3C's Bible Study

Money, like everything material, has in it, the seed of death and decay. As a result, more possessions cannot bring lasting fulfilment or satisfaction. It is God’s will, therefore, that we have the mindset of stewardship towards money.

The essential skill required to come into the riches of the kingdom of God is the mindset of a farmer - the ability to endure a process, for the sake of the precious fruit that follows the process.

It is through prayer that we guard the perimeter of the essential skill of endurance, realise the hope of our believing, and bring practical help to those in direct need. Effective prayer is the enduring mark of the mature believer.

The believer can live from one of two sources - the wisdom of our human nature or the wisdom of the divine life within. The first operates by the principle of self-seeking and the latter by the principle of submission.

James makes the case that every unanswered prayer desire can be traced to the principle of abiding. God is always either pruning our faith through the delay or drawing us away from "self". The most significant promise and incentive attached to abiding in Christ is the promise of answered prayers (John 15:7).

Pride manifests itself subtly or covertly in our lack of desperation for the daily bread that comes down from heaven, our prejudice towards others, and our presumptuous praying and planning outside the will of God. The spiritual man can judge things, not people, and we must separate the two continuously.

There is a confidence that comes with knowing and doing the will of God. In a complex world with many mysteries, with a life that is uncertain, frail and brief, the safest place to be is at the centre of the will of God. It is the will of God that de-risks and demystifies life. The will of God is the plumb line for God's judgment; hence, it is not optional. Sooner or later, we will answer to God according to His will.

We can defeat pride by maintaining a thankful heart. We can maintain a thankful heart when we judge our lives and blessings without the lens of "the pride of life".

Everyone who would teach is first called to live out the truth in practical humility, obedience, and patience daily. The weight of this responsibility is made lighter as we gain mastery over our tongues.

The tongue is the conduit of heaven for the ministry of life that we have received in the new covenant. The fruit of a disciplined tongue is the sustained release of life to others, without the impurities of death.

The wisdom from heaven is the practical outworking of the kingdom of heaven in a man. At its heart is the submission of self to the government of Christ within, and its result is the fruit of peace in our relationships.

The most evident proof of our Christian maturity and the sternest test of the genuineness of our faith is revealed in how we treat and respond to people. Hence, the royal law or principle of faith is genuine love.

Counterfeit faith can be known for its inability to bear the fruit of genuine, kind-hearted, and long-suffering love. It may be intellectual and emotional, but it lacks the spiritual spark of life.

The Holy Spirit is the source of genuine faith and its essence. It is fellowship with the indwelling reality of His presence that produces the substance of faith in our hearts, and this substance enables us to act out our convictions.

Trials on the outside can indeed stir temptations within. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the source of all temptation (lust) and the antidote (the word) to defeat it.

James describes the word as “the perfect law of liberty”. Its ability to produce true freedom comes down to two factors - our hearing and our doing. A life of true worship consists of both held together in equal measure.

True religion is built on obedience, above and before rites and tradition, and it is an outward practice of professed love and worship. The tenets of spiritual ranking are a personal purity towards God, overflowing kindness towards others, and the righteous subversion of our worst desires.

Anyone who wants to grow up in Christ will face opposition in the form of trials. The watchword for every season of trial, therefore, is patience. Patience is the first proof of love, the refiner of faith, and the pathway to perfection or maturity. To make the most of our trials, we ought to reckon them with joy and ask for wisdom through them.

The kingdom context in which a believer is born on earth is one of intense battle. This warfare exists simply because of the value of the eternal life that you have received and its potential to disrupt the enemy's work on the earth. You fight because something is at stake.

The way to fight this in this war is to “stand” or put on Christ as your armour. This hints that the most effective strategy in spiritual warfare is alignment with God, for it enables Him to take up our battle. Alignment is a product of continuous inquiry and practical dependence on the Spirit.

The proof that you are prepared and well-dressed is that your spirit can always be praying, with all prayer, for all saints. Whatever robs us of our prayer times also robs us of our spiritual vision, energy and cutting edge. If our lives and words will count in the kingdom, it will be through prayer.

We are called to walk wisely and not as fools by understanding and submitting to the will of God for our lives. His will in this context is that we are continually saturated or filled with His life so that the life we can live out the light of His kingdom in a dark world.

Our union with God rests on the immutable principles of headship and submission, neither of which is enforced or coerced. They are the same principles that God has laid out for a joyful family life that serves as the foundation for the birthing of Christ-like love and submission in society.

The basis of our calling to imitate or follow God is His life in us. Without His life, we will struggle to produce His virtues. Because of His life, no change is impossible for the believer.

The pulses of the life of God are derived from the nature of His kingdom within. The kingdom within produces righteous and holy desires. Therefore, to truly achieve change, we must begin on the basis of life. It is as we receive the life that we are changed.

We must differentiate between being in darkness and walking in darkness and between being in the light and walking in the light. The state of being is ontological or inherent, but walking is a practice that we have to learn and maintain.

As Paul transitions from the practice of unity to building our character, he draws on the facts of our inclusion in one body, our access to a new life in Christ, and our calling in Him as the motivation for our walk of purity.

The way of Christ is a “learned” way. No one becomes perfect on day one, and no one is ruled out because of a single or recurring mistake. We are called to walk - to keep taking steps forward and to recover from setbacks along the way.

Speaking truthfully is the primary test of our walk with God and others. What we say and how we communicate can shape our thoughts and feelings, moving us further into the Spirit or away from Him.