Back to a wall, looking down the barrel of a gun, ears filled with others screaming and crying and you barely hear the question “are you a Christian”. Looking up from the ground, head swimming, vomit on your shirt, beer cans all around you, friends laughing and you think you hear “I thought he was a Christian”. Window rolled down, crowds forming, a woman standing with her child asking you why you gave her the finger, and someone says “doesn’t that fish symbol on her bumper mean she’s a Christian”.
Each day when we leave the confines of our home, our faith is challenged by all those who see or hear us. They may not intentionally seek to question our faith or even want to trip us up, but they are prompted by the evil one to quickly jump on any opening that we offer that puts our faith into question. In Job we read that Satan roams the earth, going back and forth (Job 1:7) and Peter tells us he “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is looking to shame us, and more importantly, discredit God by taking advantage of our human weaknesses. He revels when we fail and enjoys it when our witness lets our Father down.
God knows we can fall and when asked, forgives and offers grace to pick us up. God understands the situations we encounter daily and does not expect us to face our enemy alone. He defeated our enemy at the cross and knows we can not defeat him by our own means. When asked, He gives us strength and power to face all situations. When a gun is put to our head or we are tempted to over indulge or when we encounter a driving incident on the road God promises to be there to help with our reaction and response. We should not disregard this offer, because our very eternity may be in jeopardy.
When our words and actions do not reflect a relationship with God, does it suggest we do not believe God? If we are not intentionally trying to grow that relationship then we are in trouble. It is God’s desire that we allow the transformation that began with acknowledgement of Jesus to completely change our heart, soul and strength. If our whole being does not shout “I am Christian” then we must do something about it. We must read scripture. We must gather with other believers to encourage and be encouraged. We must do something to connect closer to Him (practice spiritual disciplines). We must PRAY. We should start each day with a prayer of commitment where we tell God we want to honour Him that day with our, thoughts, words and actions. We should acknowledge His supremacy and our weakness. We should ask for His help. We should ask to be used by Him for His earthly kingdom’s sake. We should also end each day in thanks but don’t just say thanks but be specific about something that happened that day. Admit our shortfalls and fall on God’s mercy and grace. Ask for His empowerment.
Our actions are reflections of our habitual habits. They take but a moment to reveal who we trust and believe. Our habitual response to the world can earn us eternal acknowledgement by God as His child, or denouncement as Jesus stated. Seek to declare I AM CHRISTIAN.
To help you in forming good habits, last week we sent out a list with different variation of God’s names which we encouraged you to pray through, we want you to continue in prayer as we cover more of God’s names through the bible. From October 10 to 16 the prayers will continue to be posted daily on FACEBOOK, however for those who are not on FACEBOOK, you can go to the MCF Praying through God Names webpage and follow along as prayers are posted every week. The idea would be to read the description, reflect on it and then offer the prayer. Hopefully, you will keep God’s name and meaning in your mind all day and as you go about your life, God may reveal Himself to you using that trait.