My husband and I have both been very sick with summer flu-like nonsense the past few days.  I haven’t been able to sleep because of additional female  aches and pains beyond the norm.  Still, the two hours I spent studying the Book of Jude this morning  was invigorating.

The past several weeks, God has ensured I learned exactly what He wanted me to better understand for His purpose. Much is documented here in My God Room, even when I have not been able to completely write out my thoughts or prayers. Much is discussed with my husband, as well.  Some is only captured in pictures on my phone.  Thank you, Lord, for allowing some pictures to be worth one thousand words!

Today, God used the Book of Jude to drive home a few key points :

1) BeIng saved by grace does not give us indirect permission to sin. At minimum, Jesus’ blood and suffering on the cross should humble us to be better human beings.

2) Loving others should equate to being willing to warn them of false teachers and to protect them. The devil is worse than a vehicle out of control on the roads or any physical dangers we can see.  Surely, I would pull loved ones from those dangers.  I should not have any fear about overstepping or  ensuring they know the Truth, the Way and the Light.

3.  Being willing to fight for Jesus in all things Kingdom- focused is imperative.  Nothing is more worthy of a fight!  The Bible says “contend” for His purpose.  God made sure when His people  tested His word and spirit, they would realize why he said “contend” to Jude.  At the time it was written, the Romans took their sports and games as seriously as we do those in today’s world.  Contend is in the spirit of fighting and competing!

4) God is in control.  Never forget this key truth.   He wants us to love Him and know His almighty power, Grace and mercy.

Maybe it was super- invigorating today because I read a long article last night on how to see Christ in others on  Patheos.org.   I went to bed with a humbled heart aching to be more like Jesus.  Our God is so thoughtful and powerful!!  So many of the insights He gave me during my morning study time applied directly throughout my day.

My day ran the gamut between my morning with Jude, teenage daughter drama over washing/killing her iPhone, listening to my husband’s feedback, work related challenges, suffering physical pain and great conversation with my son.  Truly, it makes my heart feel complete to know He was truly with me each step of my day.  Jude even teaches us to be merciful with unbelievers, which applied to some of the work challenges. 

Although my kids are both saved for His Kingdom, I believe God used Jude as a cushion to soften a few parenting blows today.   In fact, several conversations went very well which could have gone very poorly.

After much back and forth with my husband, I respected his view that it wouldn’t necessarily be wise to tell my son he should offer his phone to his sister for the 5SOS concert tonight.   It would be a catalyst for him to be defensive and pick an unworthy fight.  Or would it?  All day, I had the Spirit in me telling me to very much embrace a fight for Him!   I even challenged my husband  by asking if he was ever shown compassion when he made mistakes growing up.

Still, when it was time for the conversation with my son, God gave me the perfect way to encourage my son through His word and not falter in human fear based on how my son has responded in the past.  It was a simple fact to tell my son my prayer is that he and his sister both learn how to see Jesus in each other and have a desire to BE Jesus to each other.  I “fought” for Jesus with a loving Spirit guiding me.  It was such a powerful realization after it happened.   He gave me the right words to teach my son the compassion I/He desires to demonstrate without the lesson falling on deaf ears.

Thank you, Lord, for all that you do every single day for us!