Faith or feelings ?

“For without FAITH it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6)

We can’t allow our feelings and emotions to dictate our faith. Our faith has nothing to do with feelings. Our faith has nothing to do with our emotions. Our faith is based solely on the Word of God and who He is.

We absolutely can't please God without faith . The Word says it is impossible!

Faith takes prayer. Faith takes patience. Faith takes endurance. We must never give up but we must stand fast and believe!

We are willing to try everything else first, but not faith. You see, our faith begins with perception. It is truth. It is not seeing but just believing. It's about imprinting our minds with the truth of God’s Word and the truth of who He is. That knowledge of His power and authority is what  strengthens our faith in God. Our faith is only as strong as the object of our faith. If our faith is in anything other than our Creator, we will be let down and disappointed.  When the object of our faith is God, we can't fail. It's all about knowing who He is and what He can do, and then believing.

Our faith will follow our trust. What we trust is what we place our faith in. Do we need other things to prop up our faith or do we cling to the truth and allow that faith in God to stand alone? 

So, is it our feelings and our emotions? If that is the case, they will always let us down. They will always fail us. They will always disappoint us. Feelings falter  and emotions change from day to day. So, when we place our trust in those things that are temporal and not permanent, we get temporary satisfaction.

But listen to God’s Word:

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly  abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” ( Ephesians 3:20)

We can't do anything worthwhile on our own. But through our faith in God, we can please Him. It is through His Power in us that this is possible. It is because He is constant and unchanging that we can place our trust and our faith in Him. He can do more than we could ever imagine in our lives if we would completely give Him the control that is already His.

By faith, Abraham walked in obedience. Immediate obedience. By faith, Enoch walked with God. By faith, Abel had a heart for God and offered the acceptable sacrifice. By faith, Sarah trusted in the promises of her God!

So, what about us? Has our faith set us apart? Has our faith made us different?

Is our faith causing us to be prayed up? Is our faith causing us to be surrendered?  Surrendered totally and willingly and lovingly with no questions asked?

Do you know what pleases God? Our submissive and immediate obedience to Him. Obedience when we can't see the end results. Obedience when our flesh is screaming ‘no’. Obedience when it seems impossible.   Obedience when it seems too hard. Faith requires response. It must be put into practice. And that is only accomplished through a deep faith in our God. Faith grabs hold of the truth in God’s Word and is energized by it and inspired by its Holy fire!

Faith determines our relationship with God. The whole weight of our faith rests in His Word. It is us looking to God and trusting in His promises. If we want to know what those promises are than we must be studying His Word. If we want that kind of relationship with our LORD, we must be cultivating our faith by looking deep into the scriptures. 

Believing God. Resting in Him. Trusting His Word.

True bible faith is not just submissive obedience, but it is also confident obedience. It is knowing that in spite of the situation or the circumstances or the consequences, we have placed our trust in the perfect source. We can know that God will never let us down. He will never leave us. He will never forsake us. He will always lead us down the perfect path that He has ordained for us.

“…For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear…” (Hebrews 13:5-6)

When we develop our faith in Him, several things will begin to take place in our lives. We will begin studying His Word more. We will begin to have a strong desire to read the bible and hear from Him. We will begin seeking Him in all that we do. We will start to listen for His Voice and we will hear.

God speaks – we hear and  we trust and believe.  So, then we act.

Our faith is our total response to what God has revealed to us.

When our total response is simply obedience, we begin to set our minds solely on Him.

“Set your mind on things above not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2)

* Christ has to be first and foremost in our lives.

* When He is first, we will seek those things that are above and not just here on earth. 

* We come to Jesus for Jesus, not for a rescue out of a situation or from a situation.. But we         come just for Him.

Do we only want God when we are desperate? When we need something? When we have reached the end of ourselves and our solutions?

Do we want a healing or do we want a Healer??

Do we want merely salvation or do we truly want a Savior??

We can't have heaven without a sacrifice. Jesus isn't merely a rescuer. He is a Redeemer and a Restorer. He doesn't just save us from a situation but He will walk beside us through them.

Truly, when our faith is based on Him, it removes our eyes off of our own weaknesses and places our focus on Christ. Our life is then hid in Christ with God. We begin to understand what it means to be crucified with Christ and live no longer. We begin to die to self.  

We are transformed into a people of faith. Faith in Him and Him only. When this happens, our lives will show it and we will be the “different people” that God has called us to be. We no longer base our trust in God on our feelings or our situations. Instead, our faith is based on the power of God. For His honor and His glory and His praise. Forever.

Real faith says:

I will…. I do… I accept it and I receive it!

dining with Jesus

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

 (Romans 7:5)

As Christians, we must be careful not to let the enemy cause spiritual blindness to overtake us and keep us from seeing our sinful character. We can be blinded to the deep poverty of our own spiritual character of depravity if we don't guard against it. It is so easy to think of ourselves as righteous when the truth is our righteousness only comes from Christ. It only comes from the Spirit of God working in us. Righteousness has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with God at work in us.

 Our flesh is sinful, selfish, wicked and a force to be reckoned with.The flesh will rise up in spiritual pride if left unchecked. And as we grow in our Christian walk, we face increasing danger of spiritual pride. And spiritual pride will lead to spiritual blindness every time!

The good news is that the Holy Spirit enables us to walk not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. His ministry is to help us see our poverty-stricken nature and recognize our depraved state of being. When we are shown this by the Holy Spirit, it is not to lead us into despair, but to lead us into Holiness. He creates in us a hatred for sin and an acute desire to be holy. And we can only see this when the Spirit reveals it to us.

Unless the Spirit is at work within us, our flesh is too strong for us to persevere against the enemy. Our only weapon against the flesh is the Word of God. We must stay deeply embedded in the Scriptures. That is where we will find the standard for God's Holiness.We must read the Word, study the Word, and hear the Word taught so we will be captivated by the moral beauty and perfection of God's holy standard.

"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves." (Galatians 5:16)

We can't overcome the corruptions of our heart except by the enabling of the Spirit of God. He creates a desire within us to be Holy and then He gives us the spiritual strength to live Holy lives. We can't do it on our own and I don't know why we think that we can. Our flesh is no match against the wiles of the enemy unless we are armored up with the weapon of the Word and clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. 

We need to be seeking a continual work of the Spirit in our lives. Do we tremble at His Word? Do we pray for Holiness in our lives? Do we desire to be Holy?

If we desire to walk in the Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to be in control of our actions, our words and our thoughts, we must maintain dependency upon Him and His enabling power. The only way we can do this is by prayer and by meditation on the sweet Word of God. We can't walk in the Spirit if we don't know who the Spirit is. We can't walk in the Spirit if we aren't taking the time to clothe ourselves with the Scriptures. We can only walk in the Spirit if we are keeping ourselves immersed in the Word through personal and intimate prayer and study time.There is nothing more important than our relationship with God and His Word. It is life to us!

Do we want to walk in Holiness? We need the spiritual nourishment that God has provided for us in the Holy Scriptures. It's up to us to devour them eagerly and allow them to penetrate deeply so we can apply them to our daily lives. Open the Word and dine with the Savior.

"But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us" (Galatians 5:5)

we can't do it ourselves!

"And they said, Believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,

and thy house"

(Acts 16:31)

~~~~~

The hardest part of our salvation experience is realizing that it has nothing whatsoever to do with us. We are saved by FAITH and FAITH alone. We are saved without works and we are saved without merit. There is absolutely nothing we can do in ourselves to be saved and there is nothing we can do to stop being saved. 

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the

LORD shall be saved"

(Romans 10:13)

It's all about Jesus. It's all about the work that the Son of God did on the Cross at Calvary. It's about a loving Savior dying a cruel and ugly death on a cruel and ugly cross and exchanging His perfect and sinless life for our depravity and wickedness. It's about believing that God's Son is the only way to eternal life. The only way to forgiveness of our sins. It's about knowing that God is who He says He is. And that His Son became our sin - all of our heinous, filthy, wicked sin - so that we could live. 

Now, don't misunderstand me here. Once we acknowledge that TRUTH in our hearts, we have to acknowledge that same TRUTH in our minds.  We have to allow Him to penetrate deeply into our spirits so that things will begin to change within us. 

See, the scriptures tell us in Romans 6:14, that once we have received that precious gift of grace, sin loses its dominion over us. The NLT says that "sin is no longer your master".  Once we understand the magnitude and the cost of the amazing gift of GRACE, we begin to see those sinful areas of our life in a completely different light. There will be things that we no longer desire to do. Places we no longer desire to go. Things we no longer desire to obtain, or read, or listen to, or watch. As we begin to let God be our master, something begins to happen deep inside of us. The Holy Spirit begins to work and to show us the depths of our sinful nature. And as the Spirit convicts us when we do sin, we begin to learn how to put away those areas of our life once and for all. We begin to see our sin through the eyes of Christ. 

We aren't saved by our works. Scripture is clear about that. But, oh, my friends, when we are saved by the precious, shed blood of our Savior and Lord, we want to do good works. We want to do things that please Him. We want to put away those sinful deeds that once beset us and walk in the ways of Jesus. We are to be imitators of God ( Ephesians 5:1). We are to have a yearning to be like Christ. The Word commands us to be holy as He is holy!

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He loved us with such a great love that He did something for us that we couldn't do for ourselves. He redeemed us with His blood. He bought us with a price. He became the sacrifice for our sins. Past, present and Future. And there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves worthy of what He did other than believe that what He says is TRUTH and allow Him to be the Savior and the Lord of our lives. It truly is all about Him. 

"For the wages of sin is death;

but the gift of God is eternal 

life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 6:23)

Faith is believing and receiving that gift and then purposing to be like Him as we walk in the newness of the life He gives us. Somebody say Hallelujah!

the past, present and future

As I sit tonight and reflect about the past year, and think about the last 11 days that will bring 2011 to completion, I am filled with a heart of joy and thankfulness. This past year has brought many smiles and much laughter. We have celebrated  new birth and another beginning of new life. We have shed some tears of joy and also some tears of despair, but God has been faithful to wipe away those tears and replace them with sweet peace and comfort. We have had times of uncertainty and times of divine affirmation. We have experienced the sweetness of God's grace and the awesome and mighty power of His healing Hand. 

I can look back over the past 12 months and see how God has been doing a work in my life. Increasing my hunger for Him. Drawing my heart for more knowledge of Him. Generously dispensing grace that I am so undeserving of. Growing my faith. Showing me that I can only flourish when I am totally dependent on Him.

He has shown me how to 'be still' in Him. How to rest in His promises. How to listen when He speaks and then to hold on to the Word that He gives me. He has shown me how to have a believing heart and has made me realize that He wants to give us good things! I have seen Him work and experienced Him in ways that I could never have imagined. I have felt His presence like never before and heard His voice with a new clarity. 

It's been a year of growing and learning. A year of searching and finding. A year of longing for more of my Savior. A year of miracles. And encounters. And life-changing revelations of the soul. 

As I think about the next year, there are many things that I hope to accomplish. I truly desire to continue to grow closer to my Lord every day. I long to be saturated in His love and enthralled with His glory.  I want to want Him with a new expectancy. I pray that I approach the Holy scriptures with more reverence and appreciate the Sovereignty of them with a deeper respect. 

May I never take the Word lightly but revere it and desire to obey it like never before. I pray that God continue to mold me and make me into His likeness. That He can use me for His glory, for His kingdom and for His purpose.  May I be passionate in my pursuit of Jesus and determined in my quest for holiness. May I be a true seeker of God.

His goodness overwhelms me and I stand in awe of who He is and what He does. May His name always astound me and fill me with wonder. As He reaches down and touches my life anew, I pray that He leaves His fingerprints all over me. I want to be real. Authentic. I want to be new and different. Changed forever. I want to be His. 

Looking forward and never glancing back as to what might have been, I strive to press on toward the finish line. No regrets, only resolutions for a new year. New mercies. A new intimacy with God. A new encounter with Jesus.  May I celebrate His birth every day of my life. 

"Today, a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you

in the city of David" - Luke 2:11

how big is our faith?

Faith...

Believing what we can't see. The evidence of things hoped for. The substance of things not seen. Knowing that what He has promised is true. 

Faith...

Hearing from God and knowing His voice.

How big is our faith? Do we believe for others but not for ourselves? Do we deem others worthy of a miraculous healing touch from God but don't feel worthy ourselves?

Faith...

Commitment to God and His will. Total reliance upon the Lord. Confidence in Christ.

Abraham was a faithful servant. His faith is what prodded his pleading to God on behalf of the city of Sodom. Because of His faithful prayer life, God was willing to spare the city for only 10 righteous people. It only takes the faith of a few to obtain the mercy of God for a nation.

Abraham's faith is what enabled him to trust God completely when He called him to sacrifice his son. "Thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest" (Genesis 22:2). In his own strength and character, Abraham couldn't have done that. But because of the faithful relationship he had with God, he was able. He had faith in God's promise to him regarding the covenant He established with Isaac. He knew that even if he had to sacrifice his son, there would be a resurrection. He knew God would provide the lamb.  He trusted His God and His Word. 

Oh, to have the faith of Abraham. I so desire that kind of dependence on my Lord. To trust Him in all things and for all things. To depend solely upon Him for my direction in life. To place my loved ones in His hands since they belong to Him anyway. To know that He will provide the lambs needed in my life when I am called upon to obey, even  unto sacrifice. 

I want God to be my Jehovah-Jireh. My provider. I want to grow closer to Him each day and know Him like never before. More intimate. More personal. Deeper. Higher. I want to love Him more. I want to know Him...

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves 

to think any thing as of ourselves; but our 

sufficiency is of God"

(2 Corinthians 3:5)

I want to trust Him no matter what. No hesitation. No procrastination. No doubting. No excuses.

Just trust and obey. He is worthy. He is faithful. He is God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mercie had a re-check today and the doctor confirmed that indeed she is healed. (my words, not his..) He also confirmed to Megan what he thought would be the outcome of the blood work. He was sure that Mercie was  very ill. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that my God healed my Mercie on last Sunday morning. I know that He has plans for her and that she will have a mighty calling on her life. I am just so thankful that He allowed me to be a part of this incredible testimony of hers. I will praise Him and testify of this miracle for the rest of my life. I learned a huge lesson about faith and I pray that I don't have to be retaught. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God, you are good. All the time. I love you with all that I am and I am yours.

it's not about me

I sit on my back patio and close my eyes. The cool and crisp morning breeze delivers a fresh smelling fragrance that is comforting to my spirit. The quiet is broken only by the occasional sounds of nature. The sweet songs of birds communicating with one another ushers in peace.

I love this time with God. I enjoy gazing all around at His creation and then digging into the Holy Word while surrounded by the awesome evidence of a Holy Creator. He is so amazing.

My heart is still so full of the powerful messages delivered during our revival services. Messages straight from God's heart to the lips of His servant and then right into the hungry souls of man. Delivered deep down into the very depths of my spirit.

So much truth. So much power. Just so much....

My heart was sorely convicted. My spirit was joyously renewed. My fervor for the Word re-energized. So many people to reach. So many lives to touch. So little time to do it.

Too much worry about the temporal and not near enough concern about the eternal. Help me, Lord. Too much focus on fleshly enjoyment and not near enough on spiritual growth and satisfaction.

Therein lies the deep hole in our gospel and in our faith. We get burdened for the lost. We get convicted of our sin. But we fail to do anything about it. We have got to be moved by it. We have got to be stirred into action. We have got to be doers of the Word and not just hearers only. (James 1:22)

It's about obedience to God. It's about a glorious faith that leads to works. It's about service. It's about surrender. Christ beckons to us, His followers, to be His hands and feet in a lost and dying world. Will we answer the call?

"God never asks us to give what we do not have,

but He cannot use what we will not give."

(Richard Stearns)

You see, it's not about us. It's not about this world and the things of this world. It's not about bigger houses, better cars or more stuff. It's all about Jesus. It's about bringing a living Savior to a lost people.

Lord, continue to convict my heart of my selfishness and help me to be selfless for You. Continue to stir my heart into seeking what you are teaching me and help me to be willing to go where you are leading me. I want to be about Your business. I want to put You first. I want to be surrendered to You in all things and for all time. I love you, Lord, and I worship you with all that is in me...

It's a Crazy World

Do you ever dread looking at the morning paper or turning on the news? It seems like lately there is NO good news abounding. Everything is negative. Everything is depressing. Everything seems to be going just the way that satan has planned. It is enough to get anybody a little down.

It seems like the world has just gone crazy! Some of the things that are happening, just absolutely floor me. I can't believe that there are people that actually think that some of these things are good things. Don't people see what is really going on here? It's like they have blinders on to what is REALLY happening. It is a little scary.

I read something though that I am going to hold onto and focus on. There are bad things going on in this world - that is a fact. But there are also a lot of GOOD things going on behind the scenes in the spiritual kingdom. We don't always see it and we can't always feel it, but we know it is there. We can rest assured that God is working 24 hours a day and we can rest assured that He has everything under control. His control. None of this surprises Him.

We just have to hold on to our faith and beliefs and know that our God is still present in our lives. He has not left us. He is always there to guide us and protect us.

We have to keep our faith and trust in Him. We have to keep spreading the gospel. We have to keep doing His work.

It is hard sometimes to disregard what seems like the world's total disobedience and rebellion to God. The world lives by a set of values that are completely opposite of what God's values are. We just have to stay strong and keep ourselves in His Word. God's Word is where we we will find the things that He values. When we focus on those things, we can't go wrong. We will be on the winning team. We will finish strong.

I get so much strength from all of my sweet bloggy friends! I just love the way we can encourage one another. It has been such a blessing to me and I am so thankful for all of you!

"We do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18)

"IF ONLY... I SHALL"

"For she said to herself, If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made whole" (Mathew 9:21)

There was no doubt in this woman's mind that all she needed was "just one touch". She didn't say that she needed to talk to Him, or that she needed Him to talk to her. No. All she needed was to touch Him. And not actually touch Him, but touch His garment. I love her phraseology here. If only.... I shall. Very cut and dried. Very direct. Full of Faith.

Oh, to have this kind of faith. I WANT this kind of faith. I long to have the absolute knowledge that if I only reach up and touch even just the hem of my Master's garment I will experience the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. Living Water will flow over me and I will be made whole! Yes! And then I wonder. Why would He do this for me?

When my girls were little and they desired my attention, and they were too little to vocalize their need, all they had to do was crawl or walk over to me and touch my leg. When I felt those precious little baby hands touch me, I would immediately reach down and scoop them up in my arms. Why? Because even only by their touch I knew they were there, I knew they were mine, I knew what they wanted and I loved them. Their action of "If only" became my response of "I shall".

That's how Jesus feels about us! If we are His, then He will recognize our touch. And when we touch Him - in prayer, in praise, in worship, in faith - He feels us, perceives our need and reaches down to scoop us up in His loving arms. Making us His. Making us whole. Praise you Jesus!

Oh, precious Father, help me to always remember the promise and power of your Word. Oh, how I Love your Word! Help me to live more in the present reality of who You are. I want to know you more deeply and more intimately. I seek you Lord. I seek your Holy Presence in my life. Give me strength. Give me wisdom. Give me the faith to say "If only...I shall".

In His Redeeming Grace,

Beth