I Have a Question 

 

What is Spiritual Atrophy?

             Spiritual atrophy is the gradual loss of faith, strength, and inner peace caused by the neglect of spiritual habits like prayer, worship, and helping others. Just like a body muscle gets weak when you do not use it, your inner spirit grows weak when you stop practicing your beliefs. ^[1]            

Spiritual atrophy is a real thing that many Christians suffer from. Praying & reading scripture begin to feel like boring chores. Refusing to change or grow which will stunt your maturation process. We must never lose our sense of wonder for the Godly things that surround us or the need to draw close to Him each day. 

            If you find yourself in this downward spiral, try changing a few habits that are designed to jumpstart your spiritual walk again. Try starting with brief prayers for yourself or others. Nothing long and drawn out for starters. Make it a point of reading a single verse of scripture each day. Make it a point to be kind to those you encounter each day. That will elevate in you your sense of caring for others. Spend your time around positive people. Conversely, avoid negative people for that will kill your self-confidence. Taken seriously, your recovery can be fairly swift. It depends on how seriously you take your relationship with God.

            Until next time, treat others the way you’d like to be treated.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

^[1] https://www.citychurchau.com/blog/spiritual-atrophy

I Have a Question 

 

Does God Rule Over the Entire Universe?

 

According to Judeo-Christian theology & biblical texts, God DOES INDEED rule over our entire Universe. God created all things, from the biggest things to the tiniest particle. It is thru him that all things both work & hold together. 

He is Sovereign, which means he has TOTAL authority & control. His sovereignty is different than a worldly Sovereign, for Almighty God is in complete control of all eternity. Worldly Sovereigns get old & die eventually. God was & is & is to come. The Lord is timeless; he adheres to no actual system of time. In other words God exists outside of time & space. This why he’s Omnipresent or everywhere at the same time.

            Yet if God is in absolute control than why was Jesus captured, tortured & killed when there could have been a thousand angels waiting on his call to come down and stop the crucifixion? Nothing prevented Christ’s death because it was God’s deliberate plan & foreknowledge. All that Jesus went thru had to take place per God’s plan to save us from our sinful selves.

            “Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your fame, O Lord, throughout all generations.”

Psalm 137:13 NKJV

 

“The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all [the universe].” – Psalm 103:19 AMP

 

            God sustains and rules the universe primarily through the immutable physical laws He has established, which govern all natural phenomena* and human behavior. In addition to this, the Lord retains the power to intervene via miracles. All authority, whether human or spiritual, is subject to God’s will. He is described as having complete control over history, nations, and individual lives, ensuring that nothing occurs outside His permissive or direct will. That would mean that all earthly and heavenly authorities are subject to God’s will. Jesus Christ is the unrivaled sovereign who upholds all things by His power, possessing the keys of death and Hades, and ruling over both the physical and spiritual realms. Almighty God is the ultimate ruler of everything in existence. He created it and He rules over it. The universe may seem extremely large in comparison to the earth itself, but to God, the universe is simply something else He has created and has control over. Until next time, serve the Lord by imitating Christ.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

*An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by human senses.

I Have a Question 

How are we to act as followers of Christ?

 

Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking; it is not provoked, nor overly sensitive or easily angered; it does not take into account a wrong endured.  It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears all things regardless of what comes their way, believes all things looking for the best in each one, hopes all things remaining steadfast during difficult times, endures all things without weakening^{. [1 Corinthians 13:4-7 The Amplified Bible]}

                  If you want to know how God defines “love” then look no further than the passage shown above; 1 Corinthians 13... the Love Chapter. The world has it all wrong. Generally speaking, they’ve mixed up love with lust. Just because you go to bed with someone doesn’t necessarily mean you love them. That approach can cause a large amount of consternation on the part of both parties involved. The woman who wanted kids but NOT NOW!! The man who didn’t want the commitment that comes with raising a child... so he vanishes adding another number to the already growing single parent ranks. THAT is not love. That is the height of selfishness. Having “fun” without dealing with the inevitable consequences.

            Love is SELFLESS. Love views the other person are more important than you are. Love is a 100-100 proposition; not 50-50 as the experts say. Love is either ALL IN or NOT ALL IN. It MUST be 100% ALL IN for both parties. God IS LOVE and therefore is 100% invested in His relationship with those He created. No regrets. No hesitancy. Just full bore, unselfish, unconditional love for all. 

Does the Lord get frustrated with His creation? Because His purposes are set from the foundations of the earth, nothing man can say or do even begin to thwart God’s plans. He’s knows we are frail and fault ridden. We say and do dumb things; however, it’s not as if God doesn’t know us so well that these mistakes take Him by surprise. 

We are asked to emulate Christ in our daily life. We can never use the excuse that we don’t know how God wants us to act, for the blueprint is clearly revealed in 1 Corinthians. Don’t fight knowing the Lord; embrace that relationship and allow your faith and trust in God to thrive amidst the chaos that rages all around us. Until next time, live your life following God’s statutes, with no regrets, and thrive in Jesus name.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries