Stand firm

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you-unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. (NLT)

When growing up I believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. These were untruths that I continued to believe until I was steered in the right direction by others when I started to attend school. I am not going to discuss wither or not having children believe these fairy tales is good or bad. You can judge that for yourself.

The fact is I believed something other than the truth. And often we find something we have believed in for a while to be less than the real deal. Perhaps it is a great investment deal that goes sour. Or maybe a secret stock pick that everyone is saying will make it to the top quickly and as soon as we put in our order to buy it, it crashes.

We tend to put our faith in others and their ability to know things. We trust the human judgments of others. We trust the commercials we see and the ads we read forgetting they are in the business of us buying what they have to sell.

The Bible is not a onetime read. Matter of fact the first few times I really picked it up to read I had trouble reading it. It was uninteresting and boring. I would read a section and then wonder what I had read. I was not getting it.

Then I asked Jesus into my heart and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What a difference that made! Reading the Bible was now exciting and not only did I understand what I was reading, I received new revelation every time I re-read it.

Back to the subject. As we attended church and listened to well crafted sermons, we heard what was told as truth and believed it. We walked out in that truth. But then, as we grew and read our Bibles, we received new understanding and sometime what was once truth to us had changed.

Stand firm in the Good News, the truth. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message.

Stage Three: The Sight of the Eagle

Luke 9:62

Jesus replied, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

For lack of vision my children perish. This is a good reason to be like an eagle. Their vision is sharp allowing them see clearly. Sharp vision is also discerning. No one ever deceived Jesus. He knows their thoughts and the intentions of their hearts.

Hebrew 4:12

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

The eagle does not only have sharp eyes, he is swift in action. Our faith should allow us to be swift also. Those who act upon the Lords callings will be swift to act on His requests, swift to believe in His word, and swift to obey.

The encouragement for today is to lay those things aside that tie you to this earth. Then your flight will be sure. And I mean ALL those things that keep you earthbound. So arise. Spread your wings into the arms of our heavenly Father. He awaits. You always knew you were different! And now you know why. The Lord has chosen you and ordained you to soar out over the earth to see where you may be of service.

In Him and through Him do we live and breathe...dianne!