Monday, February 1, 2010

Daily Devotional Day & Night

Today's scriptures are about Faith in God, who we've never physically seen. Jesus was a teacher of Faith, and He always made sure that we know of its importance. He was harder on His followers because they were actually there walking with Him, and witnessed the wonderful miracles He performed. it frustrated Him that they still didn't have strong Faith. We have stories like the one when Jesus and the prophets were on a boat, and a great storm came, Jesus was at the bottom of the boat sleeping, yet the rest of the crew was panicking. They woke Him up and asked, "You see we're about to die, why are you just laying around sleeping?" Jesus simply said: “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The only response the others had was: "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matt. 8:23-27) Could you imagine being there and Jesus looking at you like you're crazy? They had the all mighty Christ on board, and they’ve confessed Him as such, yet they were still afraid. Jesus has taught over and over again that we could trust Him, and He will never let the righteous fall, yet we still fail to do so. After all, Faith is merely trust. We're taught that God is always with us, Jesus lives in our heart, and there's no need to worry or fear, yet when the storms of life hit we panic, instead of going to the only person who could calm the storm. God has plans for us, and sometimes they don't always coincide with our plans, and we're tested to strengthen our Faith. Just like the story of when Jesus walked on water, and He called Peter out to join Him. As long as Peter kept his focus on Jesus he stayed on top of the water, but as soon as a little wind blew, and he focused on his "situation" he started to sink. (Matt. 14:22-33) Jesus reply is always "O ye of little Faith, why do you doubt"? Have you ever been in a situation where you called on Jesus for help, and things were going great, but as soon as the task became harder, and you were tested further, things just turned horribly wrong? In every situation like this, things won't get better until we turn to Jesus, and keep our faith in Him. What is your answer to Jesus' question, "why do you doubt"? If Jesus gives us promises like, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you." (Luke 17:6), then why do we still doubt? The answer to that question is obvious, but it comes to each of us in due time. It's written, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4) Habakkuk was a Prophet who was caught up in a world full of calamity and strife, and he complained to God about the wicked things going on around him. God answered Habakkuk with the truth, and explained basically that you reap what you sow, and the things that his nation were going through was a direct result of the things they had done in the past. God told Habakkuk to write this down, and by faith he did. He vowed to continue to praise God, and rejoice in the Lord for his personal deliverance. We learn from the Gospel of Jesus that there are three major things we must possess in order to inherit that abundant life that He came to give, and they’re love, faith, and obedience to God's word. Love is the greatest of the three, but when we love Him with all of our heart, that means that we've experienced His unconditional love for us. When that happens, we'll have faith in Him, and be obedient to His will for us. The first act of obedience would be to step out of the boat, and walk to Jesus. Once He has your hand, He'll never let you sink. Pray and ask Him to come into your life as Lord and Savior, and keep your eyes on Him, He'll do the rest. My favorite verse today is: In whom ye trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13)

ENJOY! http://www.bible.com/scripture-detail.php?juli=2455229&dtype=Scripture
http://www.intouch.org/site/pp.aspx?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943197
http://www.intouch.org/site/apps/nl/newsletter.asp?c=cnKBIPNuEoG&b=4943547

I love you!

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