Do This

Daily Reading: Jude 1

But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. (Jude 20-21)

Devotional Thought: Jude is a short book, but it is filled with information that helps us recognize false prophets and counterfeit Christians in the Church.  Jude wrote down some positive things for us to do as well:

• Build yourselves up in your most holy faith.  It’s up to you!  While the faith that we have is common to all, and while we really do need each other, it’s up to us to appropriate the truth and the strength of our faith into our lives.  If you or I are not “being fed” it is our responsibility to fix it.  In cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we build ourselves up.

• Pray in the Holy Spirit.  Oh, may the Holy Spirit guide us in prayer through his mysterious presence!  Ask him to help you!

• Keep yourselves in God’s love.  If we are going to love in the way of Jesus, we must give our attention to it.  That means consciously forgiving.  It means doing things that show love.  We will never keep ourselves in God’s love if we don’t do loving things.  But, when we do loving things, we will grow into a love that we might not yet feel.

• Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.  There is coming a day when this life with its weakness and struggles will be over.  All lies will be exposed for what they are, and we will be ushered into his presence.  There, we will see him and become like him!

Dear friends, the battle is not over yet, but by the grace of God and the strength of Christ and the power of the resurrection, it is already won!

Prayer: Lord, help me to distinguish between the true and the false.  Give me strength to do what I need to do to build myself up in the most holy faith.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 99:1-9

1 The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble; he sits enthroned between the cherubim, let the earth shake.

2 Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations.

3 Let them praise your great and awesome name— he is holy.

4 The King is mighty, he loves justice— you have established equity; in Jacob you have done what is just and right.

5 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his footstool; he is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the LORD and he answered them.

7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud; they kept his statutes and the decrees he gave them.

8 LORD our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds.

9 Exalt the LORD our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.