Good Morning my God Focus friends. Today is Saturday. Week Two of Hiding The Word In Our Hearts. Week Two is all about Faith. Our verse this morning is: HEB 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Without faith we cannot please God. He wants us to trust him. He wants us to believe in him and his word. Anyone who comes to him must believe or have faith that he is. Some do not believe that God exists. He is a rewarder of those who believe in Him.
God desires for us to have faith and trust him. He will pour out blessings on his people.
Faith is seeing things with our hearts that we cannot yet see with our eyes.
Good Morning my God Focus friends. Today is Friday. Week Two of Hiding The Word In Our Hearts. Week Two is all about Faith. Our verse this morning is: James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
Many preach that we are justified by our works. Some believe that our works can save us. There is not a biblical basis for this theology. But only our faith in Jesus can save us. We are justified by our faith in the cross of Christ. This is how we are saved, not by works. But works are necessary, they show our faith. We have works as a part of our witness. They show the world that we are different.
Our faith in God gives us a heart to help others. Our faith is a fruit or byproduct of God’s Spirit indwelling in us. We walk by this faith which helps us to grow and be a light to others.
Go out today and let your light shine and show the world your faith.
Romans 10:17-18 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
How do we get faith. This verse says it comes by hearing. Actually, hearing in this circumstance means understanding. Faith comes from understanding and understanding from the word of God. This is why it is so important to study the word. Understanding of God through his word creates faith. The word is alive and we always find just what we need when we search for God in the pages of the Bible.
Many think it’s just an old book. But it is life, it’s love, it is the very essence of God’s character. Faith comes from learning about God in his written word. That written word will teach us that when we are born again, his Spirit will lead us and guide us. This is what it means to walk by faith, we allow God to lead us.
Let’s recap the week so far, faith is pure and cannot be mixed with doubt. We grow in faith through understanding of God’s word. We are justified by our faith. We trust that we will be saved by a just God. That belief is Faith.
Good Morning my God Focus friends. Today is Thursday, Week Two of Hiding The Word In Our Hearts. Week Two is all about Faith. Our verse this morning is Heb 11:1.
HEB 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Like I said on Sunday, it is seeing the outcome we are praying for even when things appear a different way. Faith is knowing God will do what he said, it is the substance or essence of what we hope for when there is no evidence. We walk by faith, this is what we do as children of God. We live each day, trusting God and believing for a good outcome. Some days things do not appear to be giving us a good outcome. But God is always there and will give us the strength that we need.
Trusting in God, will allow us to walk out our faith even when we do not see our way clear.
Good Morning my God Focus friends. Today is Tuesday, Week Two of Hiding The Word In Our Hearts. Week Two is all about Faith. Our verse this morning is Romans 5:1.
5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Verse two goes on to say,
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Justification means that God declares that we are righteous, not because of who we are or what we can do, but because of Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. We have to have faith in God to take away those sins. That faith in the blood of Jesus gives us peace that goes beyond our understanding.
Good Morning my God Focus friends. Today is Monday, Week Two of Hiding The Word In Our Hearts. Week Two is all about Faith. Our verse this morning is Genesis 15:6. 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Gen 15:5-8 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 7 And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Abraham believed God. That statement of faith should be said about all of us. It doesn’t matter what we are facing, we need to believe God. His word is full of his promises. If we have faith we will believe God.
Abraham believed that God would give him many descendants from Isaac. So he boldly climbed the mountain to sacrifice Isaac. He spoke in faith to their servants. Stay here while the lad and I go and worship. We will return.
Did he not understand what God was asking? He understood fully, yet he said the Lord will provide the sacrifice. When the time came, God sent them a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.
God honors those who show that they believe in him. Those who walk by faith. Those who against all odds and against how things appear, simply believe God. Keep the faith, God’s children win.
The title of today’s episode: LOOKING FOR THE CLOUD
I want to encourage you today with a thought God gave me while driving home from work yesterday. The enemy will hold on with everything he has to try to destroy us. It’s like on TV you see the person hanging over the side of a building by their fingertips. They do everything in their power to hang on, but when the time comes that they can’t hold on, they fall. Satan too will have to let go, he knows he cannot hold on to us forever. The stronghold he may have built, will crumble if we turn it over to Jesus. The battle always gets the most intense right before the enemy falls.
We have to be encouraged and determined not to give up. When we turn it over to God, he will give us what we need for our battle-weary souls. It takes us being just as determined to hold onto God and his promises.
I Kgs 18:41-43 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
What if Elijah was like a lot of us. He sent his servant, and he came back and said there was not a cloud. Most of us would complain or say, “well I don’t know if there is any use to keep praying or not.” But Elijah was not shaken by how things appeared; he simply told him to go look again. This happened seven times.
He would pray and send his servant. I am sure by the sixth trip the servant was starting to wonder if Elijah was just trying to run him ragged. Elijah didn’t give up, but knew God would answer in his perfect time.
I Kgs 18:44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not.
The seventh time the servant saw a little cloud come up out of the sea. The cloud represents God’s presence. We have to hold on and keep praying until we see God’s hand in our situations.
Think about the tent of the tabernacle that was a place God designed, and the children of Israel built. It was a place of worship. When God’s presence would come down and rest upon the tabernacle, it would be overshadowed by a cloud. It is interesting how His presence shows up in a cloud.
We need to keep our focus on God and look for him in every situation. He is not far from us when we seek him. He will answer. Sometimes we have to pray several times before we see his hand, like Elijah. But we cannot give up. Breakthrough comes from persistence and prayer.
Keep looking up, don’t give up, you will reap great things if you keep looking for God’s hand in every situation.
