Build Strong

Last week we talked about how important our foundations are. We also talked about how no one wants a house that could end up being a floating house in the flood. You want a sturdy house. We talked about how our lives are like buildings and we need to ensure that our lives are built on a solid and strong foundation, Jesus Christ. How do we build our lives on Jesus our firm foundation?

Matthew 7:24-25 says, “Everyone who hears my teaching and applies it to his life can be compared to a wise man who built his house on an unshakable foundation. When the rains fell and the flood came, with fierce winds beating upon his house, it stood firm because of its strong foundation.”

This sounds simple enough does it not? We listen to the teaching of Jesus Christ which is the Bible and the word we receive in church. This means it’s important that you be in the right church. You need to be hearing God’s word preached in a way that you understand it, so you know how to build your life. It is hard to apply something you do not understand. This is why I love my church, my pastors make things very plain and simple to understand so I walk away knowing what I am required to do.

Ask God to lead you to the church that is right for you. So you can begin to hear from God about you. When I sit in church it is my time to hear from God about me. Not about you guys who are reading this, as much as I love y’all, I need Jesus too. I go to church for me. To hear from God about me. This is why church is so important. Left to myself I will only read the parts of the Bible that tell me how loved I am. I won’t read about how Jesus went about casting demons out of people because who needs to read about that drama. But if we skip over those parts, we are limiting our experience with God, and it is hard for God to then come and do what He needs to do in our lives to make us free.

We know Christ came to set us free but we expect freedom to be pretty. No, sometimes freedom is messy and it’s a fight. God fights for us to be free. But God is not going to fight for you if you do not want to fight for you. He does not raise lazy entitled kids, ouch.

Being in church means we get to hear about all different aspects of God’s word. Not just the parts we like. As we hear it, it is up to us to take it on board. We can hear God’s word and decide, nah that’s not for me. I have found that the more I think a word is not for me or doesn’t apply to me, the more it is likely to be for me. If I just sit on it and open my heart, God will begin to show me how it applies to my life. This is why it is important that we know the Holy Spirit and His voice. So we can discern when He is speaking to us and what He is saying to us.

Note that our verse is not just about hearing what Jesus says but it is also about applying it. As we learn to do this in every area of life, we begin to build our life on the firm foundation. To the extent that you apply the word of God to an area of your life, is the extent to which that area will be built on the firm foundation.

This means if I apply the word of God over what I watch and what I listen to, then that area of my life will be built on a firm foundation. However, if I do not listen to or apply the word of God over my relationships, then my relationships will be on shaky ground. When the flood comes, that area will be a mess, the rain and the flood will wreak havoc in that area of my life.

Building on Jesus our firm foundation is about taking every area of our lives and making it subject to the word of God. This means listening to the word of God and applying it to every area of our lives. I’ll leave you with this, James 1:22 TPT says, “Don’t just listen to the Word of Truth and not respond to it, for that is the essence of self-deception. So always let his Word become like poetry written and fulfilled by your life!”

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano.