Characteristic 1 Continued – all for Jesus!

Well last week I started expressing the essential characteristics that I am looking for in my husband.  I started off with the first characteristic – that he must be completely given over to Christ in everything.  I subdivided this into different aspects such as knowing God, being very prayerful etc.

Well naturally, I have now thought of a few extra aspects of a life that is given over to God.

– PRAISE!  I think that to know God we have to cultivate an attitude of praise and adoration to Him at all times.  He is totally worthy of our everything.  He is the reason we live. He is worthy of more than we could ever give.  Heaven is going to be a non-stop celebration of His greatness.  We live to glorify Him in every way!
Where I am at – In theory, this is one of my strongest points.  In practice, I think that this is (yet) another area I need to seriously focus on. It is the kind of aspect that can quietly ebb away in the busy-ness of life, like sharing romantic or flirtatious moments with your spouse…

– KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING – I think that beyond knowing the Bible inside out, as Christians we have to cultivate a desire for knowledge, wisdom and understanding.  This starts with the Bible, seeking to understand it, and to develop a heart full of the wisdom from God.  Then we can take this knowledge and wisdom and apply them to situations around us.  I think that as Christians we need to cultivate a desire for discernment.  I think that we need to desire wisdom not only for specifically “Christian” matters, but for all aspects of life.  I think that it is of Christ to seek to be informed about different issues in the world.  Perhaps I am only saying this because it is my own natural inclination…
Where I am at – I think that I am quite strong at this, possibly because I naturally seek knowledge anyway.  I’ve always been a reader, and I like to devour information – I like to know things, and this is as true of God and His Word as it is of other things….

-JUST DO IT!
I remember when I was at uni, I was once having a conversation with my Tutor and a couple of colleagues about the Nike slogan. They were  more intellectually sophisticated than I was, and they were saying how cheesy the slogan was – Just Do It!  I can’t remember saying anything at the time –  I possibly agreed to fit in.  However, I secretly think that this is actually quite a powerful concept – perhaps because I tend to be the kind of person who does plan for ever before taking action – or at least I used to be, before I embraced the “Just Do It!” mentality for myself.  Anyway, in relation to the faith, I think that as well as knowing everything and praising God and reciting the Bible inside out, we actually have to DO what the Bible says, and what our faith directs.  We have to win souls.  We have to preach the Gospel.  We have to work to extend the Kingdom of God, and pull down the kingdom of darkness -we have to do the Bible!

I have recently subscribed to the feed of Reinhard Bonnke, the Evangelist on Facebook – and I highly recommend this for all Christians.  There is a slogan he used a few years ago, which really caught me – that he “wants to see Hell empty, and Heaven Full!”.  Among dozens of other powerful updates on Facebook, one recent one that was again very impactful to me was when he said that “Christians who seek the will of God will be overrun by Christians who DO the will of God” .  (Emphasis added by me!) Or in other words, God has already shown us His will.  We have to step up and do it!
Where I’m at – I think I’m pretty strong on this. I struggle with direct evangelism, which is one reason I write a Bible blog.  I need to pray more in intercession, but on the whole I think I’m quite strong – I wonder what God thinks?!

So anyway, these are the necessary additions to the first characteristic! 😉

Bible Verses:
Psalm 150v6:
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Proverbs 18:15
The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

James 1v22:(NIV)
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

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IMAGE CREDITS
Choir image by Nemo on Pixabay
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