Category: Today’s Truth

Our words can really get us in trouble. Our tongues can be dangerous. Romans 3:13-14 says, “”Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”” Those who do not know God have no reason to speak good and truth. They have no motivation other than just wanting to be good. Even that can only go so far.

Those who do know the Lord have a different motivation. When they speak truth, wisdom, and encouragement, they seek to please the Lord. Even Christians can stumble and allow unrighteous things to come out of their mouths. We must be cautious and not allow unwholesome things to come out of our mouths.

“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence,” Ephesians 3:12 states. One of the best parts about being a Christian is that we do not need anyone to go before the throne of God for us. We can simply go to God directly through prayer. As this verse states, we can boldly go to the throne of God.

This is a concept that we do not always explain to new believers, which could be why so many Christians have difficulty praying. However, when we understand prayer, we will have confidence to approach the God of our hearts. Merriam Webster describes prayer as “an address (such as a petition) to God in word or thought.” So praying is just talking to God, communicating with Him. You do not have to pray with fancy words, instead, you can talk with Him any time of day. I used to spend time in prayer as I was walking from class to class in college. It was some of the best times spent with God and my relationship with Him definitely grew.

Ephesians 4:7 states, “However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.” We are a unique people. The amazing thing is that God created us that way. He gave each one of us a different gift to be able to contribute to the body of Christ. Not one of us is exactly alike, even identical twins have something that is different between them.

God made each of us unique with our own talents. To some of us He gave beautiful voices to be able to sing praises to Him. Others of us have the ability to serve and give hospitality to those in need. Some of us. He gave leadership skills to be able to lead and guide others to know him. One thing is for sure, we all have a gift that is important to serve the Lord, whether you know what your gifts are or not.

Are you using the gifts that God has given you to better serve the Lord? Spend some time in prayer, asking God to reveal your gifts and help you use them to be a part of His great plan.

Once you throw off your old self, you must put on the new self. You accomplish this by surrendering to the Lord. When the enemy attacks, he goes after the mind. By prayer and submission, you can allow the Lord to change you from the inside out. Ephesians 4:34-35 “Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God-truly righteous and holy.”

These verses say to let the Holy Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Everything begins in the mind. Our thoughts and attitudes can give way to actions, so we must guard our hearts and lives. Spend some time in prayer today, asking God to renew your thoughts and attitudes so you can better serve Him.

Ephesians 4:13 says, “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.” Our goal as churches is to build up the body of Christ. This is a goal that does not stop, but continues on until Jesus returns.

It can be a very weary job at times. It takes people who are willing to put others first, and humble themselves before the Lord. Before you can be an ambassador for Christ as Paul was, however, you need to grow in your walk with the Lord. If you invest in the Word and learn more about God, you will discover as you learn more about God and grow closer to Him, you will want to be an ambassador for him. That is exactly what happened to Paul. Spend some time in prayer, asking God to help you grow in him, so that you can grow others in him as well.

Ephesians 4:17-18 tells us to not live as though the Gentiles do,”With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.”These verses describe anyone who does not know Christ. They describe people who are leaning on their own strength rather than his. And people who believe in anything other than Him. According to these verses, these people are full of darkness. They have wandered from the life that God gives, because their minds are closed, and their hearts are hardened against him. They cannot see the grace and love that he gives, because they are not looking for that. They are hopelessly confused. They walk around with no hope.

God’s command here says to not live like they live. Instead, follow the example Christ set. Walk like him. He is the light, follow the light, rather than the darkness, the darkness will only lead you astray. The beautiful thing about the light is that it can illuminate the darkness just as we can light up a dark world!

“And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption,” Ephesians 4:30 says. Glorify God in the way you live. Always bring honor to Him. You belong to the Lord, and He has promised you eternity with Him for the rest of your life. Examine your life; are you living in the way that God would want you to? Does the way you are living grieve the Holy Spirit? If Jesus was standing here, would your life bring honor and glory to Him? Use this phrase to help guide your marriage and better the Lord.

Also know you are His. You belong to Him. He bought you with a price. While it did not cost us anything, it cost us nothing. That identity is secured through the day of salvation. The moment you came to know the Lord, your citizenship in heaven became secure. Take some time to really identify who God is and how you can bring glory to the Lord everyday.

The only way to move forward is to not focus on the past. You must press on toward the goal. You cannot get entangled in your former life and former sins. Ephesians 4:20-22, “But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.”

Look at the verb “throw” in these verses. The new believer does not just take off their former way of life, but instead he (or she) throws off his old sinful nature and former way of life. You cannot start your new life until you throw off the old in such a way that you never want to see the old life again. God is the one who can throw off the old self. All we have to do is take the first step and ask for His forgiveness.

For the Christian, love is what ties everything together. As first Corinthians 13 states it is the foundation that we should build our lives upon. If we do not have love when dealing with others, then, we have nothing. It is not our own love that we should be imitating, but the love of God. The Bible says in 1 John 4:19 that we only know how to love because He first loved us.

Ephesians 4:2 tells us, “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” Be humble and gentle. We are only able to do that if we first have love. So to show others love, we must first humble ourselves and think of them as greater than ourselves. We must also be gentle when dealing with them. It is okay to not always be in the right. There have been times in my life when I knew without a shadow of a doubt in my mind that I was the right one, but to save a relationship, I humbled myself and apologized anyway. This is how you show love to others. Relationships are always more important than being right for your pride.

Think about relationships you have, whether they are family relationships, work relationships, or even a spouse. Do you always have to be in the right? Do you get frustrated when you know that you were the one that was right, and they were wrong? Humility says, I don’t have to be the one who’s right. Gentleness says, I can be wrong, and allow them to be right. Love says that my relationship with that person is more important than my pride. Spend some time in prayer today for your relationships, and allow God to build them on his love.

Ephesians 3:17 states, “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.” This is one of my favorite verses. I love the concept of our roots. Our roots growing deep inside of His love and Word, taking root there, and continuing to grow. The more we trust in Him, the deeper the roots go.

Trust is something that does not come easy for many people. Some people have had trust issues in the past because someone let them down, so they find it hard to trust God when everyone around them is untrustworthy. Even those who do not have trust issues still tend to be leery of just throwing their trust at someone. What makes God any different? First, we can trust Him because He is the God of the Universe. Everything comes from His plans and who He is. Nothing happened that he did not have a hand in, or did not already know about. Second, we can trust Him because He intricately designed who we are. Psalm 139 says that he knit us together in our mother’s womb. He saw us before we were born and he put us together. He actually knows us better than we know ourselves. Third, He is like a parent. He knows if something is going to be good for us, or if something will ruin us. Just like a child should be able to trust that their parents know what’s best for them, we can trust God and know that He has our best interest in mind. Every decision He makes is to further the kingdom. He uses us as part of His great plan.

If that is not enough reason to trust Him, then know that He is trustworthy because He is not human like we are. We can trust who He is because He is God.