See By Faith

See By Faith
by Max Lucado

On the wall of a concentration camp, a prisoner had carved the following words:

“I believe in the sun, even though it doesn’t shine.

I believe in love, even when it isn’t shown.

I believe in God, even when he doesn’t speak.”

What hand could have cut such a conviction?  What eyes could have seen good in such horror? There’s only one answer:  Eyes that chose to see the unseen.

Paul wrote in 2nd Corinthians 4:18: “We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see.  What we see will only last a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.”

We can see either the hurt or the Healer.

Mark it down. God knows you and I are blind.  He knows living by faith and not by sight doesn’t come naturally.  He will help us.  Accept his help.

Either live by the facts or see by faith!

The Nature of Conviction

The Nature of Conviction

By Dr. Charles Stanley

John 16:7-11

 

Jesus assured His disciples that it was to their advantage that He go away so that the Helper could come (John 16:7)--God sends Him to convict people of their sin. Since the Holy Spirit is unlimited by time or space, He can reach out to every individual on the planet. However, His work differs with regard to believers and unbelievers.

 

With regard to unbelievers, God's Spirit penetrates the heart and brings awareness of wrongdoing. He reveals that according to God's holy standard, they have sinned and stand condemned by their transgression. Unbelief is the greatest sin against God, so every prick of the heart is meant to point out their need for the Savior.

 

As for believers, the Holy Spirit deals with them on the basis of their relationship with Jesus Christ and convicts us of disobedience to Him. In other words, He makes us aware of specific sins and the Lord's attitude about them. But He also prompts us to be accountable before Christ for our wrongdoing by confessing it and repenting.

 

Convicting believers of sin is an important part of the Holy Spirit's job, but He is equally delighted to make them aware of the Lord's approval. God commends righteous living, obedient actions, and loving acts done in His name.

 

While conviction is often uncomfortable for unbelievers and believers alike, it's a beautiful demonstration of God's love. He desires to bring us into the center of His will and keep us there for our good and His glory. The Holy Spirit's work makes that possible, if we choose to follow His promptings.

What Philippians 4 Can Teach You about Contentment

What Philippians 4 Can Teach You about Contentment
By Cortney Whiting

Mark Twain said, “Comparison is the death of joy.” I have experienced that joylessness in my life. The pitfall of comparison and the feeling that we are not enough pervades across our culture. Social media highlights how many friends and followers a person has. The brands we own determine the status of our wealth. The longing for more must stop. Recently, my children visited a house and asked me when we could own a house that was a mansion. Discontentment apparently is learned at a young age.

So how can we combat thoughts that who we are and what we have is not enough?

I believe we can learn a valuable lesson from Philippians 4. Paul founded the church in Philippi on his second missionary journey and later wrote the letter of Philippians to the church during his imprisonment in Rome. After persecuting the early church, the converted apostle faced trials of many kinds for the cause of Christ. The theme of joy threads throughout the writing.

As Paul closes the letter, he reminds the Philippians that their citizenship resides in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Because of our knowledge of who we are in Christ and our future inheritance through Him, we can be encouraged to live out our faith in confidence with the principles found within the text.

Here are 5 things Philippians 4 teaches us about living a content life:

1. Stand firm (4:1)

The realities of this world are not what we as believers were created for and they are not our final reality. Until Christ makes everything whole and right, we are to stand fast and firm in our faith. Given the context of not feeling that we are good enough, this charge to stand firm in our faith in a fallen world knowing that our ultimate citizenship belongs in heaven should give us hope.

2. Rejoice (4:4)

Paul emphatically commands the church to always rejoice in the Lord. Regardless of our circumstances, we are to always express our joy found through Christ. In recounting all God has done in our lives, we realize how blessed we are. Our thoughts reside not on our own inadequacies or on what we do not have, but rather on Christ’s sufficiency.

3. Do not be anxious (4:6)

Paul tells the Philippians to not be anxious about anything. Feelings of inadequacy often breed anxiety. Yet, we are to cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us.

4. Allow God’s peace to rule (4:7)

Paul gives the Philippians the promise of God’s peace that surpasses all understanding. It is this peace that will guard their hearts and their minds. As believers today, we must allow this peace to infiltrate our lives, especially in times when we feel discontentment lurking.

5. Do everything in God’s strength (4:13)

Knowing that all his identity and value comes from Jesus Christ alone, Paul declares that he can do all that he does by God’s enabling strength. The lesson for believers struggling today with any thoughts of inferiority is that anything we do is done with the strength God bestowed us with and should be seen as such. Therefore, whatever we do, should be done to the glory of God and should never be seen as inferior because it was done by His power.

I still have days where I want to compare myself with others or where I feel that I will never reach the unobtainable bar called “Enough.” Yet, on those days, I fall back into the grace of my Heavenly Father and simply rest, knowing that my identity and my joy resides in Christ alone.

A Prayer for a Full Life

A Prayer for a Full Life
By Greg Laurie

“I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” - Psalm 146:2

Jesus Christ was, according to the Bible, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knows and understands the pain and hurt deep inside your soul when you have lost someone you love.

John 11:35 tells us, “Jesus wept.” Tears rolled down His cheeks, tears of sympathy for Mary and Martha for all the sorrow that is caused by sin and death. And in that sense, Jesus has wept with us as well.

Death never was God’s plan in the beginning. But now, because of the entrance of sin into the human race, all of us will die one day. Some will live longer than others, but we all will die. And we think the greatest tragedy is when someone dies young. While this is an extreme tragedy, I don’t think it is the ultimate tragedy. I think the ultimate tragedy is when a life has been lived to its entire length and has been entirely wasted and squandered on sin.

I think of the words of Jim Elliot, who was a modern-day martyr of the faith, put to death as he tried to bring the gospel to a tribe in Ecuador known at the time as the Aucas. Jim was lanced through with a spear, and wrapped around that spear was one of the gospel tracts he and missionary pilot Nate Saint had dropped over their village from the air. In his journal, Jim Elliot had written, “I seek not a long life but a full one like Yours, Lord Jesus.”

We think that length of life is the ultimate goal. And yes, it’s good to live long.  But what is more important is to live right, to do what is right before God. What is more important is to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Dear Lord, thank you for your many blessings. Thank you for the lives we have been graciously given, and help us to use our limited time for good. Help us to pursue our lives to their fullest. Remind us that living for you is the only path to true fulfillment.