No Status Quo Faith Possible

[S] 2 Timothy 1:13-14 --
 ¹³Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
 ¹⁴Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

[O] Paul charges Timothy to retain the sound teachings in the faith and love.  He also tells to guard through the Holy Spirit indwelling in us all.  Paul writes this because just like how gravity naturally pulls things down, unless we continue to retain the good teachings of Christ as well as guard them, we will either lose them or will be stolen from by the master deceiver of this world.  There is no such thing as a status quo in living out Christ-like life and that's what Paul is emphasizing here.

[A] I need to re-examine my spiritual life for any areas that I consider status quo thinking that I can some how retain and guard my faith.  One of these areas is my life as a father to my children.  I also need to put more efforts to retain the quality of excellence and guarding that position by learning and researching on how I can be a better dad by better adapting to my children's growing up such that I can be applying the right (timely sensitive) wisdom to bring them up.

[P] Dear God, I surrender all aspects of my life to You.  Please sprinkle Your Love and Grace on it so my life won't go sour.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.

From Oppositions to Opportunities

[S] Judges 3:3-4 --

³These nations are: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

⁴They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

[O] God left these five nations to test out Israelites' faith.  Going through the struggles in life tests our faith and thus in turn become opportunities to respond in Godly way (or not).  In previous verses, God let's these enemies to stay because the Israelites failed to wipe them out clean as they conquer the land.  This is so much like our lives here today in 2009 where because we failed to keep ourselves holy for God, we are bombarded with oppositions.  In times like these our prayers should not merely be asking God to remove these oppositions but shower His grace and teaching of His words in our hearts to respond in upright manner bringing out His glory in the struggling situations.

[A] Next time I or my family face a struggle, try not to focus on resolving the situation but prayerfully seek His wisdom to respond in a right manner.

[P] Dear God, thank You for the reminder of why You left these oppositions for Israelites.  Whenever I run into oppositions of this world may I be reminded that they are my opportunities to respond in Your ways that I'm learning from the Bible.  Help me O God.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.