{"id":17492,"date":"2019-04-29T12:44:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T17:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/?p=17492"},"modified":"2019-04-29T12:44:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T17:44:25","slug":"be-steadfast%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/be-steadfast%ef%bb%bf\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Steadfast!\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>1 Peter 1:13-16<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><sup>13\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.\u00a0<sup>14\u00a0<\/sup>Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.\u00a0<sup>15\u00a0<\/sup>Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct;\u00a0<sup>16\u00a0<\/sup>for it is written, \u201cYou shall be holy, for I am holy.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Moment to Ponder<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The salmon run is the time when salmon which have\nmigtrated from the ocean, swim to the upper reaches of rivers where they lay\ntheir eggs. This journey is not only physically exhausting for the fish, since\nthey have to swim hundreds of miles against strong currents and rapids, but\nalso dangerous, since it is riddled with dangerous predators such as bears and\neagles along the way. In the end those who persevere ensure the survival of the\nspecies and those who perish contribute to the survival of the surrounding\necosystem. We could say that God designed this journey with these two important\ngoals in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Christians, much like salmon, are called to swim\nso to speak against the currents of the devil\u2019s schemes, our own sinful desires\nand the idealogies of the prevailing culture that are opposed to God\u2019s way. It\ndoesn\u2019t take much to realise that living like Jesus did, will see us standing\nout like a sore thumb, especially in our society where we\u2019re told that self is\nking and that nothing should stand in the way of our pursuits of pleasure, power,\nposition and possessions. Not even the life of another human being. This way of\nthinking runs contrary to Jesus\u2019 life and the life he calls us to as his\nfollowers &#8211; a life marked by a posture of abiding in God\u2019s presence, humility\nand putting the needs of others before our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This Christlike way of being, unfortuntely\ndoesn\u2019t come naturally. If we are to persevere in the midst of many trials\nthere are certainly a few things that will have to change with regards to how\nwe view others (2 Corinthians 5:14-17) and how we use our time, talents, money\nand efforts (Matthew 6:24-33). We must realize that the talents, skills, and\nwealth we possess are not ends within themselves, but are the means to an end,\nwhich is chiefly to honour Jesus in whatever way He has called us to use these\nthings He has blessed us with. We must come to realise that God had designed\nour discipleship journey with an important goal in mind, which is to know\nChrist, follow Him and make Him known. If we are to be successful in fulfilling\nthis purpose we will have to take heed Peter\u2019s call to action where he charges\nus to prepare our minds, discipline ourselves and set our hope on Jesus Christ.\nWe will have to be steadfast in our obedience to Jesus\u2019 commands as we seek to\nlead lives that are holy, being intentional about keeping God\u2019s goals for us in\nmind and knowing that our work in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>James 1:12 &#8211; <\/em><\/strong><strong><em>Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under\ntrial, for when he has stood the test he will receive&nbsp;the crown of\nlife,&nbsp;which God has promised to those who love him.<\/em><\/strong><strong><em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Take Action<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Prayerfully meditate on 1 Peter\n1:13-16 and ask the Lord to show you what being obedient to these verses will\nlook like for you. Ask for strength and courage to obey, remembering that just\nlike the salmon, our lives with all its ups and downs, have a God-given purpose\nin mind.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Our purpose is to know Christ and to make Him\nknown within the context of our everyday lives. How might we exercise\ndiscipline in our use of time to create space in our lives to know Jesus more?<\/li><li>Lent is often a season associated with giving\nsomething up. How might we, in addition to giving something up, take on\nsomething new (media fast, personal bible study, daily quiet time) that will\nenable us to spend more time with Jesus? (I would encourage you to continue\nthis exercise even after lent ends)<\/li><li>Think of a few people who are close to you who\nhave not made a commitment to following Jesus, and prayerfully consider how you\nmight help them to embark on their own journey of knowing Jesus for themselves.\nThis will take time and effort but it is exactly what being an intentional\ndisciple looks like. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A Moment in Prayer<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Sovereign Father, you have created us for yourself to know you in perfect relationship. Enable us by your grace to overcome all the distractions of this life that promise fulfillment but are always lacking. Help us to see through the facades would seek to prevent us from knowing you as we ought. Strengthen us as we seek to lead purposeful and holy lives that will bring honour and glory to Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Contributed by Adrian Wallace<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 Peter 1:13-16 13\u00a0Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.\u00a014\u00a0Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.\u00a015\u00a0Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":17494,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[92],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-moment","ctfw-has-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/610"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17492"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17495,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17492\/revisions\/17495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicandioceseja.org\/copy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}