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This Week’s Devotional Topic
HAVE FAITH
I remember when a popular casual goodbye was “Keep the faith”. Having ridden with motorcycle groups over the years, it would often be “Keep the faith baby!”
Telling someone to ‘keep the faith’ is their way of encouraging you to continue to believe in, trust, or support someone or something (in some cases) when it is difficult to do. The God of the universe wants you to have faith in Him.
Having a good understanding of Who God is, his attributes, character and knowledge, wisdom and power should make it a ‘no brainer’ to ‘keep the faith’ but there are three elements that are constantly fighting with us against that. The World, the Flesh and the Devil constantly work to downplay Who God really is. We see that evidenced at the very beginning of the human race, in the garden of Eden. Another blatant example of that having and then losing faith is when we read about the Children of Israel during their wanderings between their exodus from Egypt and then ultimately in the promised land. Several times they were awestruck by God and/or His abilities or character, then shortly after each time of faith came the outstanding lack of faith displayed by them.
Let’s look at information from the Bible about “faith”. You might want to fasten your spiritual seat belt as there are a lot of ups and downs, strong faith, then significant doubt.
Deuteronomy 32:19,20 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
Here’s lack of faith regarding God’s ability to provide.
Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Matthew 9:28-30 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened;
The Faith of a Centurion!
Matthew 8:5-10 When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
You should be familiar with account of Peter walking on the water.
Matthew 14:28-31 And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Having trouble keeping the faith? How much time have you invested in God’s word today, learning about and meditating on Him? Just like Peter walking on the water, keep your eyes on Him so you won’t get your feet wet.
If you want a big shot in the arm of faith, then go to the “Faith chapter”, Hebrews 11. Here are just a few important ‘bullet points’ for us to learn from.
Verse 1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Verse 11 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
Verse 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
Verse 6,7 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
Have faith in God that no matter what is happening in your life, your City, County, State, our Country or this world, this world is not our home. Keep your eyes on Jesus and remember that He is preparing a place for us that where He is, we will be!
This week’s Scripture:
Deuteronomy 32:19,20; Matthew 6:30; 8:5-10; 9:28-30; 14:28-31 and Hebrews 11
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