To what ends will your faith take you as you seek the presence of Jesus? Are you so confident in Him that there is nothing more pressing than to be at His feet? Does His love for you drive you to a great, and possibly heroic faith?
All in Faith
To what ends will your faith take you as you seek the presence of Jesus? Are you so confident in Him that there is nothing more pressing than to be at His feet? Does His love for you drive you to a great, and possibly heroic faith?
How do we engage our faith? Is it limited to our intellect, and discernment alone? If this is the case then we are missing much of the joy that comes with knowing God, and worshipping Him. If this is true then we miss knowing Jesus in His fullness. Although using our mind is important in understanding our faith, it is only one of the tools we were created with as God provided us with the ability to experience Him.
Are we Christian to our very heart, or are we only Christian by our own proclamation, and on our surface? It is one thing to be known as a Christian, but as God sees our heart, and our innermost thoughts what does He find there? Do we fear the thought of having our heart searched by God? Are we confident enough in our faith to ask that we be tested as well as searched?
Do we feel confident enough in the healing power of Jesus to touch the fringe of His garment and be healed? Have we been praying for healing but are now growing weary waiting for Him to come to us? Well maybe it is time in our desperation to try a new tactic... to ask His will, and touch whatever part of Him is close with the full expectation of being healed in that instant.
Do you live your spiritual life eating day old bread? Do you pray on Sunday, and then go for days without seeking the Lord’s presence? It is easy for us to convince ourselves that we prayed for something once, and that should be enough, or that God sees what we need and He doesn’t need to be reminded. However, He wants us to reach out to Him every day, because this is what it means to be in relationship.
The world looks at the strength of the faithful, and not only marvels at it, but fears it, and looks for ways to subdue it. When you were first saved, and returned to your everyday life as a changed person, full of a new life and joy, how long did it take before those around you asked what made you so happy, and strong? Then... how long was it before they started trying to stick knives in your faith? Those living without a faith in God and Jesus Christ either want to be like us, or they look to bring us low once again so that they can feel safe in their lack of faith.
Is your faith consistent and always looking out at the sun from the mountaintop, or do you go up the mountain only to slide back down a ways and then begin the climb again? Do you find that you can’t hold onto the joy of those amazing days of faith, and find yourself slipping back towards your old sinful self? Well, maintaining our faith requires us to be more than a pine branch in a fire that pops and cracks as it burns bright for a moment... then dies quickly down.
In faith, like in our daily life... we move from dawn to dusk and back to dawn again as we move through our days. God created light in our lives, and thus separated it from the darkness. Are you currently walking in the light of day, or enduring a night? Both are natural, and although we are much more comfortable in the light, we learn to lean on the Lord in the dark, and we trust in His comfort and protection as we sleep.
Today is Memorial Day, and is a federal holiday in the United States; it is a day in which we remember those who have fallen in military service to our country. It is appropriate on this day for us to read or recite Psalms 91 which is known commonly as the soldier’s prayer. On this day my mind wanders to a different kind of soldier as well, the Christian soldier, and the hymn “Onward Christian Soldiers”. It is hard to separate soldiers from their faith in God... it is so deeply called upon in the heat of battle... both physical, and spiritual.
Are you a driven person? Do you run at everything you do whether it is work, play, friendships, relationships, or even your faith? Are you known by monickers such as hard working, industrious, unrelenting, or other such descriptions? Being driven is a personality trait that often gets in the way of our faith. It is valued by society because we are creatures bound by time, and it lends well to works, but to God the true value is in perfection, purity, righteousness, and holiness. How do we reconcile these two ways of approaching life, faith, and eternity?
Do you long for worldly things above all else? Do you gauge your success in life by the physical possessions you have accumulated? Well there is something about our faith in God, and Jesus Christ, that satisfies far more than all of the gold, power, and earthly achievement that we can gather. The secret to this treasure is to set Godly goals, and define what we will do and not do to achieve them...
Sometimes we are healed by Jesus, and don’t know where the healing actually came from. Quite often we encounter people who have been saved by their faith, and yet they know very little about God, or Jesus Christ. Don’t judge a person’s faith in Christ based on their knowledge, or education in the scripture... Jesus loved the children in faith just as He did His disciples.
Are you sick, lame, blind, pursued by Demons, or in any other way in need of healing? Well if so are you following Jesus and asking Him in faith to heal you? Are you going wherever He goes until your belief has at last reached its peak, and you not only believe He can heal people, but that He is the Son of God, and can heal YOU? No? Well perhaps then you are you like Thomas, and need a sign. Follow Him, pursue Him, and stretch out your hand expectantly towards Him to receive His healing touch.
We have spoken of idols, and how real they can be in our lives. We have discussed the effect they can have on us spiritually as well, but today we will look at something a bit more divisive; something about our association with others who worship false gods, because if we are not careful that influence can cause us to become separated from our special relationship with God... our righteousness.
When you are being persecuted or ridiculed for your faith in Jesus Christ do you hold fast to your beliefs, and not let go of all that you have come to trust in? Depending on your circumstances, or the place in which you live, your degree of persecution can be very different, but your dedication to Christ should be the same, because the promise of His love and reward never changes.