Do you have faith?
Many say that faith is a crutch. Faith is not real. Faith is weak. Faith is not real. Faith is not enough to give God a chance. Faith is for whimps. The thing is that everyone has faith in something or someone.
In every personal relationship we have faith that the other person actually cares for us and won’t hurt us. No matter what they say, in the end you have to have faith they will do what they say.
In our business relationships we have faith that the other side will own up to their end. No matter how many contracts you sign, how many confirmation emails you send, in the end you have to have faith that what was agreed to will actually happen.
We have faith in our leaders that they have our best interests in mind. We are in an election year and those running will say a lot of things so will put our faith in them and vote for them. I have a question how often is that faith rewarded?
We have faith in a lot of things we don’t even think about. For example, when you turn on the water in your home you have faith that the water is safe. We have no control over the water company, but we believe it is safe.
Everyone has faith in something. Faith is part of every person’s everyday life. Hebrews 11:1 is a great definition of faith, whether you believe in Jesus or not, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is trusting that something you have no control over, and hoping it is working for your benefit.
Jesus says in 2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. On earth we see that faith does not seem to work out in our favor in our relationships, business decisions, and politics yet we still have faith in a lot of things.
Jesus asks us to have faith in Him and see if He does not have your best interests in mind. Jesus even gives us a promise to go with it, and if He does not complete His promise, then don’t believe in Him. Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Many times, people will say well God did not come through with this or that, so faith in God is useless. Are you so sure God was not working in your best interests. Remember life is so short and we cannot see or anticipate everything, however God can. God says can you trust me, can you put your faith in Me.
Many times, people leave God when things get tough and say God is a liar. But we see so little, and He sees it all and has an amazing plan, but for the plan to work we have to have faith in the person who has the plan and see it through.
We do that all the time on earth with personal relationships, with jobs, business deals, with politics and give them a chance to work out. But with God, we do not give Him that same amount of respect and trust.
God says He never fails to do anything He has promised. Why not give God a chance to see you through. I have learned when I do, the end is always better than the beginning.
Yes, there were and there still are times when I go God are you sure this is for my benefit. God has proven to me, it always is, and He has never let me down. I have been through some pretty rough stuff. But I have found out that if I place my trust in God, even when it does not make any sense it always works out for good.
As I write this I am going through another time in my life where I am like God are you sure, and God is Ok to have that conversation, the question is at the end who will you put your trust in?
Three choices
(1) Yourself – if you are honest, you know that rarely works out in the long run.
(2) Someone else – How many times has that not worked in your life?
(3) God – Who is the only one who truly has the power to do the amazing for you.
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
What do you have to lose? So many are opposed to Jesus, so why not ask this question, “What do you have to lose by giving Jesus a chance.” What is the worst that can happen?
What harm can there be by giving Jesus a chance to prove to us He is real. That is the really cool thing, Jesus, who has no reason to prove anything to anyone, is waiting for that chance to do that with everyone.
People love to wonder “what if.” What if, with Jesus, what if is actually real?
How can Jesus prove it, by actually showing up in your life in real ways. He wrote over 5000 promises in the Bible for us. Do you get that, for us!
Jesus says in Matthew 5, not to make promises because it gets you into trouble (Matthew 5:33-37). Yet Jesus makes all kinds of promises to you. Why does He not follow His own advice, because He intends to make good on all of them for you. He has no reason to promise anything since He is God, but He makes promises to us, simply because He truly loves us.
Now they may say I have given Jesus a chance. Then ask this, did you really give him a chance?
Jesus is all about having a relationship. On earth why do relationships fall apart or not work? One or both people are holding something back. They are not giving the relationship their all. They are afraid of being disappointed. We can sense that, so can Jesus.
Jesus is so ready to move in people’s lives, and all they have to do is give Jesus a real chance and they will not be disappointed.
Some like to test God before they will go all in. God says not to tempt or test him (Deuteronomy 6:16 and many other places). God says this because when someone does, they are simply looking for a way out of the relationship, a reason not to go for it before it even has a chance.
This doesn’t work in earthly relationships for the long haul, why would you think it would work with Jesus? Just go for it and see what happens, once again, “What do you have to lose”?
People may say well I have to give money, I have to do certain things, and I have to follow these rules. Take away their excuse and tell them, nope you don’t have to do any of that to give Jesus a real chance.
Take all of their excuses out of the way because we only give, serve, and follow Jesus’ teachings because we love Him and know He loves us, so none of that is valid while they are giving Jesus a chance. The proof is Easter. Jesus died and rose again and said if you only believe in Him, you can have eternal life. That is all you must do to start a real relationship with Him (Romans 10:9).
All that other stuff, they think a Christian must do, comes later, but we still don’t have to do it, we do it now because we are in love with Jesus, and we want to show it.
Everyone is looking for a real and lasting love. People cannot find it in this world. Ask them, “What do you have to lose by giving Jesus a real chance?”
The answer: there is nothing to lose because Jesus does not ask for anything, and what you can gain will blow your mind!
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
Have you ever heard this phrase, “for the greater good.” Of course you have, it means for the benefit of the public. Meaning putting aside your differences to help others. On the outside this sounds wonderful, but now I am hearing this from many Christians churches and organizations. They are seeking the greater good and thus compromising their values so more people can be helped. It sounds wonderful but as Christians, we cannot ever allow the Word of God to be compromised.
When we start compromising for the greater good, we begin to mess with the simple message of the Gospel. We begin to complicate the message of Jesus. Yes, you have done wrong, but I died and rose from the grave to forgive you, because you needed a savior, and I want to be even more than that, be your best friend and be there for you always.
The problem is when you start to compromise the Gospel of Jesus, give a pass on this, or let this or that go for a while. it becomes easier and easier to get away from Jesus’ teachings. Not only do we lead those who do not understand about Jesus away, we lead ourselves away from the life Jesus wants us to have.
Why do so many think Christianity is fake, or powerless, or just a thing, because they do not see Jesus moving among Christians like in the Bible or in book of Acts. I get told so many times by non-believers to show them that this is real. Why doesn’t Jesus do what He did in the Bible? They have a valid point. The thing is Jesus does want to do all of that still today.
When Christians compromise the Bible, God will not move in their lives anymore. It has gotten so bad that most American churches believe the gifts of God have died out. If God has lost His power, then we are on the wrong side. I have Good News God has not lost His power to do anything no matter what any theologian will tell you. Just because someone says God cannot or won’t do this anymore does not keep God from doing His thing. But if we do not believe God will, He won’t. When we compromise the Bible to fit on for the greater good, we are saying to God, Your word is not good enough anymore and that is a dangerous place to be.
Why did Jesus move so powerfully in Acts, because they simply did what Jesus said and never compromised for the greater good. Jesus honored them for that. If you want God to move in your life, live like they did. Yes, people will not understand. They will think you are not loving. They will mock you. They will even threaten you. They will try to make your life miserable for serving Jesus. They will say you are irrelevant, not with the times. And more.
This is hard. I love this quote from the movie A league of their own, “If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. It's the hard that makes it great.”
Jesus knows that on the outside this may look difficult and compromising for the greater good looks like the right move, but it is not. Jesus wants to show up and make living for Him GREAT! He proved it. All of this and more happened daily to the believers in Acts. It looked hard. But God showed up and backed them up every time! Because they never got off message, they never compromised anything about Jesus. They never backed down. What is the proof? Everywhere they went more people came to know Jesus. These people saw all the threats against the believers and yet they came to know Jesus, why? Because the saw what Jesus did for those who did not compromise. Jesus showed up in mighty ways for the believers that all could see. They saw how great a life with Jesus was.
Jesus still wants to do that today. He needs people that will stand up and not compromise. A great darkness is falling over the land (Isaiah 60:1-3). But Jesus says His light shines in the darkness (John 1:1-5). He wants to shine through you. You want to see if Christianity is really worth it. If you already know that that is so great, share! People need to hear that. If not, Jesus wants to show you in a real way that means something to you. He knows what will make it real to you. Make a stand. Do not compromise a thing. Then watch the miracles of the Bible come alive in your life for all to see.
God does miracles for 2 reasons. First and foremost, to confirm to you, that standing with Jesus is the best thing you can ever do. And yes, we need that confirmation. He wants to encourage you because we are all human, and there is always that thing in the back of our mind, am I on the right team? God wants to let you know you are with no doubts.
Second, God does miracles for those who stand for Him to show those who come against you, that you are loved and protected, and for those who watch, that they both can have this in their life because Jesus loves them too.
The time is now for those who say they are Christians to decide if they really are. Those who compromise are in a dangerous place, those who do not will find the joy of the Lord in their life more than they ever thought possible.
Jesus is not the greater good, He is THE GREATEST GOOD ever! All He wants to have with you is an amazing relationship and to spend eternity with you in heaven.
So, when someone say we are serving the greater good, ask yourself, is this what Jesus would think is good, because if not, it is actually serving the greater evil.
We need to be a people of principle. That is hard, but like in the Bible and especially Acts, God shows up when we decide to stand on His principles no matter what.
You want revival in your life, your church be what Jesus asked you to be and watch Him show up in all His glory time and time again.
Remember Jesus loves and cares for you, I love and care for you, and you are awesome!
Why is it important to take a day off a week? God made it one of the 10 Commandments; we live in a world where we are constantly told time is money and we must be doing something every single moment. The invention of the cell phone and the internet has helped spread this as well. I am not saying the cell phone or internet is wrong, but it feeds the notion to work all the time.
First some practical advice. If you must work 7 days a week, are you really living? When do you get to enjoy the fruits of your labors? That really makes for a miserable life. When you think about it, is it good for your life, your family, your relationships? The answer is no because we need downtime.
If you are working 7 days a week I would ask you to share your financial situation with someone you trust, who is good at finances by the way (if you pick someone in the same boat as you, they won’t be able to help you get to the better boat). See if there are changes you can make so you do not have to constantly be working so you can have real time off you can look forward to and count on. You will appreciate it and so will those you love.
We need downtime and we cannot allow it to be interrupted by worrying about work or making ends meet or it really is not downtime. Your time should not be stressful. This is why Jeus gave us the sabbath. It was given for us, Mark 2:27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Leviticus 23:3 says Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
God says take one day off a week and really take it off. God says do no work. This refers to making a living. God is saying on this day just trust me to provide for you. Enjoy the day. The Sabbath is listed as a feast day. Feast days are supposed to be celebrations. If you are worrying about how to make a living or the next business deal can you really celebrate?
God says you can stop all that you are doing to make a living and enjoy the day. You can have fun on the Sabbath day. You should be with others. Going to church is a great thing because it should be a celebration and an encouragement around others who are enjoying the day. God also says it is a holy day, Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”. Make God a part of the day. Enjoy being in His presence and allow Him to move in your life in amazing ways.
You do this by not worrying about what will happen the next day or the next week. God knows all that is going on in your life and God says let it go, relax with Me. When you truly do that, God will work in your life. God knows you need this and that done. While you relax God goes to work for you because He loves and wants to truly take care of you.
One more thing, when you worry and try to make things happen you often leave God out of the picture, not on purpose, it just happens. We also can then get in God’s way and hinder God from helping us. The Sabbath is a time to let go and get out of God’s way so He can do amazing things for us, because He loves you so much!
All the 10 Commandments are great to live by, but it seems our world is designed to intentionally break this one. So, we are miserable. God says no, have a feast day, a celebration once a week. And God goes on step further He does not just suggest it, He commands it!
Why not give the Sabbath a real chance in your life. What do you have to lose? If nothing happens, at least you had a day with no stress that is something, but God loves you so much more than that.
Unplug your devices. Turn your phone off. Tell people you will not do any business today. Then go out and enjoy the day that God has given you. Make God a part of it, that is why church is in the morning, so the day gets off to a good start. It also gets you around other people who are celebrating. Celebrating is always better with others. Make every Sabbath day a day to remember because you truly enjoy this gift and allow the stress to leave your life.
Take God at His Word and see if God does not make your day even better. Then when you return back to work you will be relaxed ready to take on the world, and you will find out that God has taken care of some things for you, while you were enjoying yourself on the Sabbath day.
Remember Jesus loves you; I love you, and you are awesome!
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