Faith - What is it?

Good Monday morning!

This week's memory verse:

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exsists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Hebrews 11:6

Hebrews 11:1 says that Faith is "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

We can't see God, we have never met Jesus, we can't see or know what heaven is like...how then can we keep the HOPE alive that those things exsist AND believe the promises we have read about are true and have faith in them?

Even if you have a SLIVER of faith...even if you have a belief that you had as a child sitting WAY in the back of your mind...even if you WANT to believe and learn more about this "God thing"...Jesus says that is ENOUGH for God to work with...enough to GROW!

Matthew 17:20 records Jesus saying "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move."

The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds, but it can grow into a 12-15 foot tall plant! If you have that small faith...faith that nags at you or that tugs at your heart...making you WANT to learn more about this "God thing"...then it's up to you to plant that seed, feed it, water it, nurture it and ask God to help it grow! Have FAITH that God can and WILL help it to grow!

In KidsPraise, we help the kids understand that by reading the Bible, you are doing just that...feeding, watering and nurturing your faith seed by communicating with God through His word. There are stories in the Bible of people...people that are just like you and me (even if a few thousand years separate us)...people who sinned, were weak, but people who allowed God to take their small faith and make it grow.

There are many examples in the New Testament of Jesus commending those who show their faith to him.

Matthew 9:2 - Men bring a paralyzed man to Jesus to be healed...because of their faith, Jesus says, "Take heart, your sins are forgiven."

Matthew 9:22 - A woman touches Jesus' cloak and asks to be healed. Jesus says, "Take heart, your faith has healed you."

Matthew 8:5-13 - A Roman soldier asks Jesus to heal his servant. Jesus asks if the soldier wants him to come heal the servant, but the soldier says that he is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof, and knows that Jesus only has to speak it and the servant will be healed. Even a ROMAN soldier, non-jew...the enemy...knows who Jesus is and has FAITH that Jesus is who he says he is and has the power to heal! Because of "such great faith"...the servant was healed!

A.B. Simpson wrote, "True faith drops its letter in the post office box and lets it go. Distrust holds on to a corner of it and wonders that the answer never comes."

I think if you looked at faith in my life...there have been times you would see me holding on to the corner of the letter. Even now, I think there are certain areas of my life that I am still holding on to that corner...I just need to LET IT GO and have FAITH that God will take care of it!If I have FAITH that I am going to heaven...and I do...I need to trust that faith and that these few years that I have on earth are just the beginning of my life, really. I will have ETERNITY to enjoy the JOY God wants to give me in heaven! Why worry about things and hang on to control of things that really don't matter in the long run?

My faith started out pretty small...even up to a few years ago. I believed in God and accepted Jesus in my heart...but I really didn't KNOW enough about God to be able to watch that small seed of faith do much of anything in my life. But...in the last few years, I have studied, prayed and allowed God to have control over more things in my life, instead of hanging on to them...And in return, I have seen my small seed of faith grow and grow. I can now share my faith with others. I can look at my husband through God's eyes instead of just my own, and that has made my marriage better. I now have more peace about the "hard stuff" in my life because of that seed that has grown into a plant. Now...my plant is not that tall yet. It still has a LOT of growing to do. I have MUCH more to learn and there are still areas of my life that I am still holding on to. We are never done nurturing our "little mustard plant" faith...until we reach heaven.

Father God, thank you for allowing me to "see" my faith grow. I ask that my friends reading this might take those seeds of faith in their own hearts and nurture them enough so they can "see" them grow too! Thank you for letting me share my FAITH with people in this way!

Belief + Faith = Hope

This week's Memory verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Today's message is all about what you believe. This is the nuts and bolts of our Christian faith. It's NOT religion with strict rituals and procedures you must follow...it is in the heart...what do you BELIEVE?

I have said many times that my faith is the one thing that gets me through the day...it gives me the HOPE to keep going even when I feel like giving up. Where does that hope come from? From what I believe.

You may be reading this and NOT believe the same way I do. I have to respect what you believe because I want you to respect what I believe as well. This blog is my way to share what I believe with others...not pushing it, not arguing my points, just sharing.

In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus gives us hope for our future. Read it for yourself...I'm going to paraphrase it. If we believe in God and believe that Christ is the son of God and that he came to die for our sins and is God's gift to us, our savior, and we remain faithful to those beliefs...then we will be blessed even when we are insulted, slandered and persecuted for those beliefs. Our reward isn't here on earth. Our reward is in heaven. The gift of eternal life with our creator is our reward. All the pain, suffering, conflict and trials we face on earth will be worth it! The joys we experience on earth are JUST A GLIMPSE of the joys we will experience in heaven!

Jesus again speaks of heaven in John 14:1-4. He says he is preparing a place for us in heaven. In heaven there are many rooms...enough rooms for all of us! When we are troubled, we shouldn't worry, but rely on our faith - we believe in God and in Christ- we need to trust his promises!

Our Bible study book asks the question: if we as believers base our faith and hope on the knowledge of eternal life in heaven through Jesus Christ, why is there so much fear and despair in the world? I think it's because we get so wrapped up in our own problems and issues, we forget God's promises. We lose our connection with our living God because we don't take the time with him we need...we get lost in despair, forget about God and then figure he's not there or not powerful enough to deal with all the problems. In my opinion, that's why we are in the situations we are in in this country and all over the world. We lost sight of our God because WE stopped communicating with him.

The thing that continues to give me hope, even when I contemplate a world that has forgotten God...HE HASN'T GONE ANYWHERE! It is us...the human beings that He created that have run away from Him...HE IS STILL THERE! His promises still hold true...even if we don't believe him!

Earlier I spoke to those who might be reading this who DON'T believe as I do. Now, I want to speak to those who DO believe as I do. Jesus gave us a job to do in The Great Commission: Go and make disciples of all nations. I believe in my heart that is what we are to do: To help others see and find belief, faith and Hope in God. BUT, I also believe that we need to follow Jesus' example in EVERY STEP of that job. We are to treat ALL people with respect, even those who believe differently than we do. Live your life in kindness, make friends of other religions and faiths...show them that you act as you believe. Let God do the work in their hearts...that is HIS job. Our job is to share what we believe...not give others reasons to run the other way! I'll step off my soap box now! ;-)

There is hope for this crazy world! That hope comes from God. Hang on to that to keep the hope alive in YOUR heart...and share it with people around you!

Hope from encouragement

This week's memory verse:"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Sharing Hope

You MIGHT remember (or not!) the old Dr. Pepper commercial..."I'm a Pepper, she's a Pepper, he's a Pepper, we're a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?" (HA! Now that song will be in your head all day long!) My reason for the little song break is that I would like to change the words..."I'm an encourager, she's an encourager, he's an encourager, we're encourager, wouldn't you like to be an encourager too?" The words may not fit the old tune as well, but we should ALL be encouraging each other, every day instead of arguing and trying to get our own way and claiming that our way is the RIGHT way all the time. We ALL need encouragement from time to time...I know I do...and I am lucky to have very loving and caring friends and family who do encourage me every day. Do you ever think about how many people in this world don't have ANYONE in their lives to encourage them? No wonder there are so many sad, angry and discouraged people in the world!

Read 2 Timothy 1:3-13. Paul, who is in prison with little hope of being released, writes a letter to his friend Timothy. It is a letter of hope and encouragement for Timothy. Paul does many things in this letter that we can use as examples of how to encourage others.

First, he thanks God for his own life (even though he is in prison!) and then compliments Timothy on his work. Giving God glory for our lives shows we can put God first. And, what person doesn't want to hear praise from a mentor? It makes us feel good about ourselves! A good place to start!

Paul then goes on to give Timothy instructions - to go fan the flame of God's word...to tell others about God's plan through Jesus Christ. Since he knows that this might be a scary task in a world that has put him in prison for doing the same thing, he reminds Timothy of the gifts that God has given him, a spirit of power, love and self control. He is saying...don't be afraid...God is with you and has made you to be bold!

All the things that Paul tells him are like one big pep talk...we can and SHOULD do this for each other! For example...Our First Place for Health group, which is working on hard, life-changing life skills...we should be complimenting and encouraging each other as much as possible! The things we are doing are hard and it's easy to fail and get discouraged. But if a friend, who is going through the same thing, gives you a call, a text or an email of encouragement, that could be just what we need to keep us going!

Paul then makes a statement that may not sound so encouraging...he says Timothy should join in "suffering for the gospel." Now, what person wants to get involved in something, KNOWING ahead of time that they are going to suffer? And what do you mean suffer? I thought I was to find JOY in the gifts of the Lord???

I believe that Paul knows that Timothy will face jeers, disbelief, anger, prejudice and probably danger because of his telling the good news of the gospel. "The world" or those outside the faith, don't understand the blessings and amazing gifts of the gospel. Misunderstanding can lead to anger, prejudice, hatred and other dangerous acts, as we see today. When sharing your faith, you too may face some or all of these things.

That is why Paul's message to Timothy holds so much meaning and promise for us today. We are GOING to face suffering in this life...when we remember that we can find joy IN the suffering knowing that Christ saved us and leads us to a holy and eternal life with God through his gift...then we can hold on to that and gain strength and courage from it to get THROUGH the suffering. We need friends and supporters to remind us of that promise because when you are in the middle of the struggle, it's sometimes hard to remember. And, please remember, those that don't understand the blessings of the God's gifts...THEY NEED THIS MESSAGE... we can't stop telling the world about the gospel and our faith in it just because we are afraid of their reactions! Be bold! Maybe SOMEONE is ready to hear it and your sharing will be at JUST at the right moment!

Who can YOU encourage today? When you strengthen the faith of others through encouragement, you will be strengthening your own faith as well. Sharing HOPE with others builds HOPE around the world!!! Would YOU like to be an encourager too!!!

This week's memory verse:"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future" - Jeremiah 29:11

How do we get hope? A friend of mine sent me a message that encouraged me and praised me for always being positive and having hope in all situations in my life. He encouraged me further by reminding me that it was that hope and positive attitude that would get me through other struggles that will occur in my life. I was touched and humbled by his words. It made me happy to think that others had taken notice to how I live my life.

It also made me wonder...why can I, little old Linda from a very humble, yet blessed family, keep hope alive in a crazy, scary, selfish, greedy and fallen world? Where does that hope come from?

Our Bible study book talks today about verses in Romans that talk about where hope comes from...

Romans 15:4 - even though they were written LONG ago, the stories in the Bible about the struggles of God's people teach us lessons about endurance...God always came through. Those stories can encourage us and give us hope in our struggles today.

Romans 12:12 - "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer."

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

THAT'S IT!! All my life, those three things, reading God's word, prayer and trust in God, have stuck by me. Even during a time when I ran away from God...when I rebelled, did what I wanted even though I knew it was wrong...I KNEW those three things were still there. That HOPE never left me. That HAS to come from God, and not from myself because I KNOW I am not that good!

If you want the truth, what I truly believe in my heart, I believe that God placed the Holy Spirit in me because I invited and welcomed Him in. Even through my times of doubt, fear, disobedience and sin, that HOPE that God was there and that He would take care of me...that was always there. I didn't have to DO anything really...just believe and trust.

THAT is why I try to encourage others all the time. THAT is why I am the peace maker. THAT is why I always try to find the positive side of things...THAT is why I write this message every day......to try to encourage others to open their hearts to the HOPE that is available to them. This world can be a scary place. Why not rely on God?

Some have said that Christians are like sheep...they blindly follow a God that never makes himself known...they rely on their emotions instead of thinking with their minds. How COULD such a God exist today? Christianity gets a bad rap theses days, and many times, rightly so. All I am saying is what works for me. I believe that my hope comes from the God who created me. I have faith that this can work for you too!

Give it a try! Read God's word...say a little prayer...let your trust in the God who loves you grow. You too can see your HOPE grow and you will see getting through each day with that HOPE is a little easier!

The promise of hope

This week's memory verse:

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Hope against hope...a saying that's heard when a situation seems "hopeless," but you keep hoping that one day it will change. I am not someone who likes to think of anyone or any situation as hopeless, but I must admit that sometimes it does get hard to keep hoping for the best when all you see is the worst.

Our book leads us to read about and think about Abram and Sarah. (Genesis 12, 15:1-6) For YEARS God had promised him that he would be a father and that his son would be the beginning of many nations. If God spoke to you and made you a promise like that...you would put some stock into that promise, wouldn't you say? But what if even MORE years went by, and you and your wife were over 90 years old...your body would be tired, weak, and everyone knew they were beyond the childbearing years! Can you imagine the conversations that Abram had with God over the years that are NOT recorded in Genesis? Come on God! What in the world are you waiting for??? I am an OLD man! My wife's body can't withstand childbirth at her age? Were you just being symbolic with your promise? Are you for real?

When he was 99 years old, Genesis 17:1-8 says that God again reminded Abram of his promises, and changes his name to Abraham, which means "Father of many nations." It was TEN MORE YEARS before a son was born to Abraham and Sarah.

Paul says in Romans 4:18 "against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations."We have many promises in the Bible, which is God's instrument of communication with us, of how things are and how they are to be. It is hard for us to live in this scary and fallen world, and hang on to those promises, isn't it? But we are on this earth for maybe 80-100 years...God made these promises THOUSANDS of years ago...we have seen miracles, we have seen what faith and hope can do in our lives. Surely we can keep remembering God's promises!

There are situations in my life that I have sometimes felt were hopeless...My weight has been one of them. I have been heavy my whole life. I have had over 40 years of bad choices and bad habits...what makes me think that I can change all that now? I am learning to change those thoughts into...with God's help, why CAN'T I change? Of course I can!

My money situation seems hopeless every month when I pay my bills. There just doesn't seem to be enough to go around. My debts seem so HUGE...How am I ever going to make enough to dig out of this? I hope against hope that SOMETHING is going to happen...that I can change bad habits, make wiser choices, get a better paying job...that will help me with this stressful situation. I don't believe God is going to RESCUE me out of this...I believe and HOPE that even though it seems hopeless, God is going to lead me OUT of it! I am going to keep believing and hoping until the day I die!

Dear Lord, I ask that today, you restore to me and to my friends reading this message the gift of hope so that we may please you as Abraham did. Help us to commit all of our situations to You and wait on your timing. Amen.

Blessings From the Sun Porch: HOPE

Blessings From the Sun Porch: HOPE: "This week's memory verse:'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you ..."

HOPE

This week's memory verse:"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11

I have said many times that hope is the thing that keeps me going, and that hope comes from my faith and trust in God. There have been many times when worry and despair have clouded my days, making it hard to see a future without that heavy feeling in my heart. When you're in it, all you can see is the pain. But, because of that hope that is buried deep in my heart and soul, I did not give up during those dark times...I KNEW God was with me and I hung on to that promise in the verse above...God has plans for me...to prosper me and not harm me, AND I knew I had a future!
The hard situations in my life are nothing compared to things that have happened to others, I know. Just look at the life of Job. He lost EVERYTHING! We can only imagine the depth of despair that he found himself in. But, after losing his wealth, possessions, his CHILDREN...he didn't lose his faith! He did morn. He tore his clothes and shaved his head...but then he fell to the ground in WORSHIP. Then he lost his health as well. His wife had had it and chastised him for his continued integrity and hope...just curse God and be done with it! STILL he did not give up. He said we live with the good, why not live with the bad. "Because even if he killed me, I'd keep on hoping. I'd defend my innocence to the very end." Job 13:15
Job is a good example for us. God wants us to have hope in Him. There are many verses that God gives us to remind us of that fact. Look up the following verses for your self so you can be reminded to keep your hope alive, even in the midst of your worries and troubles.

Psalm 25:3

Psalm 33:18

Psalm 33:20

Psalm 147:11

I pray that you never are in a Job situation, but whatever life issues you find yourself in, I pray the patience and hope of Job for you!