Delivered to the saints

Jud 1:1  Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called: Jud 1:2  Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied. Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

To them that are sanctified- to them that are made holy BY GOD the FATHER. To them that are PRESERVED in JESUS CHRIST...and called.

Do you need to be made holy by God the Father?

Do you need to be preserved in Jesus Christ?

Are you called to belong to God the Father, and God the Son?

We want to be made holy and be preserved, called to be God's, don't we? Our Savior came to deliver all who would be delivered. Our Savior came to give light to all who truly desire light. We long for salvation as we should, this should be our hope.

We need mercy, we need peace, we need love.

And we desperately need to EARNESTLY contend for the faith which was ONCE delivered unto the saints.

Did you read that right? We are EXHORTED to EARNESTLY CONTEND.  When you earnestly contend for something tell me what that means.  If you earnestly contend for something aren't you putting forth a lot of effort to gain that something? Anyone who earnestly contends for something isn't just giving it a thought once in awhile. They aren't sitting back and waiting for it to fall into their lap.  When you contend for something you are fighting for that something.  But to earnestly contend means you are fighting hard for something. 

In this case we are to fight hard for the FAITH that was delivered to the saints.

Who delivered the faith to the saints? What saints?  We know our Savior walked the earth with His message of Salvation for three years. Faith was delivered to those who would hear Him, to those who would love Him.

We don't have the Savior walking physically among us we truly need to contend earnestly for the faith. We have to live in Jesus' presence, in His light, in His love and yet all too often we go day after day barely giving our Savior a second thought.

If we are to earnestly contend for the faith, if we are to fight for the faith we need to hold fast to all things Jesus Christ.

More on this tomorrow by the grace of our GOD!

Please Father, please bless so many who are in need of YOU, of Your intervention. The pain and agony of life is all too real, please Father help us all to see that even the worst of pain is temporary to eternity.  It's so hard to see this, to believe this as we suffer, please help us to believe wholly in YOU and YOU as our future, our HOPE, our love our life everlasting. 

In the name of our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ, our LORD.

Amen.