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!

HOLD FAST

Hebrews 4:14-16

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Encouraging Words

We, the followers of Christ, can hold fast onto our confession of faith, knowing that Jesus is our High Priest who represents us before God in all aspects. He, being fully God, became human, giving up His presence in Heaven in order to pave the way for us to follow Him there. He also experienced life here on earth in a way that makes it possible for Him to sympathize with everyone of us and understand the issues of life that we are facing. That is the ultimate expression of love, mercy, and grace. Glory be to God!

YOU HEARD MY CRY

Jonah 2:2-3

And from the belly of the sea creature, Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, and said: “I cried out in my affliction to the Lord, my God, And He heard my voice; Out of the belly of Hades, You heard the cry of my voice.”

Personal Challenge

In the story about Jonah, he ends up in the belly of a great sea creature because of his choices. He chose to disobey God and go his own way. We all do this, sometimes more often than others, and almost always end up with consequences that are uncomfortable and that separate us from God. These are always the consequences of our choices. Just as Jonah cried out to God in the midst of the affliction that he brought upon himself, we too can cry out to God for restoration of our relationship with Him and He will hear our voice, subsequently restoring us. Glory be to God!

Saint of the Week
St. Philaret of Moscow

GIVING ACCOUNT

Hebrews 4:13

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Personal Challenge

It is very important for every person that proclaims to be doing what they do in the name of Jesus Christ, that there will be a day when they will stand before His judgment seat and be held to account for their behavior. Jesus told us what He would be looking for. In Matthew 23: 34-46, He said…

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

There will be no excuse for wrong behavior toward our neighbor. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

WHERE IS THEIR GOD?

Joel 2:17-18

Between the porch and the altar, the priests of the altar, ministering to the Lord, will each be weeping and will say, “O Lord, spare Your people; do not give Your inheritance to reproach, that the Gentiles should rule over them, lest they should say among the Gentiles, ‘Where is their God?’ ”

But the Lord was zealous for His land and spared His people.

Personal Challenge

Through the history of God’s people, whether it be the Jewish nation in the Old Testament or the Christians in the New Testament, there is repeatedly the cycle of submitting to God, forgetting God, and being disciplined by God to return to Him. God has made it very clear to His followers what He wants from them. He wants us to love Him and to love one another. What so often happens is that we end up loving ourselves and hating the other. We are there again. So many in the name of their imagined god, are despising one another, taking a way their rights, their livelihood, and even their lives. God forbid that they say that they are doing this for God. As Joel reminds us, this is when the non-belivers, the Gentiles, say, “Where is their God? ” It is not God who has abandoned us but we who have abandoned Him, and done it proclaiming that it is in His name. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

GOD’S WORD

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Encouraging Words

God’s living Word, Jesus Christ, is living and powerful. He is sharper than any two-edged sword and will pierce into the depths of our soul and spirit to discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts. Being godly and Christ-like is not about posting the 10 commandments on the walls of our schools or forcing Bible classes on our children. We cannot move forward with hatred, bigotry, lies, and cheating in our actions and then proclaiming that we follow Christ. God’s living Word drives us to love God and love our neighbor with our entire being. If we are not doing that then we are not following Him. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lond, have mercy!