Good Monday morning, once again Mr. Insomnia showed up last night, so you may have to overlook me, if something does not make sense. Once again we will spend two days looking at two different things in the same verse.
You see yesterday morning I was having one of those pity party moments, just wondering why I had not seen God working in my life lately. There have been a lot of different things that I have been praying about, and yet I have not seen that many answers to my prayers. Actually in some of those situations the situation has gotten worse instead of better.
Then as I was getting in the shower to go to church, I heard that still small voice ask me, "what about all the times I have spoken to you lately?". Immediately I was ashamed of myself, you see I have been looking for God to work in some miraculous way, and I completely overlooked all the times that I have heard His voice directing my path. It wasn't that He hasn't worked in my life, it's that I got caught up looking for one thing, when He was doing something else. Then as I was praying, thanking Him for showing me what He has been doing, and asking forgiveness for not seeing what He had been doing, He first gave me today's devotion, and then showed me tomorrow's also. This should be a familiar passage to you, I have used it a couple of times already, but apparently I need it again, and I imagine someone else needs it too.
If your child, or grandchild (as some of you are that old, I'm not yet), comes to you scared, how do you talk to them? If they just come to you, just because they want to show you something, or they just want a moment of attention from you, how do you talk to them? Do you use the same large, booming voice you use when you are trying to stop them from doing something that can hurt them, or do you lower your voice, and try to soften it up to show your love. I know when Aaron comes running up to me saying, "daddydaddydaddydaddy" I always ask softly "what is it?". Usually he just says "see" and holds up one of his toys, and I will softly say "yea, I see". Then he goes back to his room, he just wanted to know that he could still get my attention. In 1 Kings 19:12, after a series of a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire, the Bible says that God was not in any of those, "and after the fire a still small voice". That is where God was, showing His love for Elijah.
With everything going on around Elijah, God was showing His love by being a comfort, Elijah was expecting God to work in some big extraordinary way, and yet God found it more important to be a comfort to Elijah. However Elijah knew immediately the call of God, I had to be reminded of how many times He has spoken to me, how many times He has directed my path lately, how many times He has shown His love for me, and comforted me lately. I thought I knew how He should be working in my life, but of course He knows more than I do, He knows better than I do what I need. I wanted Him to do something that would ease our financial problems, I was looking for something that would ease my physical problems, I was looking for other problems to be resolved. However, God said, "I'm just going to comfort you, and lead you in the way you should go. My grace is sufficient".
I thank God, for reminding me that I should be thankful for all the times that He has shown His love for me, by being a calming presence in a time of trouble. And for showing me what His will is for my life, after all I want to stay in the center of His will. Sometimes we have to discern what His will is, lately He has told me what He wanted from me. I guess He knew that I probably would not be able to discern correctly, because of the things going on in my life, and rather than have to chastise me for not doing right He made it clear enough that I could understand. I don't know about you, but I love to hear that still small voice. Not only is it the most beautiful sound I've ever heard, but it is so calming, after all it is the voice of my God, making His presence known in my life, how can I be affected by the world, when I know that God is beside me, loving me, when I know that He considers me worthy to hear His voice. I am extremely humbled, knowing that He considers me worthy.
Tomorrow, part two of this, even though I am going to look at something totally different, it does go right along with today's lesson.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Extraordinary Faith Pt. 2
Good Sunday morning to all of you, I pray that as we go to church today we all see the Shekinah glory of God.
Now back to Moses, starting in vs 23, the first thing we notice is that Moses had parents that not only loved and cared about him, but they feared, and loved God more than they feared men. They chanced prison and death in order to protect him from the world, and to set him aside for use by God. If we had more parents today that were willing to do this, then the world could return to the former glory of this country.
In vs 24-25, we see the results of Moses parents work, in that he had grown up and he was willing to suffer the affliction and the "shame" (as far as they were slaves in Egypt at the time) of being called an Israelite, and a child of God. He gave up all the riches of the world, in order to obtain the riches of eternity. This leads us right into vs. 26-27, because of where his treasure was laid up, he followed God into the desert, he was willing to go, and do what and where God wanted him. We are told in vs. 28-29 that he obeyed God through all, and everything in both Egypt and the wilderness. Even down to crossing the Red Sea on dry land, while the waters raged on either side of the Israelites.
Let's go back to vs. 26-27 for just a few moments, there is so much contained in these verse that I wanted to look at them separately.
1. "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:"
First we need to remember Christ had not yet come. And yet Moses in his faith still considered the service of God to be of greater value than all the riches Egypt had to offer. When we go to work, are we willing to actually live like Christians, are do we "try not to rock the boat", when others start to act like the world? What about when we go to church? Are we real Christians, or do we act the way other people think that Christians are supposed to act?
2. Are we willing to suffer as Moses did? Are we willing to give up the riches of the world, in order to stay true to God? What do we do for entertainment, does it glorify God, or the world? Going to the lake on the weekend is fine, as long as Sunday we are in both church services. Going to the movies, technically is ok, depending on what we are going to watch. (This is getting increasingly more difficult, as even the "childrens" movies have so many innuendo's and references to drugs, alcohol and sex).
3. "for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible". Throughout everything, Moses endured. He endured what? Endured as though he had seen God. Moses faith was so strong, that even through his sin, his exile, and everything else, he kept his eyes on God. He believed God was real so strongly that it was as if he had seen Him in the flesh. I would love to hear someone say my faith was that strong.
I pray that one day, I will hear God tell me that my faith rivaled that of Moses, Paul, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, or any of the other great men and women mentioned in these verses, in the Bible. I pray that I will do as He ask me to do, no matter what it is. What about you, do you want to see miracles like those seen by these men and women? Do you want to see a miracle the size of those mentioned here? We can see miracles this big, and bigger, God is not out of the miracle business. He still has the power, and desire, however He tells us, that first we must have faith in Him, the size of the faith these people had.
I do want to point out that no matter how much faith we have, we are not going to change God's will, or His plan just because we have faith that something is going to happen. For a few years, I had faith I would be healed. I knew I would be healed, not think I might, or hope I might, I knew, I had faith I would be. Then I realized that God's plan was not for me to be healed, but that I have faith that His grace would be sufficient. And it always has been, and always will be. You can have all the faith in the world that your child will get home from school between 3:30-4:00, but that does not mean that they will. They might get home at 3:20, or the might get home at 3:40 or, well let's not go there.
See we have to make sure that what we have faith in is in God's will to be done, for His plan to carried out, and not in what we think should happen. Just like a missionary about to leave on his first deportation must have faith that God will supply his needs, and not that a specific number of churches will give him a specific amount of money each month, we must have faith that God's will, will be done the way He wants it done. Moses prayed that God would rescue them when they were faced with the Red Sea, not that He would supply them with boats.
I know in my life, I have sometimes missed God working in my life, because I was looking for the wrong thing to happen. Instead of looking for whatever He would do, I was looking for what my human mind could come up with. God told me, that I would be changing churches soon, so I took that to mean it was time. So I went looking, trying to make His will happen. When I found what I wanted, I prayed that God would show me if that was where He wanted me, but in my heart I was hoping that it was. So He gave me the desire of my heart. Specifically I was praying, because the church pastor wanted to start a bus ministry, that if God wanted me to join that church and start a ministry that He would show me that is what He wanted. Knowing the whole time that I wanted to do this no matter what. So, after talking with the pastor on Saturday, Monday morning he received a phone call from another church wanting to give away a bus, for free. God gave me the desire of my heart, even though it was not what He had planned for us. I had my faith in the wrong place, in the wrong thing, and for the wrong reason. I wanted to be used by Him in this great big way, so that I could be recognized as a great man of God, instead of being used however He wanted, and being recognized because of my obedience, instead of the type of work I had done.
We are commanded to have faith in Him. He expects us to have faith on the scale of these people. However we are also commanded to make sure the desires of our heart are the same as His desires. The only way to do this is by prayer, and study of His Holy Word. By opening our hearts, and minds, and waiting on Him to tell us what we are too do. Not by telling Him what we want Him to want us to do. We are to discern what His will is. This is done by praying for wisdom, praying that He will clear our hearts and minds of our self, and then filling it with His Spirit.
Now back to Moses, starting in vs 23, the first thing we notice is that Moses had parents that not only loved and cared about him, but they feared, and loved God more than they feared men. They chanced prison and death in order to protect him from the world, and to set him aside for use by God. If we had more parents today that were willing to do this, then the world could return to the former glory of this country.
In vs 24-25, we see the results of Moses parents work, in that he had grown up and he was willing to suffer the affliction and the "shame" (as far as they were slaves in Egypt at the time) of being called an Israelite, and a child of God. He gave up all the riches of the world, in order to obtain the riches of eternity. This leads us right into vs. 26-27, because of where his treasure was laid up, he followed God into the desert, he was willing to go, and do what and where God wanted him. We are told in vs. 28-29 that he obeyed God through all, and everything in both Egypt and the wilderness. Even down to crossing the Red Sea on dry land, while the waters raged on either side of the Israelites.
Let's go back to vs. 26-27 for just a few moments, there is so much contained in these verse that I wanted to look at them separately.
1. "Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:"
First we need to remember Christ had not yet come. And yet Moses in his faith still considered the service of God to be of greater value than all the riches Egypt had to offer. When we go to work, are we willing to actually live like Christians, are do we "try not to rock the boat", when others start to act like the world? What about when we go to church? Are we real Christians, or do we act the way other people think that Christians are supposed to act?
2. Are we willing to suffer as Moses did? Are we willing to give up the riches of the world, in order to stay true to God? What do we do for entertainment, does it glorify God, or the world? Going to the lake on the weekend is fine, as long as Sunday we are in both church services. Going to the movies, technically is ok, depending on what we are going to watch. (This is getting increasingly more difficult, as even the "childrens" movies have so many innuendo's and references to drugs, alcohol and sex).
3. "for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible". Throughout everything, Moses endured. He endured what? Endured as though he had seen God. Moses faith was so strong, that even through his sin, his exile, and everything else, he kept his eyes on God. He believed God was real so strongly that it was as if he had seen Him in the flesh. I would love to hear someone say my faith was that strong.
I pray that one day, I will hear God tell me that my faith rivaled that of Moses, Paul, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, or any of the other great men and women mentioned in these verses, in the Bible. I pray that I will do as He ask me to do, no matter what it is. What about you, do you want to see miracles like those seen by these men and women? Do you want to see a miracle the size of those mentioned here? We can see miracles this big, and bigger, God is not out of the miracle business. He still has the power, and desire, however He tells us, that first we must have faith in Him, the size of the faith these people had.
I do want to point out that no matter how much faith we have, we are not going to change God's will, or His plan just because we have faith that something is going to happen. For a few years, I had faith I would be healed. I knew I would be healed, not think I might, or hope I might, I knew, I had faith I would be. Then I realized that God's plan was not for me to be healed, but that I have faith that His grace would be sufficient. And it always has been, and always will be. You can have all the faith in the world that your child will get home from school between 3:30-4:00, but that does not mean that they will. They might get home at 3:20, or the might get home at 3:40 or, well let's not go there.
See we have to make sure that what we have faith in is in God's will to be done, for His plan to carried out, and not in what we think should happen. Just like a missionary about to leave on his first deportation must have faith that God will supply his needs, and not that a specific number of churches will give him a specific amount of money each month, we must have faith that God's will, will be done the way He wants it done. Moses prayed that God would rescue them when they were faced with the Red Sea, not that He would supply them with boats.
I know in my life, I have sometimes missed God working in my life, because I was looking for the wrong thing to happen. Instead of looking for whatever He would do, I was looking for what my human mind could come up with. God told me, that I would be changing churches soon, so I took that to mean it was time. So I went looking, trying to make His will happen. When I found what I wanted, I prayed that God would show me if that was where He wanted me, but in my heart I was hoping that it was. So He gave me the desire of my heart. Specifically I was praying, because the church pastor wanted to start a bus ministry, that if God wanted me to join that church and start a ministry that He would show me that is what He wanted. Knowing the whole time that I wanted to do this no matter what. So, after talking with the pastor on Saturday, Monday morning he received a phone call from another church wanting to give away a bus, for free. God gave me the desire of my heart, even though it was not what He had planned for us. I had my faith in the wrong place, in the wrong thing, and for the wrong reason. I wanted to be used by Him in this great big way, so that I could be recognized as a great man of God, instead of being used however He wanted, and being recognized because of my obedience, instead of the type of work I had done.
We are commanded to have faith in Him. He expects us to have faith on the scale of these people. However we are also commanded to make sure the desires of our heart are the same as His desires. The only way to do this is by prayer, and study of His Holy Word. By opening our hearts, and minds, and waiting on Him to tell us what we are too do. Not by telling Him what we want Him to want us to do. We are to discern what His will is. This is done by praying for wisdom, praying that He will clear our hearts and minds of our self, and then filling it with His Spirit.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Faith
Good Saturday morning, hope you have a good weekend. We've got a lot of ground to cover this morning so let's get started. In a way I don't like to try to do this much at one time, but I really could not find a better way of doing it. We are going to cover Hebrews chapter 11 this morning, better known as "The Faith Chapter".
The first thing I want to make clear is, just what is faith? Read vs. 1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Years ago, I heard a missionary tell a story about when he first went into the jungles of Africa, he had been trying to teach the natives about how to have faith in God. After he finished talking one day, the chief of the tribe came to him, and said, I really don't understand the whole idea of this faith, can you explain it better? The missionary thought for a moment, and said, Chief, if you'll come over here and sit down in this chair, I think you will understand. So the chief walked over and sat down, the missionary said, when you sat down you had faith the chair would hold you, you had faith that it would not fall over, faith that you would not fall through, and faith that you would land squarely on it. The chief thought for a moment and said tell me more about your God, I think I can have faith in Him, because I have seen the faith you have in Him.
Starting in vs 4 we see Abel, who obeyed God in the type of sacrifice, Enoch who we saw a few weeks ago was translated because his faith pleased God. Then there was Noah, in the history of the world it had never rained, he did not know what rain was, but God said build an ark, so he did.
Look at vs' 8-19 you see all the ways that Abraham and Sara had faith in God, and were blessed because of it. First they were told to move from their home land into a strange country, they did not even know where they were going, God said He would tell them when they got there. I can't imagine leaving Mississippi, with my family and what few possessions I have, and heading toward Alaska, and just trusting that God would tell me one day to stop traveling. Then of course they were both right at 100 years old, when God told them they would have a child, and they did. But, then one day God told Abraham to take Isaac their only child and place him on an alter and sacrifice him. I don't think I would have the faith Abraham did, because he did as God commanded. Except God stopped him at the last minute.
Then there was Isaac and Jacob, who both showed great faith in God, and all the things they did. Now I am going to skip over Moses and cover him tomorrow, because there is some things I want to bring out that is both going to take a while, and are a little different than today's devotion. So look on down to vs 30, Joshua and Israel in the promised land, Paul mentions the walls of Jericho, but there are so many other times that could have been mentioned. Times when Joshua and nation of Israel showed great faith in God. But, by mentioning Jericho he was able to mention Rahab the harlot, who also believed in God and hid the spies, thereby saving herself and her family. Then there was so many other great examples of faith that Paul just did not have time to cover, but he did mention some of them, but not all of them.
Look at vs' 33-34 "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,out waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens." This was just some of the things that ordinary people did through extraordinary faith. Vs. 39-40 "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Look closely at these verses, all these people showed faith that is just not seen these days, and yet they knew that they were not able to know God in the way that we are able to know Him today. The Messiah had not yet appeared, Christ had not made His sacrifice, they could not know the second birth. They knew this, and yet they still had more faith in God than anyone I know today.
Now I want to go one step farther and look at ch12 vs 1-2, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God". Paul said, the whole world is watching us, so let's forget about all the problems, and avoid all the sin that can hold us back. And, let us live our life, depending on Jesus, who is the creator and perfecter of our faith in Him. After all, He was happy to go to the cross and suffer the physical pain, and the pain of sin so that we might have eternal life with Him. But, He is not dead, he arose again, and is now sitting at the right hand of God. So if He could die for us, we should be able to live for Him.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the lesson on Moses.
The first thing I want to make clear is, just what is faith? Read vs. 1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Years ago, I heard a missionary tell a story about when he first went into the jungles of Africa, he had been trying to teach the natives about how to have faith in God. After he finished talking one day, the chief of the tribe came to him, and said, I really don't understand the whole idea of this faith, can you explain it better? The missionary thought for a moment, and said, Chief, if you'll come over here and sit down in this chair, I think you will understand. So the chief walked over and sat down, the missionary said, when you sat down you had faith the chair would hold you, you had faith that it would not fall over, faith that you would not fall through, and faith that you would land squarely on it. The chief thought for a moment and said tell me more about your God, I think I can have faith in Him, because I have seen the faith you have in Him.
Starting in vs 4 we see Abel, who obeyed God in the type of sacrifice, Enoch who we saw a few weeks ago was translated because his faith pleased God. Then there was Noah, in the history of the world it had never rained, he did not know what rain was, but God said build an ark, so he did.
Look at vs' 8-19 you see all the ways that Abraham and Sara had faith in God, and were blessed because of it. First they were told to move from their home land into a strange country, they did not even know where they were going, God said He would tell them when they got there. I can't imagine leaving Mississippi, with my family and what few possessions I have, and heading toward Alaska, and just trusting that God would tell me one day to stop traveling. Then of course they were both right at 100 years old, when God told them they would have a child, and they did. But, then one day God told Abraham to take Isaac their only child and place him on an alter and sacrifice him. I don't think I would have the faith Abraham did, because he did as God commanded. Except God stopped him at the last minute.
Then there was Isaac and Jacob, who both showed great faith in God, and all the things they did. Now I am going to skip over Moses and cover him tomorrow, because there is some things I want to bring out that is both going to take a while, and are a little different than today's devotion. So look on down to vs 30, Joshua and Israel in the promised land, Paul mentions the walls of Jericho, but there are so many other times that could have been mentioned. Times when Joshua and nation of Israel showed great faith in God. But, by mentioning Jericho he was able to mention Rahab the harlot, who also believed in God and hid the spies, thereby saving herself and her family. Then there was so many other great examples of faith that Paul just did not have time to cover, but he did mention some of them, but not all of them.
Look at vs' 33-34 "Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword,out waxed valiant in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens." This was just some of the things that ordinary people did through extraordinary faith. Vs. 39-40 "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Look closely at these verses, all these people showed faith that is just not seen these days, and yet they knew that they were not able to know God in the way that we are able to know Him today. The Messiah had not yet appeared, Christ had not made His sacrifice, they could not know the second birth. They knew this, and yet they still had more faith in God than anyone I know today.
Now I want to go one step farther and look at ch12 vs 1-2, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God". Paul said, the whole world is watching us, so let's forget about all the problems, and avoid all the sin that can hold us back. And, let us live our life, depending on Jesus, who is the creator and perfecter of our faith in Him. After all, He was happy to go to the cross and suffer the physical pain, and the pain of sin so that we might have eternal life with Him. But, He is not dead, he arose again, and is now sitting at the right hand of God. So if He could die for us, we should be able to live for Him.
Be sure to check back tomorrow for the lesson on Moses.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Mine Unbelief
Good morning, this morning let's finish the lesson we started yesterday. We are going to be back in Mark ch 9 starting at verse 23. "Jesus said unto him, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (vs24) And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, LORD I believe, help thou mine unbelief." Then of course, Jesus cast out the demon. Then later on the disciples in verse 28 asked why they could not cast out the demon, and verse 29 again, "This kind can come forth by nothing, buy by prayer and fasting". In other words the disciples had not been doing what they were supposed to be doing, and their faith had gotten weak, and they did not ask for God to help their unbelief.
What I am about to tell you is probably going to cause some controversy, but that's ok. I always hear about how in order to have God's power in our lives we have to believe that He is going to be there, and He is going to work in some way. But, I don't believe that, I believe that if you go to God, and you tell Him that you are trying to believe, but because you are human, you are having trouble understanding, which is causing you trouble in believing, and that you want Him to help you believe, you want Him to increase your belief, you want Him to give you a desire to believe, then I really believe that He will do just that. Then despite your unbelief, He will bless you, and answer your prayer so that you are able to believe. You see I don't think it's so much our ability to believe that God rewards as it is our desire to believe. We are human after all, it is not humanly possible for us to believe everything that is possible with God. We have a finite mind, His is infinite. His abilities are infinite, everything about Him is infinite, and yet we are still finite. It is not possible for us to believe everything He is able to do. But, if we express to Him a desire to understand, and believe that something is possible with Him, He will honor that desire, and He will give us the ability to believe. Sometimes we get the ability before He acts, sometimes after everything is over, but He will honor our desire, and give us what our heart desires.
Turn over to Eph. 2:8 for a moment, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yoursleves; it is the gift of God". Let's read that again, "Because you believe, you are saved", NO, "For by your belief in everything possible with God" NO, it say's, "For by GRACE,...IT IS THE GIFT of God". Turn back to Jn 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day". "No man can come to me, except by his humanness he believe?" No, it says that "except the Father draw him", translation, except the Father give him a desire to believe.
Look on over at verse 63 "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing...(vs64)But there are some of you that believe not...(vs65) Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father". Help mine unbelief, help me to understand the things that are spiritual and not of the flesh, help me to believe, give me a desire to understand and believe, send your Spirit to quicken my dead heart so that it may believe.
We all need to pray daily, that God will give us that desire to believe, and that He will help our unbelief. If you want to see God work in your life, just ask Him to help your unbelief, and you will see Him work in ways that you never could have imagined. Without prayer we have no power, without prayer we have no relationship with God, how can we expect to have any standing in His court if we are a stranger to Him. Think about your job, who has the most pull with the boss, the person who comes to work and goes to their station and stays there all day, never speaking to anyone, or the person that spends as much time talking to the boss as they do working? It's the same with God, we need to spend as much time in prayer as we do in everything else in our life. That way when we say help mine unbelief, He knows that our desire is to believe, and He will help us. Remember the old saying, "God helps those who help them self", praying is helping our self.
Looking at one more verse, Eph. 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,". Praying always, in the Spirit. Well, one more verse Mt 21:22 "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive". When you pray, you have to believe for it to be answered, but how shall you believe unless God give you the ability because of your desire?
What I am about to tell you is probably going to cause some controversy, but that's ok. I always hear about how in order to have God's power in our lives we have to believe that He is going to be there, and He is going to work in some way. But, I don't believe that, I believe that if you go to God, and you tell Him that you are trying to believe, but because you are human, you are having trouble understanding, which is causing you trouble in believing, and that you want Him to help you believe, you want Him to increase your belief, you want Him to give you a desire to believe, then I really believe that He will do just that. Then despite your unbelief, He will bless you, and answer your prayer so that you are able to believe. You see I don't think it's so much our ability to believe that God rewards as it is our desire to believe. We are human after all, it is not humanly possible for us to believe everything that is possible with God. We have a finite mind, His is infinite. His abilities are infinite, everything about Him is infinite, and yet we are still finite. It is not possible for us to believe everything He is able to do. But, if we express to Him a desire to understand, and believe that something is possible with Him, He will honor that desire, and He will give us the ability to believe. Sometimes we get the ability before He acts, sometimes after everything is over, but He will honor our desire, and give us what our heart desires.
Turn over to Eph. 2:8 for a moment, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yoursleves; it is the gift of God". Let's read that again, "Because you believe, you are saved", NO, "For by your belief in everything possible with God" NO, it say's, "For by GRACE,...IT IS THE GIFT of God". Turn back to Jn 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day". "No man can come to me, except by his humanness he believe?" No, it says that "except the Father draw him", translation, except the Father give him a desire to believe.
Look on over at verse 63 "It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing...(vs64)But there are some of you that believe not...(vs65) Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father". Help mine unbelief, help me to understand the things that are spiritual and not of the flesh, help me to believe, give me a desire to understand and believe, send your Spirit to quicken my dead heart so that it may believe.
We all need to pray daily, that God will give us that desire to believe, and that He will help our unbelief. If you want to see God work in your life, just ask Him to help your unbelief, and you will see Him work in ways that you never could have imagined. Without prayer we have no power, without prayer we have no relationship with God, how can we expect to have any standing in His court if we are a stranger to Him. Think about your job, who has the most pull with the boss, the person who comes to work and goes to their station and stays there all day, never speaking to anyone, or the person that spends as much time talking to the boss as they do working? It's the same with God, we need to spend as much time in prayer as we do in everything else in our life. That way when we say help mine unbelief, He knows that our desire is to believe, and He will help us. Remember the old saying, "God helps those who help them self", praying is helping our self.
Looking at one more verse, Eph. 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,". Praying always, in the Spirit. Well, one more verse Mt 21:22 "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive". When you pray, you have to believe for it to be answered, but how shall you believe unless God give you the ability because of your desire?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Do you annoy God
Good Thursday morning to you. I want to you to know how much I appreciate my faithful readers, and the feedback I get from them. But, I especially want to say thanks for all the prayers you give for me.
This morning we are going to be in the New Testament, and this is actually going to be a two part devotion, there is just to much to cover in one day. Let's start this morning in Luke ch. 9 vs. 37-43. A little background on this setting, Jesus has sent the twelve out to preach, and they have returned. The disciples have just witnessed the 5000 fed, Peter has made the great confession that Christ is the Son of God. And then the three disciples saw the transfiguration. Then immediately as they came down off the mountain there was a man who had brought his son to them, because the child was possessed by a demon. Unfortunately they could not cast out this demon, then Jesus arrived. In verse 41 we see His response to their weakness, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" Translated "You have no faith, you are perverted, how long do I have to put up with you?"
Jesus was annoyed with them. After all the things they had seen and experienced, after they themselves had cast out demons, they were unable to cast out this one. They did not have enough faith to cast out this demon. Like most of us, anytime there is a great victory of faith, it will immediately followed by a great defeat. Why? Why is there always a defeat that follows a victory? It is because we get complaisant.
Look at Mk. 9:29, here we see Marks account of the story, and he tells more of what happened after the father and son had left. At this time the disciples asked why they could not cast out the demon. (vs29) And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting". The disciples had experienced all this great stuff, and had failed to remember to spend time in prayer, so they had gotten weak in faith.
I know in my life there have been times in my life when I went through a battle, and had learned how to pray without ceasing, taking everything to God with prayer and supplication (to ask for humbly). To ask for humbly, key word humbly. How many times have we had a great victory and then gotten proud of our self. Then the next thing to happen we thought to ourselves, I can handle this all by myself, no need to bother God with this? So we did not pray about it, we did not seek His will, and His direction, and His help, and as a result we failed miserably.
How many times has God asked "How long do I have to put up with you"? How many more times are we going to make the same mistake? If we want God's power, and we want His victories in our lives, we have to remember to stay in His word, we have to pray about everything. Don't forget, when you pick up your Bible, always pray for Him to open your heart, and mind, and ask Him to show you what He wants you to see. Otherwise, you are reading and studying under your own power, and are not receiving the blessings He has in store for you.
This morning we are going to be in the New Testament, and this is actually going to be a two part devotion, there is just to much to cover in one day. Let's start this morning in Luke ch. 9 vs. 37-43. A little background on this setting, Jesus has sent the twelve out to preach, and they have returned. The disciples have just witnessed the 5000 fed, Peter has made the great confession that Christ is the Son of God. And then the three disciples saw the transfiguration. Then immediately as they came down off the mountain there was a man who had brought his son to them, because the child was possessed by a demon. Unfortunately they could not cast out this demon, then Jesus arrived. In verse 41 we see His response to their weakness, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" Translated "You have no faith, you are perverted, how long do I have to put up with you?"
Jesus was annoyed with them. After all the things they had seen and experienced, after they themselves had cast out demons, they were unable to cast out this one. They did not have enough faith to cast out this demon. Like most of us, anytime there is a great victory of faith, it will immediately followed by a great defeat. Why? Why is there always a defeat that follows a victory? It is because we get complaisant.
Look at Mk. 9:29, here we see Marks account of the story, and he tells more of what happened after the father and son had left. At this time the disciples asked why they could not cast out the demon. (vs29) And He said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting". The disciples had experienced all this great stuff, and had failed to remember to spend time in prayer, so they had gotten weak in faith.
I know in my life there have been times in my life when I went through a battle, and had learned how to pray without ceasing, taking everything to God with prayer and supplication (to ask for humbly). To ask for humbly, key word humbly. How many times have we had a great victory and then gotten proud of our self. Then the next thing to happen we thought to ourselves, I can handle this all by myself, no need to bother God with this? So we did not pray about it, we did not seek His will, and His direction, and His help, and as a result we failed miserably.
How many times has God asked "How long do I have to put up with you"? How many more times are we going to make the same mistake? If we want God's power, and we want His victories in our lives, we have to remember to stay in His word, we have to pray about everything. Don't forget, when you pick up your Bible, always pray for Him to open your heart, and mind, and ask Him to show you what He wants you to see. Otherwise, you are reading and studying under your own power, and are not receiving the blessings He has in store for you.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Bruise his Head
Once again, I have been reminded that "All Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profitable". You see, I have a habit of just skipping over the genealogies, and a real bad habit of getting to the end of a New Testament book, and skipping over the closing formalities, and good by's and such. However, yesterday I read all the way through the end of the 16th chapter of Romans, and found a uplifting passage.
Let's start at verse 17, and I am going to highlight a few important phrases, and verses. "Now I beseech you, brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they are such serve not our LORD Jesus Christ, but their own belly;...I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (vs20) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."
The first thing we need to notice, is that we are too avoid people that cause problems within the church. We see other places that the church was told to "put away" someone who was causing problems, or sinning within the church. In other words they were supposed to ask that person to leave the church. Now we see that we are not to keep company with someone who is what I call two-faced, or a gossiper, or just causes problems in any other way. Especially if they are trying to teach something other than the Gospel of Christ. Because they are not of Christ, but Satan is using them to try to destroy the church. The person them self may not be "evil", but they could have been tricked by Satan into believing an untruth, but they will destroy the church just the same, if they are allowed to remain.
Then we are told something that almost seems contrary to Genesis where God told Eve that Jesus would bruise the head of Satan. But, what Paul is saying is that Christ, through the church of true Christians would bruise Satan. God would use the church, if they kept them self pure, and kept out those agents of Satan that would seek to destroy the church.
We see this so much today, not only in those churches that teach false doctrine, but in our good old fashioned Bible believing, God fearing churches, when someone starts to spread rumors, and causing strife between members and then there is a church split. Not only is the church not as effective because of the problems, but the testimony of all the members is also affected. So we must keep our churches pure, even if that means making someone mad, when we ask them to leave the church because of the problems they are causing. But, before that step we need to pray for God's intervention and guidance.
Let's start at verse 17, and I am going to highlight a few important phrases, and verses. "Now I beseech you, brethren mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they are such serve not our LORD Jesus Christ, but their own belly;...I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. (vs20) And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."
The first thing we need to notice, is that we are too avoid people that cause problems within the church. We see other places that the church was told to "put away" someone who was causing problems, or sinning within the church. In other words they were supposed to ask that person to leave the church. Now we see that we are not to keep company with someone who is what I call two-faced, or a gossiper, or just causes problems in any other way. Especially if they are trying to teach something other than the Gospel of Christ. Because they are not of Christ, but Satan is using them to try to destroy the church. The person them self may not be "evil", but they could have been tricked by Satan into believing an untruth, but they will destroy the church just the same, if they are allowed to remain.
Then we are told something that almost seems contrary to Genesis where God told Eve that Jesus would bruise the head of Satan. But, what Paul is saying is that Christ, through the church of true Christians would bruise Satan. God would use the church, if they kept them self pure, and kept out those agents of Satan that would seek to destroy the church.
We see this so much today, not only in those churches that teach false doctrine, but in our good old fashioned Bible believing, God fearing churches, when someone starts to spread rumors, and causing strife between members and then there is a church split. Not only is the church not as effective because of the problems, but the testimony of all the members is also affected. So we must keep our churches pure, even if that means making someone mad, when we ask them to leave the church because of the problems they are causing. But, before that step we need to pray for God's intervention and guidance.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Hey Dummy
This morning we are back in Malachi, and might be there another day or two, just depending on what God tells me. Turn to ch. 3 of Malachi the text is vs. 7-15. However I am going to start in vs 8 "Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say wherein have we robbed thee? In thithes and offerings. (vs9) Ye are cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. (vs10) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."
Let's go back to the beginning of vs 10, and I want you to write this in the margin of your Bible, vs 10 "(Dummy) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...". The choice is rob God, or have the windows of heaven opened to you. Sin, or riches beyond comprehension. The choice is yours, what will your choice be.
A few weeks ago I opened my wallet to get my tithe to put in the plate, I had a $20, and a $10, that $30 had to last us until Friday. So I pulled the $20 out and prayed and said "God, I need this back, because that is the only way I am going to support my family this week.", then dropped it in the plate. On the way home, I stopped to get some gas, pulled up to the only open pump, opened my door, and there lay a $20 dollar bill. I said Thank you LORD. Then Tuesday, while going to the doctor's office, I ran into a friend, while we were talking, all of a sudden he reached in his back pocket, grabbed his wallet, and said "I almost forget again, here is that $20 I borrowed a few months ago".
This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, or to someone I know. When you give your tithe, and especially when you go above what is required, and give an offering, God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. He says, give it to me, so I can double, even triple it, and then give it all back to you.
As many times as I have been blessed, and as many times as I have seen others blessed, you would think I would have great faith when it comes to the tithe. However, I have to admit that when it comes to money, even with all that I have seen and experienced, my faith is not that strong, actually it is almost non-existent. I have no problem having faith about the tithe when I have enough money for the week, but when I am already short, I have real problems handing over that money.
With almost anything else I can have faith that moves mountains. However, even though when it comes time to hand over the thithe, I can tell myself and everyone else just how faithful God is, and how He will bless us, I just don't have enough faith to actually obey.
We are commanded by God to give a tenth of our gross income back to Him, through the church. In other words, don't look at your paycheck, look at your paystub, it is the amount before taxes or any other deductions. That is the law of God. If you remember several weeks ago I told you about a time that we did not have money for your light bill, and I had faith that He was going to provide the money. My faith never actually wavered. That last day, I had doubts come into my head, but I never doubted, and there is a difference in the two. There have been many other times, I was able to depend on Him to take care of us financially. I had faith in Him. But, when it comes to the tithe, I have not been able to have the victory.
I have never admitted this to anyone before, and I hope that by doing so, it will no longer be a secret sin, it will be out in the open, and I will be able to find that faith I need. I have given myself all the excuses, and He has shown me where all those excuses are worthless. I believe that our current financial situation is due to the fact that we have robbed God of His tithe. I believe that if I start giving my tithes, then He will bless us so that we are not running out of money before payday, and wondering how we are going to feed our family, or buy new clothes for the baby, or pay our light bill. I believe that I have been under His chastisement for a while, and I am just now getting the desire to have enough faith in Him to obey His command. As you can see, I do not plan on shying away from the subjects that condemn me, or bring out my sins, after all that is what we are supposed to do in our devotions. I thank God, that He has given me this opportunity to repent, and follow what He has commanded.
Let's go back to the beginning of vs 10, and I want you to write this in the margin of your Bible, vs 10 "(Dummy) Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse...". The choice is rob God, or have the windows of heaven opened to you. Sin, or riches beyond comprehension. The choice is yours, what will your choice be.
A few weeks ago I opened my wallet to get my tithe to put in the plate, I had a $20, and a $10, that $30 had to last us until Friday. So I pulled the $20 out and prayed and said "God, I need this back, because that is the only way I am going to support my family this week.", then dropped it in the plate. On the way home, I stopped to get some gas, pulled up to the only open pump, opened my door, and there lay a $20 dollar bill. I said Thank you LORD. Then Tuesday, while going to the doctor's office, I ran into a friend, while we were talking, all of a sudden he reached in his back pocket, grabbed his wallet, and said "I almost forget again, here is that $20 I borrowed a few months ago".
This is not the first time something like this has happened to me, or to someone I know. When you give your tithe, and especially when you go above what is required, and give an offering, God will open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing. He says, give it to me, so I can double, even triple it, and then give it all back to you.
As many times as I have been blessed, and as many times as I have seen others blessed, you would think I would have great faith when it comes to the tithe. However, I have to admit that when it comes to money, even with all that I have seen and experienced, my faith is not that strong, actually it is almost non-existent. I have no problem having faith about the tithe when I have enough money for the week, but when I am already short, I have real problems handing over that money.
With almost anything else I can have faith that moves mountains. However, even though when it comes time to hand over the thithe, I can tell myself and everyone else just how faithful God is, and how He will bless us, I just don't have enough faith to actually obey.
We are commanded by God to give a tenth of our gross income back to Him, through the church. In other words, don't look at your paycheck, look at your paystub, it is the amount before taxes or any other deductions. That is the law of God. If you remember several weeks ago I told you about a time that we did not have money for your light bill, and I had faith that He was going to provide the money. My faith never actually wavered. That last day, I had doubts come into my head, but I never doubted, and there is a difference in the two. There have been many other times, I was able to depend on Him to take care of us financially. I had faith in Him. But, when it comes to the tithe, I have not been able to have the victory.
I have never admitted this to anyone before, and I hope that by doing so, it will no longer be a secret sin, it will be out in the open, and I will be able to find that faith I need. I have given myself all the excuses, and He has shown me where all those excuses are worthless. I believe that our current financial situation is due to the fact that we have robbed God of His tithe. I believe that if I start giving my tithes, then He will bless us so that we are not running out of money before payday, and wondering how we are going to feed our family, or buy new clothes for the baby, or pay our light bill. I believe that I have been under His chastisement for a while, and I am just now getting the desire to have enough faith in Him to obey His command. As you can see, I do not plan on shying away from the subjects that condemn me, or bring out my sins, after all that is what we are supposed to do in our devotions. I thank God, that He has given me this opportunity to repent, and follow what He has commanded.
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