Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Mission from Everyone to Everywhere
Mereen Mammen
Carmel MTC, Boston MA
20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in
your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep
yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to bring you to eternal life.
Jude is the
second last book in the New Testament, right before Revelations, where God
gives us instructions on how to live and also shows us glimpses of how the
future looks before the final judgement when Heaven’s doors open. This letter
from Jude was written as a warning for all Christians to observe the signs of
false prophets, and tells us to stay in our holy faith till we meet our
Heavenly Father and live in eternal life.
The truth is that
we face false prophets everywhere. How do we identify them? Verse 19 tells us
that they are controlled by their natural desires, and not by the Spirit.
False prophets do not necessarily need to take the form of a human being, they
can be as simple as an unholy thought. Temptation is in every decision we make,
as long as we are on this planet, and as long as we have the free will to make
decisions. The way we approach temptation is by relying on the Holy Spirit – to
guide us back to our faith. If we call on the Holy Spirit to protect us
in God’s love, we can navigate safely through this life. As believers,
this might seem obvious, but what about all the non-practicing Christians, and
people who have not been saved yet? How will they rebuke temptation? Or
are they false prophets as well?
It might not seem as extreme as the scripture portion
says, but if we pay attention, we know that there are people in our lives
that tend to sway away from the holy faith. There are also people who claim to
be Christians, but their actions speak against the Holy Spirit. What we
can do as followers is to pray for those around us, that they may see the Light
of the World and the Holy Spirit builds their faith as much as our faith is
renewed.
PRAYER
Dear God, We love You for Your amazing greatness. We
pray that You build our faith so that those around us will see Your goodness
through us. Let Your work shine through us, we believe in the Power of the Holy
Spirit, speak to us and show us the Way of Life. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
“Faith is putting all your eggs in God’s basket, then
counting your blessings before they hatch.” – Ramona C. Carroll