Category Archives: Faith

Faith is what spurs us to reach higher, stretch further, dig deeper, and press our natural boundaries in hopes that we can exceed all expectations.

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He IS faithful

He says when you’re tempted to lose faith because of your suffering, when things are really hard, rest on the power of God. Rely on the God, “who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).

Before a promise was ever broken or a friend ever betrayed or disappointed, before a dream or desire was ever left unfulfilled, our responses were intended, planned by God to make known the glory of his grace in Jesus. He drew us a real-life picture of his love with the body and blood of Jesus Christ, who suffered for us. When we’re feeling discouraged and defeated, we’re called to remember that God loved us from long before we were born. He revealed his purpose to save us and his grace to sustain us in these trials through the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior, his Son, Jesus, the Messiah. (Oh, God. Thank you. You are the breath in my lungs. The only good in me.)

Paul says he abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Immortality means a life that lasts forever. And life means much more than breath in our lungs and a heartbeat. It means a full life, an abundant life, a joyful life, a life worth wanting forever. We can’t pray long enough or prepare well enough for the things He works in our lives. But James reminds us “The prayer of a righteous man has great effectiveness.” In Jesus, not only will we not die, we’ll taste true life, the life we ache for now, and we’ll have it forever. No one can ever take it from us.

Our knees are down, our faces are up, and our Bibles are open but what we need is Heaven wide-open and grace spilled down in a drenching flood. We want God to reveal Himself in a way we can’t ignore or recover from anytime soon. i am praying with all my heart for a revival. He IS faithful. That I know. “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…To Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

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Everlasting God

I am in awe this morning of God’s love for me. I feel his touch soothing the hurts from what this world has offered. Though others may come and go, He always remains. As I walk one with the Father, hand in hand, He is heavy on my mind in every moment. My security rests in the unified identity developed in Christ. Though the wind may blow and the seas toss around me, this daily walk cannot be rocked because my foundation is in the solid Rock of All Ages. My joy is everlasting in His word and my love lived out in His obedience. My freedom I gain from His provision. When all is gone, I assuredly remain standing in the promises and hope, the joy and love that He so graciously gives.

“One thing I know that I have found Through all the troubles that surround You are the Rock that never fails.

You never change, You’re still the same You are the Everlasting God You will remain after the day is gone and the things of earth have passed”

What an amazing, everlasting God!

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What is love

John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life”.

From time to time I will hear someone say “I would die for you” in a profession of love but the test of this statement does not come when faced with the literal grave. The test of Jesus’s living words were given to be lived out everyday of our lives.

So what does that mean “that someone lay down his life”? I believe its a spiritual death to our human desires that Jesus is referring to here. That if we say we love someone, then our wants and desires are laid to rest, put in the grave for the sake of those we love.

Not by your profession, but ’how’ have you laid down your life today? That is your testimony of this scripture lived out.

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The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— “This is the work of God, that you believe. . .”. God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source. -Utmost For His Highest

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Thoughts For Life’s Journey

George Matheson of Scotland echoes the discipline of his personal despair in his discipline of his personal despair in his book Thoughts for Life’s Journey when he book Thoughts for Life’s Journey when he writes: My soul, reject not the place of thy writes: My soul, reject not the place of thy prostration! It has ever been the robing prostration! It has ever been the robing room for royalty. Ask the great ones of room for royalty. Ask the great ones of the past what has been the spot of their the past what has been the spot of their prosperity; they will say, “It was the cold prosperity; they will say, “It was the cold ground on which I once was laying.” Ask ground on which I once was laying.” Ask Abraham; he will point you to the Abraham; he will point you to the sacrifice of Moriah. Ask Joseph; he will sacrifice of Moriah. Ask Joseph; he will direct you to his dungeon. Ask Moses; he direct you to his dungeon. Ask Moses; he will date his fortune from his danger in will date his fortune from his danger in the Nile. Ask Ruth; she will bid you build the Nile. Ask Ruth; she will bid you build her monument on the field of her toil. her monument on the field of her toil. Ask David; he will tell you that his songs Ask David; he will tell you that his songs came from the night. Ask Job; he will came from the night. Ask Job; he will remind you that God answered him out remind you that God answered him out of the whirlwind. Ask Peter; he will extol of the whirlwind. Ask Peter; he will extol his submission in the sea. Ask John; he his submission in the sea. Ask John; he will give the palm to Patmos. Ask Paul he will give the palm to Patmos. Ask Paul he will attribute his inspiration to the light will attribute his inspiration to the light that struck him blind. Ask one more-the that struck him blind. Ask one more-the Son of Man. Ask Him whence has come Son of Man. Ask Him whence has come His rule over the world. He will answer, His rule over the world. He will answer, “From the cold ground on which I was “From the cold ground on which I was lying-the Gethsemane ground; I received lying-the Gethsemane ground; I received my sceptre there.” Thou too, my soul, shalt be garlanded by Gethsemane. The cup thou fain wouldst pass from thee will be thy coronet in the sweet by-and-by. The hour of thy loneliness will crown thee. The day of thy depression will regale thee. It is the desert that will break forth into singing; it is the trees of thy silent forest that will clasp their hands.”

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The Unsurpassed Intimacy of Tested Faith

Jesus said to her, ’Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ —John 11:40

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, “It’s all a lie”? When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42).

Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, “I believe ’God shall supply all [my] need,’ ” the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” (Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end . . .” (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God—trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6). -My Utmost For His Highest: Oswald Chambers

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“Rock Bottom”

A new look at the phrase “rock bottom”. Many people use this to say they’ve reached their lowest in life. When I hear that reference, I think about how when we reach our “bottom” in life, that’s where we find the Rock. He never leaves, its just that sometimes it takes us reaching the bottom to find Him. We can go to the depths and He is there. Though we walk through the valleys… He is there. When we reach “rock bottom”, He, the Rock himself, is there.

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Walk while you have the light

Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mountaintop with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness. “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23).

The moment you forsake the matter of sanctification or neglect anything else on which God has given you His light, your spiritual life begins to disintegrate within you. Continually bring the truth out into your real life, working it out into every area, or else even the light that you possess will itself prove to be a curse.

The most difficult person to deal with is the one who has the prideful self-satisfaction of a past experience, but is not working it out in his everyday life. If you say you are sanctified, show it. The experience must be so genuine that it shows in your life. Beware of any belief that makes you self-indulgent or self-gratifying; that belief came from the pit of hell itself, regardless of how beautiful it may sound. Your theology must work itself out, exhibiting itself in your most common everyday relationships. Our Lord said, “. . . unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20).In other words, you must be more moral than the most moral person you know. You may know all about the doctrine of sanctification, but are you working it out in the everyday issues of your life? Every detail of your life, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, is to be judged and measured by the standard of the atonement by the Cross of Christ. -My Utmost For His Highest

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Never Give Up

3 words, never.give.up. This life that we live is a fight to the finish. I was watching the Olympics the other night and they flashed back to 2008 where one of the female runners who was doing hurdles stopped almost toward the end of the race, fell to her knees and cried. She didn’t even finish. I said, “Wow, that is horrible. She didn’t even finish and now she is being ‘glorified’ as a strong runner?” I heard a voice inside. How many times have I fell down during the race to my knees and sobbed? Poor me, I did so horribly, I failed, I didn’t have the victory. And I stop right there in the middle of it all. But God… He encourages us as His children to get back in the race. To train harder for the next go around. To face forward with our eyes on the prize. To be determined. To realize the fullness we have when we are running as opposed to when we are not. Sometimes it takes a coach, an encouraging peer whom God will place in our lives to get us on track. But many times, as I have found in my own life, it is God Himself. He knows it all, He knows us through and through better than we know ourselves. And when we are straining and agonizing as we feel pain and pressure in our race we have to remember the victory in order to press on. The other side of the line. Never.Give.Up.

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While you were asleep

Psalm 121:4 says that our God neither slumbers nor sleeps. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, it was always easier to fall asleep knowing my dad was awake and sitting out in the living room with the light on. Even more so, your heavenly father is ALWAYS awake, so you can go ahead and rest peacefully knowing that He is not only awake, but He loves you and is watching over you. Can you trust Him to handle things while you’re sleeping? He holds every single day of your life in His hands and NOTHING can snatch you from the Father’s hands!(John 10:29). Next time you can’t sleep, remind yourself that God holds your life in His hands; He has you engraved on His palms (Isaiah 49:16).