Training Myself in Godliness

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today 

May 20, 2026

Training Myself in Godliness

“No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.”

1 John 4:12

A few weeks ago, the Board for my Homeowners Association honored me for many years of service to our community. For the most part my participation in the HOA has been well and good, but there have been some contentious issues. My fight against the temptation to be drawn into these issues has had mixed success. To this end, the Apostle John’s affirmation about our life in Christ is very helpful to me.

The ways of the world’s culture teach us that it is all about winning and losing, tit for tat, and being ever ready with an appropriate rejoinder when we feel slighted, or that the other person may prevail. Over and against the prevailing sentiment of our culture is the truth that all my thoughts and deeds, my words directed at other people, are directed. Did Jesus really mean this when he said, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” (Matthew 25:40). Yes, I think so.

To conduct myself in the reality that every word that comes out of my mouth, as well as every thought that rattles around in the recesses of mind, are directed to Jesus seems like an impossible mission! This is a good time to remember that it is possible to do with training, what is impossible to do by trying. Authentically seeking the life in Christ as my way of life requires that I submit to appropriate spiritual disciplines to “train (myself) in godliness” (1 Timothy 4:7b NRSV).

My Takeaway: A spiritual discipline for me is to fully immerse myself in 1 John 4:12 so that before I speak, I will first think, “God lives in me, and his love is brought to full expression in me.”

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 © 2026 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.

 

Where’s the Power?

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 19, 2026

Where’s the Power?

“He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”

1 Peter 2:24 

In Romans 8, after identifying almost a dozen obstacles, difficulties and adversities in life, the Apostle Paul declares, “overwhelming victory is ours through Christ” (Romans 8:37). So how is the overwhelming victory coming into your life? For me, sometimes it seems it is not me, but all the obstacles, difficulties and adversities in life that are winning the overwhelming victory. More often, I identify with Paul’s metaphor that I am like a fragile clay jar (2 Corinthians 4), rather than being more than conquerors as the NRSV renders Romans 8:37.

Of course, the spiritual reality is not either / or; rather it is both / and. There are times when we will be more than conquerors, winning an overwhelming victory over the issues in our lives. Even when we are feeling more like fragile clay jars, we know that through the power of Christ within us, we are not defeated. “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).

The Holy Spirit baptizes us into the life of Christ so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed and have “become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). This is the power that leads to overwhelming victory. This is the power to make reality in our lives the truth that when we get knocked down, we are not destroyed. The power is in our new life in Christ that enables us to be dead to sin and live for what is right.

My Takeaway: “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?” Thanks be to God “for Christ Jesus who died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us” (Romans 8:31a & 34b).

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 © 2026 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.

Now You Are My Friends

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 18, 2026

Now You Are My Friends

“He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

John 21:5a NIV

Soon after the resurrection of Jesus, Peter and several disciples left Jerusalem and returned to Galilee and their former lives as fishermen. After fishing all night and coming up empty-handed, they returned to shore. That is when Jesus called out to them from the beach, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” These are the same disciples who fell asleep in the olive grove called Gethsemane after Jesus had asked them to pray for him. These are the same disciples who denied knowing Jesus and scattered into hiding after his crucifixion. Jesus had already appeared to them after his resurrection; he had already eaten with them and commissioned them to take the Gospel to the world. But they were not watching and praying; they were fishing, and not very well. On the beach that morning, no other person would have called them friends. However, Jesus did. Why? Jesus wasn’t enabling their bad behavior; he was affirming their truest identity: “I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (John 15:15).

Three times in John 15, Jesus calls us his friends. This word “friend” gives me pause to examine my life for evidence that I have more than head knowledge about Jesus. Do I live my life in the reality of a relationship with Jesus? If so, is that relationship more like boss and employee or servant; or do I hear him call me friend?

My Takeaway: Our friendship with God is the heart of the Gospel of Grace so eloquently proclaimed by Paul.  Today, learn to rest in the wonder of God’s affection for you, or as I heard it in a song, “Resting in His Smile.”

 “So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” (Romans 5:11).

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 © 2026 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.

Our Fears for Today

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 15, 2026

Our Fears for Today

“Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?”

Romans 8:35 

St. Paul said, “Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13). While faith and hope will last forever, they will change. Faith will become sight and hope will become reality. However, love will last forever, and will not change, because Jesus Christ is love, and “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

In affirming the great love of God in Christ Jesus, the Apostle Paul is most eloquent in his prose extolling the inability of anything in the earth, above the earth, or below the earth to separate us from God’s love. For me, sometimes Paul’s prose in Romans 8:35-39 is so beautiful I have a hard time processing it in a way that I can personally experience the truth he is conveying. I find it difficult to personally identify with calamity, persecuted, hungry, destitute, danger, threatened with death, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep, death, angels, demons, powers of hell, power in the sky above or in the earth below.

However, when he includes our fears for today and our worries about tomorrow, he is getting my attention. Those two realities help me incorporate the issues of my world such as my weakness, my being “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love (Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing), my inadequacies, my loneliness, my depression, my anxiety over my grandchildren’s future, my negative self-image, economic uncertainty, and health issues, just to name a few. “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (Romans 8:37).

My Takeaway: Indeed, nothing I experience in all my life, “will ever be able to separate (me) from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). I hope your heart is rejoicing in this Good News.

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 © 2026 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 Heart of God

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 14, 2026

The Heart of God

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Matthew 9:36

Do you think, or feel, differently about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit?

If we were playing the TV game, Family Feud, the survey would reveal that people respond in a significantly different way between God and Jesus. This probably has something to do with the vision captured in the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.(Jonathan Edwards, 1741) However, the Bible tells us that Jesus is the “only begotten Son” of God (John 3:16 KJV). Colossians 2:9 tells us that, “in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” In describing his ministry, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19. See also John 5:30, 8:28). So Jesus is God in human form. In Jesus, you see the very heart, the compassion, the love of God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

When Jesus was celebrating with friends at a wedding, God was showing him how to turn the water into wine. When Jesus was chatting with the culturally despised Samaritan woman at the well, God was giving him the words to say. When Jesus hung out with women and children, ate with sinners, and healed the Centurion’s servant, he was following the lead of his compassionate Father, whose mercy never ends, and encompasses all that He has created.

My Takeaway: Some people see Jesus standing between humans and an angry God. Yet the Bible teaches us that all the compassion that flowed from Jesus first flowed from the heart of God.

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 © 2026 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.

New Way of Living in The Spirit

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 13, 2026

New Way of Living in The Spirit

“And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart.”

Ezekiel 11:19

The great apologist for our faith, G.K. Chesterton, was asked by a newspaper reporter, “If the risen Christ suddenly appeared at this very moment and stood behind you, what would you do?” Chesterton responded without hesitation, “He is.” The truth of our faith is that Jesus, who walked through the streets of Jerusalem, now stands with his followers, and it is this truth that changes the way we live.

As followers of Jesus who have experienced God’s grace, we are building a new life based on our identity as a child of God. A fruit of this identity is that we are no longer living under the tyranny of emotions. Virtually all the stimuli in our culture are aimed at our emotions. When your life becomes steeped in emotional messages, your life decisions tend to become tied to your emotions or feelings. Seeking the life in Christ as our way of life is choosing to no longer live by our emotions. By faith we have reversed the flow of our life.

The normal flow of life in our emotion-driven culture is to begin with how we feel and then make decisions or take actions based on those feelings. The result of our decisions and actions reinforces our feelings and becomes the basis of our beliefs. If we stay on this course, our emotion-driven beliefs become the facts of our life.

The world’s culture has told us a pack of lies about who we are and who God is. God, in Christ Jesus, is telling us the truth, and now we can reverse the flow of our lives. To reverse the flow is to begin first with fact, not feelings.  Begin with the fact that the Bible says God loves you. When you choose to believe this fact, you can choose to take actions based on your belief that God loves you and will provide for you.

My Takeaway: Our emotions will not immediately line up with this new way of living, but this new way of living in the Spirit will, in God’s time, win over our emotions. How? Because, like Chesterton, we know the Risen Christ is standing with us, and he has put a new spirit within us. He has taken away our stony, stubborn heart and given us a tender, responsive heart.

And all his followers say, “Thank you Jesus!”

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 © 2026 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.

Jesus’ Passion for My Brokenness

Meditations on

Staying in the Grace for Today

May 12, 2026

Jesus’ Passion for My Brokenness

“For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.”

Colossians 1:19-20 

The way of weakness was the way of the Cross for God in Christ Jesus. This is the price God paid to release me and you from the oppression of sin, brokenness and death. Jesus wants me to see that in my brokenness, my weakness, he is strong.  It is when I embrace my brokenness that I can identify with Christ and with others.  Jesus wants me to identify with the pain of others, not relieve it; he wants me to care for others, not try and fix them.

As I learn to have patience in my brokenness, Jesus’ Word of Grace reminds me that my brokenness is not my true identify. I am what I am by the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10), not by my own humiliating definitions. I am fully known yet totally justified by faith through grace. Nothing, neither my outward actions, nor my inner feelings, can diminish the worth given to me in the grace of God.

My Takeaway: In the late 1960’s, Glenn Turner founded his company, Dare to Be Great. One of the catch phrases that came out of his multi-level marketing company was, “Fake it until you make it.” Regrettably, many people go through life living by that motto. Brennan Manning says God loves us unconditionally, just as we are, not as we should be, because none of us are as we should be. However, too many of us try to live by the notion of what we should be, as defined by world culture; we are trying to fake it until we make it. Lord have mercy! Christ has already made it within us!

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 © 2026 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.