[Special] Eight Guidelines for Self-examination of a Beautiful and Fruitful Life of Faith
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January 16, 2011 |
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Many believers at Manmin Central Church are participating in the spiritual restoration campaign titled 'Let's Enter New Jerusalem!" They eagerly want to restore their first love for the Lord, pray fervently and become true children of God worthy of glorifying God.
In order to accomplish the image of God and lead a beautiful life in the Lord, the one thing above all else is that we have to act by the Word of God. Here are the eight points that are an abstract of Dr. Jaerock Lee's series of messages titled "The God of Answers and Blessings" and are well worthwhile in helping us in examining our faith.
1) Do you read a chapter of the Bible and memorize a verse of the Scripture every day?
"How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2)
The Bible is the record of the Word of God. It is His love letter that He has sent to us. It is the milestone that teaches us how to lead a life making us worthy of being called God's true children. It is also the messenger of God's comfort. The children of God who love Him always enjoy reading or listening to the Bible and meditating on it day and night. They memorize important verses of the Bible, meditate on them, keep them in mind and act by them so that they can maintain spiritual life and receive God's love and blessing (John 6:51).
2) Do you rejoice all the time?
"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
True believers in the Lord always wait for the Second Coming of the Lord. They rejoice with the hope that they will be saved and enter the beautiful heaven and enjoy eternal life with Him. No matter how difficult and burdensome the situations and conditions are, they can always rejoice and give thanks because they believe God wants to give them the best. So, when they obey His Word and rejoice from their heart, darkness will disappear, blessings come upon them in spirit and flesh, and they experience His grace and strength.
3) Do you continually pray in accordance with the will of God?
"Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3)
God has mercy on new believers who have just begun their life of prayer and are struggling with drowsiness, tiredness and idle thoughts during prayer time. But there are those believers with long years of faith who habitually doze or become entrapped in meaningless repetition at the prayer time. There are even those who cease praying for a long time. They have to examine if they have love for God in their hearts. As record in 1 Samuel 12:23, believers should not commit the sin of ceasing to pray and pastors and servants of the Lord have to do their best to pray always.
4) Have you murdered your brother?
"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15)
If you really believe in God and love Him, even if you hated someone before, you will come to love that person. If you still have ill-feelings against anyone, then you have to acknowledge that you have hatred within you. Through fervent prayer you have to discover the original reason that caused you to hate him and solve the problem as quickly as possible. Then, you have to plant love in your heart. As much as you come to love that person, hatred weakens and you throw away various evils of envy, judging, condemnation, hot-temper and slandering all of which have their roots in hatred.
5) Do you have lust toward the other sex in your mind when you see him/her?
"I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart" (Matthew 5:28)
Today the worldly culture is so lustful and sensual that many people think it strange not to have passion, love and desire for the opposite sex. In fact it is considered natural. Many children observe, take in and develop improper emotions or twisted knowledge about sex in their childhood. These aberrant thoughts and such twisted knowledge may have caused them not to consider lustful desires as sin, but after accepting the Lord they have to look at them with the standard of the Word of God. If they fervently pray for lustful desires not to arise in their mind and make all their efforts to cast them off, they can be liberated.
6) Do you have the mind of a thief?
"You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15), "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor" (Exodus 20:17)
The mind of a thief refers to the desires to covet or steal the other's possessions. People have covetous desire when they want to gain benefits without labor. Broadly speaking, even if you use somebody else's things, even small things such as a pen, paperclip or even scratch paper with no feelings of conscience, it proves you have the mind of a thief. It is less acceptable to take that which is God's. Financial dealings or exchange of money seeking financial opportunity or to become a guarantor for another brother in faith is not permitted according to Proverbs 11:15. You should not seek temporal and passing benefits but instead walk the right way looking forward to the blessings God will give you later.
7) Do you evangelize at least one soul every year?
"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:21)
Those who love God and are loved by Him have overflowing joy and happiness in their lives. When they open their mouths they spread the secrets of happiness to as many people as they are able. Those who love God, come to love the souls. They can measure the heart of God, who considers a single soul as more valuable than the whole universe, and thus do their best to evangelize many others. Some believers have a desire to evangelize, but do not do well because they have little courage. But the most important thing is their desire to obey the Word of God so that they try their best to spread the gospel. Whether in season or out of season, God lets them reap the fruits of evangelism.
8) Do you live in peace with everyone?
"Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men" (Romans 12:17-18)
Where peace is broken the enemy devil always works and God is not present. If peace is broken wherever you go, you have to realize it is attributed to your fault.
When you have no barrier of sin against God you can be at peace with God. And when you resemble the Lord and accomplish His heart, you can live at peace with your neighbors, and when you don't have to struggle with sins and untruths anymore. You can have peace within you.
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