Abundant Faith or Lack of Faith – Which do You Have?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Faith is an interesting concept but what is faith exactly? Hebrews 11:1 says “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. The dictionary (http://www.dictionary.com/) has several definitions but the one that stuck is this one: the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

So how do we obtain faith? What you believe and what you put your faith in is up to you. The Bible says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You have to hear the word of God to obtain faith in Him and once you have obtained that faith, you have to strengthen it continually through the word of God. If you are hearing and believing anything that is not the word of God, then your faith is misplaced and you have believed and trusted in lies. When we come to Christ, the measure of faith with which each one of us believed may vary. For some of us, we have believed wholehearted and continued to strengthen that faith by soaking up the word of God. We are feeding our spirit with the word and our faith gets stronger. For some of us we may have believed with a mustard seed of faith and struggle to develop it as we should because maybe we don’t know that our faith grows as we soak up the word. If that is the case, let me encourage you. You can strengthen your faith in God and see His glory in your life. Spending time in God’s word and in prayer are essential to your spiritual growth. If you have a hard time understanding the Bible, no worries, you are not alone! None of us understand the Bible the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 10th time we read the Bible through! It takes time, meditation, guidance and illumination from the Holy Spirit and determination on your part to keep reading and memorizing even when you don’t get it. One day you will sit down to meditate and study the Scriptures and a light bulb will go on in your mind and spirit and you will say “Wow! I must’ve read this verse a hundred times and now I get it!” As you memorize Scriptures and you speak the word of God, you are reaffirming your faith and establishing the word of God in your life. Make it personal! Apply it to yourself and your situation and see what happens! Praise God!

The second verse today is in Hebrews 11:6 – but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When we were God’s enemies (living in sin) we could not please Him because our faith was not in Him, we didn’t care much about the consequences of our lifestyles because we were pleasing our sinful nature at the time; but once you come to Christ, it is your responsibility to seek God, pray, study His word, and build yourself up in faith. If you neglect these things and you have a mustard seed of faith, it is quite possible that that seed will shrivel up and you will find yourself back where you started because you could not believe. Friends, God wants intimacy, friendship, and trust from His creation. When we believe that He is who He says He is we are showing trust in Him. When we commit our lives to Him and are obedient to Him and do what His word says to do we are saying that we trust Him, we believe Him. When we trust Him, we love Him. He knows what we are made of. He knows what we are going to think before we think it, what we are going to say before we say it, He knows what we are going to do before we do it. His plan for us was written before we were born, everything we do and go through in this life does happen without His knowledge. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! If you seek Him daily you will find Him! God is infinite, He is everywhere but He longs for us to invite Him in. To humble ourselves before Him and seek His presence, His counsel, His love, His conversation, sometimes just His ear! If you seek Him you will find Him! You have to be persistent and consistent. Don’t get discouraged because you sought Him today and you didn’t get the answers you wanted, or you didn’t see what you wanted to see. God does things in His time and He will reward you for being diligent in your pursuit of Him by answering your petitions, by speaking to your heart, by comforting you, by whispering in your ear, by revealing Himself to you. But He does everything in order and if you are not ready for what He has for you, He will wait till you are and you have to keep pressing on. Let us take up our shield of faith that can only be activated and exercised, used effectively, when our faith is grounded and founded in the word of God. Praise the Lord! As the Lord told Jeremiah to eat the scroll, I tell you eat the word of God! Eat the book and feed your spirit! Of course I don’t mean literally eat it but read it, study it, meditate on it, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your mind and bind all spirits that would try to keep you from feasting on the word of God, because when your mind is soaked up in the word your faith is strengthened and you are able to take up your shield of faith and quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. Hallelujah!!

Soar Like an Eagle

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5

This is one of my favorite Psalms. It expresses the gratitude that is in my heart for all the Lord has done for me. When I am going through a trial, I think of the first verse and tell myself, regardless of what my surroundings look like, I must bless the Lord with all my soul. I can’t forget where He brought me from, all that He’s done for me, how He placed my feet upon a rock. Some of us were born and raised in the church and that in itself is a blessing, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t experience things that people who weren’t raised in the church experience. For this reason we cannot forget all His benefits. We can’t forget how He saved us, washed us, restored us, healed us, gave us a new name. We cannot forget these things because though we are saved and Holy Ghost filled, we are human; and as humans we are prone to imperfection. We are prone to forget the good things God has done for us. We are prone to forget that because He loved us, we should love others. We are prone to forget that He who called us is faithful to deliver us from anything and everything. You see, we forget sometimes that God is with us when we are struggling. We forget that He is with us when we fall and don’t know how to get back up. He is right there with His hand stretched out saying get up, I got you. When I think about that it fills me with awe, gratitude, and amazement that God is so patient with His children. I would’ve lost patience with myself a long time ago, but God is not impatient. He continues to love us, lead us, correct us, and mold us into the people He has chosen us to be; a holy nation and a royal priesthood. That is who we are to Him. He forgives our sins; He heals our bodies, souls, and minds. He redeems us from the price we should have paid for our sin. He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies! He is awesome!!! He is ever loving and merciful towards us, even when He is correcting us; He does it with mercy and love. Hallelujah!!!

Bless the Lord Oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name!! Glory to God!! I get excited when I think about what He’s done for me. He gives us good things and when we are tired and weary from the battle and the struggling, He gives us strength to fly like eagles. The word says He satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. God is just amazing! To renew us like the eagle is to strengthen us so that we can continue will full force like the eagle when he soars in the sky. There will be days when we will soar in the glory of the Lord. When we will be so high and full of Him, that we may think nothing can touch us and we praise Him. But there will be days when we will be weary and we will have to battle and on these days we need to praise Him even more because He is the one that renews our youth in those times. Praise be to God Almighty!!

Return to the Lord

Return, O backsliding children,” says the LORD; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. Jeremiah 3:14-15


As I read chapter 3 of Jeremiah yesterday and got to these two verses in particular I was touched by God’s love and mercy for us. Actually from verse 12 I was impacted by the word of God. The book of Jeremiah is written specifically for the people of Israel during Jeremiah’s time but like every book of the Bible it still applies today. There are so many who once served the Lord fervently and for whatever reason have gone after other “gods”.

Verses 12 and 13 say this:
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the LORD. Jeremiah 3:12-13

The backsliding Israel of today is the church. The church that has compromised herself to things of this world, the church that has become lax in what the word of God says in regards to sin and the life a Christian should live. Notice how the last part in verse 13 says – “and have scattered your charms to alien deities under every green tree and have not obeyed my voice.” There are many who are not teaching the unadulterated word of God, men and women who profess Christ but are not obeying His voice. People today think that being a Christian does not involve change or transformation. They think that they can call themselves Christians and continue to live their lives the way they always have before receiving Christ, but as my Pastor is fond of saying – if there is no transformation then that person has not received Christ in his heart because when Christ comes in to your heart, there has to be a change.

These “shepherds” who are not tending their flock the way God commands, not instructing them in how to live a holy life, a life pleasing to the Lord, will one day stand before the throne of God and give account for those of their flock who are lost. I think I just got way off topic but going back to verses 14 and 15 what touched me the most or what spoke to me the loudest was verse 15 where the Lord says that He will provide shepherds according to His heart who will feed the backsliding children with knowledge and understanding. I thought that was awesome!! There are men and women of God who have not compromised! Who have not bowed their knees to foreign gods, men and women of God who are according to His heart and obey His voice! These are the men and women God will use to shepherd His backsliding children, those who have erred for whatever reason. These “shepherds” according to God’s heart will instruct the children with and in knowledge and understanding on how they should live before God Almighty!

God is a jealous God and does not share His glory, but He is not jealous of us, (as I once heard someone say they didn’t understand how He could be jealous and still be a loving God) instead He is jealous for us! It is a holy jealousy, unlike the jealousy that often attacks the minds of human beings. He says that He is married to us! When the people of Israel went after foreign gods they were considered harlots living in adultery against God! God is merciful but He is also a consuming fire, a just God who does not tolerate sin.

In verse 12 He tells the people of Israel to return to Him and He will not be angry with them anymore because He is a merciful God. That is just so amazing! These were people who tried God’s patience as many of us have at some point in our lives, and worshipped foreign gods yet God was saying I will forget all about that if you return to Me and serve Me. Praise God for His mercy that lasts forever. For those of you who are preparing for ministry or are already in ministry – be one of those shepherds according to God’s heart. Do not compromise anything the Lord puts in your hands. Do not bend to wicked ways of this world. Teach the word of God just as He gives it to you. Exhort the people just as God asks you to. Obey His voice at all times and separate yourself from those things that would put you in a compromising position. Praise God!

Heavenly Father,
I pray for all those who are according to Your heart who will lead your backsliding children in knowledge and understanding of who You are and how to live for You. Thank you for Your everlasting mercy. Continue to lead these men and women You have called in all that You have for them and strengthen them to resist anything that would attempt to compromise them and their ministries. Father I pray for those backsliding children that they would realize the greatness of Your mercy and their need of You in their lives and return to You because You have already provided those that will instruct them and help them walk in the straight and narrow path. I give You glory, honor, and praise for Your love, mercy, and eternal patience with Your creation who rebel and don’t always obey. Help us to be obedient and to live according to Your will. In Jesus mighty name,
Amen.

Thanksgiving

Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.
Psalm 100

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and many of us will be spending the holiday with our loved ones. For some of us it will be different as we will be in unfamiliar surroundings spending the day with relatives not seen in a very long time or relatives we’ve never met before. For others there will be special people who will not be able to physically attend the festivities but are with us in spirit. Some of us will be alone on the holiday and choose to leave it that way. However we decide to spend it, one thing we should all be doing no matter where we are or who we are with, is thanking God for all of His provision and protection. Maybe it hasn’t been the best year for some of us, but the fact that we are still breathing and standing is reason enough to give thanks. Perhaps we are a bit cynical and can’t see what there is to be thankful for, well here is a list of things that we can all agree on:
We can be thankful that we can breathe – some people need help to breathe, yet we can breathe on our own.
We can be thankful that we have all our body parts – some people don’t and they work extra hard to survive while we take it for granted.
We can be thankful for the roof over heads, the food on our table, and the family we have – some people are homeless, hungry, and have no family.
Most of all we should be thankful for God’s mercy on us, after all, we could be in worse situations than we have experienced this past year, yet God has protected us, provided for us, and kept us in the stormiest moments of our lives. So maybe it hasn’t been the best year in your opinion, yet there have been miracles in between those hard times such as, a loved one getting married and finding joy in his/her new spouse, a new baby being born to a friend or relative, a prodigal son or daughter comes home, someone you love received salvation in this past year. We must be grateful for ALL that God does for us, even the seemingly insignificant things such as your car not stalling on you this morning or the traffic light that kept you 5 minutes away from being in an accident. Psalm 100 says in verses 2 and 4: “Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing.” “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name.” Let us remember this Thanksgiving Day to thank God for all our blessings big and small and for the trials too because they make us better people in the end. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Where can you go?

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10


How many of you know the story of Jonah? Jonah was a prophet who God had sent to a country where sin abounded. Frankly Jonah didn’t like these people and didn’t want to go, so instead of going where God sent him, he went the other way. The Psalmist David asked the Lord where can he go from His Spirit? In other words where can I hide from Your Spirit?? God is all seeing and all knowing and you cannot hide from him. Jonah soon found this out as God created a storm around the boat he was in and he had to have the crew throw him off the ship in order to save them because he knew the storm was because of his disobedience and flight. So now David continues, if I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. Isn’t that beautiful?? No matter where we are, God is with us, leading us and guiding us. Jonah was swallowed by a fish and there God was dealing with him. When he repented of his disobedience, the fish spit him out and he landed in Nineveh where he gave the message that God had given him for the people there and they repented and were saved from the wrath of God. God pursues us with relentless love, no matter where we are He is there with us. A word of advice for those who think they can hide from the Lord – stop running. You cannot hide from God. You may be able to hide from me or your Pastor or the church but you CANNOT hide from God. Jonah could not hide on the ship going to Tarsus and he could not hide in the belly of the fish. Sooner or later you will realize that God is everywhere. What man cannot see, He can. When you are afflicted and struggling, God is there with you also. There are times when what God asks of you doesn’t make sense to you, but be obedient because you will have to give account as to why you disobeyed. You cannot hide. God’s hand shall lead you and His right hand shall hold you. Isn’t that awesome!! Praise God!! No matter what your situation is God will hold you! When you feel like you want the earth to open up and swallow you whole, God’s right hand will hold you. He will lead you. He will order your steps and lead you in the path of righteousness for His namesake. David understood that God is omnipresent – He is everywhere. And because He had a relationship with Him, he knew that no matter where he was, God would be there also.

He is with you in the Valley

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalms 23:4

It is so comforting and encouraging to know that when we are going through the darkest times of our lives, God is with us. Not only is He with us but He comforts us, He strengthens us, He fills us with His peace. It is an amazing thing to go through something that without Jesus would crush you to the point of despair, yet you feel perfect peace because your mind is stayed on Him and He is with you. We should remember this verse in times of trouble, adversity, trials, loneliness, despair, and discouragement. Though I walk through the valley, the desert, where there is no refreshment, through seasons of dryness and despair, I will fear no evil because You are with me. I will not fear the adversity, the loneliness, the length of time it takes to get across the desert. I will not fear what the enemy would try to throw in my way to discourage me. I will not fear those who murmur against me and try to tear me down. I will not fear the bill collectors and the rent that is due. I will not fear the sickness that is trying to attack and overtake my body. I will not fear anything that comes against me, the stumbling blocks, the mountains and the giants. I will not fear because You are with me. You are my rock and my fortress, Your rod and Your staff they comfort me. I can lean You and You support me. When I’m tired and thirsty, You give me rest and quench my thirst. When I can’t go on, You give me strength to fly on eagle’s wings. When I am depressed, lonely, confused, and discouraged, You give me joy, peace, companionship, and motivation. You remind me that You are with me, that You are my strength. You remind me that You will not leave me nor forsake me. You remind me that I am not alone but You are right next me, feeling every pain I feel, crying every tear I cry, it is You that carries me when I can go no more. Oh praise God for His infinite love and mercy! Thank you Lord for Your comfort and peace! Thank you Lord for always being there when we think no one is! /Thank You Lord for sustaining us in the valley of the shadow of death! When death would pursue us, You encourage us to press forward and give us life. Thank You Lord for Your faithfulness! You are awesome Father and we worship You this morning and give You glory. We love You with all that is within us. Let us take a moment to reflect on those times when God was closest to us and how He brought us through.

Why Tithe?

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Malachi 3:10

I remember the first time I heard about tithing and saw the brothers and sisters go up with their tithes. I asked the Pastor “what are they doing” and “what is tithing”? She explained to me that it is taking ten percent of your earnings and giving it to the Lord. Of course God doesn’t need our money but those He has called to labor in ministry do. I quickly said “I want to tithe!” She smiled at me with love and I began to tithe immediately afterward. It was and still is a joy for me to tithe. The bible tells us that when we tithe, God opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings upon us. I am a witness of God’s faithfulness in this area. I have lacked for nothing. It says to test Him, if He will not bless as He says He will. God is awesome. If you notice the verse says “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house….” What does that mean? God has no need for food but His people do! In Israel the priests were dedicated solely to the work of God, ministering in the temple. They could not go out and work for a living or at least they weren’t supposed to. But there came a point where they had to because the people were not tithing and they had to survive. That there may be meat in mine house refers to providing for the priests and the Levites who ministered to the Lord in His temple day and night. Today those priests are our Pastors, who have dedicated themselves to full time ministry and need sustenance. It is our responsibility to sustain our Pastors and the church ministry through our tithes and offerings. If you have not experienced the joy of tithing start today, test God, and see how He will open the windows of heaven and bless your socks off to where there is no room for you to receive it all. If you have, testify to others who may not have, about God’s faithfulness in this area so that they too can partake of the blessings. God is faithful to those who are faithful even to those who are not, yet He reminds us of the importance of tithing and the blessing behind it.