Our Spiritual Giftedness Lane

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

August 14, 2025

Our Spiritual Giftedness Lane

“. . . try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities

by the light of the faith that God has given to you all.

Through the grace of God we have different gifts.

Romans 12:3,6 (J.B. Phillips New Testament) 

Many years ago, I worked on Missions for my Annual Conference. In advance of our Council of Ministries meeting we were given a book on spiritual gifts to read. The book included a survey to help identify our spiritual gifts. When we arrived at the meeting, we wrote the three gifts we had identified on our name tag. When we were meeting in our specific ministry groups, we first shared with our group our spiritual gifts. In my group of twelve people, almost all the gifts mentioned by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 were present.

We all have spiritual gifts. When we focus our time and energy on our specific spiritual gifts, we will flow in God’s grace. When we don’t, we will find ourselves on a bumpy road. I have been on a bumpy road for several months. For thirty-five years I have served as a spiritual director for weekend retreats. I have been quite effective in this role. Then I was asked to serve as the community spiritual director for the group that hosts these retreats. This job requires a different skill set, a skill set I do not possess. It has not been a good experience for me, and I am comforted to know my term is quickly winding down.

Brother J. B. Phillips would say I didn’t have a very sane estimate of my capabilities. He would be correct.

My Takeaway: There have been other times when I have leaped to accept an invitation to serve, and I didn’t take the time to seek Godly wisdom before accepting. In those times I became very much aware that I was not flowing in God’s grace. Do you recall the placard that says, “The Main Thing is to Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing? The main thing is to stay in our spiritual-giftedness lane. 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

The Disciples Worshiped Jesus

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

August 13, 2025

The Disciples Worshiped Jesus

When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Matthew 14:32-33 

First, a bit of context for today’s scripture. Verses 32-33 are the response of the disciples as they had yet again been out in their boat when a storm arose. As they feared for their lives, they saw Jesus walking toward them, walking on the water! Peter thought he saw a ghost and challenged the “ghost” to command him to walk on the water. Jesus did and Peter walked on the water until he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the wind and waves. Then Peter began to sink and shouted for the Lord to save him. The Lord did and as the two of them climbed into the boat the wind and waves abated. Then the disciples worshiped Jesus.

This phrase, “the disciples worshiped him,” caught my attention this morning. I don’t recall seeing that phrase any other time in the Gospels. I searched Bible Gateway and found only the reference in Matthew above. The disciples, as a group, didn’t worship Jesus after he raised the dead, healed the sick, and fed thousands with meager supplies. What was different when Jesus walked on the water to them.

I believe it was because they were acutely aware they needed saving! This miracle was deeply personal because it was their lives at stake.

My Takeaway: My worship of God is truly authentic, worship in spirit and truth, when I am acutely aware of how God has saved me, how God has blessed me, how God has called me to live in the F O G, the favor of God. The more I focus on laying hold of Him who has laid hold of me, the more I stay in His grace for today.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Infinite Patience

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

August 12, 2025

Infinite Patience

And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Romans 5:4-5 

Have you ever doubted your salvation, your right standing with God? I have. The Apostle Paul wrote, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Paul said if I belong to Christ, my old life is gone. Yet, there is no doubt the vestiges of my old life still make their presence known in my life today. Paul’s last phrase helps me reconcile my new life in Christ. He says, “a new life has begun.” I am not complete yet. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthias 13:12, “All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”

My Heavenly Father knows me completely. And he is infinitely patient with me as He works to form Christ in me. I am learning to accept the vestiges of my old life as evidence that God is still at work within me.

My Takeaway: “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6) 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Eyes to See the Unseen

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

August 11, 2025

Eyes to See the Unseen

He gives power to the weak

    and strength to the powerless.

Isaiah 40:29 

Below is a portion of a poem written during WW2, on the wall of a cellar in the Nazi concentration camp near Cologne:

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.

And I believe in love,

even when there’s no one there.

I believe in God even when he is silent. 

If I had been in that person’s shoes, would I have been able to express faith with such conviction? Of course, I can’t answer that question. But pondering this poem, and reading Isaiah 40:29, I am reminded of three scriptures from the New Testament.

First and second: 2 Corinthians 5:7,

“For we live by believing and not by seeing,”

and Hebrews 11:1,

“Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

The writer of this poem had eyes that chose to see the unseen.

And third, Romans 8:26-27,

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.  And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”

I do not have to rely on my strength to express my faith with conviction. The Holy Spirit is working within me to give me strength and power.

My Takeaway: As I seek to remain steadfast in God’s grace for today, I remember with the Apostle Paul, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

I Am Safe

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today

August 8, 2025

I Am Safe

We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead

it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end.

Never again will death have the last word.

Romans 6:6 (MSG) 

I hope you will read Romans 6 from The Message. I believe Mr. Peterson’s translation of this chapter is some of the most powerful prose in The Message. Today I am focused on his delightful phrase, “the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word.” After reading today’s passage, what word do you take away? For me, it is the word, safe. I am safe in the love of Jesus.

Because I believe the resurrection of Jesus, it is safe for me to believe the rest of the story which includes all the imperatives in this week’s meditations to make the life in Christ my way of life. As arduous as the pursuit of love and truth may be, I am safe to engage in this pursuit because I know death will not have the last word for my life. Jesus gets that last word and his word is, “I am going to prepare a place for you When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” (John 14:2-3)

My Takeaway: “Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.” The resurrection was not an event. The resurrection is a person, Christ Jesus. My life’s quest is to lay hold of him, Christ Jesus, who has laid hold of me. I am safe in his grasp. I am safe to give myself to God as He forms Christ in me. I am safe!!! 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

Love and Truth

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today

August 7, 2025

Love and Truth

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne.

    Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants.

Psalm 89:14 

The Apostle Paul describes the Christian life in Ephesians 4:15: “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.” This is how we live when God has changed us, inside out. This is how we will live when our bearing towards one another arises out of our life in Christ Jesus. As we pursue this way of living, this life in Christ as our way of life, we will have undertaken the most arduous pursuit of our life. Nothing can be more elusive than coupling love and truth as our way of life. Love in truth. Truth in love. One cannot come at the expense of the other.

On August 4, I wrote about weddings. Think about the wedding procession and the attendants preceding the groom and bride. Unfailing love and truth walk before our God as attendants. So also, is this the will of God for His children.

My Takeaway: The pursuit of love and truth is our singular calling. 

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Inside Out

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

August 6, 2025

Inside Out

Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.

Romans 12:2 (MSG) 

The NLT renders this verse as, “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” As we seek the life in Christ as our way of life, God is working within us to change the way we think about Him, our neighbors and ourselves. God’s mission to form Christ within us changes us from the inside. The Apostle Paul affirms this thought in Philippians 2:5 when he wrote, “let your bearing towards one another arise out of your life in Christ Jesus.” (NEB 1961)

One of my wife Cheryl’s favorite prayers is, “Please God show me your perspective on this.” Mostly this is a prayer to understand circumstances or a particular situation. However, we can also apply this prayer to our personal life by asking God to show us his perspective on our thoughts and our desires. As an example, the Al Anon program teaches participants the acrostic, HALT. When you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired, you are especially susceptible to your addictions or to your codependent behaviors. This prayer of asking God for his perspective can help us go deeper in understanding our ways of thinking that are contrary to our life in Christ Jesus.

My Takeaway: We saw on August 1, 2025, that God wants to restore our soul. (Psalm 23) When God changes us inside out, God is restoring our soul.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.