Stand Firm in Your Faith
1 Corinthians 16
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| I pray blessings on you as you read. |
(v. 13-14) "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love."
My Thoughts
Paul is telling us here of ways we can maintain, and even increase, our spiritual strength. It is very important for us to continue to grow spiritually because the stronger we are in God, the stronger God will be in us. We are God's doors in this world for His love to walk through. Just like the song,
Be on your guard against the enemy, Satan. Satan will try to discourage us and hurt us and break us down. He will whisper lies in our ears to make us believe that we are worthless, or sometimes even to elevate us. Who doesn't like being elevated right? Don't let it go to your head or change who you really are in Christ. That leads us into the next one, to stand firm in the faith.
To stand firm in the faith means to not let anything or anyone take your faith in God away. No matter what happens, hold onto God because He is all powerful. Nothing else can ever truly hurt us. Hold on to your convictions as well. Don't let anything change who you are, as I said above, and don't let your values change. Whether you are in a mediocre position or in one of authority, your values should not change, but your attitude should reflect them.
The next is to be courageous. Have courage to do what is right even when it may be hard. There are going to be times when you will want to speak up about something, but you will be discouraged. There will be times were you be starting something, and you will be discouraged. The people you expect to get the most support from may very well be the ones you get the least support from. If that isn't discouraging, I don't know what is. Don't let it stop you though. Especially if it something that you have talked to God about about and He is leading you towards. Push even harder and those people will be kicking themselves later on for not supporting you.
Be strong. Be strong in everything. That's vague isn't it? It's true though. Be strong in the things mentioned above, be strong in who you are, be strong in God and in what you believe in. You need big muscles or toned muscles to be strong. You don't need to not cry or laugh or feel hurt by others' words. To be strong means that you don't let it stop you and that you let it weigh you down. When you think of strong, you'd think that it would mean to be able to carry all those burdens. It is, in fact, the other way around: to drop all those burdens.
Lastly, do everything in love. God is love and Jesus lives in your heart. So put your heart into everything that you do and center your actions on God. By doing this, you are putting love into everything that you do, which means that God is there and that means that you are making it easy for God to act in what you are doing. Put your heart into everything that you do rather than just doing it. Even if it is something that you need to do, but don't necessarily want to do, put your heart into it. You will feel much better about doing it than you would otherwise.
Be on your guard against the enemy, Satan. Satan will try to discourage us and hurt us and break us down. He will whisper lies in our ears to make us believe that we are worthless, or sometimes even to elevate us. Who doesn't like being elevated right? Don't let it go to your head or change who you really are in Christ. That leads us into the next one, to stand firm in the faith.
To stand firm in the faith means to not let anything or anyone take your faith in God away. No matter what happens, hold onto God because He is all powerful. Nothing else can ever truly hurt us. Hold on to your convictions as well. Don't let anything change who you are, as I said above, and don't let your values change. Whether you are in a mediocre position or in one of authority, your values should not change, but your attitude should reflect them.
The next is to be courageous. Have courage to do what is right even when it may be hard. There are going to be times when you will want to speak up about something, but you will be discouraged. There will be times were you be starting something, and you will be discouraged. The people you expect to get the most support from may very well be the ones you get the least support from. If that isn't discouraging, I don't know what is. Don't let it stop you though. Especially if it something that you have talked to God about about and He is leading you towards. Push even harder and those people will be kicking themselves later on for not supporting you.
Be strong. Be strong in everything. That's vague isn't it? It's true though. Be strong in the things mentioned above, be strong in who you are, be strong in God and in what you believe in. You need big muscles or toned muscles to be strong. You don't need to not cry or laugh or feel hurt by others' words. To be strong means that you don't let it stop you and that you let it weigh you down. When you think of strong, you'd think that it would mean to be able to carry all those burdens. It is, in fact, the other way around: to drop all those burdens.
Lastly, do everything in love. God is love and Jesus lives in your heart. So put your heart into everything that you do and center your actions on God. By doing this, you are putting love into everything that you do, which means that God is there and that means that you are making it easy for God to act in what you are doing. Put your heart into everything that you do rather than just doing it. Even if it is something that you need to do, but don't necessarily want to do, put your heart into it. You will feel much better about doing it than you would otherwise.
Prayer Time
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.
Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.
Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!
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