Faith (Page 8)

Faith (Page 8)

Naturally Supernatural

“Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.’ But Jesus said, ‘You feed them.’” – Mark 6:35-37a [NLT] Jesus shocked His disciples when he told them to feed the multitude of people. Little did they know that they already had all they needed to provide food for the…

Change Our Thinking

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:1-2 [NKJV] To live a life that’s acceptable to God, we have to change our thinking. When we have…

Cleaning Up Our Junk

Both I and my cousin are planning on moving pretty soon. He’s attempting to move his family to a different part of North Carolina while I’m trying to make the move back to Florida. This past Saturday, we had to clean up the house and had to clear up a lot of junk for the landlord. Getting rid of stuff isn’t always fun or easy, but it’s necessary for us to move forward. God puts us in an environment outside…
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Take One Big Bite Out of Life

I miss many people that have passed from my life. Like I miss my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt so much. I know they are watching me from Heaven. But I had a special connection, especially with my grandfather, so he frequents my thoughts. And guess who frequents my thoughts just as my grandfather? My dog Zoey passed away when I was 20 years old. I got Zoey on my fifth birthday. I remember right before my birthday, my mom asked…
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Patience Produces Wisdom

A person’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense. – Proverbs 19:11 [CSB] Having patience is the fruit of having wisdom. People who are impatient tend to act without reason. When you are willing to wait, you are more likely to be able to enjoy your reward more. Waiting is hard, but it’s better to wait than to regret it. Just like we teach children to wait to get their favorite toy, God can often…

Gospel Call Vs. Regeneration: What Comes First?

After Predestination and Election, what is it that comes first in the Ordo Salutis (Order of Salvation) when God in “real-time” goes to save someone? Is it the act of hearing or reading the Gospel of Jesus? Or is it the divine act of regenerating a soul, AKA being born again, where God makes a spiritually dead man alive? It appears that the Gospel Call (not God’s Effective Call, but the actual human-transmitted speaking and preaching of the Word of…
miracles-in-the-least-expected-places

Miracles in the Least Expected Places

Miracles are everywhere and many times in the least expected places! 1 Chronicles 16:11-14 says, “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, you his servants, the descendants of Israel, his chosen ones, the children of Jacob. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth” [NIV]. From this Scripture, we can see that God is a Miracle Worker and…
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Jesus Being The Metaphor For The Poor

“Kindness to the poor is a loan to the Lord, and he will give a reward to the lender.” – Proverbs 19:17 [CSB] Jesus came into the world as an unfortunate. He lived a very humble life, not so people could feel sorry for Him but to test the hearts of man. It’s easy to ignore people who are down on their luck, but it’s much harder to do that when that person is Jesus. During the time Jesus lived,…
the-sovereign-ruler

The Sovereign Ruler

“But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. He put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn.” – Genesis 48:14 [NLT] God chooses our station or role in life. If we resist the sovereign ruler of the universe, we will always be proven to be wrong. The commentator Matthew Henry…
giving-is-godly

Giving Is Godly

“Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!” – Proverbs 21:26 [NLT] When we are motivated by greed, we will never be happy, but we will always have an abundance when we are driven to give. God wants to provide us with plenty, but He can’t give it to us if we are selfish. Selfish people only care about themselves, but the Godly person wants to see others blessed. The Godly will give his resources…
good-plans-leads-to-success

Good Plans Leads To Success

“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.” – Proverbs 22:6 [NLT] Prosperity comes with hard work and good planning. Too many people want a shortcut to success, but even those who had success relatively early still had to grind and hustle to a certain degree. There’s no such thing as an overnight success; there’s only a faster route to success, which comes through planning, dedication, and trusting the Lord.

The Altar of Prayer

It’s common in the history of Christendom that great truths are so often expressed that it loses their gravity, weight, and impact on the mind and hearts of the believer. It is a sad and unfortunate thing how truth reduces to a cliche, but regardless of its everyday modern use, the truth is still the truth, and we should be guilty of allowing its truthfulness to flood and affect our minds. Such is the word “altar.” Altar, to some, engenders…

We Have Self-Control

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 [ESV] In some versions of this verse, you’ll see “sound mind,” but it’s pretty much the same thing. God gives us a mind to do good so that we can glorify Him. We aren’t going to be perfect, but we can live a life pleasing to God because of His Holy Spirit. We are no longer bound by our flesh,…

Walking In Purity

“I will wash my hands in innocency: So will I compass Thine altar, O LORD” – Psalm 26:6 [KJV] David, who wrote the above verse, is an example of a man who fiercely sought God’s will. David is sometimes regarded as the holiest man that ever lived outside of Jesus. Throughout this whole chapter of the Psalms, David was asking God to test his heart to see if his ways were pure. David’s legacy continues with us today. The Book…

Nobody’s Perfect

“Nobody’s perfect” is a common refrain usually voiced by an individual seeking to generalize imperfection and, perhaps, escape accountability. This phrase is also a defensive counter to the high moral ground typically understood by Christianity and its adherents. That is to say, regardless of the ethical expectations imposed by God upon humanity and by Christians to non-Christians especially, nobody can really live up to them. Therefore people should be treated with laxer and “understanding.” This counter-measure is so common that…

Don’t Ignore The Poor

“Those who shut their ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in their own time of need.” – Proverbs 22:13 [NLT] It’s easy to ignore the poor when you have made it, but how would you feel if you lived on the streets? I know what it’s like not to have anything. I remember when nobody was able to help me when I got evicted last summer. It’s not fun to be in that situation. I remember…
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How Can We Judge Someone’s Salvation?

The word “Christian” has been so distorted that it’s hard to tell if someone’s really saved or just pretending. Christians are humans just like everyone else, but there are ways to distinguish a true born-again believer of Christ from someone who just says they are a believer. The Bible does say, “you will know a tree by its fruit.” (Matthew 7:20) 1. A born-again Christian must believe on the cross. What makes a Christian a Christian is that they believe…

The Poor Are Hated

“The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: But the rich have many friends.” – Proverbs 14:20 [NKJV] In Proverbs, Solomon uses the words “poor” and “rich” quite a bit. Many times, Solomon is talking about material wealth, but in this verse, he’s talking about the heart. Rich people are often lonely because they don’t know if people love them for them or for their wealth. Rich people can feel just as empty and isolated as poor people. Again,…

Who Will Stand in the Gap?

I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” – Ezekiel 22:30 [NIV] This verse is a scathing indictment of God’s people in a troubled time. For those who don’t know the context of Ezekiel Chapter 22, it is this: shortly before the siege of Jerusalem and the takeover by the Babylonian…
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Faithful In The Small Gigs

One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go out into the harvest fields to pick up the stalks of grain left behind by anyone who is kind enough to let me do it.” Naomi replied, “All right, my daughter, go ahead.” So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. While she was there, Boaz…