I am a Christian, a retired teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I love to read and I love the Lord Jesus Christ! Unless otherwise specified ,all visual illustrations are from the YOU VERSION APP of the Bible.
In our world where sin is rampant and overtly practiced, it is hard for us not to condemn the sinner or condone the sin by saying nothing. Here is good advice from a recent devotional on the YouVersion App:
By saying nothing, our silence seems to condone the sin. By ranting and raving about the sin, we are condemning the sinner without offering them a different pathway. If we think about Jesus and His example, then we will get our actions and words right.
In the story of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus forgave but He also gave instructions. He told her to “Go and sin no more.” When we speak to sinners, we have to tell them about better choices, not just condemn them for their sinful actions. The better choice is believing in Jesus who forgave all and died on the cross for the sins that they are choosing to commit.
I have been guilty of silence (condoning) as well as condemnation. I want to try to do better in my witness and strive to be more like Jesus who showed the sinners a better way, pulling them to a safe shore instead of leaving them floundering in their sea of sin. We can all probably do better, but we have to make a conscious choice to do so. I hope that you will make that choice with me.
The second definition in Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary is “belief and trust in and loyalty to God.” The sub-definition is “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.” First, I was concerned about why faith in God is not the first definition. That place belongs to the word “loyalty.” I can see that, but my personal opinion is that the definitions are not in proper order. Nevertheless, now that we know from the dictionary what faith is, what is it really? What does the word “faith” mean to you?
To me, faith is what allows me to go through hard times, knowing that the God I love and serve is waiting for me on the other end. Faith is also what I tried to show to my children and still try to show to my grandchildren. I show them through my prayers and my testimony and my Bible study that I truly believe in God. Proof that He exists? Faith is not dependent on any scientific study but rather it depends on a relationship that is established on the day you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and start a relationship with the Father.
Faith is not a feeling that you get, but a heartbeat that pumps inside you and becomes part of who you are. I could no more wake up without faith than I could awaken without a heartbeat. I wouldn’t exist as the person I am without my faith in God, my belief that He is there working on my behalf and will never let me down.
My faith in God started as a small seed, trusting Him to save me from my sins and to bring me into a right relationship with Him. How did that seed get sown? By reading God’s Word and believing it! And every day that I read and study His Word to me (and to you), my faith is nurtured, much like watering the rose bush outside my window.
We have faith that when we go out to start our car in the morning, the car will turn on and we will go. We have faith that the GPS giving us directions knows what it is doing. You get the idea. Can you see all of the internal workings of the car that make it go? No, but you trust that it will. Do you understand how a GPS works? I guess some real brainiacs will say “of course” but I don’t understand it and doubt that most people do, but I still trust it will get me to where I want to be, even with a several “re-routing” statements along the way.
Faith in God is kind of like believing and knowing without seeing or totally understanding. I know that God created me because His Word says so. It is not by accident that I was born or that birds can fly or that fish can swim. God designed it all this way and He is the sovereign One who continues to watch over His creation. How do I know that? Because I have faith that the Word of God is totally accurate and true.
Whatever you believe in or have faith in is what your life focus is. If your belief is only in yourself, then you focus on keeping yourself happy and secure. I am glad that my focus is on God since I don’t have to be so self-centered on my happiness and security since it is a part of what God promises me, i.e. contentment and provision.
Others have used this analogy so it is not mine originally, but we cannot see the wind, but we can feel it. And if there is a big storm, we can hear it. The wind is there whether we see it or not. So is God. He is there, working behind the scenes of our lives to help us to get to know Him better. But we have to do our part. When we know a hurricane is coming, we prepare by gathering supplies like batteries and toilet paper. The Bible tells us that Jesus is coming again. Are you getting ready? Are you faith-filled and prepared to meet the Lord? You can get ready by spending time with God and His Word. Learn what it says to you about His love, sacrifice and plans for you. Every day that you spend with God is a blessing and an opportunity to build your faith.
We cannot know the future, and I don’t think I would want to know it, honestly. But I can trust that whatever the future brings, God will be right there with me. That is faith.
We may not know where life will take us each day, but we can rest assured that the One who is leading will be faithful to lead us through the storms, out of the valleys and ultimately into His presence.
My prayer is for the healing of our nation as we turn back to God. We need to look forward and not back, forgiving as the Lord forgave, and pray for our new leaders. The new President may not be the one you wanted in office, but he is the one that God allowed to be there, so the commandment is to pray for those who lead us. It doesn’t say to pray for those you like and agree with…pray for the leaders.
I spent the last four years praying for President Biden even though he was not my choice. I believe God had a purpose in allowing him to be in office. And since I don’t have God’s mind, I cannot tell you what that was. But I prayed, sometimes begrudgingly and sometimes half-heartedly, but I prayed.
Today is a new day and a new administration. I hope that you will join me in praying for President Trump and his family, for Vice President Vance and his family. May all they do be for the good of the nation and the people that God loves.
So, my health has had a few blips lately, with a visit and stay in the hospital, multiple visits to specialists and a general feeling of “what’s next.” But God has been with me through it all and encouraged me with my devotional this morning.
This is a quotation from my devotional. It expresses well what I have been doing since I found out that I have to see a neurosurgeon about my frequent headaches. I am looking up! Psalm 121 is one of my favorite psalms, reminding me that nothing is happening in my life that God does not have under His control. My help has always been and will always be from the Lord.When I am resting at night, God doesn’t rest. He is looking over me, just as He is watching over Israel. God loves me and we not allow me to stumble around aimlessly searching for Him. He is right there beside me, day and night. No matter what may come against me, the Lord is my shade protecting me from harm. I don’t know the end of this health situation, but I trust the One who does know. God is watching over my life, when I go to doctors, travel to a memorial service next week, spend time with grandchildren, whatever I do and wherever I am. He is watching over me until the day He calls me home to be with Him. That is a promise from God and what keeps me looking up in faith and expectation. God is good…all the time!
Remember the Biblical story of the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus, yet only one came back to thank Him? How many times have you been the one who remembered to give thanks instead of continuing on your merry way and forgetting quickly what God has done for you?
We don’t need to give God thanks because He needs to hear it. Our hearts need to be open to the relationship with God that becomes fuller and more complete when we give Him thanksgiving instead of taking His love for granted.
Look at that very small and very important word “all.” When things are going well, be thankful. When things are not going great, be thankful. Getting into the habit of having an attitude of gratitude will open our hearts and minds to hear from God and be blessed by Him, even in the midst of trying circumstances.
What do you think about when you hear the word pure?
Do you picture a tall glass of crystal clear water? A freshly washed load of white sheets? Or maybe someone who’s morally wholesome and good?
In the sixth of the beatitudes—a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom—Jesus said this:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Matthew 5:8 NIV
The word “pure” means clean or blameless, free from corruption or contamination, purified by fire, or unstained by guilt. None of us can truly be pure on our own—despite our best efforts.
Before Jesus showed up, the highest ranking Levitical priests were charged with ministering and mediating in the holiest spaces (inside the tabernacle in the wilderness and, later, the temple in Jerusalem)—where God’s presence dwelled on earth. But even they had to be purified over and over again.
Now, because of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross, He has paved the way for us. His blood covered our sins, and when we accept the sacrifice, He makes us pure. Now and forever, we can “come boldly to the throne of our gracious God,” where we can find mercy and grace when we need it most (Hebrews 4:16). Now, our bodies are the modern-day temples where God’s Spirit has chosen to dwell.
Being pure of heart is not about being perfect, but trusting in Jesus to purify our souls.
As Isaiah once prophesied…
“Come now, let’s settle this,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.”
Isaiah 1:18 NLT
Every day that we breathe and walk the earth, whether our condition is healthy or not, God is in control. Every day is a new day to serve God and ask for His guidance on what He wants to accomplish through us this day. And every day is a new day to be thankful that we have not been totally destroyed because of our own selfishness and sins. Grace keeps us but mercy continues to reach out and not allow us to be destroyed.
God is always just and righteous and would be righteous in judging and destroying all of us.
The Bible Study Tools online has a good description of God’s mercy and grace:
May we never forget that every breath we take and every step we take is because God is merciful to us and has provided Jesus to save us from our sins so that we do not face His merited wrath.
As Thanksgiving draws near, many of us are thinking about what we’re thankful for. Novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott says she is filled with “wonder at the just sheer beauty of creation.” She discusses her new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers.
— Read on www.npr.org/2012/11/19/164814269/anne-lamott-distills-prayer-into-help-thanks-wow
Interestsing insight on prayer. We are quick to say “help” may or may not show gratitude and say “thanks” but how many of us take time to sit in awe of what God has done and say, “Wow”?
God’s Word is clear that we will have troubles in this life. Jesus even says so:
“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”” John 16:33 NLT https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.16.33.NLT
God does not lie and he says that we will have trials and sorrows. That hardly seems right, does it? We turn our hearts over to God and we still face trials. Pondering on this fact got me to thinking and reading Scriptures about the trials we face.
As a student of languages, I notice things like conjunctions. In this verse, “when” is a conjunction, drawing all of the thoughts of the verse together. I noticed right away that this verse does not use the conjunction “if.” If would be more comforting for me, implying that I may or may not pass through rivers (troubles), and I may or may not walk through fire. But God’s prophet Isaiah used the word when and that says just what it means. We will indeed walk through rivers, be overwhelmed by them (like we’re drowning in a sea of troubles) and we will walk through fire. But in order to get comfort from this verse, one has to read the entire verse carefully. Yes, troubles will come, but God will be with us. The waters will not be able to overwhelm us although they will indeed try to do so. Finally, when we walk through the fire, we won’t be burned by it or consumed within its flames. God’s promise is that even though we will have troubles, He will be with us and take care of us.
Why, then, do we have troubles and trials if God is going to take care of us in them? Why doesn’t He just take them away?
Every time we face a new trial, a new overwhelming problem, if you will, that gives God the opportunity to do a new thing in our lives. His ultimate purpose is to help us to be more like Him. He is the one who shows us the new pathway to take and gives us water to drink in the desert. We may not like where we are or the trials that we face, but we can trust God to bring us through to the other side and that we will learn from them and be more like Him once we overcome. God’s plan is not to make life easy for us, but instead He plans to use life’s lessons to make us more like Him, bearing the fruits of the Spirit and able to climb the next mountain more easily.
I am still studying the Book of Job in my devotional every day and a quotation from Tina Wilson’s book STEP INTO SCRIPTURE resonated with me this morning and made me think deeply about its meaning and its application in my life.
This quotation is from Day 9 of Tina Wilson’s devotional, STEP INTO SCRIPTURE. Think about it. If Job had not been found faithful, Satan may have left him alone and he would not have lost all that he had. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Once again, we have the dilemma of trusting God through the troubles or turning away from Him in bitterness and anger.
God has a plan and it’s a good one. We just have to trust Him to carry us through all of the troubles that it takes to get to the end of His plan for us. Ultimately, His love wins and so do we, if we persevere and don’t give up!
What is our normal reaction when things go wrong? I don’t know about you, but I usually withdraw and question God’s sovereignty. Both are the incorrect approach to adversity. I am currently in an online Bible study with the women at my church, using the Chronological Bible and the book by Tina Wilson entitled STEP INTO SCRIPTURE. We are only on Day 6 of this amazing study and I am already learning so much about God and about myself. Here is what I took away from today’s lesson.
This is a key verse in Job as he struggles with all of his misery and his friends blame his adversity on his own sin. Job’s reply is that he will still hope in God. I want that to be my heart’s cry when the thunder rolls and the mountains quake, but I’m not there yet. Just knowing that Job could have his eyes and heart fixed on God gives me hope that when the time comes, I will be able to say the same thing. The point is not that Job is blaming God for his troubles, but He knows that God knows what is happening to him and he recognizes God’s sovereignty over all.
This is the book that we are using and a quotation from today’s study. God isn’t angry with us when things go wrong, nor has He turned His back on us and is ignoring us. He is watching over us and seeing how we react to our troubles. Will our faith grow stronger as we turn to Him or will we turn away? Obviously, God loves us and wants our faith to grow as we mature into all that we can be for Him. Jesus was committed enough to go to the cross for us. His faith is the model for the kind of faith we should have when we face any kind of trials or challenges in our lives.
I highly recommend this Bible study, especially if you are doing it with a group, but it can be done individually as well. Here is a link to get the book if you are interested. It is free on Kindle Unlimited if you have that resource.
I am thoroughly enjoying the insight that I am learning from this book as it delves deeply into the Scripture and explores what is happening in the heart of the author as well as how we can and should respond. I hope that you will check it out.
Let me know what you think. Does adversity build faith or tear it down? How difficult is it for you to trust in God in the hard times?
