Yes and Amen

June 27, 2014

Yes and Amen

“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”

2 Corinthians 1:20

My personal library is filled with commentaries on the Bible, daily devotional readings and scores of books on various and sundry Biblical themes. Although it is greatly reduced in the number of books since my retirement from the pastoral ministry, it still numbers in the hundreds. In addition, I have several dozen more religious books in my Amazon Kindle collection. The vast majority of first century pastors had few, if any, resources. Their congregations had no Bibles or sacred writing they could study. That being the case, how did they master the art of discipleship? They simply learned to say ‘Yes” (Amen) to their Abba.

Can it be that simple? I think so. I recall many years ago listening to an interview with Pastor Paul Yonggi Cho of South Korea. God was using him in a mighty way to build the Christian church in South Korea, and he was asked the secret of his success. He simply replied, “Pray and obey.” In one of my visits to Cuba, we had been away from our base in Camaguey all day visiting out-lying mission churches. We returned after midnight on a Saturday night and noticed lights on in the church. We looked in the sanctuary and observed more than a dozen of the faithful, on their faces, praying for the Sunday worship service. In another visit, we stayed with the pastor’s family in their home. His church sanctuary was his living room. While we were in the kitchen having a meal several hours before a worship service, several in his congregation were in the next room praying for the service. Pray and obey.

The Apostle Paul said that all of the promises of God have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus. Our part, our discipleship, is simply a matter of learning to say ‘Amen” to God’s “Yes.”

Sē’lah

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(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. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.