Build and Pray

Jude 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
 
WHEN you listen to sermons, study the Bible and read books and lessons on the Christian life, what should you do next? Your answer to this question is essential to your Christian life.
   As Jude closes his letter, he guide the church into the right response to the false teachers among them. He makes two points in this verse: build and pray.
   We can understand Jude’s instruction to build yourself up in your holy faith when we examine Ephesians 2:18 For through Jesus, we both (Jews and Greeks) have access to the Father by one Spirit. 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
   The prophets and apostles have revealed the most holy faith. This is the complete understanding of God from the entire Bible. This is called the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).
   The testimony of God comes from all that is written in Scripture. Holy faith is true faith set apart from doubt, complacency and disobedience. Such faith builds your Christian life when you begin with God’s Word as explained through his chosen messengers. Building requires full attention to this truth foundation. When you read and hear God’s Word you have the material to build your life into a strong temple of the Living God. Jude’s point is that we cannot be effective Christians if we leave what we learn in our minds. You must be responsive and responsible to the whole counsel of God.
   This life is possible when you pray in the Holy Spirit. Some get uncomfortable with this phrase because it has often been used to refer to praying in tongues. But Jude is simply referring to Spirit-empowered prayer. Paul helps us understand this in Galatians 4:6 Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” Praying in the Spirit is praying with the Spirit’s help and power. We are not to be as the false teaches who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. (Jude 19)
   Praying in the Spirit means you 1) pray to know God’s mind. 2) your peace and joy rests more on your love for God than his response to your petitions. 3) you rejoice that you have such access to God, regardless of the circumstances around you. 4) you pray in expectation of his will to be done in his good pleasure. 5) you pray in thanksgiving of God’s great mercy to hear your voice among the vast nations. 6) you pray with a listening heart, aware the Lord is also talking to you.
   There is always a good deal of “noise” in the world that wants to detract us from God’s holy faith. Know God and understand his voice. You will hear him more clearly and completely when you build your faith on its true foundation. In this way you can consistently and truly live in God’s full council in the Spirit’s power.