Category: Inspiration

Renewed Again and Again

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come” (2 Tim. 4:6). 

Dix Range, 2019.

The Apostle Paul, as a servant of the Lord, is nearing the end of his earthly life and ministry. Execution at the hands of the Romans awaits. Yet, his life was an offering, poured out completely and joyously for the cause of the Gospel in service to the risen Messiah. 

Still, Paul was no stranger to the limits of the human frame. His apostolic epistles carry the weight of a man who knew hunger, imprisonment, suffering, sleepless nights, betrayal, and the constant pressure of ministry. Yet, woven through his writings is a recurring melody: endurance, breath, perseverance. Paul refuses to romanticize the life of faith. He is able to name the costs, because he has counted the costs. But he also reveals its secret.

Faith is not sustained by a single moment of passion. It is sustained by continual renewal in Christ.

Paul’s life is a living testimony that spiritual stamina is not the product of human grit or determination alone. It is the fruit of a heart that returns, again and again, to the Lord who breathes strength into weary lungs.

Near the end of his life, Paul offers a line that has echoed through centuries of discipleship: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).

These are not the triumphant words of someone who never felt fatigue. They are the seasoned confession of a man who learned how to rise after being knocked down, how to breathe when the air grew thin, how to trust when the path grew dark. Paul’s endurance was not superhuman. It was sustained dependence. He finished because he kept receiving. He kept the faith, because God kept him.

Earlier in his ministry, Paul unveils the quiet miracle that carried him: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Day by day. Not year by year. Not season by season, but day by day.

Paul is teaching us something profound: the Lord does not give tomorrow’s strength today. He gives today’s strength today, for: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). The outer man may ache, age, or grow tired. But the inner man, the place where hope breathes and faith stands, can be renewed with fresh grace every single morning. This is the rhythm of walking in the Spirit: exhale weakness, inhale mercy.

There are moments when the race feels long, and our spirit feels thin. When enthusiasm fades and the weight of life presses hard. In those moments, Paul’s words become a lifeline: You are not failing because you feel weary. You are not disqualified because you need renewal. You are not alone in the struggle to keep going.

The life of faith is not a sprint of unbroken strength. It is a pilgrimage of continual returning. Returning to the One who restores. Returning to the One who breathes life anew. Returning to the One who renews the inner man day by day.

Paul’s life reminds us that endurance is not the absence of weariness, it is the presence of continual renewal. The Lord who carried Paul will carry you. Not once, not occasionally, but day by day, breath by breath, until you too can say: I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Say that this evening as the day ends, and remind yourself of His ongoing, continuous grace. 

Prayer:

Lord, Teach us the grace of daily renewal. When our strength fades, breathe Your strength into us. When our hearts grow weary, renew us from within. Help us to run the race, not in our own power, but in the steady, sustaining grace and mercy You renew each day. Make us faithful, not because we are strong, but because You are. In the precious name of Your Son, Yeshua/Jesus. Amen.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

 

Beware the “Murmurite”

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

Gratitude, Trust, and Faithfulness

The apostle Paul writes, “Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world…” (Phil. 2:14–15).

Some years ago, when teaching the weekly Torah portion, presumably touching on the subject of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, I added a people-group not included in this list, the “Murmurite.” To this day I am not sure where the thought originated, perhaps from my own experience and time spent in the camp of the “Murmurites.” 

When the children of Israel began to murmur in the wilderness, Moses responded, “Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord” (Ex. 16:8). What did he mean? 

A murmur‑ite is my name for that subtle, creeping spiritual parasite that feeds on dissatisfaction, whispers complaint, and drains joy. It thrives in the shadows of the heart, where disappointment, impatience, and fear mingle; and it disguises itself as harmless honesty. I know the signs and implications of murmuring, as at different seasons in life it was like a second fluent language. 

That being said, Scripture is clear: murmuring is not a minor flaw, it erodes faith and denies the efficacy of covenant, at least from our perspective. 

Israel did not lose battles because of giants; they lost ground because of murmuring. The wilderness did not defeat them, their tongues did; and unfortunately the power of the tongue yet remains (Jas. 3:1-10). 

A murmur is small, but it grows and multiplies quickly. It spreads through households, congregations, and communities. It turns worshipers into worriers, pilgrims into prisoners, and gratitude into grumbling.

Murmuring is not just complaining, it is misplaced and misdirected theology. How so? 

1. Murmuring questions God’s character: When Israel murmured about water, manna, or leadership, God heard something deeper than words: “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex.17:7). Murmuring is the heart’s way of saying, “I’m not sure God is good, present, or wise.”

2. Murmuring rewrites the past: Israel said, “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt…” (Num. 11:5). Murmuring romanticizes bondage and distorts memory, causing us to look back to bondage in fondness, not forward in faith.

3. Murmuring blinds us to His provision: The people stood in front of daily miracles, manna, water from the rock, a cloud by day, fire by night, and still murmured. A “murmur‑ite” makes miracles look mundane.

4. Murmuring spreads spiritual infection: Ten spies murmured, and an entire nation lost faith and suffered judgment. Murmuring is contagious; while gratitude is curative.

The Lord never commands us to stop something without giving us something better to set our hearts and minds to: 

1. Practice covenantal gratitude: Not generic positivity or contrived optimism, but covenant remembrance. Recall what the Lord has done, not what He has yet to do. 

2. Speak faith aloud: The apostle Paul says, “holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain” (Phil. 2:16). Faith grows when spoken, when lived and depended on; murmuring grows when whispered, or spoken in the shadowy places of the heart. 

3. Rehearse God’s character: When the heart is tempted to murmur, declare: the Lord is faithful, He is present, He is wise, He is working.

4. Replace murmuring with intercession: If something burdens you, fast and pray it instead of murmuring it. Intercession turns complaint into communion with the fullness of the Godhead and the faithful.

Dear faithful, a murmur, and therefore a Murmurite, cannot survive in an atmosphere of gratitude and thanksgiving. It suffocates when the heart remembers who the Lord is. The murmur dies when the tongue chooses praise over complaint. Murmurs wither when faith speaks louder than fear.

Let the wilderness, we all spend time there, hear your praise, worship and adoration, not your murmuring. Ask yourself questions about your own times of dissatisfaction or trial, and the response in it: Where have I allowed murmuring to replace faith? What miracle(s) have I stopped noticing? Who might be affected by the tone of my heart? What can I thank the Lord for right now?

There is no more sobering and convicting reminder than our Lord Yeshua/Jesus on the cross. Bearing our sin and shame, He did not murmur or complain, gossip or threaten, but submitted Himself to the will of the Father, and asked His forgiveness because, as so often the case, “they know not what they do.” 

A prayer: Father of mercies, reveal the murmurite hiding in the corners of my heart. Cleanse me from the parasite of complaint. Teach me to trust Your timing, Your wisdom, and Your goodness. Fill my mouth with gratitude, my mind with remembrance, and my spirit with the joy of Your salvation. Make me a child who shines Your light without murmuring, a city on a hill shining that others may see Your faithfulness working in me. In Yeshua’s name, Amen.

Maranatha. Shalom. 

Abiding in the Son

On By Bp. Justin ElwellIn Applied Theology, InspirationLeave a comment

This morning 2 John was part of my devotional reading. This short, single chapter, thirteen verse letter has tremendous theological depth. This is a timely apostolic and pastoral work by John, the beloved disciple; especially in light of the challenges facing the Body of Messiah today. While short in length, it lacks nothing concerning encouragement to the saints, and warning regarding the work of the deceiver (v.7). 

The brief epistle is one of the shortest books in the Apostolic Writings, yet it offers a remarkably rich and concentrated theology of love, truth, and obedience. John, the elder, writes directly to “the elect lady and her children” (2 Jn. 1:1). The letter addresses a believing community facing doctrinal confusion and moral testing, relatable themes today as well. At its heart is a distinctly Johannine conviction: the love of the Lord is not just confessed, but demonstrated through obedience to His Word. Nowhere is this more sharply articulated than in 2 John 1:7–9, where love and truth are held together as inseparable realities.

John opens the letter by linking love to truth, not sentiment. He writes, “whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth” (v. 1). For John, love is not abstract or self-defined; it is grounded in the truth that “abides in us and will be with us forever” (v. 2). This reflects a deeply biblical and covenantal understanding of love. In the Hebrew Scriptures, love (אהבה, ahavah) is often expressed in faithfulness to the covenant, by hearing and obeying the word of the Lord (Deut. 6:4–6). John stands squarely in this tradition.

Then, verse 6 makes this explicit: “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” Love is not reduced to emotional warmth or social harmony, but is measured by a life shaped by God’s revealed will. To “walk” (peripateō) is a familiar Jewish metaphor for one’s manner of life, their conduct, or halakhah (to walk), one’s way of walking before God. Thus, love is not opposed to obedience; rather, it is obedience rightly understood.

This theological foundation prepares the reader for the sharp warning of verses 7–9. He writes, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist” (v. 7). The danger confronting the community is not simply ethical laxity, but doctrinal distortion. To deny the incarnation of Christ is to undermine the very truth in which love is rooted. If God’s love has been made manifest in the sending of His Son in the flesh (cf. 1 Jn. 4:9), then to deny this is to sever love from its source.

John’s concern is pastoral, yet uncompromising. In verse 8 he warns, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.” Faithfulness requires intentional vigilance. Love does not mean openness without discernment, nor does hospitality or kindness override truth. The community must guard the apostolic teaching they have received, recognizing that perseverance in truth is an expression of love for God as well as for one another.

Verse 9 crystallizes the matter: “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Messiah, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” To “abide” (menō) is a central Johannine theme, denoting a living, covenantal relationship. Abiding in the teaching of Christ is not stagnation, but enduring connection. Those who “go on ahead,” seeking novelty apart from the apostolic witness, place themselves outside the life-giving communion of Father and Son.

In 2 John, love is never detached from truth, nor truth from obedience. This is a message that runs contrary to the social convention of the age. The love of God is witnessed in a community that walks according to His commandments, confesses the incarnate Messiah, and remains steadfast in the teaching handed down from the beginning. In an age tempted to redefine love as affirmation without obedience or unity without truth, 2 John calls the people of God back to a richer, biblical vision: love that abides, walks, and remains faithful to the Word made flesh, demonstrated in communion among the faithful. 

Maranatha. Shalom.