Undeniable Truth

Receiving God's Word as undeniable Truth is the first requisite for a life infused with love, joy, peace and power. When we doubt, we are in sin (Romans 14:22-23).

Yet, God lets us off the hook with one particular story. It is a man requiring a miracle and he humbly requests. "Lord, I do believe, but help my unbelief" (Mark 9:23-25).

How can he have faith and doubt at the same time? Didn't you ever feel this way? In your spirit you knew without a doubt that God could, but in your soul - your mind, choices and emotions - you wondered if He would.

Faith can move mountains and it often does. Faith can change lives, if the person humbly submits to God. Faith can give us hope in a hopeless situation.

Regardless of the amount of faith we have, God is not an Aladdin's lamp at our disposal to grant all of our wishes. He has a perfect plan for our life and some of that plan includes struggle and strain.

Not because God is mean of an ogre or vindictive, but He knows that our struggle makes us stronger. Look at a butterfly emerging from its cocoon or a chick coming out of its shell.

The struggle increases their ability to live in this world. If we help them and make it easier for them, they will most likely die. God planned for every struggle to bring us the strength to survive.

God connects us to the Vine of Christ. We draw every nutrient we need for an abundant life from the very blood of Christ. We bear fruit not by our own effort, but by the life of the Vine flowing through us.

Then, what does God do? He prunes us so we can bear more fruit - a temporary trial which makes us stronger. Yet, He does not stop there. He prunes us again so that we will bear much more fruit.

Prayer:

Father God, in the productive stages of our life, when we have learned the lessons brought to us through our pruning, we have an abundance of Your Spirit running through us from the Vine and we love who we are in Christ.

We do not need to be a separate plant in order to feel pride in our accomplishments. We are thrilled to have the privilege of abiding in our union with the Vine of Christ. Thank You for caring so much about the whole world that You chose to become Emmanuel and pay our sin debt for eternity (John 3:16-17).

Thought for the Day:

We love who we are in Christ and we rejoice when a new branch is connected to the Vine along with us. The Body, the Bride of Christ all intimately united with the amazing Son of God.

The Faith of the Son of God

How can we live by the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20)? First and foremost, we live by the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and His provision of regeneration and His resurrection life in us (2 John 1:3; Titus 3:5; Philippians 3:11).

Faith has nothing to do with our hopes or claiming God’s Word for things we want. It has everything to do with Christ who abides within us. Faith only comes to us by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

If we did not have the faith of Christ within us, we could not have faith in Christ and His redemptive work for us on Calvary’s cross (Galatians 2:16; Matthew 1:21; Hebrews 10:1-14). As Christ is formed in us, our humanity decreases.

We live in Christ, just as Christ also lives in us (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27). We also live in God’s righteousness, not by keeping rules and regulations, but by the faith of Christ which gives it all to us (Romans 3:21-22; Philippians 3:7-9).

Christ becomes our whole life (Colossians 3:4). We receive the promises of God by Christ’s faith within us, not by mustering up our faith by human effort (Hebrews 10:5-14; Galatians 3:22-26).

Keeping God’s law through our self-effort is also useless, and Jesus showed us this truth (Romans 10:4). God works the faith of Christ into our life by His Spirit (Ephesians 1:19-20, 2:8-9; Colossians 1:12).

Through Christ in us, we are adopted sons of the living God, heir with Christ and we are given the right to call God our “Abba Father” (Galatians 3:26, 4:4-7). We can come boldly to His throne (Ephesians 3:12).

We receive peace with God through the atonement of Christ on Calvary’s cross (Romans 4:25, 5:1-12, 18). He is the only Mediator between us and God (Ephesians 1:12). The faith of Christ gives us a firm foundation (Acts 3:16).

Salvation gives us the treasure of Christ in our mortal body (Colossians 2:3). Once we recognize that we are truly crucified with Christ, then Christ is fully formed in us and manifests through our mortal body (2 Corinthians 4:7; Galatians 4:19).

Prayer:

Father God, as You form Christ in us, His faith rests in us as well. The more we come to know Him, the more we walk in His faith (John 17:3). As we come to know Christ more, we also come to know Your ways and purpose for our life.

The faith of Christ in us is the evidence of the things we hope for, but which we cannot yet see (Hebrews 11:1). Abiding in Christ is the only way we walk in Your power (John 16:24). Remind us not to “name it and claim it” for our own carnal purposes; but to ask and seek only for Your Kingdom.

Thought for the Day:

We live in the faith of the Son of God, which Jesus both conceives and brings to fruitfulness in us. 

– Hebrews 12:2

Help My Unbelief

A father brings his son to Jesus. The boy has a mute spirit and experiences epileptic-type seizures. He believes Jesus can heal his son; yet because the disciples already failed to do so, he is afraid to try again. He asks Jesus for help with his unbelief (Mark 9:23-25).

We all feel this way sometimes. We know what the Word of God says, what preachers tell us, and what our friends share with us; yet, we still have such little faith!

Through this tiny verse God shows His humor and mercy in the same breath (Mark 9:23-25). He teaches us that the important aspect is to choose to believe, even when circumstances cause us to feel uncertain.

God understands that we lose hope and get discouraged. So, God put this powerful verse in the Bible to remind us that as long as we choose to believe, then He will do the rest.

Prayer:

Lord, we want to walk in obedience, trusting in Your promises and doing greater works than Jesus did (John 14:12). We believe in You; yet, at times, our faith is weak. Thank You for helping our unbelief, and for providing for all of our spiritual, physical and emotional needs.

We praise You day and night for Your wonderful works and multitude of blessings to the Your children. You do so much for us and take such an active roll in the details of our life. Thank You for caring enough to give Your life for our redemption and salvation.

Thought for the Day:

Hearing from God often requires that we find a quiet place to still our thoughts and focus on His presence in our life.