Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace—Hebrews 4:16
Have you gotten to where you stay at a “minimum safe distance” from God, for fear of what He might ask—what assignment He might put on your heart, what calling He might put on your life? Do you ever worry, if you allow yourself to get too close, He might leverage His position to press you to become . . . say . . . a monk in the mountains; or missionary to Africa; or evangelist at your work; or co... moreGood day Templar family
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace—Hebrews 4:16
Have you gotten to where you stay at a “minimum safe distance” from God, for fear of what He might ask—what assignment He might put on your heart, what calling He might put on your life? Do you ever worry, if you allow yourself to get too close, He might leverage His position to press you to become . . . say . . . a monk in the mountains; or missionary to Africa; or evangelist at your work; or confessor to your friends; or something else, equally disrupting to your plans?
For many of us , fears like these characterize our relationships with God. You see, we know the plans we have for ourselves—plans for good things ahead—and we trust ourselves to know what’s “good.” So, we’re wary of potential disruptions, even from the God we love.
King David wrote, though, it’s precisely when we close the distance to God that we actually discover what we’ve been looking for, all along:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
Not the “boredom of your heart” or “annoyance of your heart” or “frustration of your heart”—the “desires of your heart”—what you’ve always wanted, but haven’t found. The key,, is trust (Psalm 37:5). We must trust that the God of the universe might know better what is, in fact, “good” for us. And we must trust that he wills our good and knows how to bring it about (Psalm 37:5-6).
What's been on your heart, or in your mind, to do that you've not yet done . . . reading Scripture regularly, joining some brothers or sisters in community, confessing something to a friend? God's put that thing on your heart to bring you closer to him. Go ahead, move closer.
Have a blessed Monday and week ahead
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
1 Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
Christmas reminds us of the importance and joy of family. It’s a great time to bond and build memories. Holiday activities are a wonderful
time to enjoy family fun and worship together – including with extended family like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As a family, we can enjoy the Christmas church service together, even inviting family members w... moreGood day Templar family
1 Corinthians 13:13 “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
Christmas reminds us of the importance and joy of family. It’s a great time to bond and build memories. Holiday activities are a wonderful
time to enjoy family fun and worship together – including with extended family like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As a family, we can enjoy the Christmas church service together, even inviting family members who aren’t Christians to come along. Sharing the Christmas story with family members and the meaning behind Christmas traditions is an ideal time to teach children and even adults about the wonders of Jesus’ incarnation.
Christmas can be an opportune time to share our faith with friends and colleagues who aren’t believers. We can invite extended family, neighbors, friends, and colleagues to join us in our home for Christmas festivities or accompany us to Christmas services. Many missionaries have found the Christmas celebration to be intriguing to non-Christians, and a wonderful time to explain the meaning behind the holiday and bring people to Christ.
Who can add to Christmas? The perfect motive is that God so loved the world. The perfect gift is that He gave His only Son. The only requirement is to believe in Him. The reward of faith is that you shall have everlasting life.”
May this Christmas bring you closer to the One who came to bring peace on earth and goodwill to all.
Have a blessed Wednesday
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
Good day Templar family
. . . he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come—2 Corinthians 5:17
God’s at work in us—every one of us—whether we can see it or not (Philippians 2:13). He’s working to transform our character into the character of his son, our King, Jesus Christ. And He’ll continue working until the work is complete (Philippians 1:6). Our job is to join Him. Our job is to follow Jesus and work ourselves, in obedience, to increase the amount goodness and li... moreGood day Templar family
. . . he is a new creation. The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come—2 Corinthians 5:17
God’s at work in us—every one of us—whether we can see it or not (Philippians 2:13). He’s working to transform our character into the character of his son, our King, Jesus Christ. And He’ll continue working until the work is complete (Philippians 1:6). Our job is to join Him. Our job is to follow Jesus and work ourselves, in obedience, to increase the amount goodness and light in our lives . . . and to decrease the opposite:
“. . . do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:14-16).
Who among us doesn’t need more goodness and more light? That’s rhetorical, of course. And when’s a better time to increase our intentionality about increasing our holiness than at the beginning of a new year? That’s rhetorical too.
So how do we? Well, we get intentional by looking at the choices we’ve been making—whom we’ve been spending time with, the practices we’ve been engaging in, the experiences we’ve been enjoying. We get intentional by taking time to reflect upon those choices . . . and upon their results. And we get intentional by deciding which relationships, which practices, which experiences we’d like more of, going forward, because they increase holiness—and which we’d like less of, because they don’t.
Consider the past twelve months. What was good? Who was good for you? What worked? What wasn’t so good? What didn’t work? Now, draw up (and commit to) a simple, practical, achievable plan for bringing more of what’s been good, and what’s worked for you, into the next twelve months . . . and less of what wasn’t and what didn’t.
Have a blessed Friday
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades (OMSDT)
Freedom in Christ
Job 17:9 The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
One quote that is so true in the Christian life is the quote that says, “a minor setback for a major come back.” Sometimes when something bad happens we pause for a second and think it’s over. “I messed up God’s will or I was never in God’s will. Surely if I was doing God’s will I would have not failed.”
Many times success looks like failure in the beginning, but you h... moreGood day Templar family
Job 17:9 The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
One quote that is so true in the Christian life is the quote that says, “a minor setback for a major come back.” Sometimes when something bad happens we pause for a second and think it’s over. “I messed up God’s will or I was never in God’s will. Surely if I was doing God’s will I would have not failed.”
Many times success looks like failure in the beginning, but you have to get up and fight! You have to keep on moving. Some of you just need to get up. It’s not over yet! Before I started writing this article, I was outside being still before the Lord. I looked to my right and I noticed what seemed to be a very small centipede climbing up the wall.
It started climbing higher and higher and then it fell. I looked on the ground and it wasn’t moving. 3 minutes went by and it still wasn’t moving. I thought it was dead for a second. Then, the small bug turned from its side and started to climb the wall again. It didn’t let a discouraging fall stop it from progressing. Why are you letting a discouraging fall stop you?
Sometimes the setbacks that happen in life are to build us and make us stronger in ways we don’t understand at the moment. It’s either discouragement is going to stop you or drive you. Sometimes you have to say to yourself “it’s not going to end like this.” Trust and move! Don’t allow Satan to remind you of the past which leads to discouragement. Don’t dwell on it. You have a future and it is never behind you!
Have a blessed Thursday
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities—2 Corinthians 12:10
We are often just wrong about failure. It seems we’ve all decided that if we ever experience failure, we're then failures. It’s not true. Failure is integral to human life, the way God designed it. Look at Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Peter—all experienced failure, because they were mere humans. Mere humans fail every so often . . . and it’s good that we do.
I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships,
persecutions, and calamities—2 Corinthians 12:10
We are often just wrong about failure. It seems we’ve all decided that if we ever experience failure, we're then failures. It’s not true. Failure is integral to human life, the way God designed it. Look at Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, Peter—all experienced failure, because they were mere humans. Mere humans fail every so often . . . and it’s good that we do.
Failure refines us. We mature through failures because we learn from them—much more than from successes. Through failures our character is formed (Romans 5:3-5). No one can become who they're supposed to become without experiencing some failure in his life. Failure also fuels us . . . or, rather, the potential for failure. While we may not like failure, we like to face its potential. We like to be tested. It’s why we like competition. It’s why we like risk. It’s often the excitement of uncertain outcomes that drives us to learn from failures and improve, in the hope of avoiding more. But the potential for failure must be real. And when it is real, we will sometimes fail.
The danger, of course, is in getting stuck—in the shame of failures past or the fear of failures future, or maybe both. When we do, failure defeats us: we live dull lives, devoid of daring. But we need not get stuck. We can, instead, reject the shame of failure and learn to deal with it—by acknowledging fault; confessing and repenting (if sin was involved); facing any consequences; allowing God to teach us what we need to learn . . . and then moving on.
What are one or two big risks you’d like to take in the coming weeks and months? Write them down, commit to them, and tell some friends about them—so they can spur you on.
Have a blessed Monday and week ahead
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
Good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap—Luke 6:38
Have you been blessed? [Pause for a moment to consider.] What’s your reaction to that question? Is it easy to see how and how much you’ve been blessed? Or is it difficult, especially with so many people around who’ve been blessed more? Well, make no mistake; all of us have been blessed (Genesis 1:28). I mean, do you have a job, some money, enough to eat, a safe place to liv... moreGood day Templar family
Good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap—Luke 6:38
Have you been blessed? [Pause for a moment to consider.] What’s your reaction to that question? Is it easy to see how and how much you’ve been blessed? Or is it difficult, especially with so many people around who’ve been blessed more? Well, make no mistake; all of us have been blessed (Genesis 1:28). I mean, do you have a job, some money, enough to eat, a safe place to live, family, some friends, a church, or an education? It may be in unique ways and in varying degrees, but we’ve all been blessed . . . abundantly.
So how then should we think about these blessings? I mean, how can we reconcile the fact that we’ve been blessed with so much—so much more than countless men and women alive right now in other parts of this country and around the world?
The only way to think about our blessings, is to view them as means to bless others. And the only way to view ourselves, then, is blessed to bless others. You see, knowing what we do about God and about his intentions for us (Matthew 22:36-39), how could we ever conclude otherwise? How could we ever conclude that we’ve been blessed simply so that we may live in comfort and security and isolation? What kind of story would that be, anyway? No, we must view these blessings as personal invitations into God’s much greater story of blessing other people.
Take a few minutes to note the specific ways you’ve been blessed this year. Focus your mind on seeing the true blessings, especially the ones that you might have gotten used to and begun taking for granted. Write them down and spend some time in prayer, thanking God for what he’s given you.
Have a blessed Saturday
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Have you ever felt like “God. I don’t know what You are doing. I don’t know what to feel and I don’t know what to do.”
Trusting God isn’t always straightforward, particularly during challenging times.
James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Have you ever felt like “God. I don’t know what You are doing. I don’t know what to feel and I don’t know what to do.”
Trusting God isn’t always straightforward, particularly during challenging times.
It begins with acknowledging the character of God. The foundation of your trust is anchored in understanding who God is and how He relates to you.
God’s Word: Your trust in God is strengthened by reading and meditating on God’s Word. Scriptures reveal the nature of God and His unwavering commitment to you. These teachings can serve as a source of hope and comfort.
God’s Promises: Historical accounts in the Bible show time and again that God’s promises are fulfilled. Believing that His words are true can open your heart to trust in His plans. Remember Psalms 46:1: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble..
God of Hope: Trusting in God means looking beyond present hard times to the hope He provides. This hope is not fleeting but is deeply rooted in the belief that God is in control and works all things for your good.
The good news is that by reflecting on these truths, your trust in God is intended to grow deeper.
It is an active choice to rely on Him, even when circumstances challenge your faith. Embrace this process with patience and an open heart, allowing your relationship with the Lord to be your steadfast support.
Have a blessed Friday
God's blessings.
Priory of St.Miltiades
Freedom in Christ
