Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009

TWG - February 10, 2009 - Need Faith?

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I got a late start yesterday, or so it seems. But I was busy with Ben finishing the sheetrock. He came out to tape and texture it. It looks great. I also built another short wall. Now I need to put in a door. I ran to Lowes and there was Ken. We had a nice long talk. Good to see him. Later in the day I went to work out with Kyle & Marcia and when I got home, Susan looked really tired. But dinner was great! Then it was one of my few quiet evenings at home. That’s all folks, really!

Today is February 10, this is time with God, I’m Pastor Dennis - I’ve been waiting here for you. Welcome to our life transforming community. This is your invitation to take one step forward every day in your relationship with Christ. We invite you to do something unbelievably radical. We invite you to deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus

Today's Scripture reading is J Joshua 18; Psalm 142; Luke 2:1-20
To Listen to Today’s Reading http://timewithgod.mypodcast.com

Today’s thought comes from 1Timothy 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

Not everyone has faith… or should I say not everyone has faith in The Faith. Every one of us believes in something. It could be faith in me, faith in science, or it could be faith in God. It is the faith in God thing that we want to talk about. That’s where the statement “not everyone has faith” comes in. Trust is a difficult commodity for some people. It’s difficult for them to let go and let God. They just can’t seem to do it. Either there’s too much anxiety, too much confusion or too many unanswered questions. I’ve literally seen people squirm with anxiety when it comes to trusting God. As they sit in my office looking for answers, their eyes swell to the size of a deer in caught in your headlights! They glance furtively around the room as if looking for an escape, their knuckles are clenched and white, they can’t sit still… FEAR is oozing out of every pore. It is a mystery to them HOW to have faith. They want to have it but when you tell them to let go, THEY HANG ON! A quality of maturity is that you have learned to let go and trust the Lord Jesus for all the needs of your life… and not just for a while, or just in the good times, but at all times. You have learned to hold fast to the truth always. Your mind has a grasp on it. You own your faith and your faith owns you. If you want to get your knuckles around something, hold on to faith! There are two twin truths which must be grasped and applied for this to happen well. #1 You MUST take God at His Word. To the world and to some Christians, the truths of God’s word are a mystery… but that is because they are spiritually discerned. If you don’t get it, it’s because you need to trust. Faith leads to spiritual understanding, and understanding leads to more faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the World of God. If you don’t believe that every word in the Good Book is true, you will have no end of problems with faith in God. Settle the issue now! Determine that you will trust the trustworthy God regardless of what you don’t understand. If you trust him he will one day explain to you what you are unable to grasp. But if you don’t’ trust him, you’ll never grasp it. #2 You must maintain a clear conscience. Faith works best when it is placed into a clean vessel. That is the only time it works well. It doesn’t work well at all when the vessel is cracked and guilt-ridden. If you say you believe one way and live another, you are an unstable person. If you don’t notice it today, you’ll experience it soon. If you continue to live an ungodly lifestyle, guess what? You’ll soon justify your sin and soon you will change your faith. You WILL eventually come to believe that your sin is OK! That’s because you are not capable of believing two conflicting ideas. It will drive you crazy. But so will believing a lie! So you want to grow up? Maintain a cleansed conscience – confess your sins regularly and hold to the truth. If you uphold the truth, the truth will hold you up!

Dear Lord and Savior. Here and now, I confess my sins and shortcomings to you. Please cleanse my conscience and set me upon a stable path so that my life is not fragmented and shattered. Give me spiritual understanding so that I can grasp your truth and believe it!

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

Posted by Dennis Kreiss at 9:48 AM |   

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