Every morning, I find myself reading missionary names, people’s names who are serving on a foreign or domestic field, and I wonder:  Is their daily walk difficult?  Then I pray for them individually, for their work, for their safety, and for their faith to remain strong.  This allows me to focus as I move to my own list of prayer requests.  Thus, I find myself plugging in my headphones to listen to praise & worship melodies as I read a variety of devotions written for the day.  It is then that my heart becomes prepared to allow God’s Holy Spirit to lead me toward the study of God’s Word.

Then I pick up my laptop and stare at a blank, white screen.

To my students, this emptiness, this whiteness, this blank, white screen can be intimidating.  (oftentimes to me as well)

To combat the sense of void, the sense of “emptiness” and of the “unknown,” I encourage my students to not allow themselves to sit in front of their computers without purpose.  Rather than staring at the blank screen and a cursor blinking from within the whitespace, I ask my students to prepare in advance, to “pre-write.” I lead them to pre-think & pre-write more than one time and more than one way.  In our “pre-thinking” & “pre-writing” stage of writing, we are preparing.  We are not required to already have a finished paper, but a start, a beginning, a thought.

Is that not also true with our Sanctification?!!

Just last week, a former student asked me to read her essay she was composing for her summer class, and even before I read the first word, I wanted to know:  What do you hope to reveal about this man you have selected?

Is that not also what we hope when we open God’s Holy Word?

The chosen topic of this student’s essay was Martin Luther, the monk and professor of theology from the mid 1500s who was dissatisfied with his church–the only one that existed in his time. Luther is the man who began the reformation of Europe. In one sentence, Luther believed: “The just shall live by faith.” Righteousness before Holy God is granted because of the grace of God. Through his boldness, Luther helped the world change the way they lived in their relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ. This was liberating. This was the Reformation!

Today, I wonder: 

• If you or I were the only Christians in the entire world, would others be drawn to accept Jesus as their Savior?  &
• If you or I were the only believers, the only Christians in the whole wide world, would others see Jesus in us?  &
• If you or I were the only followers of Jesus Christ, would we blend in so much that the world of people surrounding us would say:  They are no different from us, but just like us!

I currently sit in my daughter’s home, one located on a continent where the “old world” is valued; where the people do not tear down and build new BUT where they take the old and repair it so the old can remain within the world and be useful.  They give the old buildings new bones, new life, and new purpose.

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, he speaks about our internal sacrifice we bring to the LORD through our worship.

Please pause to read the Bible with me.

• How much faith does a person need to believe?
• How much faith does a person need to be saved?
• How much faith does a person need?

Yes, how much?

If we were the only believers worldwide, would our faith measure far enough so that we could stand strong? &

If we alone were the only believers in the entire world, would the church of God be strong?

• Would our Bible study time—Be Enough?
• Would our Prayer time—Be Enough?
• Would our time of witnessing—Be Enough?
• Would our worship—Be Enough?
• Would God measure us at the end of our days and say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”  OR
• Would God measure us and find us wanting?

The salvation we received from GOD was ENOUGH!

• It was Enough that Jesus died—one time!
• It was Enough that Jesus was placed inside the borrowed tomb—one time!
• It was Enough that Jesus resurrected to new life—one time!
• It was Enough that Jesus walked for 40 days and was seen by more than 500 people after His resurrection—one time!
• One Time was ENOUGH!  &  One time was SUFFICIENT!
• For each of us to receive God’s salvation, to belong to God, to become His children— the Salvation God provides us was a One time event; however our sanctification is an ever-growing, ever-maturing, ever-evolving, & ever-faithful walk with God.

Even if you & I were the ONLY BELIEVERS . . . still God would have sent His only Son to die for us.

God expects our measure of faith to become strong.

God expects us to follow the four spiritual laws.

1. Go to God in prayer daily.
2. Read God’s Word daily.
3. Obey God moment-by-moment.
4. Witness for Christ by your new life and words.

We know this to be true because God tells us so inside His Word.