Tag: faith

Scripture for Thursday, September 30 (9/30)

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The scripture for today, September 29, is Matthew 9:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-BOOK 3-HEARTS AFIRE-COVER“Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith will it be done to you.’ “

Sometimes when we pray for healing during sickness, a well-meaning friend will say, “Well, you haven’t been healed because you didn’t have enough faith.” But Jesus did not heal everyone according to their faith.

The boy in Nain he brought back to life (Luke 7:14-15) did not have any faith at all. The girl in Capernaum he brought back to life (Luke 8:51-56) did not have any faith at all. When Jesus turned water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana (John 2:1-9) the hosts did not have any faith at all.

This is encouraging because often we pray for the healing of non-religious friends. It would be futile to ask God to bring them back to health if it depended on their faith all the time. But he is not a God of futility. He is a God of hope.

#Faith, #Hope

When you can’t find your faith….

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cant-find-faith-candle-of-hope

Scripture for Monday, August 29 (8/29)

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The scripture for today, August 29, is Matthew 8:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

CHANGES IN WORSHIP-COVER-KINDLE” ‘What do you want with us, Son of God?’ they shouted. ‘Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’ “

If you are not familiar with this passage, these are the words of a demon. If you have ever studied demons in the Bible, you will find that they never tried to spook or scare people. They never made dishes rattle or lamps fall over.

All they did was cause physical problems during the lifetime of Jesus and his apostles. There is no evidence of demons doing this in the Old Testament before Jesus, nor after his apostles died, either in the Bible or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. It is as though the demons were loosed for a season so Jesus could show his power over them also ~ Ephesians 1:20-21.

Notice, demons never said bad things. If they talked at all, it was out of fear and honesty. James 2:19 says all demons believe in Jesus. In the book of Matthew, they knew who Jesus was. They called him the Son of God.
Jesus told them to be quiet. Why? He didn’t want evil beings telling people who he was; he wanted goodness to tell people who he was.

The movies have warped our understanding of demons. Let us search the scriptures to find out their true nature. Then we no longer have to guess. We can know.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: SOME PEOPLE SAY ALL YOU HAVE TO DO TO BE SAVED IS BELIEVE JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD. BUT THE DEMONS BELIEVE THAT & THEY ARE NOT SAVED. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS?

#demons, #faith

Scripture for Wednesday, August 24 (8/24)

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The scripture for today, August 24 is Romans 8:24f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Sometimes we go through a period of our life in which it is difficult to have faith that God exists; or even if he does exist, that he cares what happens to us. During those times, we may not be able to have faith. But we can HOPE. We can hope that God exists, we can hope he cares what happens to us. Even the weakest person can hope. And hope holds us until we are strong enough to, once again, have faith.

So the next time your faith wavers (and it happens to everyone at some time in their life), remember, you can still hope.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: WHEN IS IT HARDEST FOR YOU TO HAVE FAITH?

#faith, #hope

Scripture for Thursday, August 18 (8/18)

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The scripture for today, August 18, is Mark 8:18f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

00-Heroes-Alone-COVER-KINDLE“Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember when I broke [in pieces] the five loaves for the five thousand [hungry people]? How many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”

Economic and political times are uncertain and unstable right now for a lot of people. How much do we worry about it? Planning is good. But worrying? Has God forsaken you in the past?

Sit down and make a list of every time you made it through a bad period of time in your life. How did God get you through it then? This is your proof.

Remember your proof.

DISCUSSION QUESTION: SOMETIMES HELPING SOMEONE ELSE HELPS A PERSON THROUGH THEIR OWN PROBLEMS. WHAT COULD YOU DO?

#problems, #instability, #faith

Scripture for Friday, July 8 (7/8)

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The scripture for today, July 8, is Ecclesiastes 7:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

Oldoldstory-COVER-KINDLE“The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.”

Years ago there was a little boy who belonged to the Pee-Wee Baseball League. A lot of teams played in different parts of a very large ball field. He would get in line to wait his turn to bat the ball. But he’d become impatient, feeling that he should be able to bat as often as he wanted.

So he’d take off across the field and get in the line of another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner. When he didn’t go to bat as soon as he thought he should, he’d take off across the field in yet another direction and get in the line of yet another team, hoping his turn at bat would come sooner.

After doing all that, he’d finally give up and come back to his own team. By that time, if he had just stayed in line with his own team, he could have come up to bat two or three times. His pride got in the way, his impatience got in the way, and he ended up losing all his turns.

What we hope and dream for may happen today, or a year from now, a decade from now. Let us learn to wait for our turn.

Scripture for Wednesday, June 29 (6/29)

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The scripture for today, June 29, is John 6:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible.

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent.’ “

Yes, it is true that the gift of salvation is just that ~ a gift, a free gift. And it is true that we cannot be good enough to earn salvation, because we don’t know how to be perfect, and heaven can only accept the perfect.

But at the same time, James 2:18 says “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.” In other words, there are things we need to do to obtain salvation. We have to believe there is a gift for us somewhere, walk over to it, reach out, and grasp it.

Repenting is a work. And Jesus himself said believing (faith) is a work.

And how do we go about obtaining faith? By believing what other people tell us to believe? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing/reading the Word of God ~ the Bible.

It is going directly to God’s Words to find out for ourselves. It takes a little bit of work to read through it. But then, we can know that what we believe is really true.

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The scripture for today, April 21, is Mark 4:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Cover-KINDLE“Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand?”

Jesus said something similar in Matthew 5:14f, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Do you spend your energy on yourself and family? That is good, but try going further. Do something for someone else. But who? It requires looking around. Looking around your neighborhood, your school, your job, your club, your community.

Always keep looking around. Keep searching for little nooks and crannies in the lives of others where you can bring the light of a good deed to someone’s world.

And God will be praised.

 

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The scripture for today, March 25, is Lamentations 3:25 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:

“The Lord is good to0-BOOK 4-FOLK HERO-COVER those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.”

Notice, this does not say the Lord is good to those who have faith in him. All they have to do is hope he exists and hope he loves them.

Some people have been raised by atheists, or have attended a university where professors criticize theists (believers in God). Or perhaps they have had a major tragedy in their life and can’t understand how a good God could allow that bad thing to happen. Or maybe they live among people who believe all the gods in the world are the One God, so don’t pay special attention to any of them.

Life can be confusing, so confusing that we have trouble having faith in God. But we can still hope! Keep hope alive. Let the Lord be good to you.

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The scripture for today, March 21, is 1st Peter 3:21 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“This water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also ~ not the removal of dirt from the body but the answer of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.”

There are several things we do to be saved. Jesus’ part was to die in our place for our sins. Our part is to believe he did. Then to confess it to others. Then to repent of the sins that he died for. Some people call this process (and it is a process) giving their heart to the Lord.

But many people go through life wondering if they were sincere enough when they gave their heart to the Lord. What is in one’s mind long ago sometimes becomes a fuzzy memory. So they re-give their heart to the Lord all over again periodically throughout their life.

Thank God, he has given us something we can do, an action to prove we were sincere enough, more than a long-ago state of mind. He gave us an action to reassure our conscience toward God ~ “baptism that now saves you”, the same baptism wherein you are reborn to live a new life (Romans 6: 4)