Christian Living

Our Story, His Glory

Jaida

Eccl 3:11 says, 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

WE ARE HUMAN – WE’VE GOT BAGGAGE! I do not like taking a carry-on bag when I fly. It is cumbersome, restrictive, and bothersome. It’s the same with our baggage in our lives.

Our baggage is our bad choices, our past, maybe our upbringing. We may also carry baggage in regard to relationships, past and/of future. There are so many things that we carry around with us that can keep us back from doing all that God has called us to.

The question is will you let it hinder you, restrict you, inconvenience you, or will you let it shape you into the person God has created you to be and use it for His Glory? “How in the world can my baggage bring Glory to Him?” you may ask.

Eccl 3:11 says, 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

The key here is HE!  He will make you and your life beautiful.  It may take time to make the mess of your lives beautiful, but remember He was never surprised by your choices, your circumstances, your decisions.

I think if I start of the beginning, your beginning, you will understand what I’m trying to say.

Jeremiah 1:5 says,

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”

He knew you BEFORE you were formed!  What!?  BEFORE you were born, I set you apart.

Psalm 139:13 in the NLT says this:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

He was there during the making of you – your personality, your quirks, your physical traits, everything.  And remember, He said that everything He creates is good!  NO MISTAKES!

Psalm 139:15 and part of 16

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

16 You saw me before I was born.

Nobody was a mistake or an afterthought.  Everyone on this earth was created with a purpose and plan.  As a believer, we hear that a lot, but do we believe it?  Do we understand that no matter what we have done in the past, He was not surprised?  Maybe disappointed, maybe grieved by our decisions or our lifestyle, but not surprised.  

If He thought someone was not redeemable, He could have just not created that person.  But He loves us so much that He has a place for each one of us and makes plans for us to be a part of His Kingdom. And He gives every opportunity for us TO FIND HIM!

Psalm 139:14 says this in NLT:

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.”

I’m not sure my husband is thankful that God made me wonderfully complex!

Are we thankful for how He created us?  Are we grateful for His workmanship in us?  I sometimes wish that He had given me a talent for singing and playing an instrument at the same time so that I could worship Him like my friend.  I sometimes wish that He had given me a higher IQ so that things are not so hard to understand like my son or given me a photographic memory so that I can memorize and remember things like my husband.  

But what we must do is be amazed at how He created us to do the thing that He’s created US for.  

If you look at a corporation, the HR department doesn’t hire someone until first they know that there is a need, then there is a job description, then and only then do they look for the right person for that job to meet the needs of that specific job description.

If we look back at Jere 1:5, it says that He knew us before we were even being formed within our mother’s womb.  He already had the need and the job description – OUR PURPOSE – and then we were created to fit that specific purpose.

Now …Let that sink in.

Then it says in Ps 139:13 and 15 that He was creating the inner parts of us and knit us together and watched over us while we were being created to fit into His Kingdom.

Your purpose was created before you were formed, then you were created to fit that purpose.

This is Part 1 of this teaching. Look for Part 2 next week.

Adult Christian, Christian Living, Faithlife, Self-Image

You are Valuable and So is God

Jaida

Luke 12:6-7 says in the NLT,

“What is the price of five sparrows – two copper coins? Yet God does not

forget a single one of them. and the very hairs on your head are all numbered.

So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

Sparrows were the least expensive offering used in the synagogues at the time of Jesus. Their monetary value was so small but yet Jesus is telling us that God even knows them and counts them as important enough to not forget them. How much more does He know us and want to spend time with us as a child of His. I know that even though my grown children have left our home and have begun their own families, I still desire to see them and connect with them. I go out of my way to spend time with them (without being too pushy:) I want to continue to have fellowship and grow my relationship with my sons and their families.

In the same way, God wants to spend time with us because He deems us important, special, unique, and His. He finds us valuable because He created us to spend time with Him. He created all the creatures in the Garden, then He created Man and Woman so that He could spend time with them and fellowship with them. The whole purpose of our creation is to spend time with Him.

But because of sin, we then could not have this complete relationship. God’s first covenant covered their sins as long as they followed all of the law. But when Jesus took our place as the sinless lamb, poured His blood on the mercy seat, took the keys to death, hell, and the grave, and then rose again, He actually gives us the opportunity for our sins to be WIPED OUT. God chooses to not remember them. This is different from having our sins covered. We are free and clear of any wrongdoing if we receive Him as our Savior.

This shows us just how valuable to Him: He chose to sacrifice His only Son for our lives.

But I also want to put something to you: how valuable is God to you? We hear a lot about how valuable we are to Him but how valuable is He to us? What do we like to do when we have a best friend? We want to spend time with them. We want to hang out, get to know them, do fun things with them. Sometimes we have important and serious conversations with our best friend. We build our trust in them. We can contact them about just about anything.

We should feel that way about our time with our Heavenly Father. We are valuable to Him but then He should be valuable to us. He gave up His only begotten Son so that we could have this time with Him. We should want to spend time with the One who gave up everything for us. How valuable is He to you? Do you look forward to spending time with Him? Do you go out of your way to make time for Him? Do you share with Him like you would share with you best friend?

Ps 63:1, “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.”

Reflect on the last time you craved time with Him, the last time you longed for His presence. He thinks about us all the time, let’s give Him the same consideration.

Christian Living

Our Weakness/His Strength #2

Jaida

Isaiah 40:29,

“He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.“

In my previous post, I said that Our Father is the One who picks us up when we are weak, takes our hand when we need courage, and gives us the purpose and strength to finish our race.

Our second point is that God is not only IN US as believers which should give us the power and strength to fulfill our purpose with His help, He is also WITH US, FOR US, BEHIND US, BEFORE US, AND BESIDE US.

Let’s look into what these mean to us as believers.

GOD IS WITH US. Immanuel is Hebrew for “God is with us.” The Immanuel Prophecy is in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” I am sure that the people back then thought that this would happen any day. It would probably be reasonable to assumeThe fulfillment of this prophecy happened like this: Matthew 1:18, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.” 

GOD FOR US. Romans 8:31 says “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” He is there for us. We may not like His timing when it comes to what we want and/or need, but He is right on time. When we are going through something, we may think “Where is God?” When actually He is right there helping us through this thing. Remember, many things that happen to us come from a fallen world, our own bad choices, or things that other people do. God has given all people free will. He can’t make anyone do anything or He will violate His Word. The Holy Spirit can do His job, but all people have free will. Know that He is for us in all that we do. He is our biggest cheerleader.

GOD BEHIND US. Ps 139:5 says “You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.” This is the same as “I’ve got your six” which started with fighter pilots in WWI calling it their rear position. If you’ve got someone’s 6, you’ve got his back; you are covering him from behind to make sure no one sneaks up on you. A more common term nowadays is “I’ve got your back.” God has our back. He makes sure that your back is covered so nothing to sneak up behind you. But to make this work, you need that relationship with Him and are listening to His voice.

GOD IS BEFORE US. Just as it says in the above scripture, He has a protection ahead of us too. When my husband and I made a career change, we did not expect the COVID pandemic to stall the beginning of this new direction in our lives. But we found that God had a plan provided months before we knew that we needed it. God looks ahead and knows what we need. Listen to Him.

GOD IS BESIDE US. Ps 16:8 says in the NLT, “I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.” He is right beside you in everything you do. You may not feel Him or may feel that He is far away, but the Word says He is right beside you, and the Word is truth. Most of the time, we have to know that through faith, believing that it is true because the Word says it. Feed your spirit with the Word of God, certain scriptures like this one that will cement it into your heart so that when you don’t “feel” Him near, you still know He is by faith. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Heb 11:1) Put your faith to action by believing the Word of God over your feelings and KNOW that He is there.

In the third part, we will talk about how He gives us purpose and strength to finish our race.

Adult Christian, Christian Living, Discipleship, Faithlife, Purpose, Self-Image, Women's Issues

Our Weakness/His Strength

Jaida

Isaiah 40:29 (NKJV)

“He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.“

Have you ever felt too weak to move forward, mentally or physically? Are you in a season of doubt and insecurity? This is no cliche: Jesus has your back. He’s the One who picks us up when we are weak, takes our hand when we need courage, and gives us the purpose and strength to finish our race.

The Word says that He gives power to the weak. Isaiah 40:29 says it clearly. But there is something that we can do to be able to acquire this strength from Him. We have to know that it is available to us. To know Him and His character is to know what He has offered us through His precious promises mentioned in II Peter 1:3 where it is written that He has given us everything we need to live a godly life. That godly life includes strength when we are weak. It is a free gift to each believer, as a member of the family of God.

When we are part of a family, our basic needs to live are provided as part of being in the family, in the home. When growing up in a family, food, clothing, and shelter are provided free of charge as being part of the family. In the same way, God provides what we need to live a strong and purposeful life, the life that He has in store for us.. As part of His family, He provides our needs and, if we activate His Word in our lives, we will live this life according to His will and purpose. Another thing that we receive in a family is as sense of belonging and being a part of something.

What we have to focus on first is the fact that He loves us unconditionally and without strings. The blessings that He bestows upon His children are freedom, strength, peace, and a host of other benefits of being a child of the Living God. Strength from the Lord can be in different areas of our lives, physical, mental, and spiritual strength.

Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” This is speaking of weakness in spirit, such as struggling with a decision or a concern, or not sure of what to pray for or what direction we need to go. The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to assist us with these times. He speaks through our spirit and we speak directly to God.

II Corinthians 12:10 says, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Of course, Paul is not saying that he loves pain, but that he loves depending on the strength of the Father. He means that when he is weak, it shows the strength of the Father in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.

And finally, II Corinthians 12 says this:

“For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will

shower us with his comfort through Christ.” 

Being part of a family, you should be able to feel safe and nurtured when you are struggling with something. God is your home, His family is your family. When we are only looking to ourselves for answers and strength, we are limiting ourselves to a finite and limited life. With His help we will be able to see victory in our lives and peace in our hearts. Becoming a member of His family doesn’t mean we will never have struggles, it means that we have the Father and His family to help us in difficult times.

See my next post, on which we will discuss the second part of this message: He takes our hand when we need courage.

And the third part, we will talk about how He gives us purpose and strength to finish our race.

Christian Living

Pursue

Jaida

Romans 12:2,

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

How do we transform?  Does it just happen to us because we are born again?  Is it just the next step after salvation? How does transformation happen?

First of all, to be transformed we must understand what it really means.  I believe Mike covered it pretty well last week.  But let’s just rehash the basics.

Transform means to change in condition, nature, character; to convert; to change into another substance; to undergo a change in form, appearance, nature, or character.  THESE ARE ALL ACTION VERBS.  You must do something.  You must change, you must convert, you must undergo.

So that means that I have to do something.  This is not a passive type of thing.  I had to make a decision to be different, to change into what God wanted.  Which means I had to go after that transformation.

Another way to say GO AFTER is to PURSUE.  To pursue after transformation.  To be intentional to do a specific thing to make a change happen.  

Definition of Pursue – continue or proceed along (a path or route). 

When you were a kid and a friend took off on his bike and you wanted to catch up, what did you do?  You jumped on your bike and pursued until you caught up.  That’s what I’m suggesting that you do.  You can pursue at whatever pace you need to.  You can pursue on a scooter, in a family car, in a sports car, in a truck.  Whatever style of pursuit you want to operate in is fine, as long as you are pursuing transformation to be more like Jesus.

And why do we want to pursue transformation?

And why do we want to pursue transformation?

Romans 12:2,

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

…Here is one reason… that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So that you can know His will, so that you can recognize His voice, so that you can maneuver this world in a righteous manner.

Synonyms for prove:  validate, verify, demonstrate, manifest, bear out, confirm…

Here’s another reason… Prov 21:21  Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

So that you find life, prosperity and honor.

Here is a perfect example of hearing God’s voice and following His will. 

In Genesis 12:1, God spoke to Abram and said,

“Get out of your country,
From your family
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.”

Did God tell him where to go?  No, but He said to go.  Pursue.  God gave him the plan as He went.  Did Abram know all of the plan?  Did he even know where he was going?  No, he was only being obedient, pursuing God by following His voice.

Let’s look at a few synonyms for PURSUE:  go after, persevere, persist, shadow, camp on the doorstep of, run after, search for,…

My next question is:  How are you going to run after this transformation?  How are you going to go after this change, this metamorphosis?  I know that when I got born again, I did not want to be the same person I had been.  I wanted to change.  I wanted to be different.  I wanted to be what God wanted me to be.  I was determined to find out what I needed to do to change.  I pursued God by reading my bible, getting involved in the local church, stretching myself to be more like Jesus, cutting out the things in my life that did not line up with a righteous life. 

You must be intentional in your walk with God.  You have to have a mindset of wanting to change.  It is not going to happen by osmosis.

You are always moving toward something—whether by design or default.

Let me give you some examples of companies that had to change over time or they would have gone under.  They couldn’t stay in the same mode or they would have died with the times.

Xerox:  Founded: 1906

What It Used to Do: It was first founded as the Haloid Company, which manufactured and sold photographic paper.

What It Does Now: Sells toner, ink, software, scanners, inkjet printers and copy machines

Nokia:  Founded: 1865

What It Used to Do: A Finnish paper mill, rubber works and cable works company were all eventually merged together by 1967 to create the Nokia Corporation.

What It Does Now: Mobile phones, mobile games

GE:  Founded: 1892

What It Used to Do: GE first began as a way for inventor Thomas Edison to bring together all of his electric inventions, most importantly the light bulb.

What It Does Now: Gas engines, hybrid locomotives, HD CT scanners, ultra-sound devices, chemical sensors

DuPont:  Founded: 1802

What It Used to Do: Lammot du Pont developed a less expensive way to manufacture black gun powder, which also produced a stronger blast.

What It Does Now: Sells polymer adhesives, insecticides, fire extinguishers, weatherization systems

Corning:  Founded: 1851

What It Used to Do: Corning made it big by creating the glass enclosure around Thomas Edison’s light bulb, becoming synonymous with glass research.

What It Does Now: Optical fibers, cell phone covers, telescopic mirrors, television screens

3M:  Founded: 1902

What It Used to Do: Five businessmen in Minnesota tried to mine a mineral deposit for grinding-wheel abrasives. But the minerals were of little value, so they started making sandpaper.

What It Sells Now: Scotch tape, duct tape, Post-It notes, cleaning products

IBM:  Founded: 1911

What It Used to Do:  The company first sold commercial scales and punch card tabulators, and later, massive mainframe computers and calculators.

What It Does Now: Software, consulting services, IT services

Do you think these companies stayed in business because they just floated along and took whatever happened to them?  No, they were intentional to watch for changes in the industry, inventions, needs of the people.

Pursue this life of righteousness, holiness, this transformation – pursue the life God wants you to live like these companies pursue success.  Pursue this transformation as if your life depended on it.  Because IT DOES.  Your spiritual life is the only one that is eternal.  It is the only part of your life that encompasses everything else.  If you don’t develop your spiritual life, you are drifting in life just letting stuff happen to you.  You’re a child of the Living God who should have purpose and intent in your life.  Take charge and quit letting things happen to you and put God’s Word to work so that you are living the life He has ordained for you. 

Christian Living

God’s First Faith Lesson

Jaida

As I was reading through the story of Creation the other day with some friends, I first thought that I pretty much knew all I could learn from the Creation Story. So we were dissecting the different days of Creation. I remember delving into this many years ago as I was writing the curriculum for our one-, two-, and three-year-olds for the church pre-school. I remember finding it difficult to break the days into the 7 day period with visuals to go along with them for our little ones. But I am always looking for a challenge, and I conquered it soundly.

As we were reading through it this time, I found something I had never seen before. God’s first faith lesson to His people. It might be that it was a different translation that stood out to me.

I hope I do not bore you with looking at the many scriptures, but I want you to see the pattern that I stood out to me and brought revelation to the story of Creation.

Gen 1:3: “Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.“

Gen 1:6: “Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened.“

Gen 1:9: “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened.“

Gen 1:14: “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened.“

Gen 1:24: “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened.“

Gen 1:29: “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. 30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.“

It seems that when God speaks – that is what happens. When we are asking Him in our prayers, we must remember that if He said it, it will happen. If you know what your promises are, the promises in His Word, He will perform it.

Ezekiel 12:25: “For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it,” says the Lord God.“

God’s Word is above all else. When He says it, that is what happens. His first lesson to us concerning faith is in the first chapter of Genesis where He shows us repeatedly that what He says happens. He spoke light into existence, the sun, moon, and the stars, and all living things. His promises are for His children; our job is to know Him and His promises by studying the Word, ask and believe His Word, and then expect Him to perform it. Nobody likes to be doubted when they have given their Word, and God feels the same way.

In His first faith lesson to His people, He is showing us over and over that when He speaks, it happens. Know Him. Trust Him. Believe Him. Ask Him. Then wait for Him to perform it.

Adult Christian, Christian Living, Discipleship, Faithlife, Self-Image, Uncategorized, Women's Issues

Healthy Fear

Jaida

“How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you.”

Psalm 31:19

FEAR! What a crucial word to understand in these times! Fear can make one do crazy and erratic things. We may react in ways that are out of character or we may shrink back when we need to move forward. But there is a healthy fear that we MUST embrace in our walk with the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is a different kind of fear that the world does not understand. The biblical meaning of the fear of the Lord is a specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to Him. I have written in the margin of my Inspire Psalms by Tyndale, “not a simple fear of His Power, but a wholesome dread of displeasing Him.” I don’t know where I got that but looking back in my notes, this really stood out to me again.

We all have people in our lives that we do not want to displease. Whether that is a parent, a mentor, a boss, or a coworker, this same sense of respect must go to the next level when meditating and spending time with our Creator. I don’t want to displease my Heavenly Father just as I did not like displeasing my earthly father when I was young.

The next step is looking at Hebrews 11:6 which says, “And it is impossible to please God without faith.” To please Him (which is the opposite of displeasing Him) is to have faith in Him. This seems such a simple phrase. Some say, “I have faith” in a general term. Well, I have faith that when I flip the light switch in the bedroom, the light, and mostly like the fan, will turn on. I have faith that electricity will come through those lines somehow and give me the power needed to run everything in my house. Do I need to understand how that works? I hope not! Because I don’t! Isn’t it amazing that things work without my knowledge of how they work?

Some people want to question how God works or they won’t believe something in faith until they see it with their own eyes. And yet, we do it every day. We have faith that the cars are going to stay on their side of the road while we drive on our side. We have faith that when we pay our mortgage on time, we will not get kicked out of our house. The millions of things that happen every day are based on a faith that certain things will happen by consequence to something else happening. And yet, we doubt the very Creator of our world when He says He will do something.

To have faith in God, which in Mark 11:22 the original Greek says, “Jesus says to them, Have faith from God,” tells us that we can operate in a faith that is directly given to us from the Creator of heaven and earth, the One True God, the Holiest of Holies. To please Him is to operate in the faith that He has given us.

I know that when I have bought gifts for my grandchildren, it blesses my heart when I see him/her wearing the clothes or using the items. I don’t give something to someone for it to go in a closet. I would rather they give it back or tell me they don’t like it. And I believe God is the same way. He wants us to USE THE GIFT He has given us. It says that God gives us good gifts just as a parent gives good gifts as well.

So getting back to FEAR.

To fear Him means to reverence Him, to look up to Him, to respect and honor Him to the point of not wanting to displease Him. Now let’s look at our original scripture again.

“How great is the goodness you have stored up for those who fear you.”

Psalm 31:19.

If we fear Him (now that we understand what that really means), it says that He stores up goodness for us. Goodness can mean different things to different people. But the overall GOODNESS of God is that he never changes and only wants good for us. This does not mean bad things won’t happen to good people. Bad things definitely do happen to good people. But He is there in the storm, when things look bad, after the worst thing that can happen to you, He is there to help you through it. He is not a fair-weather friend. He is there. But we must learn to lean into Him.

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.”

Psalm 46:1

It does not say that He makes everything go away. He can’t always make consequences disappear but He’s there when we need Him. He wants us to call on Him, to lean on Him, to ask Him so that He can show His love for us.

Uncategorized

Faith Comes…

Jaida

In my last post, I talked about “Faith Is…” We defined faith, discussed the basics of faith, and discovered where it comes from.

Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

This tells us that faith comes by hearing. Hearing is a continuous verb, going on and on. We don’t just hear it one time, for it to grow. We must hear it again and again. My husband and I have not had time for gardens in the 39 years of our marriage but this year we decided that we were going to start with a couple of tomato plants. So he went to the store that has a good reputation for good plants. He talked to the person in charge and picked his brain about which one was the best. Then he brought the two plants home, and we put them in a good place for sunshine. We watered them and we were done for the day. Did we have to water them again? Did we have to water them every day? Maybe even more than one time a day in the hottest part of the summer? Are you catching on to the analogy? If we want to see growth, we have to water it every day and sometimes more than one time a day.

In Matthew 17:14-20, Jesus is disappointed with his disciples at this point for He has been teaching them and spending time with them, and yet they still did not get the faith thing. They asked Him why they could not heal the boy but He could, and He DID NOT SAY, “because I am the Son of God.” He did not say, “Well, you don’t have the same anointing that I do.”

No! Jesus says, in Matthew 17:20, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

A mustard seed is not very big, and Jesus chose that seed as an example of how small the measure of faith begins, but then it grows when we water it with the Word. And keep in mind that we have already established that at salvation, we are ALL given the measure of faith.

And then, verse 21 says this, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Jesus here does admit to the His disciples that this situation may have been more difficult than others but only because prayer and fasting would bring our faith to where it needs to be for this miracle to happen. We are not pleading with God to do something that He is already willing to do; the prayer and fasting is about us and where we are in our faith walk.

Brother Kenneth E. Hagin used to always say that when teaching the Word, what you are teaching is what people will have faith for. If the Word says, faith comes by hearing and they are hearing about salvation, then faith for salvation will come. If you are teaching on healing, then faith for healing will come. If you are teaching on holiness and living a life of godliness, then faith to live holy and godly will come.

Now let’s hear some Word that will bring faith:

In Acts 10, there is a story of a morally good man, who feared the Lord. Cornelius and his family heard the message of salvation, faith came and they are all saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and baptized.

In Acts 16:25-34 – The Jailer heard the Word of salvation, and he and his family were saved. Take time to read that story. Amazing to see that the whole family gets saved like Cornelius and his whole household. Usually, back then, that meant servants and all.

Same thing with healing!!

There are several examples of hearing the Word of the Lord about healing and faith for healing came:

Acts 14:8 and Matthew 8:8 are only two such stories. Take time to read through these stories and pick out the nuggets of truth in there for yourself.

The action that you need to take is to find scriptures that speak to what you are believing for and meditate on that.  My best friend from Rheme was told she wouldn’t have children unless she had surgery and take some medicine. They left Oklahoma right after graduation and she began meditating on the Word of God, specifically the stories of barren women in the Bible who eventually had children. They were believing for children, grew their faith in that area, and they have three children.

When we read and/or hear teaching on certain subjects, the Word does not return void.  Faith comes.  If there is an area of your life where you need something to happen, find scriptures that pertain to this, write them down, and post them all over your house. Read them out loud every time you see those notes, memorize them, and speak them. 

FAITH COMES BY HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD!!

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Faith Is…

Jaida

FAITH.  A simple word but with so many different meanings to different people and groups of people. This idea of faith could be in a person or an institution or faith in an idea or theory or an ideology. Many have faith in themselves and faith in their own abilities.

But let me talk to you about faith in a God who is life-changing, a God who is the biggest dad on the block but a blanket of comfort and peace when needed.  He is a God who looks ahead and makes a plan but who also has your back so you are not caught off guard.

Faith is for salvation, faith for healing, faith for finances, faith for believing for the salvation of family members, faith for a new job, or better pay.  In this blog, I am going to share with you three general facts about faith.

Here we go:

#1.  Faith is…a gift of God.

Eph 2:28 in the NKJV says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,“

This begins with faith for salvation.  Faith for salvation comes from hearing about Jesus and what He has done for us. This salvation is by faith alone and not works, and it is a gift of God or from God.  It is a free gift which we only have to receive.  Freely given and freely to be received.  No matter what we have done in the past, we are to receive our salvation freely because He gave His life freely.  We cheapen what He did for us if we do not receive it as a gift. 

This free gift came from Jesus taking our place on the cross as our sacrifice for our sins.  Once we hear this, believe it, and receive Jesus as our Savior, we are receiving this free gift.

This is not a natural human faith.  We believe that the sun will rise every day and set at the end of every day.  Why do we know this?  Because we see it every day.  We do not even need to understand something to believe it.  But we could apply that same thinking to the God kind of faith.

But then it says in Romans 12:3,

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.“

We have all been given a measure of faith.  Callings are different and gifts and talents are different, but we have all been given the measure of faith to invest and grow at our own pace.  But we should not stop there.  If I’ve just been given a taste of something and I really like it, I’m not going to stop a just a taste.  I want more.  That’s where our desire to know more of our Father, to grow in our knowledge of Him, and be closer to Him will drive us to take that measure of faith that is the gift of faith and make it grow.

#2  Faith is…growing more and more.   

II Thes 1:3 NIV, “We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters,[b] and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more,“

Once we receive this free gift of faith, it is our responsibility to grow this faith in the same way that we were given this body and it is our responsibility to take care of it.

Physical growth comes from:

1) being fed

2) exercising

It’s the same in the spirit.

Romans 10:17(NKJV), “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.“

This word “hearing” is a continuous verb.  It does not say “heard.”  It means that we continue to hear, a constant hearing. 

The first step in growing your faith is feeding yourself the Word of God.  Hearing and hearing and hearing.

As a child, we learned that the lights will come on when we flip the switch on the wall.  We got a real thrill once we got tall enough to flip that switch.  I bet a bunch of y’all were those kids who just kept flipping the switch and got in trouble for doing that all the time.  That actually helped develop your human faith.  Did you understand how all that worked?  I don’t know how it works now, but I know that it works.  And if it doesn’t, I know that there is a problem and I call someone to fix it. But someone told us that the light would come on when I do the switch, and faith in that system came. So it is with spiritual faith, you hear it, faith comes.

The second part of growing our faith is exercise.  Now if I decided that I was going to run a marathon, would I go out on the first day and try to run 26 miles?  Of course not.  I would have to build up to that.  It is similar in the spirit.  Begin believing for smaller things.  Basically, practice your faith.  With practice and exercise, your faith grows.

It’s the same with a baby.  A baby doesn’t start walking.  He first just moves his legs in the crib, then he holds his head up.  After that, he rolls over and gets up on his hands and knees.  Eventually, he crawls and walks.  Parents give opportunities to let those things happen.  This is the baby’s exercise.  Confidence in walking comes from all those earlier steps.  That brings me to my next point.

#3  Faith is…the confidence.

Heb 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.“

NIV says it this way, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.“

Definitions of confidence: 

  1. the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.
  2. the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.
  3. a feeling of self-assurance arising from one’s appreciation of one’s own abilities or qualities.

But in this case, our confidence is in God’s abilities and qualities.

This confidence in God’s abilities and qualities comes with the knowledge of who He is.  Knowing His character and His abilities give us the confidence that we can have faith in what He says is true.  It also gives us confidence in Him that what He promises in the Word, He will come through for us. 

Faith is…the beginning of a new life, the belief that I belong to the family of God, the hope of a future with Jesus in Heaven for eternity, the action of walking in His promises, and the list goes on.

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Walk Boldly

Jaida

Romans 8:15-17 (NKJV)

“15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba,[a] Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

Now let’s first look at verse 15:

“15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba,[a] Father.” 

In the NIV, it says it this way,

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

Another version says,

he adopted you as His own children.

Verse 15:

There is a lot here for us to discuss in just this one verse.  In the verses just before this, it is clear that the author is speaking to believers when he said, “brothers and sisters,” and he is talking about not sinning like we did before we received Jesus as our Savior.  He is admonishing us that God has given us the ability to withstand temptation and that we can make the decision to not sin because we have received the Spirit of adoption which gives us the rights and authority of the powerful family of God.

Adopted as His own children!! What do we know about adoption?  It is the action of legally making someone a part of the family and with that all of its liberties and privileges of being part of the family.  An adopted person in a family legally has the same rights and benefits just like a biological child – blood relative, but – wait a minute – God made us a blood relative through Jesus’ blood.

As a legal child of the Living God, we are part of the Royal Family of God, The Royal Kingdom of God.  And since we are a part of the Royal Family of God, then that makes you a princess in the Royal Family of God.

Now let’s picture a princess in our minds.  She has the confidence of her position in the family. She does not wonder if she is accepted as the princess or question her right to be in the family.  She does not wonder if she is good enough to be a part of the family.  SHE KNOWS and she is CONFIDENT that she is born into this family and her position in this family is as solid as a rock. That should be the same with us once we receive Jesus as our Savior.  We should be confident of our position in the family and our rights and authority that goes along with that.

Too many times I see women not living up to their potential and influence because of how she feels about herself or how she sees herself. That picture may have come from others’ opinions, society, or from past failures or lack of opportunities. But we need to KNOW how God feels about us and how God sees us. That is what really matters.  We are His princesses. And He loves us and treats us as such. His Spirit lives inside of you, the Almighty, the All-powerful, the gentle and long-suffering Heavenly Father lives inside of you. Let that just resonate inside of you for a minute. 

Let’s move to verse 16:

“ 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,…

Verse 16:

The Spirit Himself – God Himself – bears witness – this is a legal term, like in a courtroom, you have been declared as legal as it can get, that you are a child of God. “Bear witness” means to give testimony in a court of law of what is true and here GOD IS DOING THE TESTIFYING. So you are being declared a child of the Most Powerful, One and Only True God by this very same God. This is the most powerful testimony of who you are and whose you are!

In I Peter 2:9, it says, “…for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,[g] a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.”

He has claimed you as HIS VERY OWN POSSESSION.  It can’t get any better than that.  There is so much more in this scripture, but we are focusing on this part – God’s very own possession. I have some precious treasures that I have inherited from my parents, some gifts from my husband and children that are precious to me.  When I have something that is precious to me, I cherish it.  I take care of it and I make sure that it is somewhere it won’t get damaged.  Some of them, I like to put out so my friends and family can see them because they are special to me and I want to talk about them. My mother has lots of things out on her shelves, mementos, collectibles and to me it seems very cluttered. I asked her one day if maybe we could declutter a little bit and rotate these items. Put some away and then later change them out just so it was so many small cluttery items. She said that she wants to look up see something that brings a good memory to her mind. God is the same way with us as his precious possessions. He sees us as precious possessions and He loves to look down on us with fond memories and loving touches.

He cherishes us, he takes care of us, and protects us.  That is part of being His child. If you don’t feel cherished by Him, if you don’t feel special to Him, you need to spend more time in His Word and in fellowship with Him because that is where this knowledge and understanding comes from.  Knowing Him intimately and spending time with Him brings that confidence you need to know about Him and trust Him.

And then in verse 17, it really becomes clear:

“17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

An heir – the first definition says “a person legally entitled to the property and/or rank of another”

Joint-heir – shares equally with another and receives the full share when the other passes away.

Those are 2 very important points that we must consider and believe so that we can walk in the rights and authority as children of God and joint-heir with Christ.

Sometimes brothers and sisters fight over their share of the inheritance when their parents pass away but when Jesus CHOSE to come to earth to fulfill God’s plan to become our Savior, He also was CHOOSING to share in His inheritance.

Being JOINT-HEIRS with Christ means He is giving us equal share in the inheritance and all that that entails. When He took our place on the cross, poured His blood on the mercy seat, rose again and ascended to the right hand of the Father, He allowed us to become sons and daughters with Him.  God set it up this way so that we share with Christ in the inheritance equally! Isn’t that amazing to think about?

The second definition of heir – a person inheriting and continuing the legacy of a predecessor. You have inherited the title and the reputation of the Kingdom of God as well.  You have a legacy to uphold, to attest to, to consider when we are going through our lives before others. The decisions we make daily will impact the Kingdom of God negatively or positively.  Understand that He has given us everything we need, all rights and authority, to live a life that is pleasing to Him and that will draw others to Him.  And that is our responsibility as well.

There is no reason to be walking in this life insecure or uncertain for your position in the Kingdom of God is secure.  If you are born again, if you have received Jesus as your Savior, you are a daughter of the King, a princess in the Royal Family of God and no one can take that away from you!

You walk with your shoulders back and your chin up, boldly walking as a princess in the Royal Family of God.  Because we share equally with Jesus in our inheritance, this gives us permission or access to all the benefits of that kingdom.