1 Corinthians 14

One of the ways that the devil turns life upside down is by getting us to chase aspirations that are far from eternally minded,and focus us on temporal things.A lot of these may be honorable and even do a lot of good in the world,but we need to ask the question-“what does God define as GOOD things for us to be & do in the world?”When someone earnestly desires to run a marathon,or to seek after any other goal,if they are sincere about pursuing the goal they will establish a list of priorities about how their lives will need to be disciplined in order to achieve that goal.Everyone is chasing a goal of some kind,even if we have not “officially” claimed a goal to go after,we are chasing “default goals”.We are all “disciplining” our lives in some way...even the lack of discipline is a form of discipline.Point is that we are all choosing to pursue something(s).1Cor14 says that we should “pursue love,& earnestly desire the spiritual gifts,ESPECIALLY that you may prophesy.”To “pursue love” means that what Paul is taking about is not going to come naturally,nor without study,effort,&discipline.We need to seek the RIGHT&TRUE kind of love that is only found in the Bible,& how God defines&teaches about love. One reason the divorce rate among Christians is the same as non Christians is that we have the same deficient/meager/narrow/conditional ideas about love the world has,instead of the immense/unfailing/measureless/unconditional kind of love that God teaches us in the Bible.Therefore,the kind of love we pursue and end up having is empty and weak,unable to be sustained in the middle of challenges and the battles life stuff will throw at us.Next,Paul says that we should “earnestly desire the spiritual gifts”,the NIV says it this way-“eagerly desire the spiritual gifts”!I have eagerly desired a lot of things...but I have not spent a lot of time in my life eagerly desiring spiritual gifts.Sure,I have learned about them and prayed about them SOME,but not the way that would be “eagerly desiring” them!Then he says that we all should especially desire the gift of “prophecy” for the eternal benefits/edification of those around me... To have the gift of prophecy is to encourage others with a message inspired by God! For today’s believers,God reveals His messages to us through His Word,His Spirit,and Prayer as the bedrocks of His Voice,& then confirmed through the wise Godly counsel of other sincere believers God Sovereignly places in our lives.This a reason that a priority in our lives needs to be our personally seeking God’s Heart in His Word,& why we need to keep a few trusted sincere believers close,that are earnestly & prayerfully seeking the same things from God and His Word and His Spirit...and then we need to open our lives up to this trusted “quorum” of sincere believers for counsel/wisdom/discernment/guidance.Only when we are “pursuing” these things are we taking these verses to heart...for God to have His Ways and Blessings in and through our lives!Dear Lord, I am sorry that I have glanced over these verses so many times without taking their significance to heart.I pray for Your help in focusing my heart on these verses in ways that change me from the inside out...and direct my life to seek after pursuits that You deem important for my life & what You have blessed me with life for....the purposes that You say You know/have for my life as You Promise in Jeremiah 29:11 when You say,”For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

"Guard Point" of my heart

I had a young man that God has placed in my life(as a source of encouragement,and a source of calling me to much more that Christ desires in my life) present a question to me that ended up giving me a kick n the pants that I needed/a lesson I needed.Here is the lesson I learned from this young man...the kick n the pants I needed!Our mind is the most significant place in our lives that Satan aims his subversive mortar rounds of weaponized thoughts.Since our mind and heart are purposed by God to be interactive in how our lives relate with Him;grow w Him/by Him/in Him;honor Him;worship Him;know Him,etc...So, our minds are in essence the “point of entry” for how God begins His work in our lives;& also the “point of entry” for the most significant tactics/weapons of the devil..it is our minds where the devil aims seeds of dangerous thoughts(mortar rounds of belief are thrown/shot/fired at us),sewn into our lives that become the vines connected to our heart,becoming the sources of how our hearts develop/grow in one way or another.This is why when Proverbs4:23 says,”Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”,God is telling us that the “Guard Point” of our heart is our mind!2Cor10:6 says “punish every disobedience”,after we have taken “every thought” that is “raised up against knowledge of God”...one meaning being for us to deliberately/purposefully identify those thoughts and treat them as deadly enemy combatants assigned by Satan to do severe damage to our hearts!We are to recognize these thoughts as being as eternally dangerous as they are...&treat them as such!A 2nd meaning being to guard my mind from dangerous thoughts I allow INTO my mind!A 3rd meaning being to feed my mind:train my mind/with the right thoughts/the right FOOD for thoughts(God’s Word!),&EXERCISE(prayerful obedience)so the “Guard Point” of my heart has the RIGHT source of strength/protection/wisdom/discernment.Dear Lord Jesus,help me to identify dangerous thoughts that come into my mind...and to take these captive and punish them,so they are so weakened that they die before growing any connection to my heart.And may Your Spirit draw me into Your Word and Prayer that develops my mind the way You would have it to be the Guard Point of my heart.

1 Corinthians 13

1Cor13:11 says,”When I was a child,I spoke as a child,I thought like a child,I reasoned like a child.When I became a man,I gave up childish ways.”This comes at the end of what is called “The Love Chapter” of the Bible.Since a theme of 1Cor has been calling out the immaturity within the church at Corinth,and giving them traits of a maturing faith in Christ to seek in their lives,we can kinda get the idea that one of the points being made in this chapter is to show the contrast between a life of immaturity and one that is maturing.In this chapter,Paul is telling us that our maturity, or lack of maturity will be evident in what kind of love we have in our hearts- that will be revealed  by our words;our thoughts;&the way we work through challenges&questions we face every day.Verses 4-7 paint the picture of what “mature love” will look like-“Love is patient & kind;love does not envy or boast;it is not arrogant or rude.It does not insist on its own way;it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing,but rejoices in the truth.Love bears all things,believes all things,hopes all things,endures all things,hopes all things,endures all things.”Smack dab n the middle of 4-7 are the words-“but rejoices IN the truth”(NKJV).I emphasize IN,because by the placement of these 5 words n the middle of 4-7,the implication is thatTHE BEDROCK/FOUNDATION of the RIGHT kind of maturity/The RIGHT kind of heart is THE TRUTH/REJOICING IN THE TRUTH!In other words,there is no way for us to truly become the RIGHT kind of mature unless we have the RIGHT kind of heart/love breathing in and out of our lives...which can only be rooted in our lives by seeking to know and REJOICE in THE TRUTH about all things-which is only found when we seek The Author&Creator of all things!So,when I am NOT patient & NOT kind;envy another, or become boastful or arrogant about anything, &/or behave rudely;or insist on my way;become irritable or resentful;or actually enjoy wrongdoing n any way...I am NOT REJOICING IN THE TRUTH!Even further,if all my “good intentions” are caving under the pressures & challenges of life & the doubts the world throws at THE TRUTHS God Claims & Promises in His Word...then I will loose the RIGHT kind of HOPE/TRUE HOPE that is the only source of Eternal Endurance-I will be the kind of immature that 1Cor is addressing...and the sins described in 1Cor will n some way b a part of my life.N chapter 13,Paul is pleading with the people in Corinth to have their hearts/minds/lives changed by “rejoicing IN the truth”!By having the bedrock/foundation of their hearts/minds/lives be established by God’s Heart as HE loves on them/teaches them through HIS Word&by HIS Spirit!Dear Lord God,my life does not consistently demonstrate the kind of love described in these verses...I need Your Help in changing the way I respond to others(especially those closest to me);in changing or correcting a lot of the thoughts I have that r not right;and I pray for Your help in changing or correcting the decision making processes I apply to challenges & questions every day.I pray for You to TRUE up my whole spirit,soul,& body with Your Word & by Your Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12

There is absolutely no room for any kind of arrogance or elitism of any kind within the body of Christ - those of us claiming to be seekers & followers of Jesus Christ! Whatever our individual gifts;purposes;positions,etc., are n our everyday life,The Lord says that they are ALL significant,and that we need to be careful about deeming some with more honor than others,and especially careful of allowing the enemy to make us think that some personal gifts/callings/purposes,no matter how menial our “worldly measure” may deceive us to believe,are of less value than any other “members of the body”.This worldly deception within the body of Christ is a direct attack on what 1Corinthians12 addresses.The Corinthian body of believers had drifted so far away from the Heart of God that they were honoring people the way the world around did-placing a scale of value on an individual based on their “position” n the church or community.1Cor12 says that when this happens the whole body suffers(1Cor12:25-26).This might be a reason that the population of the U.S.A is in reality becoming less and less a country that truly honors God’s Word and God’s Heart!Because The Body of Christ is suffering from the way we honor some above others-leaders above servants;teachers above students;successful above less than successful;accredited above the unaccredited;one neighborhood above another;one job above another;etc. In fact,chapter 12 of 1Cor says that the “worldly less valued” may be the very source of encouragement&survival that is desperately needed many times.Yet,we still have a strong tendency to “undervalue” some people,& “overvalue” others by the way we choose to honor people based on a world measure of value.When we do this,we horribly miss so many of miraculous ways that God desires to make The Whole Body healthy and vibrant!This includes the perspective on the Right kind of Health&Vibrancy within the Body of Christ as a community of believers,as well as the Right kind of Health&Vibrancy in our own hearts/minds/lives!So when we turn away eternal value in some people because of a worldly measure of value,we deny ourselves what 1Cor12 describes as an overall Health&Vibrancy for our lives,and we may even make it impossible for us to “walk”’where God would have our lives “walk”(giving a foot less honor than another body part),or discern what we need to know for our protection & guidance(giving the nose less honor than another body part).Our body must have all the parts healthy and “plugged in” as imperative elements of our whole being,or we are much less than we are meant to be/made to be.And when this fails to happen in the larger body of Christ,the larger body of Christ becomes much less than what God means for His Church to be.We loose HIS intended HEALTH and HIS intended VIBRANCY!Dear Jesus,I ask for Your Spirit to make me aware of this lesson in my life,and I ask You to bring about the correction of the way I “measure/value” those around me...so I may have the Health and Vibrancy in my life that You desire to give me through all of those around me that are a part of the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 10

1Cor10:23-24 gives a simple standard by which we should live our lives,if we are to have the wisdom Christ intends us to have relative to our freedom in Christ.In fact it reminds me of something that happened n my life,that was a life lesson in a different way.I had been a runner for most of my life,and about a year before my 50th birthday decided to run a marathon.Even though I had a good base of running for a number of years,in order to prepare to run a marathon and get the most/best from it,I learned that I would need to commit to a list of disciplines that not only included a more serious running schedule,but also a diet that removed things that were not good for my body while adding things that were more beneficial for me.I also needed to be more deliberate about what I did with my time,being more careful about not wasting as much of it as I had before,and making sure that I also got the rest I needed.I trained for about 9-10 months,gradually increasing the miles I was able to run without injury,and enhancing my body’s ability to recover quickly.The day of the marathon came,and I was able to enjoy the sites,sounds,camaraderie,and especially crossing the finish line with my middle daughter.After the marathon I decided that I “deserved” a rest,and didn’t run for about a month,& I started eating “stuff” that was not part of my training diet....,and wasting a lot of my time.Now mind you,over the past 9-10 months I had run in all kinds of weather,even sleet and snow...,and never got sick!Almost the moment I decided “I deserved” a break,I got sick...so sick I had trouble going up a set of stairs.I learned that the “freedom” I had gained from deciding to commit to a marathon,which included the disciplines necessary to run one,was realized through the disciplines that “built me up”/“edified” me for the marathon!And when I turned away from those disciplines,my “building up”/“edifying” was compromised.During that time I read articles where other runners said the same thing!I didn’t need to keep up the same rigor of running miles after miles,but I should not have stopped cold turkey,nor should I have started eating some of the things I had turned away from during the previous months of training,and not eating the things that were best for me...and I should of kept the disciplines about how I managed my time,& rested.I needed to keep the things in my life that I had learned would build me up/edify me,instead of falling away from them.N these verses of 1Cor10:23-24 Paul is telling us about this very thing,with the added dynamic of not only being aware of what builds us up/edifies us personally...but does the same for those around us!In essence Paul says that when we are taking care of the business/disciplines that ETERNALLY build us up/edify us personally,our lives will build up/edify those around us for ETERNITY’s sake-1Cor10:23-24,”All things are lawful,but not all things build up/edify.Let no one seek his own good,but that of his neighbor.”In fact,Paul gives us the wisdom of asking ourselves “what in my life actually builds up/edifies those around me?”Maybe he does this so we will be less self centered/less selfish in our thinking,because self centeredness & selfishness is such an easy detour our lives can take,leading us down a path of selfish/self centered “self destruction” when we concentrate more on ourselves than those around us.These verses encourage us to seek the wisdom of what is best for me to feed on;train on;keep away from;manage time with;rest with;etc.All from a perspective that has others best interests above my own.Dear Lord,this one is difficult to “listen to”...because of how many times You have reminded me of these lessons and how many times I turn from the wisdom of them.May Your Spirit help me to not only be reminded of these lessons,but help me to also apply them into my whole life...and turn my heart more to the people around me than on myself.