Christian Devotionals
BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH (1)
'Building up yourselves on your...faith.' Jude 1:20
The apostle Jude writes, 'But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.' Jude places the responsibility of building yourself up spiritually and strengthening your faith where it belongs-squarely on you. There are two kinds of faith: mechanical faith and intentional faith. Each time you flip on a light switch you're exercising mechanical faith. But when you face the unknown, the untried and the undone, you need intentional faith-faith that believes God to do 'exceedingly abundantly above all that [you] ask or think' (Eph 3:20 NKJV). If you're proactive, your faith will grow. If you're passive, it won't. Like the rush of water against a riverbank, there's an erosion of faith that comes simply from living every day. If you don't do anything to secure and strengthen your faith it begins to deteriorate. Christ told the church at Ephesus to remember the heights from which they had fallen (See Rev 2:5). What a strange thing to say! If you fell from a significant height, don't you think you'd remember it? Not if the fall was so gradual that you didn't notice it. So ask yourself: 'Have those who know me best begun to notice that the gleam has gone out of my eye, the joy out of my step, the peace out of my spirit and the Word of God out of my conversation?' Faith is like a muscle; if you don't exercise it consistently it will atrophy and become powerless. So the word for you today is: 'Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die' (Rev 3:2 NKJV).
BUILDING UP YOUR FAITH (2)
'Building up yourselves on your...faith.' Jude 1:20
This word 'building' is an architectural term that means to renovate. It implies tearing down what's not working for you and building up what will. When you don't understand that, you are left to believe that whatever life has handed you is just the way it is, and you have to take it. You'd be surprised at the number of people who go to church every week just to get a word to help them survive. They sing about faith and talk about it. But when you ask them, 'How are you doing?' they say, 'I'm just hangin' on. I'm just hopin' I can make it through.' Yes, there are times when that will truly be the case. But that should be the exception, not the rule. The Bible says, 'We are more than conquerors' (Ro 8:37 NKJV). To be a conqueror means to fight a battle and win it. But to be more than a conqueror means to win a battle-without even having to fight it. Jesus has already fought and won the battle for you. And today He is saying, 'I give...you power...over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you' (Lk 10:19). You say, 'How do I get this power?' Jude says we can access this power for living by 'praying in the Holy Spirit' (v. 20). And you can do it anywhere: in your car on the way to work, on your treadmill, or even in your bathroom. You just need a place where you can be alone with God, praying and reading His Word, building up your faith.
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