5/2/10) my church celebrated 208 years of existence! What an honor to serve in a ministry that has faithfully preached and boldly stood on the truth of God’s Word for over two centuries! During the afternoon service my Pastor, Chuck Woodruff, preached an excellent sermon on how to biblically and practically keep God first place in your life.

1) Plan- Creating and executing a plan is vital if we want God to have first place in our life. We are very good at doing this when it comes to our vocation. Teachers develop lesson plans, coaches design game plans, students carry around day planners, financial planners…well uh…plan out our financial goals. Whatever career path we are in, it requires some form of planning in order to be effective and meet deadlines. Planning is the tool that assures that we keep and meet our top priorities. Planning greatly relieves the pressure. Planning gives us direction. Someone has well said, “Plan your work and work your plan.” Why is it, when it comes to keeping God first in every area of our life we fail to plan? How often do we wake up in the morning and HOPE to have time to read God’s Word and pray? How often do we miss church because we fail to plan? How many times do we neglect family devotions because we fail to plan? Perhaps the reason we don’t have God first in our life is because of a failure to plan to keep God first. We must plan our day around God, not God around our day. Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”   

2) Prayer- One of the reasons God gets the “backseat” in our Christian life is because we have committed to things that may not be in His will to begin with. In other words, we are overcommitted, too busy! Someone may be thinking, “Well, 2 Corinthians 9:8, says God’s grace is sufficient in all things.” That’s true; however those “things” must be in the will of God. Spending quality time (that takes planning too!) in prayer asking God’s will in a matter is how we keep God first. We must stop assuming that every opportunity that presents itself must be committed to. Too many good things will keep us from the main thing! Pray! James 4:13-15, “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” (see Proverbs 3:5-6).          

3) Proper Perspective- It’s not easy to keep the proper perspective in life when we are too busy or don’t know what the proper perspective is. John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Ok, this will sound really simple, God is the Creator and we are the Creation. Therefore, we lose all prerogatives (rights) to determine how we are going to live our life. As the verse clearly states, we must decrease (humble ourselves) Why? So God can increase (be magnified). When we have this perspective in mind our practice will reflect a God first life!      

4) Prompt- God loses first place in our life when we delay in doing His will. Delayed obedience is disobedience. We must obey and stop wasting precious time that we can’t get back. Ephesians 5:16, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Also see Ecclesiastes 12:1; Colossians 4:5; James 4:14.

5) Persistence- Distractions keep us from focusing on the finish line. Have you ever walked down midway at the state fair? Talk about distracting! It’s very hard to get through there without stopping to look, buy, or taste something!  Isn’t the Christian life like that? If we want God to have first place in our life we must eliminate the distractions and keep our eyes on the prize! Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Hebrews 12:1-2, “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

6) Passion- We are always faithful, dedicated, and committed to whatever thing or person we truly love. Think about it…why do athletes play through severe pain? Why does a boyfriend drive many miles to see his girlfriend? Why do employees work long hours to get that promotion? When we truly love something or someone decision making isn’t that hard anymore. We need more Christians who are very passionate about serving God Almighty that everything else in life takes a backseat. Take a few moments and check what you are passionate about? This exercise will quickly reveal your priorities. For example, if you had to choose between attending your church’s Sunday worship service or play in your ballgame, which would you choose? Psalm 42:1-2, “As the deer panteth [longs/desires] after the water brooks, so panteth [longs/desires] my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?”

God can and will have first place in your life if you execute these 6 biblical principles!

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Fundamentals of Spiritual Growth!

by Jonas Harley | April 7, 2010

When you begin learning how to do something new – playing a sport, taking up a musical instrument, driving a car, new job, etc. – there are always basics that must be properly learned and applied in order to be successful at the task before moving on to more complex things (i.e. hitting a curve ball, driving down the highway at 70 mph, etc). We call this…the fundamentals! In other words, in order for you to perform a task well you must be a fundamentalist!

The same thing is true after salvation; you must properly learn and apply the fundamentals of spiritual growth in order to become more like Christ in your daily living. You need to be a fundamentalist!

Yes, I said it! A fundamentalist! – Someone who biblically learns and applies the truths of Scripture to their life! That’s it!      

Take a moment and turn to Philippians 3:12-16. Here the Bible clearly presents 6 Fundamentals of spiritual growth that you must properly learn and effectively apply in order to be a God-centered, Scripture obedient Christian.

1. You must admit your spiritual need (v.12a, 13a) –Paul never became satisfied with his present spiritual condition. He always wanted to be more like Christ! At this point in Paul’s life he had been saved for at least 30 years! He had completed 3 missionary journeys, planted many churches, preached many sermons, discipled new believers, received persecution, and is now in jail writing the “prison epistles”. If anyone had a passion for God it was Paul. If anyone was becoming more like Christ each day it was Paul. Yet, after all this, he clearly admits that he had more spiritual developing to do! He had not arrived to the point he was pressing towards. He was not done growing. You will never begin growing spiritually till you admit there is a need. A growing Christian never permits himself to be satisfied with his current spiritual state. What is your next spiritual step towards Christlikeness?

2. You must diligently pursue Christlikeness (v.12b) – Paul had an aggressive energetic pursuit to be like Jesus Christ just as a linebacker does for a running back or a police officer does for a criminal. Why? “…that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.” Paul was after a specific prize. Paul was hotly pursing the same thing God pursued Him for! Did you catch that?? Turn to Romans 8:28-29. God saved you in order to make you like His Son and that purpose for which He saved you now becomes the purpose for which you live. In other words, God’s goal for you (Christlikeness) now becomes your goal to live (Christlikeness). In order to take your next spiritual step you must be thirsty to be like Christ! You press for Christlikeness! 

3. You must establish a high level of concentration (v.13b) - Paul created a very high level of concentration (“…but this one thing I do…”) when it came to growing spiritually. A single focus with no distractions!   

Chick-fil-a is a very successful, high quality, well-staffed, and impressive fast food business. Several times per day (except Sunday!) the parking lot is full, the line is long, and the dining area is to capacity because they focus on serving one thing! That one thing is chicken…chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chicken wraps, and chicken biscuits, etc. You get the picture! Because their founder, S. Truett Cathy, decided a long time ago to focus on serving one thing and it has resulted in financial success and excellent food!

As a believer in Christ you must make the decision to narrow everything down in life to one thing and that is to pursue Christlikeness! Paul gives two ways on how he established this “one thing” concentration.

  • Forget the Past - “…forgetting those things which are behind…” He eliminated all the past victories because he wasn’t content coasting to the finish line. He also removed all the past failures because there was nothing he could do to change it. He stopped allowing the past to influence him. The past will paralyze you! Is there something that happened in the past that is stopping you from growing spiritually?
  • Focus on the Future - “…and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” Paul focused on moving forward! He realized that his life is short and that he must keep striving towards Christlikeness!

What is currently distracting you from zeroing in on pursuing Christlikeness? Eliminate those distractions and start growing!

4. You must be motivated by the prize (v.14) – The reason every athlete in America makes sacrifices, rearranges his or her schedule, and spends countless hours practicing is because of the grand prize (i.e. super bowl, high school championship, Olympic gold medal, etc).

In the recent 2010 Vancouver winter Olympic Games American skier Lindsay Vonn won the gold medal in the women’s downhill and during a TV interview she stated, “This is the best day of my life.” In another interview she stated, “It’s hard to describe… I have been working my entire life essentially to get here.”  

Do you have this type of determination to be like Christ? Are you motivated by the prize? Are you pressing towards the mark (goal of Christlikeness) for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus?       

5. You must maintain the right attitude (v.15) – If you are spiritually maturing and growing you will agree that you must keep growing because of the truth that is stated in v.12-14. You must keep the right mindset when it comes to spiritual growth. In other words, develop what I call “spiritual mental toughness”. There will be times in the Christian life when trials, hardships, temptations, exhaustion hits and you just want to give up or at least selfishly backslide for a little while. When that happens, remember this verse and principle and keep the right attitude.

If you fail to maintain the right attitude or see the need to keep growing God will uncover your need to pursue Christlikeness through His Word, Spirit, or chastening. Know that your spiritual progress is not in vain and without reward. Stay tough spiritually. Renew your mind. Read Romans 12:1-2.

6. You must keep the pace (v.16) – I love this last fundamental of spiritual growth! Keep the pace! To the degree that you have already grown spiritually since your salvation, keep moving along! Keep the pace! Keep the “ball” moving! Take a quiet moment and reflect on the areas that you have grown in since your salvation (i.e. faith, speech, love) and realize that you are making progress and that you must keep pressing on to the finish line!  

Let’s biblically understand and apply these fundamentals to our life so we can bring honor, glory, and praise to our God in heaven!  Constantly ask yourself, “What am I doing today to grow in Christlikeness?”

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