Build Yourselves Up!


“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.” Jude 20

The background on Jude is interesting. Full of heavenly beings, prophecy, and all kinds of end times kind of things. While we can argue much on the heavenly things that are happening here, what we should not forget it is the message that Jude is trying to convey over to the believers. The message to watch against teachers who do not understand what they are teaching (verse 10) and also use what they teach to build themselves up for their own glory (vs. 12). The warning is to watch out against these teachers by doing the very thing that believers need to do, is to build themselves up in faith and prayer. That is what they need to do to not only recognize these false teachers, but to be able to rescue people away from the false teaching.

Build yourselves up, is what God is asking. I was recently at a bible study, and not to put down anyone, but one person in our bible study, Jake, was contemplating leaving the group for this reason: “I don’t feel like I’m being fed. I really want to dig into the Word and learn more. But I don’t feel like I am being fed.” I listened for a while but after the constant nagging of how much our small group is just too social, and too topical. The argument Jake was saying sounded legitimate, until I asked the question, “Jake, how many times during the week do you really get into the Bible yourself?” The answer: 3 times, at best. I sat there in shock. I followed up the question with “How many hours a day do you pray?” Answer: “I pray in the car, I pray along the way to things.” I was now flabbergasted. I saw why Jake was hungry for God. Out of 168 hours a week, Jake dedicated (at best) 4 hours a week to God! I then proceeded to tell Jake, you really need to dig into the Bible and learning things of God for yourself. Jake said, that it still does not change the fact that he’s not being fed, he’s hungry for the Word and we aren’t doing that for him. Then I thought of this wonderful saying Pastor Wayne Cordeiro says, “Hungry? FEED YOURSELF!” The implication is that the only one responsible for spiritual growth is YOU. Only you can put can learn about God more, only you can spend more time with God and get to know Him better. No one else can. Only you.

During this week I have been tasked with all kinds of responsibilities, but what I need to make sure is that I continually pursue God. I must be continually in His word and I fall down on my knees daily to hear Him. So Lord, help me to pray for my friend Jake, and to pursue You with all my heart. Don’t let me forget that when I am hungry, to feed myself.

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