We were created for relationship and ministering unto the Lord is of great delight to Him. When we praise and worship who He is and what He has done in our lives, it blesses God. It's hard to imagine that we can bless God. It would seem God has all He needs to be blessed, but obviously He had a need to create Adam and Eve and wanted relationship.
Faith also pleases God. Our faith in Him and in His Word. Our belief of The Word rather than what the world and our physical realm tells us. It's a huge choice to make. What will we believe? If you're watching the media (television, newspapers, magazines, online news feeds), your mind will struggle to believe the Word because we definitely live in a counter-culture to The Word of God.
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| © Donna L. Watkins - Front Walkway in June |
Our mind, will and emotions are generally what is placed at the control panels. It's a great default because the sad fact is that many Christians are not even reading their Bibles. With multi-media within the church setting, most do not even take a Bible to church.
So, how can we choose to believe The Word when we don't know it. Fifteen minutes a day reading a devotional with a couple of Scriptures in it does not overcome the flood of input that is often received from the media we are soaking up online and from the television.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please God." We can't build our faith and belief in HIs Word if we're not spending a great amount of time in it. We spend so much time complaining and rehearsing our problems, rather than finding a Truth to take into our hearts to resolve them.
Proverbs 4:20-22 has a great promise to stand on: "My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh."
If we believed that we would be soaking in and speaking God's Word all day long. That's the kind of guarantee I can count on! When we buy an appliance we look at what the warranty is in case it breaks, but when we have problems or a health crisis, do we think about God's promises which are forever true and faithful? There is so much self-help stuff in the marketplace today, for those who buy into the "if it's to be, it's up to me" mentality. Even within the church there is an endless procession of methods and 12-step programs.
I believe the reason more Christians are not turning to God and His Word is because they don't really know Him. They don't believe He is a good God because there is confusion between the Old Testament covenant and the New Testament covenant that Jesus ushered in. The True Nature of God is not understood by many Christians.
Hebrews 11 mentions many characters of faith in the Bible, but have you ever thought about their individual lives? We think we have to be good and sinless to be in relationship with God. When we truly know Him and love Him we will want to do all that is right and good, but God has forgiven us of ALL our sins when He placed judgement on Jesus. ALL - past, present and future. Jesus is no longer dying for sins we're committing now. Don't let sin keep you away from Him. When you get a revelation of His love for you, avoiding sin will be effortless.
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| © Donna L. Watkins - Rail Trail, Palmyra, VA |
According to Leviticus 18:11, it was an abomination for a man to lay with a half sister. Sarah, Abraham's wife, was his half sister (Gen. 20:12). Abraham's marriage to Sarah did not please God. Abraham had already lied about Sarah not being his wife, even allowing a man to commit adultery with his wife, so that he could save his own neck (Gen. 12:10-20). Right after this situation is when the Lord counted Abraham's faith for righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Abraham tried to accomplish God's will in the flesh with Hagar (Gen. 16) and then repeated the terrible sin of denying that Sarah was his wife again (Gen. 20).
Looking at the life of Abraham and the favor he had with God, you have to see that it was not his sinless lifestyle that ruled his relationship with the Lord. It's the same with any of us. The only thing that we can do to please God is put faith in Jesus as our Savior and to believe His Word. God is not an angry God. He loved us enough to sacrifice His Son. To come to the earth with the limitations of a human body and to take all of man's sin, sickness and disease upon Himself so that we could again have personal relationship with Him, as He designed in the Garden of Eden, and to live life more abundantly through Him.
"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
This world is messed up because there are evil people who choose not to follow God and there are good people who make wrong choices. Satan uses them both for his deceitful purposes. But we have the promise that we can live above this because Jesus overcame the world. Obviously we don't believe it because we have too much worldly input and not enough time in the Truth.
If you have time to worry over things all day long while you go about your job and tasks, you can hide the Word of God in your heart and meditate on it all day long. Worry is simply a bad form of meditation. God has given us life-filled words that can overcome our present circumstances. Romans 8:6 says, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace." Do we want peace? Then we have to get our mind off the physical realm and into the spiritual realm. It's available to all!
"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" Deuteronomy 30:19
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