When we sincerely receive the Gift of God’s Mercy&Grace through Jesus Christ,HE SAVES us “by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”->Titus3:5!This means that we should expect changes in us;the ways we think,the things we do,the ways we respond to others,as well as the convictions in our mind/heart/life....,all as a result of the WORK of The Holy Spirit!At times there seems to be a kick start of sorts that comes from the enthusiasm inside us because of the realization of what Jesus ONLY can FREELY give.Satan soon comes cleverly along with his whispers of temptations and doubts that have the potential to rob us of the continuing WORK of The Holy Spirit in our mind/heart/life,eventually stealing away our HOPE in Christ!This HOPE is from The Voice of God’s Spirit living inside us assuring us of everyone of the Promises God makes in HIS Word.Satan’s ways of stealing away this HOPE always begin with introducing some kind of sinful behavior,foolishness,dissensions, or thoughts into our mind/heart/life.To protect THE TRUE HOPE from GOD,we must be proactive!This is why Titus3 reminds us to be “submissive(respectful)to rulers and authorities,to be obedient,to be ready for every good work(ready to be proactive in what GOD calls us to respectfully do and defend in HIS WORD),to speak evil of no one,to avoid quarreling,to be gentle and to show courtesy toward all people.For we ourselves were once foolish,disobedient,led astray,slaves to various passions and pleasures....BUT when the goodness & loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,He saved us,not because of works done by us in righteousness,but according to HIS own MERCY,by the washing of regeneration & renewal of The Holy Spirit..so that...we might become heirs according to the HOPE of eternal life.The saying is trustworthy,& I want you to INSIST on these things,SO THAT those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works(seeking and following the LORD above all else).These things are are excellent & profitable for people.BUT avoid foolish controversies....,arguments& quarrels about the law(legalism),because these are unprofitable & useless.Warn a divisive person once,& then warn him/her a second time.After that .have nothing to do with him/her.You may be sure that such a man/woman is warped & sinful;he/she is self-condemned.”.The bottom line is that we need to be proactive in protecting what God began in our mind/heart/life when we first trusted in Christ and turned our lives toward seeking and following Him, as He renews and regenerates us.Dear Jesus,I praise You for  the Mercy & Grace You only can give me through Your sufferings and Your resurrection...& for Your Helper/Your Holy Spirit that You give me.May Your Spirit help me to be proactive in protecting what You have begun in my mind/heart/life...so I may come to have more and more of Your characteristics in my life every day...and Your Hope be what inspires every part of my mind/heart/life

Titus 2:11-15

In the 2nd chapter of Titus we are given some very basic guidelines for living lives “continuing in” God’s Word,& “holding firmly to the trustworthy message(The Gospel of Christ)as it has been taught, so that we can encourage others by sound doctrine(Truths of The Bible) and refute those who oppose it”(Titus1:9).Paul gives instructions in the 2nd chapter of Titus for older men,younger men,older women,younger men,and workers/employees.Then in Titus2:11-15 Paul tells the “WHY” we should desire to live according to the Scriptures ->“For the Grace of God has appeared to all men.It teaches us..”.If we truly accept God’s Grace,then our appreciation for the gargantuan GIFT of God’s Amazing Grace will reveal the contrast between sin and Godliness,and catalyze a desire within us to begin the process of moving all of our mind/heart/life toward reflecting our endless appreciation for such an AWESOME FREE GIFT! (“It teaches us to say “NO” to ungodliness and worldly passions,and to live self-controlled,upright and Godly lives in this present age..”),& that this Godliness will change our mind/heart/life away from ourselves and onto those around us,giving us such a heart for those around us that our loving concern for them compels us to teach and encourage others about the TRUTHS in The Gospel according to God’s Word....,because we appreciate the Eternal Significance of The Gospel in God’s Word.Dear Lord,I confess that much of my days are lived oblivious to what I read in Titus2...Forgive me...,and help me to be increasingly aware of the TRUTHS of these verses and also aware of Your Spirit in my life desiring to guide me and help me to not just be aware of these TURTHS...but to know the sincere desire to “become” what these verses beg me to become.

Doer, and not just a Learner...2Timothy 3:14

After yesterday’s reading in Titus,and noting what George Barna says in his book “Maximum Faith” about so few professing Christians actually knowing what God Says about things,Barna next polls the less than 20% of professing Christians about how they live,how they think,how they make life choices,and the way they set priorities in their lives.The results reveal that of the less than 20% of professing Christians,less than 5% of them live,think,make life choices,& set priorities in their lives in ways that would indicate they truly believe what God Says and identify their lives as true believers/followers of The Lord of The Bible.They would probably pass an academic test on facts of the Bible,but their lives would indicate they are no different from the rest of the world that does not know what The Bible says and instructs.This is what 2Timothy3:14 encourages us about when it says,”...continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of..”And James 1:22-25 strongly encourages the same-“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and,after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”.The “blessing in what they do” needs to be taken in an Eternal Context...,not meaning “worldly rewards” that fade and are the antithesis of storing up treasures in Heaven as Jesus says in Matthew6:20,but blessings in ways that bring true fulfillment,true peace,true joy,true security,and truly store up treasures for us in Heaven!Living according to God’s Ways as described in The Bible will lead to a life that as we mature and grow older will not be filling our lives up with stuff that leave us with a need for more&never being satisfied,nor will it lead to a life of an increasingly sense of insecurity and regret.Instead,living a life “looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continuing in it..”,as we mature and grow older will lead to a life of growing peace and joy...,and increasing security in the Promises of God as HE has articulated in His Word...and lives that live,think,make life choices,& set priorities in ways that are different from the world around us and identify us as True Followers of Jesus Christ.Dear Lord,I have been a “reader and student” of Your Word,and skipped a lot of the part of having Your lessons become increasingly parts my mind/heart/life.Thank You for Your so Amazing Grace and Mercy that enable me to now ask for Your Help in continuing me in what I have learned about You and Your Word,and not forgetting these Truths...please guide and help me to be a doer of Your Word and not just a learner...

In George Barna’s book “Maximum Faith”, he uses his polling expertise to discover different characteristics of American citizens that call themselves Christians. One of the details his polling reveals is that less than 20% of those that identify themselves as “Christian” & regularly attend church actually know much about what God says in HIS Word about HIMSELF and about HIS Mercy and Grace...let alone about HIS WAYS.When Paul is instructing Titus about how to look after those that are seeking to follow Christ,he addresses this same problem 2000 years ago!Titus1:5-9,”The reason I left you in Crete was that you might put in order what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.An elder must be blameless, faithful to his wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient.Since an overseer manages God's household, he must be blameless-not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain.Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message(The Gospel of Christ)as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine(Truths of The Bible) and refute those who oppose it”.The last verse of these verses sets the context for the previous instructions about what an elder must be,because it is “holding firmly” to the trustworthy message/knowledge of God’s Word that must becoming the foundation for our mind/heart/life and enables what becomes an elder.And as we mature we should seek more and more noble tasks in our life->(1Timothy3:1,”Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer/elder desires a noble task.”).If we are truly seeking Noble Causes, we should all be in  “Elder Development”!This means that we need to be one of the less than 20% that are seeking to know what God Says in HIS Word...,and then seeking to have our lives shaped by God’s Word...His Trustworthy Message...& His True Doctrines!If not,we are becoming what That group of people Paul warns Titus about in Titus1:10-12 ->”For there are many rebellious people, full of meaningless talk and deception, especially those of the circumcision group.They must be silenced, because they are disrupting whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach-and that for the sake of dishonest gain.” Dear Lord...May my mind/heart/life be overwhelmed with a desire to know Your Word in ways that mature me along the path of becoming trustworthy with Your Gospel;Your Word and Your Ways in all of my life...

2Timothy 3:16 - Being Rightly Equipped

Toward the end of 2Timothy,Paul calls young Timothy to a duty,that is actually a moral obligation when we realize what Paul is using as context.He prefaces this with 2Timothy3:16,”All Scripture(God’s Word)is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”.When Paul wraps this statement with the context of “every good work”,it becomes matter of preeminent significance,making All Scripture/All of God’s Word the foundation of anything that has “Absolute Good” at it’s core.Just above this in 2Timothy3:14-15,Paul tells Timothy to “continue in” what he has learned from others about “the holy Scriptures”,so that he will to be made “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”.In other words,Paul tells us that our lives have the potential to become a beacon/a source of light or inspiration for SALVATION through Christ Jesus when we discipline our mind/heart/life to continue in the Holy Scriptures...when we seek to have every part of our mind/heart/life shaped by the Holy Scriptures!Whether we are aware of it or not,our mind/heart/life is constantly being shaped by the influences around us and what we either intentionally or even passively invite into our mind/heart/live.Paul knows this from his own life experiences!This is why he now tells Timothy to “continue in what you have learned and become convinced of...the Holy Scriptures,which are able to make you wise for salvation(a mind/heart/life saved from the deceptions of sin) through Christ Jesus”.Paul encourages us to be deliberate & disciplined about what we allow to shape our mind/heart/life...,& by being intentional in our seeking to have every part of our mind/heart/life shaped by the Holy Scriptures.When this occurs in our mind/heart/life we are “prepared in season and out of season” to preach/earnestly advocate SALVATION (matters of Eternal Significance!) “with great patience and careful instruction...For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”2Timothy4:1-5.It is as if Paul is talking about the times we are living in,with people rejecting God’s Word/God’s Truths and turning away from TRUTH and turning to whatever they can find that suits their feelings about what they choose to believe as true and sadly trusting their lives to myths.We are living in the midst of these INFLUENCES,and these verses in 2Timothy are for our personal protection,as well as for the potential ETERNAL purpose our lives may have for those around us.Dear Lord Jesus,I have allowed my life to be influenced by so many things that are veering my mind/heart/life away from Your Truths.Forgive me for allowing this...and I pray for Your Spirit and Your Word to “continue” me in the Truths about You I have learned from Your Word and those that You have placed in my life to teach me about Your Truths.