Sustaining Our Faith

March 3, 2024 Background Scripture: Jude Lesson Passage: Jude 17 - 25 In this brief letter, Jude delivers some potent encouragement and advice to Christians of all generations. Jude wrote practical advice on how we are to maintain our spirituality in a very practical manner. Our spirituality truly begins, ends, and is sustained with prayer. Prayer must become a continuous part of a Christian's life. We should pray about everything. Implied in this is that we know what prayer is. Prayer is a conversation a person has with God. Prayer is not a memorized speech, nor is it a collection of cliches. Prayer is a sincere conversation between a person and the Divine. Because of a conversation's bidirectional nature, we should expect God's response. However, it is not a conversation between peers. Recall the conversations we had with our parents, or any adult, when we were children. We saw ourselves as being submissive to them. We did not dictate what their response should be nor how much time they were allowed before responding. We were grateful they were willing to listen to us. Their response was indicative of them listening to us. We didn't always understand or like the response we received. But we accepted it as the response to our conversation. The better the relationship we had with the adult, the easier the conversation was. We did not have to introduce ourselves to our parents because they already knew who we were. The conversation was a little different with strangers. Our initial faith in God through Jesus Christ established our relationship as children of God. Through the study of God's word and experiencing life as a Christian, we come to know God more personally. The relationship is further enhanced as we talk with God more often and more freely. As we encounter difficulties in life, we learn to spend more time talking with God and seeking to know more about Him. Jude referred to some of those difficulties when he wrote about ungodly people who cause divisions through flattery words. They are one reason Christians should pray. We must steadfastly depend on and look for mercy from Jesus Christ who has made eternal life available for us. And we must never forget that Christianity is not a cult that calls for us to be physically and socially separate from others. How then could we evangelize the loss for Christ? Our faith should give us compassion for others. Especially those who are being consumed because of their sin. We did not save ourselves. We cannot sustain ourselves spiritually as children of God. For God is the One who keeps us from stumbling back into perdition. God is the One who continuously washes us with the water of His word that we may be purified in His presence. God is the One who will one day present us before His presence without sin or anything that could possible separate us from Him. We are children of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. God delights in His children. This is the encouragement we need to have a continuous conversation with God. Through the ups and downs of life, our relationship with God is continuously refreshed through prayer. The more we pray, the more we desire to pray. The more we understand the nature of prayer, the more we depend on prayer to strengthen our faith in God. Life in this world is challenging. Our faith is challenged by situations we encounter in life. It is through our faith that God has assured us of eternal life. It is through our faith that God causes us to live life in this world more abundantly. Jesus Christ is the expression of God's wisdom. Through Jesus, we receive all we need to live in this world as children of God. Through faith we know these things, and our faith is sustained through prayer. Robert C. Hudson February 23, 2024