"Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior" Titus 1:1-3.

The apostle Paul was the ultimate purpose-driven man. He knew his identity and mission in life, and this provided drive and determination for all that he did. At the heart of his identity and mission was "the faith" (more than just faith in a general sense).

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"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction" 2 Timothy 4:1-2.

Imagine that your local fire department made it a priority to keep its employees comfortable, and its buildings in good shape, rather than responding to emergencies. Obviously the results would be disastrous. It would be inexcusable for such a vital organization to compromise its main mission. It is far more disastrous for those entrusted with proclaiming the gospel to neglect this life-saving work.

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"kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline ... Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you" 2 Timothy 1:6-7,14.

We are guardians of the sacred flame, and we dare not let it go out. Should the flame die down until only glowing embers remain, it is imperative that we rekindle the flame until it blazes bright and hot.

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"Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you" 1 Timothy 4:14-16.

We do well to follow our strengths. Michael Jordan, the legendary basketball player, once decided to pursue a career as a professional baseball player. He loved the game and worked hard at it, but the painful truth was that he was at best a mediocre baseball player. His real strength was basketball.

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"First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time" 1 Timothy 2:1-6.

It is a prayer for freedom to be about the work of the King and the kingdom. We are called upon to pray for government leaders to do their job so that we can do ours.

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“Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places" Habakkuk 3:17-19.

The test of character is who and what we are when we are stripped of possessions and material security. This is a test most of us are generally unfamiliar with in our culture of plenty. Inflation may erode our resources, but destitution is unfamiliar territory for most of us. Would we, like Habakkuk, still “exult in the LORD” in such circumstances?

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“He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.

It is considered that there are over six hundred commandments from God. Many have zealously tried keeping these commands, thinking this is their duty to Him. The problem is, failure to keep even one command makes one guilty of them all (James 2:10).

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And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths.’ For from Zion will go forth the law, Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” Micah 4:1-2.

A day is coming when there will be a nearly universal desire to intimately know the Creator of the universe; our Father. Such a desire and passion is generally rare in our times, but this is destined to change.

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"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

They are simply stated, enduring qualities of the follower of Christ - unending rejoicing, prayer, and thankfulness. This is what God wills for us in Christ, pure and simple. Nothing is stated here about God’s will in terms of vocation or location; only that these qualities ever characterize our lives.

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"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

It is easy to become so preoccupied with living today that we lose sight of tomorrow.

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"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "When the plowman will overtake the reaper And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; When the mountains will drip sweet wine And all the hills will be dissolved. Also I will restore the captivity of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them; They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, And make gardens and eat their fruit. I will also plant them on their land, And they will not again be rooted out from their land Which I have given them," Says the LORD your God" Amos 9:13-15.

It is realistic to be an optimist, meaning that there is true basis for optimism. It’s not that we wish and hope for better things in the future; we have solid evidence that it will be so. A time is definitely coming when there will be agricultural abundance, reconstruction, and restoration. What is described in Amos 9 is what Peter the apostle spoke about in Acts 3:21 - “the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

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"But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" Amos 5:24.

The hike was well worth the effort just to see the beautiful waterfalls. It was a relatively easy trail in the Smokey Mountains in Tennessee, and it ended beside a rushing waterfall. Standing on the rock shelf beside the falls, overlooking a deep chasm below, the rushing stream was clearly visible in the opposite direction; the white-capped waters rushing down the mountainside. That breathtaking sight flooded my mind as I read these words from Amos 5:24.

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"Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind And declares to man what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness And treads on the high places of the earth, The LORD God of hosts is His name" Amos 4:12-13.

You and I have an appointment. A date has been set for the meeting and the outcome is largely determined by decisions we make prior to the meeting. It potentially can be very positive and rewarding, but it also can be disastrous for the ill-prepared.

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"The words of Amos, who was among the sheepherders from Tekoa, which he envisioned in visions concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake" Amos 1:1

He probably would have been labeled "Least Likely To Have God Speak To". After all, doesn't it make sense that the Creator of all would use the most powerful and influential people to get His message out?

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"For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light" Colossians 1:9-12.

"For this reason" indicated an important purpose for prayer. We read in the previous verses about the faith, hope, and love of the believers in Colosse. This prayer, then, is about what needs to be built upon that foundation of faith, hope, and love. It is essentially a prayer that we know God's will so thoroughly that we then live in such a way as to bear fruit.

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"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Philippians 2:5-11.

The appointed leader of the most important government of all time has placed our needs ahead of His own. He deliberately chose to forego fame, fortune, and comfort in order to serve others. He calls us to have that same mindset.

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"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus" Philippians 1:6).

Carpenters and contractors begin construction with the expectation that they will complete the work. It would be an unusual sight to see partially-built homes left to deteriorate, all because the builder decided they weren't worth completing.

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"It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days" Joel 2:28-29.

We're in the midst of a major downpour. The sun may be shining, and there may not be a cloud in the skies as you read this, but I assure you that we are experiencing a downpour. It's the outpouring of the Spirit of God.

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"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen" Ephesians 3:20-21.

If there are limitations, they are self-imposed.

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"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" Ephesians 2:4-7.

"But God ..." These two words are easy to gloss over in reading the text, but we must not overlook how vitally important they are. If we read verses 1-3, which precede these verses, we can easily see that we were in a precarious position were it not for God's intervention.

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