“…in the last days, perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection…having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-5

“Without natural affection” literally means “without family love.” If you claim to be a Christian but dishonor your parents, all you’ve got is a form of godliness. You don’t have the real thing. Faith begins at home. If you can live for Jesus at home, you can live for Jesus anywhere. If you can’t live for Jesus at home, it doesn’t really matter where you try to live for Jesus.

God gave Ten Commandments, but the fifth, “Honor your father and mother,” is the one with a promise: “that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth.” Before God tells us don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, He tells us to honor father and mother. In my estimation, the respect and obedience a child shows his parents is a strong indication of how the child will turn out. Dwight Moody said, “I’ve lived 60 years, and I’ve learned one thing if I’ve learned nothing else. No man or woman who dishonors father or mother ever prospers.” ( Adrian Rogers)

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.”—1 Corinthians 1:10–12

In 1776 the members of the Continental Congress came together to sign the Declaration of Independence, committing the fledgling United States to war with England. Many people had grave doubts about the future of their cause. The only hope for success was that the disparate colonies with their divergent interests and needs work together. As Benjamin Franklin put it when he prepared to affix his name to the Declaration, “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” Those words were not dramatic license. The penalty for failure was severe, and the only way to avoid that was to join forces.

As Christians, we face a powerful enemy who is committed to our destruction. Satan is looking for a weak spot in your defenses that will allow him to strike. If you resist today, he will be back tomorrow. The reality of this opposition highlights the importance of God’s people encouraging each other to resist the enemy and win the victory.

Satan knows that if he can separate a Christian from the fellowship and teaching of his church, it will be much easier to defeat him. Lions rarely hunt prey that is in the middle of a herd, even of mostly defenseless animals. Instead they focus on the stragglers—those who have strayed or fallen behind from the group. Those are the easy targets.(Daily in the Word)

Regular, fervent, meaningful prayer is the foundation of our work and ministry for Jesus Christ.–Paul Chappell

The longer I live, the older I get, the more I struggle and observe others bearing their heavy burdens, the more I study God’s Word the more I realize the importance of prayer. We can’t survive and thrive without it. Evidently James Smith was feeling the same way when he wrote the following to his church  in 1840: