Temptation and Faith

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
:18 of whom it was said, "In Isaac your seed shall be called."
:19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
:21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff.
:22 By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.
:23 By faith Moses, when he was born was hidden three months by his parents because they saw that he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command.
:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
:25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
:26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.
:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dryland, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.
:31 By faith the harlot Rehab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.
:32 And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.

 
Are you looking for a second chance with God? There's a widespread idea that if you once miss "God's best" you can never again render gold-medal service to Him. But in Hebrews 11, faith's 'hall of fame', we read of several who failed yet came back strong for the Lord.
Abraham, often willful and impatient in waiting for the son God had promised, demonstrated amazing faith in offering up Isaac. Jacob, the schemer who stole his brother's birthright and blessing, became a man of faith who blessed his children and worshipped God. Moses spent 40 years in Midian before leading God's people out of Egypt.
Our previous mistakes don't necessarily exclude us from serving God. His best for us is that we turn away from our sin, learn from our failures, and begin anew to follow Christ. That's how you get a second chance.

 
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Some people think temptation is sin. It isn't. Acting on the temptation is sin. The devil wants you to blame yourself when you are tempted. When you believe that you are condemned and discouraged. That is when you will act on the temptation. Then it becomes sin. So when you're tempted reject the devil's condemnation and reach for Christ's overcoming assistance.

Temptation and Correction

Heb 12: 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin.
:5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
:6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."
:7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
:8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
:9 Furthermore, we have human fathers who correct us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
:10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
God is passionately interested in our positive growth as His children. At times He needs to confront us with unpleasant circumstances to get our attention and reorient our lives to more consistently produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Don't resist God's corrective hand. Respond to His reproofs with thankfulness that He loves you enough to care about what kind of a person you are becoming.
Mt 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
God's word makes it clear that the Christian life, from start to finish, is warfare.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
The closer you draw to God the more your temptations will increase, The devil doesn't want you close to God.
As your faith grows God will allow more temptation cause He has built you up enough to withstand it. But He has also given you free will. So it is your choice whether you give in to it. You must deal with the temptation and wrestle your way to victory. Experiencing temptations is proof you are abiding in Christ. The devil doesn't have to tempt the unsaved. They are already his.

Be careful who you worship

1 Cor 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
God gives the increase. Many people sit in church week after week. Everyone there hears the same message. Some will be saved, some will recommit and others will walk away unchanged by the message that day. It is God who calls, it is God who touches the heart. If you think it is the pastor or person giving the message and not God, maybe you are worshipping that person instead of God. Something to think about isn't it? Yes God does use people to get His word across, but it is ONLY God who can change someone.

Stay on the wheel

Read Jer 18:4 this morning in a devotional. It talked about us being clay and God being the potter. This really stood out .. The Potter will not stop until the job is done. God's job would be simple if we were just inanimate lumps of clay. But we're clay animated by self-will and "we want what we want when we want it". But rather than giving in to us, or giving up on us, the Potter keeps working and reworking the clay, day after day, until we gradually begin to take on a shape He can use for His glory. This sometimes calls for radical action on His part:'But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over'. God is so committed to His objective in your life that He won't quit - even if it means allowing you to be crushed and starting the process over again. So be patient and stay on the wheel; what God has in mind for you is worth it

Do People See Your Faith?

Luke 7:1 Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum.
:2 And a certain centurion's servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die.
:3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him,
:4 and when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving
:5 "for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue."
:6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, :Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.
:7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word and my servant will be healed.
:8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having 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".
:9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, "I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!"
:10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick."

 
Do you have this kind of faith? Or do you have to see the miracle to believe it? If you have to see the proof before believing in a miracle, how do you have faith in Christ, Who you have never seen?

Joy

For the month of November I posted on facebook (as I usually do during November) something every day I was thankful for. On November 13^th when my husband of 40 years fell 6 feet from a crane onto concrete and destroyed his right rotator cuff (he will have reverse shoulder replacement eventually), and fractured his right pelvis in 3 places, you can imagine it got a little harder to find things to be thankful for if you just looked at the surface. So I dug deep and God came through and there was always at least one thing I could find joy in each day.
Are you having a hard time finding joy? There were a few people who posted comments on my posts saying they had nothing to be thankful for. They are Christians! They can be thankful for the same thing every day even if they can't find something else. They can be thankful for their salvation. For what Jesus did on the cross! I did gently try each time to point that out, but some just want to be down. It is a choice. You are awake today. Be thankful God gave you another day to tell your love ones how much you love them. If you still have trouble finding joy let's look at Galations 5:22-23.
Galations 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
So if you can't find joy, love, peace, etc. my question is do you have the Spirit of God living in you? Then ask Him to show you how to find those things and if you don't have the Spirit of God, leave me a comment and I will pray that you receive it if you would like.
BTW all replies come to my email which I check through out the day. I am always happy to pray for needs.

March 13, 2015

This morning as I was praying and thinking I was reminded that even if you only take one small step, you are still making forward progress.

My husband has been through alot the last few months since his accident. He is making slow but steady progress. That is enough. At least he is moving forward.

Do you ever feel like you are standing still or going backwards? Remember God will give you enough strength and guidance for today. That is all we are to concentrate on. Tomorrow isn't promised to anyone. We can hope for tomorrow, but we need to live today. Don't let the concerns of tomorrow steal the joy you can have in today. If things are going badly today, take joy in the fact that Jesus Christ died for you. No matter how bad today is that won't change. During the first few days after my husbands accident, it was difficult sometimes to not get overwhelmed. Our lives changed completely in the couple seconds it took for him to fall 6 foot off a crane onto concrete. But God was faithful and showed me I could find joy in the fact that my husband lived. And even though there were times I was really scared, really tired, really overwhelmed with all the decisions, I was overjoyed that my husband was alive. The few months since then have been stressful. But we have been together and he is getting better every day. His attitude is amazing! He never says he can't do whatever therapy asks him to try. He tries. Everyone has said his progress is amazing and alot of it has to do with his attitude.

We know people who are very negative. The can never find anything in their lives to be joyful about. If they know Jesus they should find joy in that, but sadly some don't. I pray for them daily that God would show them they are miserable (which most of them admit to) because they choose to not try and look for something, anything to be joyful about. Especially their salvation.

Hab 3:18Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.