Tag: faith

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The scripture for today, March 2, is 2nd Corinthians 3:2 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

WORSHIP THE FIRST-CENTURY WAY-COVER-KINDLE“You yourselves are our letter written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.”

As important as it is to read the Bible for yourself and determine for yourself what you will follow, it is equally important to put those things into practice. James 2:19 says that even demons believe, but they are still demons and still bound for hell. It takes more than faith. There are things to do.

Are you a letter from God to people around you? Or do you have a double standard, acting one way around worshipers and another way around non-worshipers? People read our hearts by our words and actions. What do people read in your heart?

Do you absolutely and completely believe people will go to hell without Jesus? Do you absolutely and completely believe people have to rise above demons who believe, but who are still going there? Do you absolutely and completely believe you could be the only one in your family’s and friends’ lives who care enough for their soul that you will actually say something ~ put your heart letter into words?

Do you love them more than yourself? Do you love them enough?

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The scripture for today, January 10, is Colossians 1:10 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

0-Cover-KINDLE“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: Bearing fruit in every good work; Growing in the knowledge of God.”

Some people are always doing some good work for other people. It fills their thoughts and their life. Other people are always delving into the Bible to gain more knowledge of God. It fills their thoughts and life.

But we see here, we must have a balance. James 2:17 says faith without works is dead. On the other hand, Romans 10:2 says certain people were zealous for God, but their zeal was not based on knowledge.

We have to add to our Bible-based faith, good works. We have to add to our zealous good works, the knowledge of God from the Bible.

Are you prone to center your life on one or the other? Examine yourself, and determine today that you will add the other requirement to your life, and thus attain a spiritual balance. You can do it!

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Sun Rays on Road-greenThe scripture for today, January 5, is Colossians 1:5 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“…the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the Word of Truth, the gospel.”

Does your faith have its ups and downs? Is it strong sometimes and weak sometimes? Do things sometimes go so wrong that you have trouble having faith in God? You can still hope. Do you grow angry at God sometimes? You can still hope. During such low times when faith does not come easy, you can still hope. Hope is the springboard of love.

And stay close to the Word of Truth, for John 14:17 says the Comforter is the Spirit of Truth, and John 17:17 says Truth is the Word of God. When your emotions are pulling you down, rely for a little awhile on only your logic, your intellect, until your emotions heal. Some day they will.

So keep on hoping ~ the springboard. And some day it will return to being faith.

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The scripture for today, November 1, is Hebrews 11:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

HS-COVER-KINDLE-GOLD“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (KJV).

Notice, faith is not based on a feeling. It is full of substance, for it is based on evidence. What evidence?

First, faith is complete confidence that the Bible is divine. We know this in large part because the prophecies about large nations and empires during Bible times came true after the lifetime of the prophets. Today, most people never heard of many of those large nations and empires because their destruction was so complete. But an investigation of encyclopedias shows that, in Bible times, they did exist.

Second, faith is complete confidence that Jesus on earth was divine. We know this in large part because numerous prophecies about his birth, ministry and death came true centuries after the prophecies were made. No one man could have contrived and forced all those prophecies to be fulfilled in his lifetime.

Finally, faith is complete confidence that the account of Jesus’ life was written accurately by witnesses who saw him and talked with him. These witnesses afterwards traveled the world telling people about him, suffering hardships, and often torture and death. They would not have gone through all this for a lie. Further, we have manuscripts that date back to less than a century of the actual events, something no other ancient writing can do.

Yes, faith has substance because it is based on evidence. And in the Bible, we have all we need.

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The scripture for today, October 17 (10/17), is Romans 10:17 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

jesusface“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”

The King James version reads “Therefore, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

Faith is not just a feeling or responding to what a friend tell us. It is not responding to a spiritual book or to a religious movement. Faith is the result of hearing/reading the Word of Christ, the gospel ~ for ourselves ~ all of it!

Faith is based on knowledge; zeal is not enough (Romans 10:1). Faith is based on considering the evidence; a feeling in one’s heart is not enough (Hebrews 11:1).

All who study the Bible for yourself are doing the right thing. Do not rely on anything but what you have read for yourself. All other religious people are going to be judged by God just like you and I are. When compared to God’s Word, their word is not important. We are trying to please God, not people. We are worshiping God, not people. Let us rely only on what He says, and know for sure.

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0-Cover-KINDLEThe scripture for today, October 8, is Romans 10:8f as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“But what does it say? ‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,’ that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

The word is in our mouth through confession of our faith in Jesus, and in our heart for truly believing it and not just saying it.

Some say we are not saved by works, and it is true in the sense that we cannot go around doing so many good works that God will feel obligated to take us to his home. We can never be good enough because we sin and those sins need to be washed away.

In the sense that we do not have to do anything to be saved, it is not true. After all, Jesus himself said faith is a work: “Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent’ ” (John 6:29).

To many faithful Christians there are times in their life that faith is indeed hard work. They are beset with so many problems that they begin to wonder, “Does Jesus really care, like he claimed?”

Let us continue to work at our faith. You will have your ups and your downs. Sometimes your faith will be strong and sometimes weak. But remember, even when you doubt God, God never doubts you.

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HS-COVER-KINDLEThe scripture for today, September 29 (9/29), is Matthew 9:29 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“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.

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

“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 whether what we believe is really what God said.

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The scripture for today, May 1, is Romans 5:1 as found in the New Testament of the Bible:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Of course, if we do not have faith in Jesus, we will not obey any of his commands.  He said in John 15:14, “You are my friends IF you do what I command.”

Some people say we are not saved by works, and this is true in the sense that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  

But faith does lead to works.  In fact, Jesus himself said that faith/belief itself is a work (John 6:29).  And James 2:18 says we prove our faith by works.

Yes, it is a beautiful thing that we are saved by the Grace of God and the Death of Jesus.  That was their part.  Our part is to believe it, accept it, and actively follow it.  

That, too, is beautiful.

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