August 25, 2018

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom

August 23, 2018

THE MESSAGE OF THE CROSS

1 Corinthians 1:18

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Encouraging Words

We live in a time and a culture where so many people claim to be Christians because they are Americans and yet they ignore the very Christ that birthed the church. It is these people who perceive that the message of the cross is foolishness. The more a true follower of Christ pursues Him and desires to be like Him, the less he or she fits into the temporal world around them. It is these that are constantly being saved by the power of God. Glory be to God!

August 24, 2018

MY GOD!

Micah 7:7

But I will look to the Lord. I will wait for God my Savior, for my God will hear me.

Encouraging Words

Where does my hope come from? My God! Where does my life come from? My God! Who will take care of me and guide me through the journey of life? My God! Who will meet my every need and relinquish my every passion? My God! I, too, will look to Him and wait for Him, for I know that He will hear me, for He is my Savior!

August 22, 2018

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good. Or what does the Lord seek from you but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord your God?

Personal Challenge

Through the history of man, God has shown us what is good in His sight. There is no reason for surprise. He has told us that to be in a relationship with Him, to become His children, we are to go through our lives doing three things. Do justly, or strive for righteousness in the eyes of God. Love mercy, or exhibit steadfast love for God and our neighbors in all that we do. To be ready to walk with the Lord our God, or humble ourselves before our God and our fellow human being. This is what He wants from us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 21, 2018

UNITY

1 Corinthians 1:10

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Personal Challenge

Paul challenges the church in Corinth to live in unity and to avoid divisions, splits, and arguments. Jesus prayed for this as well. We have become so familiar with thousands of denominations, all based on divisions and arguments, that we hear this challenge and ignore it. We cannot succumb to this behavior and be either a source of or participants in disunity. This is where the personal challenge is. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 20, 2018

SEEK GOOD

Amos 5:14

Seek good and not evil so that you may live, so that the Lord God Almighty will be with you.

Personal Challenge

God is all good! There is no evil in Him! So, how can we live a life that is evil and expect to know God? We can't! We must also remember that living a life that is evil does not just mean that we are doing horrible things like killing people or robbing banks or anything else on a grand scale. Evil comes in many forms, so many of which are just ignored. Do we spurn the down-and-out acting as if they do not exist? Do we harbor anger or hatred against any fellow human being? Do we push others out of our way, even mentally, so that we can get ahead of them? Do we talk badly about others or put them down sarcastically? Do we have other god's in our lives that take precedence over the one true God? Seeking good requires us to strive to eliminate these and every other form of evil in our lives. The result is truly living a life that is good and filled with the presence of the almighty God! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy, on me the sinner!

August 19, 2018

BELIEVING

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Encouraging Words

Paul's parting words to the Romans, as was Jesus' parting prayer for His current at future followers, was that we might be filled with the joy, peace, and hope that can only come from God. As followers of Jesus Christ, the more we believe in Him, who He is, and what He has done for us, the more joy and peace God will fill us with. That joy and peace provide us with more hope in our Lord and through the power of the Holy Spirit, our belief gets stronger and deeper. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner and help me to let go of any disbelief.

August 18, 2018

Saint of the Week

St. Ephrem the Syrian

August 17, 2018

IN THE HANDS OF GOD

Hosea 13:14

“I will deliver them out of the hand of Hades
And will redeem them from death.
Where is your penalty, O death?
O Hades, where is your sting?
Pity is hidden from My eyes.”

Encouraging Words

When Adam sinned, death entered into the world. Death was instituted so that mankind would not live eternally in the struggle with sin. When the second Adam, Jesus Christ, gave up His life on the cross, He entered into hell and fulfilled this prophecy. He put to death, death itself and freed all of those, past, present, and future, from the bondage of death. Death no longer has a hold on us for we are in God's hands. Glory be to God!

August 16, 2018

CARE THROUGH OUR HISTORY

Romans 15:4

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Encouraging Words

God has been taking care of His children since the beginning of time. Part of that care is the living and dynamic Scriptures that He has provided to us for guidance and comfort. Through these Scriptures we can learn His laws and precepts, we can observe those who have gone before us and learn from them, and we can know that God loves us and that we can put our hope in Him. Glory be to God!

August 14, 2018

BEING STRONG...FOR OTHERS

Romans 15:1-3

We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”

Personal Challenge

Christ gave us only two commandments to live by if we are to claim to be His followers. They are to love our God and to love our neighbor. Everything that we can do in our lives to glorify God falls into these two actions. Paul reminds us of this when he instructs the Christians of Rome to be strong for those around them who are weak and to bear with their weaknesses. This bearing is not just putting up with them, but lifting them up in their weaknesses and helping them to be stronger. This is what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross so that He could bear our sins for us. Clear commands and expectations, but a lifetime of struggle and humbling to live them out. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 13, 2018

THE STATE OF OUR HEART

Hosea 6:6

For I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God
More than whole burnt offerings.

Personal Challenge

There are many instances throughout the Old Testament scriptures where God tells His children that He no longer wants their sacrifices and offerings because their hearts and everyday actions are no longer in alignment with what they claim is important. How often do I get to this same place in my worship actions? Do I allow the cares of the world to interfere with my worship, with my participation in the liturgy, in how I treat my neighbor? God is more interested in the state of my heart than He is in the things that I do, especially those things that can become watered down through repetition. His love for me is new and fresh every morning, as mine should be for Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 12, 2018

PURSUING PEACE

Romans 14:19

Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

Personal Challenge

One mistake that we, the modern Christian, often make is to fall into the mindset that now that we are a Christian, God will do everything for us. This is not the truth. God calls us to be active in our own sanctification and to be a facilitator of sanctification in the lives of others. One area of this is peace and edification in our lives and the lives of those around us. We are charged here, by Paul, to pursue the things which make for peace and for the edification of one another. We cannot be idle in these things. We must be active and aggressive in the pursuit of peace as we love one another. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 11, 2018

Saint of the Week

St. John Chrysostom

August 10, 2018

WALKING WITH GOD

Hosea 6:3

Let us know, let us pursue
That we might know the Lord.
We shall find Him ready as the daybreak,
And He will come to us
As the early and latter rain to the earth.

Personal challenge

God wants us to know Him intimately. He is always there for us, waiting for us to pursue Him. we must strive to build a relationship as we live for Him. Glory be to God!

August 9, 2018

MORE ON JUDGE NOT...

Romans 14:12-13

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way.

Personal Challenge

An important part of our journey toward theosis is our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The charge for us to not judge others includes these brothers and sisters. and extends to our behaviors. What we do and how we do it around our brothers and sisters should take into consid­eration where they are on their journey and not be a stumbling block to them. This is an ever-changing part of living a godly and Christ-centered life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 8, 2018

BETROTHED

Hosea 2:20-22

I will betroth you to Myself in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.
“It shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will listen to heaven,
And it shall listen to the earth.
The earth shall listen to the corn,
And the wine, and the oil;
And they shall listen to Jezreel.

Encouraging Words

What a blessing it is to know that our God, the creator of all is choosing to betroth Himself to us so that we might know Him. To God be the glory!

August 7, 2018

JUDGE NOT...

Romans 14:7-10

For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Personal Challenge

Paul makes it pretty clear here that I do not have the right, the authority, or the charge to judge others. That is Gods' role and His alone. I am charged to love my neighbor, to honor, respect, and take care of those in need, and to love and give my cheek (both of them to my enemy). Our early church fathers taught that Jesus is the Lord of both the saint and the sinner, of the dead and the alive (both physically and spiritually). I, for one, do not want to stand before the judgment seat of my loving Lord and be judged for how much I chose to judge others. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 6, 2018

WE ARE BLESSED

Sirach 50:22-24

And now bless the God of all,
Who does great things in every way,
Who exalts our days from our birth
And deals with us according to His mercy.
May He give us gladness of heart,
And may there be peace in our days,
In Israel as in the days of old.
May He entrust with us His mercy,
And let Him redeem us in our days.

Encouraging Words

Ben Sirach finishes his book by reminding us who God is and how we should relate to Him. He is the God of all and we should bless Him at all times. He is continually doing great things. He is always pouring His mercy open us and exalts all the days of our lives. He is our source of gladness of heart and peace. He gives us His mercy so that we can bestow mercy on those around us. He will redeem us all the days of our lives. Glory be to Him!

August 5, 2018

DISCIPLINE

Romans 14:3-4

Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.

Personal Challenge

In Orthodoxy, we have many traditions that have become part of the practice of our faith. Some of these can be traced back to the beginnings of the Christian Church. Paul is teaching us here in his letter to the Romans that many of our traditions are practiced to teach us how to discipline our minds and bodies so that we are drawn closer to our Lord, and that these practiced traditions should never divide us from our brothers and sisters. One of these traditions is fasting. We do not fast because it is required for our salvation. We do not fast so that like the Pharisee we can show everyone how good a Christian we are. We fast so that we can discipline the passions of our body and ultimately the passions that affect our souls. Just as the athlete exercises to build the muscles of his body, so do we do things like fasting to exercise the muscles of our spiritual body. We should never compare our attempts of discipline to others or condemn others if they do practice these disciplines. We are to put the love for our neighbor above all else except our love for our Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

August 4, 2018

Saint of the week

St. Maximos the Confessor

August 3, 2018

HE CARES FOR US

Sirach 39:33-35

All the works of the Lord are good,
And He will supply every need in its hour.
No one can say, “This is worse than that,”
For all things will be well pleasing in their time.
So now sing praise with all your heart and voice,
And bless the name of the Lord.

Encouraging Words

Our Lord is all good, all of the fine, and is always pouring goodness into our lives. Unfortunately, we often do not recognize what He considers as good for us as good and coming from Him. He supplies for our every need. His supply is exactly what we need and not necessarily what we want. What we want is not always that which is best for us. Knowing this we can rejoice in knowing that our Lord cares for us so much and desires the best for us. Glory be to God!

August 2, 2018

AMBASSADORS

Romans 13:1

Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.

Personal Challenge

Paul calls us ambassadors. In his mind, we who claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior are no longer citizens of this earth, but citizens of heaven. As such, the earthly governing powers that we are under, are of this World and we are subject to them as ambassadors that represent the kingdom of heaven. This means that we respect these leaders, leaders that God has put into authority, and obey the laws of the land, Only when they choose to defy God and expect us to be disobedient to God, then we can defy our rulers. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

August 1, 2018

SEEKING TO KNOW GOD

Sirach 39:1-3

How different is the man who devotes himself
To the study of the law of the Most High.
He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients
And be occupied with their prophecies.
He will preserve the discourse of notable men
And penetrate the subtleties of parables.
He will seek out the hidden meanings of proverbs
And be engaged in the riddles of parables.

Personal Challenge

Our journey toward heaven and eternity must be filled with seeking to know God. This takes work, time, and devotion. We have been given the scriptures to teach us on this journey. We have been given those who have gone before us to show us the way. We have been given the traditions of the church so that the path can be seen. Let the journey continue. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

July 31, 2018

GUIDANCE TO LIVE BY

Romans 12:14-18

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

Personal Challenge
John Doanne once made the statement, "No man is an island," Paul's teaching to the Romans, and to us, also teaches that we must live our lives in relationship to others. We are never isolated from the rest of the world. Even the early desert fathers taught that their actions, or inactions, as secluded hermits, still affected everyone else in the world, as well as creation itself. Whether we choose to sin or to do something for the glory of God, we affect others. In this passage, Paul gives us great guidelines for living in a way that glorifies God and blesses those around us. Glory be to God!