FAITH, BELIEVING, AND SEEKING

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Personal Challenge

One of the heretical behaviors that I see in the modern person who proclaims to be a Christian and yet produces fruit that does not reveal Christ is that which they put their faith in. It is their political party, their political leader, a business or a product, or sometimes even a religious institution. None of these are the true God. Jesus neglected and disagreed with all of these things. Our faith must be in God, and God alone, if we want to please Him and be truly considered as one of His disciples. We must believe who He is and put Him above all else on this earth. We must be continually seeking Him and doing His work, which is based on loving Him and loving our neighbor. Anything else is idolatry and heresy. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

DELIGHT OVER YOU

Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God is with you. The Mighty One shall save you. He shall bring gladness upon you and will renew you with His love. He will delight over you with joy as in a day of feasting.

Encouraging Words

As followers of Christ, we are encouraged by verses like this one from Zephaniah. We trust that the Lord our God is with us. We believe that He will save us, not only in this world, but the world to come. He does bring gladness upon us and renews us with His love. We can approach every day with encouragement as we believe that he will delight over us. Praise be to Him!

FAITH

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Personal Challenge

As followers of Christ, we live our lives on faith. We choose to hope for our God and His son to be all that they reveal to us in the Scriptures. We choose to believe that Jesus ushered His kingdom on earth with His incarnation, life, death, and resurection. We accept that we do not need evidence before we have faith and that evidence is provided as needed through our faith. Glory be to God.

GLORY IN THE LORD

Habakkuk 3:18-19

Yet I will glory in the Lord;
I will rejoice in God my Savior.
The Lord God is my strength;
He will direct my feet to the end;
He will set me upon high places,
So to conquer by His song.

Encouraging Words

As more people and groups misappropriate the label of Christian, it becomes more of a challenge to stand up for Christ. Even those who proclaim to be Christians attack those who sincerely do the things that Jesus asks them to do, especially His way, in love. Even so, we can glory in the Lord. We can rejoice in God our Savior. We do this for God is our strength. We know that He will direct our feet to the end. We put our hope in Him for He will set us upon high places and conquer by His song. Glory be to God!

ENDURANCE THROUGH CONFIDENCE

Hebrews 10:35-36

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

Personal Challenge

There is a great reward awaiting us at the end of our life here on earth. A spiritual reward and not a physical one. We can strive to live our lives as if we have that reward today, but it takes endurance to push through the spiritual battles that we encounter every day. That is why we must hold onto, and not cast aside, the confidence that we have in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Glory be to God!

Saint of the Week
St. John of the Cross

LIVE BY HIS FAITH

Habakkuk 2:4

“If any man should shrink back, My soul will not be well pleased in him; but the righteous shall live by My faith.”

Personal Challenge

God gives us the faith that we need to live for Him. He gives it freely to whomever desires to know Him, follow Him, and do His works. He does not want us to shrunk back from our commitments to Him but to press forward with the faith that He provides. Glory be to God!

WITHOUT WAVERING

Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Personal Challenge

Living in a day, and a culture, where individualism is held in high esteem and deemed as praiseworthy, it is imperative to remember and hold onto the teaching of Paul about community. There is strength in numbers. There is power in unity. For the early church, there was persecution and oppression from a society that looked upon these early Christians with disdain. They needed each other to muster the strength to confess their allegiance to Christ without wavering. As we see the rise of Christian nationalism and authoritarianism in our country, and around the world, it becomes our obligation as followers of Christ to stand up against these attrocities and stand firm in our confession of our hope in the true Jesus Christ without wavering. We will need other true believers to stand together with to make it through this time. Glory be to God!

HE KNOWS

Nahum 1:7

The Lord is merciful to those who wait on Him in the day of affliction, and He knows those who reverence Him.

Personal Challenge

It has become acceptable in our culture to say one thing and do something completely contrary to that which we say. We can say that we are pro-life and yet cheer when people are mistreated because of their skin color and foreign accent and then deported. We shout about how important it is to be anti-abortion and yet take glee in taking away the funds for those who need support in raising their children. We claim that it is the Christian thing to do to love our neighbor and yet delight in demeaning and degrading those who do not match our white, male, protestant view by removing their history and achievements from public view. This is not the Lord that we serve, and He knows who is truly waiting on Him and giving Him true reverence versus those who are just mouthing it. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord have mercy!

DO NOT BOAST

1 Samuel 2:3

Do not boast nor speak of high things;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the Lord is the God of knowledge;
And God is preparing His actions.

Personal Challenge

It is so easy to proclaim that you are something or profess that you follow a certain some person or way. However, it is your actions that verify the true nature of the heart. And it is from the heart that the true you comes forth. We must always be checking where our hearts are if we want to profess that we are followers of Christ. To be a follower means to do as the person that you are following would do. Are you humble as Jesus was? This allows no room for boasting. Are you loving, even to the point of loving those who would crucify you? How about merciful, caring, graceful? We are not Christians by our words but by our actions. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me, the sinner!