Posts Tagged ‘ Faith ’
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
Isaiah 40:28, ESV
We cannot evade the sight nor deny the power of God. He sees and knows all, and He will one day judge us according to our sin or how we responded to and lived for Christ.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:6, ESV
You cannot be saved without believing God exists, the Son came bodily and without sin to die for our sin, rose again to life, and will return to earth to spend eternity with His faithful servants.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13, ESV
We have faith, because God is faithful.
We have hope, because God has promised.
We love, because God is love and has loved us.
Loving is sharing Christ.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9, ESV
We long for Christ to return and restore Creation, but He is patient with this rebellious world, waiting for all who will call on His name in repentance and faith.
May this encourage us to share the Gospel.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17, ESV
Faith in Christ primarily comes from the preaching of the Gospel from the Scriptures.
Know the Gospel. Believe it. Share it with others that they may be saved.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
Psalm 130:5, ESV
The Bible has made many promises, ultimately fulfilled in Christ. So, as we await His return, we trust in those promises found in Scripture.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:7, ESV
Trusting the Lord brings the blessings of forgiveness, grace, a changed heart and mind, inner peace, and eternal life in Christ.
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Luke 2:14, ESV
Christ did come to bring peace, but only to those with whom He is pleased.
How do we please God?
By being found in Christ through faith.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
James 1:2-3, ESV
God wants strong, faithful followers and friends.
Sometimes He allows bad things to happen. Sometimes He sends them.
It is to grow us in Christ, The Faithful One who endured trials God us.
Once again, this series is a re-post from five years earlier, with some additions by me.
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It is now the second week of Advent! (See last week’s devotional thought here and here.)
Again, Advent is a time to remember our Lord’s first coming as we look forward to His imminent return.
So, let us prepare hearts for encountering the Lord!
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-14, ESV
It is important for us to remember that God’s people, the Israelites, those who painstakingly preserved the written Word of God and pursued righteousness, failed to recognize Him when he came to them quite literally in the flesh.
Jesus said just three chapters later, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23). Our culture today is largely spiritually dull, even in many churches.
Ask yourself, “Would I recognize God if He approached me today?” Seek His face in prayer, Bible reading, and the fellowship of believers. Ask God to reveal Himself to you. Too many missed Him the first time around. Seek the living Lord! Have faith that He is returning soon!
“For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 16:7b, ESV
a simple man of God 