1 John 4:9This is how God showed his love .... He sent his one and only Son into the world.

Those of us with little children or grandchildren would be able to understand the deep love that we have for them. From the day they were born till they become adults; we would love and continue to do all sorts of things for them. This is because of that bond that is inborn in us.

The loving characteristics of God have been transferred to us. We have this natural ability to love and care for our children and grandchildren. This is one of God’s ways to show us what and who He is. The scriptures tell us clearly that God is love and Jesus also clearly told us this in John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His Son...”  

In today’s text, the apostle John reminded us of this truth when he wrote, ‘This is how God showed his love .... He sent his one and only Son into the world.’ 

God is also our heavenly Father and He is longing and waiting to hear us call to Him. Just as we delight in hearing the little ones talk to us even though they may not have the vocabulary and they are unable to format proper sentences, we just love to hear their voices and have that interaction.

This tells us that our Father in heaven is also waiting for us to talk to Him, He understands our limitations but He is waiting as He enjoys the interaction with us. Like all the saints of old who knew this truth and they have shown to us the way to reach God’s heart, it is now easy for us.

The path has been laid by these men of God and by Jesus; all we have to do to secure this relationship with God is to walk in this path and to do it unceasingly.

Let us not be negligent or lazy with spending our choicest time with God. He is our Father and we must love our Father and communicate with Him.

Psalm 119: 36Turn my heart toward your statutes

This is the longest psalm of David and in his latter years he remembers the goodness of God and the deliverance that God had taken him through his life. Even in this season of his old age, he is continually reaching out to God.

He writes to encourage himself to remain steadfast in the statues of God. This has been his life since young that he had a close relationship with God. He was noted to be able to touch God’s heart and move his hand to help him at the most difficult moments.

To be able to enjoy this relationship, David knows that he cannot and must not neglect his devotions to the word and law of God. He knows that it is only through the meditating of the scriptures and the fellowship through prayers that he can enjoy the relationship that he has with God.

He now reminds himself that he needs to continue with his daily devotions of studying the word of scriptures so that his faith will remain strongly anchored and his relationship with God secured.

This is a lesson and example that we need to learn from and follow. David is not only speaking to himself but he is also speaking to us so that we can also develop a closer relationship with God.

The psalms are written by men who are fully devoted to God and have been canonized for the reading and edification of the Church. Like David, we must constantly encourage ourselves not to be slack and complacent in our walk and relationship with God.

Romans 8: 11
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

As we grow older we begin to realise that our life span is but short. The bible tells us that on average the life span of men today is around 70 yrs old. Many of us are already there or maybe getting there very soon. The sad thing is that many others do not enjoy this blessing of good health and long life.

Yesterday I saw on the Facebook a posting for a friend of ours who is a midwife and in a month’s time she would be celebrating her 100^th birthday. This is indeed a godly blessing and a marvel in today’s society. She is also a  believer of Jesus Christ and she is an example of what Paul wrote in Roms 8: 2 “the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”

We are not saying that this will set us completely free from natural death but if we are godly and holy, then we will be able to enjoy divine health and a long and healthy life on earth before we get to heaven.

Further down in verse 6 Paul wrote; “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” This also confirmed that when we live righteous for God, our mind and our soul will have life and peace. We will not be fearful or stressed out every day, instead we will enjoy the peace of God and His blessing everyday of our lives.

The Holy Spirit who dwells within us will grant us both godly physical life as well as spiritual life. Let us ask from God the promise that He has made to us that our lives 

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.

In this chapter Jesus continually speak on peace in encouragement to His disciples. In a short while He would be arrested and tortured by the Romans and the temple officials and then all His disciples will be hiding in fear.

In this chapter, Jesus also prepared His disciples by telling them that they would receive peace when the Holy Spirit will come upon them. We read in the scriptures that after the crucifixion of Jesus all the believers were scattered and went into hiding fearing that they may also be arrested and persecuted.

They were obedient to Jesus’ instructions to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit has come upon them. At this point, they did not know what and who the Holy Spirit was. All that they knew was that they believed in Jesus and trusted in what He told them.

Subsequently we learn that when the Holy Spirit baptized them in the anointing, they were embolden and they went out full of courage. Later Paul also taught the Church that one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is peace which He will give us. Gal 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.

In this discourse in John, Jesus promised that He will grant to us the promise of peace for our daily living. He said in verse 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

This is the peace that the world does not understand and cannot receive. Material wealth and possessions do not grant us peace, in fact many wealthy people though rich and in high office do not have peace. Rather their wealth and lifestyle cause them more worries and insecurity.

We who have received this peace from Jesus understand this. Often we hear of believers who are undergoing stress and challenges in their lives but they testify that they have that inner peace from Jesus which gives them the assurance that everything will work out well for them.

If we do not have this peace, we can come before God in prayer and ask for this gift. 

Provs 20: 6
Many proclaim themselves loyal, but who can find one worthy of trust?

King Solomon who had the gift of wisdom given to him by God knew the weaknesses in the hearts of men. He proclaims that many people declare that they are faithful and loyal but the truth is there is no one who is 100 percent so. He said that there is not one person standing who can declare that he is truly able to be faithful all the time.

To be faithful to someone, there must be the true love that would motivate and keep us in a faithful relationship. To a certain extent this may be possible but eventually this faithfulness will wane and would fail. Even the great apostle Peter who loved the Lord so much and at one point declare that he would be willing to die for His master, he failed miserably.

Jesus reply to Peter was that he would indeed die for Jesus but that very night itself, Jesus prophesied that Peter would deny Him three times even before the cock crows at dawn. Jesus knew the weakness of all men; He did not want to discourage Peter except to remind him of his human weakness.

The truth is for anyone to remain faithful one must develop a strong sense of love and this was what Jesus taught the disciples that they must first build their love towards one another so that the world my know that they wold love one another and in turn their commitment to each other will be strong and thereby building their faithfulness to each other.

In John 13: 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. The church today has been encouraged to first build their love for one another; this would in turn build unity and faithfulness. This is what Jesus taught the Church. The same was also taught by the apostles in the subsequent writings in the epistles.

This is now the doctrine that has been handed down from the apostles to the churches and we must take heed to learn and grow in it.

Luke 6: 46

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, lord,’ and do not do what I say?”

In the next two verses Jesus said; “Anyone who comes and listens to me and obeys me is like someone who dug down deep and built a house on solid rock. When the flood came and the river rushed against the house, it was built so well that it didn't even shake.” Jesus is making a comparison of believers to some structures that are built with deep and strong foundations that are sitting on solid rock.

In good engineering practices, every structure would be built on deep foundations which literally sit on solid rock. The piling for the foundation would be driven until it touches solid rock or the solid layer no matter what depth it has to go. We call this piling exercise as driven to resistance. This means that the pile musts be driven into the ground until it hits hard ground and refuse to go down anymore.

When this happens the foundation that would support the actual structure would be built on immovable rock or hard strata. Then the structure would be very strong and would not move or shake even when severe storms fit the structure. It would be able to withstand the strongest destructive forces of nature.

The opposite is true. We have seen many structures that are built on soft ground and the foundation does not reach the solid rock or the hard strata beneath, when severe storms come and hit the structure then it is easily torn down or washed away.

Jesus is saying that the believers who do not build their faith on the solid word of God do not have a strong foundation that is built on the authority of the truth of God. When the storms of life come and hit our lives and when we do not have a strong foundation of the word of God to stand on, then we would be shaken and many are wrecked in the faith. These are the people who call to Jesus Lord, Lord, but they do not know Him as their friend and help.

Jesus is calling for every believer to build their foundation upon the solid rock of the scriptures. Our responsibility is to study the scriptures and be fully grounded in them. This is what the writer of Hebrews tells us. Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The word of God is also the sword of the Spirit in Eph_6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: This is why it is important for every believer to have a strong foundation. In ministry, we need to be able to yield the word of scriptures as a spiritual weapon.

Jesus and the disciples demonstrated this when they ministered healing and deliverance to the people. They commanded sicknesses to be healed; they commanded demons to be cast out. They did all these standing on the authority of the word of God. We too need to stand on the word of God and to proclaim its power over the forces of darkness.

This is why we need to build our foundation starting from today.

2 Peter 1: 3

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

The apostle Peter in writing this second letter to the church reminds them that they are the elect who have been chosen by God. He reminded them that they were privileged to have been called by Jesus Christ whilst he was with them and when He had shared the gospel with them. They are in fact the first fruit of the Gospel of Salvation. They were the elect few called by God.

Paul also wrote along the same direction in Titus 1: 1….I encourage God’s own people to have more faith and to understand the truth about religion. This calling and salvation had been effected through the Holy Spirit who had come alongside us and convicted us of our sins. Upon receiving the saving grace of Jesus Christ we have also been given the gift of faith which is scarce and uncommon among the non-believers.

Jesus also taught on this special privileged position for those who have been saved. In Matt 22: 14 Jesus said; ‘Many are invited but few are chosen.’ Faith is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. The message of salvation cannot be easily digested, it is only by faith that we came receive the gospel and become children of God.

Once having been saved, we are required to build up our faith and to grow mature spiritually through the study of scriptures and also personal interaction with God. It is written in Isaiah 55: 1 ‘If you are thirsty, come and drink water. If you don’t have any money, come, eat what you want! Drink wine and milk without paying a cent.’

This verse tells us that when we lack wisdom, we must seek for it. For wisdom is from God and it is given freely!

God is telling us that we must take in the spiritual milk as well as spiritual food when we are young but as we grow, we musts turn to spiritual meat. If we do not grow as a spiritual baby into adulthood, then we are a moron. Every child of God must grow and the only way to do so is to nurture ourselves through taking spiritual milk and spiritual food.

Just as we need different types of food as nutrition, therefore we need to be involved with not only the study of the word but we also need fellowship and interaction with God. Only when we do this will we be able to draw near to Him and to grow in our spiritual stature. Furthermore, if we want to be able to bear mush fruit and be productive for Him in ministry, then we need to been constantly involved in the ministry.

Only then can we yield the sword of the Spirit well and also to become teachers to others as we grow into spiritual maturity.