Tuesday – April 12, 2016
It is Tuesday and once again time to ingest God’s Word for our good and the glory (to show the goodness) of God. I also want to remind us all to pray for the various governments across America and all who are in authority in those governments elected by “We the people”. Today I am honoring New Mexico which was the 47th State admitted to the Union on January 6, 1912 during the presidency of our 27th president, President William Taft. New Mexico is the 26th most religious state according to a Gallop poll and 18th according to a Pew Research poll. This means there 17 – 25 states are more religious or say that religion is highly important to their lives. Pictured is a map locating New Mexico within the United States. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) In keeping with my ongoing demonstration that America and each state is in Covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is our God, review the ‘Preamble’ to the Constitution of the State of New Mexico.
CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO
ADOPTED JANUARY 21, 1911
PREAMBLE
We, the people of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty, in order to secure the advantages of a state government, do ordain and establish this constitution.
Now let’s return to our Bible text.
Colossians 2:6-8 (KJV)
6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
To review, we have received Christ Jesus as Lord by faith, we are walking in Him as He walked by faith, and we are endeavoring to be indistinguishable from Him by faith. We are rooted and grounded in Him, He is the Word, so we are rooted and grounded in The Word. The name Jesus is a recent thing, two days old (two thousand years), He was the Word in all of eternity prior to the womb of Mary. And so how do we develop faith?
Romans 10:17 (KJV)
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The more we hear Him, the whole of Scripture, the better we can hear Him and the greater will be our faith. In this way we can walk in the same faith that Jesus walked in. The faith that Jesus walked in was not just dropped on Him or imparted at conception but was developed just as ours is developed.
Luke 2:52 (KJV)
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
Just as we must study the Word of God diligently so did Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV)
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
As we proceed down through our text we see that receiving Christ Jesus as Lord, walking in Him, being rooted and grounded in Him, and becoming established in faith is directly connected with thanksgiving. In fact we see that with thanksgiving we will abound in these realities. As we think about thanksgiving we become aware that thanksgiving is an acknowledgement that this is not of our power but of God. When we are sincere in thanksgiving this delights the Father. When you and I receive sincere thanksgiving from another person it delights us. We can generally tell when the thanks in not sincere but perfunctory. Until tomorrow let’s meditate the following passage.
1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (KJV)
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
By Pastor David R. Wood
