April 7, 2013 … Real-Deal Relationship

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2013 - Day 97

Passage of the Day: 1st Peter 1: 6-7 [NLT] …  
6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. 7 These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.  
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 Contextual Study of today’s passage: 1st Peter, Chapter 1 [NLT] … Go to this link … 
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Reference Passage #1: John 14: 21 [Jesus shows Himself, through His Spirit, to be the real deal in the midst of our trials.] [NLT] …  
21 Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them.” 

 Reference Passage #2: 2nd Corinthian 13: 5-6  [Our faith gets tested in life. ] [NKJV] …  
5 Examine yourselves to see if your faith is really genuine. Test yourselves. If you cannot tell that Jesus Christ is among you, it means you have failed the test. 6 I hope you recognize that we have passed the test and are approved by God.

My Journal for Today:  ,,,  POP QUIZ: … Are you a “real-deal Christian?”

Paul once told the Church in Corinth (see Reference Passage # 2 above) that it’s a good idea periodically to do a Spiritual checkup of the heart to see if our faith (i.e., our born-again belief status) is the real deal or not? So, … if today were your pop-quiz in the faith, how would you come up? And so, you might ask, “How do I do this check-up in the faith?”

Well, God’s word gives us God’s way to test the reality of our faith. And my devotional today reveals the method God often uses to test the reality of our faith. Peter actually revealed God’s testing method to the church in Asia-Minor at the time he wrote his first letter to them, … because they were being tested by their very lives at the time. They were under rigorous persecution from Rome; and Peter wrote them that when they came through these faith-testing trials, holding on to their belief and joy in the faith, it was proof that their Christianity was the real-deal [see the highlight passage above from 1st Peter 1: 6-7].

Have you ever been through some faith-testing trial in your life; and during or after the trial, you realized that you experienced more and more of the fruit of God’s Spirit (see Galatians 5: 22-23)? Perhaps you’re going through some trial right now; and you’re feeling the reality of your relationship with Christ, … leaning on His love, … receiving His enabling grace, … experiencing His peace, … and even being able to witness of our Lord to others in the midst of your trials. If so, you’ve past God’s test with flying colors.

That’s what Jesus declared is “real-deal” Christianity (see John 14: 21) because, when we obey and follow our Lord in the midst of trials, … that’s when He manifests Himself to and through us in the Person of His Spirit; and we KNOW that our faith is real and not just an intellectual understanding of God.

So, take a moment and reflect on your relationship with God. Think about how you relate to Him in the midst of trials and testing. Do you lean heavily on Him in prayer? Are you able to retain your joy and feel His love in the midst of the trial? Do you find yourself wanting to witness to His faithfulness to others in the midst of the troubles or tribulations? … Because if you’re answering “YES” to these questions, yours is the “REAL-DEAL” relationship with Christ and not just some religious reflection of faith. And that is my prayer for all of us today.

My Prayer for Today … Lord, thanks for being there for me in the midst of my troubles … … always being there, leading me and lifting me up. … Amen
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Blogger’s PS: … BTW, … if you feel that you have failed today’s pop-quiz; and you doubt that your faith in Christ is real, I implore you to contact me via email @ willieb13@rocketmail.com and I’ll be glad to help you come to the real-deal faith that will last in the midst of any storm.