"Increase Our Faith"

 "And the apostles said to the Lord, 

"Increase our faith." 

 (Luke 17:5 NKJV)

 

    The request made the apostles is one that we, too, should be unafraid of making. While some may say, "Nope, I'm good; I got all I need," the Christian should have a constant inclination toward more faith - "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

 

    Jesus' response to the apostles request, at first glance, may seem condescending - 'if you had even a little bit, you'd be able to do great things!' - but we know that Jesus was not condescending and His response does show how to increase faith.

 

"So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, 

you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots 

and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."" 

(Luke 5:6 NKJV) 

    A mustard seed held in the hand appears small, inactive, and feeble but inside, it is full of life and ability to develop "greater than the herbs and [become] a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches" (see Matthew 13:31-32).

 

    The mustard seed, once planted, is known for its tenacity, persistence, and determination! It can grow and develop in the harshest of conditions. It is hearty and its determination to sprout will, in many ways, "move mountains" (Matthew 17:20). It will crack the great rocks that it is growing up through; it has even been known to lift and crack concrete that has been set over it in its determined pursuit of development! 

 

    Within the mustard seed is a powerful resolve to keep on keeping on!! How does it do this? By drawing from the riches that surround it: sunlight, water, nourishing soil - God's plentiful provision!

    Jesus does not want us to be satisfied with a faith equal in size to a mustard seed. A small, feeble faith will accomplish little. It keeps us from openly declaring our faith and therefore never sharing our faith, and when trials come it will sink and we with it (consider Matthew 14:22-33).

    Jesus wants us to have a faith that is living and active - like the planted mustard seed! He wants us to have a faith that continually draws from the riches that surround us - God's bountiful blessings - and use these provisions to grow stronger and develop toward bearing fruit, something that will become visible in us even to the the unbeliever! An active and tenacious faith will not only be able to uproot great evils by God's awesome power but also by the same Source it can accomplish great and long-standing good!

 

    We may appear small in the grand scheme of things but within each one of us is the potential to grow and develop a faith that will help us overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5)! 

 

    Let your faith be like the determined mustard seed! Take root in the gospel of Christ and drink nourishment from the bottomless wells of God's love and provision! Seek the SON, lift your face toward Him!! 

 

 You can do it! So can I!!

 

 

 

Abiding In Christ Allows Us to Have Confidence

 "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may 

have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming."

(1 John 2:28 NKJV)

 

    If we abide in Christ we can have confidence, so what does it mean to "abide in Him"?

    Abide (əˈbīd) from the Greek word 'meno' which means to stay in a given place, state, relation; to continue, to dwell endure, be present, remain, stand.

 

    To abide in Jesus you must first be brought into Him, into His body. The only way in is through baptism (Romans 6:3-4, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Galatians 3:26-27, John 3:3-5).

 

    We then continue to abide in Christ by: 

• No longer abiding in darkness (John 12:46, Ephesians 4:17-24)
• No longer willfully sinning (1 John 3:4-6, 2 John 2)  
• Keeping His commandments (John 15:10, 1 John 2:28-29; 3:24)
• Continuing in His words/teaching (John 8:31; 15:7)
• Continuing in the Truth (1 John 2:24, 2 John 9)
• Confessing that He is the Son of God (1 John 4:15)
• Partaking of the Lord's Supper (John 6:56, Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
• Loving one another (1 John 4:12, 16)
• Walking just as He walked (1 John 2:3-6)
• Bearing fruit - only possible when we abide in Him (John 15:4-6)

 

    Are you in Christ? Are you abiding in Him?

    When we abide in Him we can have confidence in the final Day! It is worth every effort and every sacrifice - God will abundantly provide and replenish - so build your confidence by being sure that you are in Christ and that you are abiding in Him!

"Therefore, my beloved children, be steadfast, 

immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, 

knowing your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

(1 Corinthians 15:58 NKJV)

You can do it! So can I!!

 

 

Building Confidence By Being Still

 "Be still, and know that I am God." 

 (Psalm 46:10a NKJV)

 

    How do we build up our faith and maintain our confidence while this fearful pandemic is causing the world to reel?  

 

    By being still and trusting in God!!

    "Be still" is often thought to mean "be calm" - something akin to that popular British wartime slogan, "Keep Calm and Carry On" - but it actually means something more than that. The Hebrew root behind the phrase "be still" is 'raphah' which means 'to let go,' 'to release,' "to surrender,' 'to be weak,' even to 'die to ourselves.'

    It is only when we let go and surrender to God that we begin to live by faith. We surrender knowing that God is in control! We surrender to learn that His word IS truth and His promises ARE real!

• It is only when we surrender our anxieties that we come to know His peace (Philippians 4:6-7)
• It is only when surrender our desire for continued youth and vigor that we come to know His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) 
• It is only when we surrender our grudges and feelings for revenge that we come to know His goodness, His mercy, and His love (Matthew 5:38-48, Romans 12:17-21)
• It is only when we surrender the wearing of exhaustion as a status symbol that we come to know His rest (Psalm 121:2, Matthew 11:28-30) 
• It is only when we surrender our determination "to face it alone" that we come to know His abundant help and comfort (Hebrews 4:14-16, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
• It is only when we surrender our sin that we come to know His forgiveness (1 John 1:8-10, Acts 2:37-38)
• It is only when we surrender our very lives to Him, that we come to know the life we can have in Jesus - learning His way, His truth, and His righteousness through humble obedience to His word (Proverbs 1:7; 3:5-6, Matthew 16:24-26, Galatians 2:20)!

    When we come to know these aspects of God we can willingly "let go and let God" and like the psalmist, we too, can declare, "God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1)! 

    God wants us to trust Him! He provided the Holy Scriptures to us so that we may learn of His power and might, His majesty and glory, His wisdom and provision, His justice, His abiding love, and His will for us - so that we may confidently surrender our all to Him, and put our trust wholly in Him!

    Having a complete trust in Him keeps us from fear, even if the world crumbles around us, even if the waves crash and the mountains quake (Psalm 46:2-3, all metaphors for the troubles and trials of life), we will not fear! It won't be because of anything we have done, not because we have vigorously trained ourselves to be composed in the face of disaster, not because we have seen so many trials that we are now numb to them, non, we will not fear and we will gladly "be still" because of what we know of God!! 

    We know that God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe! We know that God is magnificent, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent! He has been and always will be the VICTOR! He will be exalted among the nations, He will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10b)!

    Knowing what God has done in the past and what He continues to do in the present, gives us calm assurance of what He can and will do in future!

 

    Do you want to increase your faith and confidence? Learn of God through His word, trust in Him through humble obedience; be still and know that God IS GOD!! 

 

"You are My witnesses," says the LORD, "and My servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He...

Therefore you are My witnesses," says the LORD, "That I am God."

(Isaiah 43:10a, 12b, NKJV)

Confident That You Know God

"Now by this we know that we know God,

if we keep His commandments."

(1 John 2:3 NKJV)

    Do you want to be assured of the fact that you know God? You can! By reading the Bible and obeying His instructions and commands found in the New Testament!

"He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep 

His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

(1 John 2:4 NKJV)

    We cannot say we know God and then follow our own rules (Proverbs 1:7; 3:5-8, Jeremiah 9:23-24, Matthew 16:24-26). Knowing God is more than simply knowing OF God and acknowledging His existence. To know God we must seek Him and desire to learn from Him through His Word. When we KNOW what God has done for us - creating us, preparing a way for us to gain freedom from sin through Jesus' sacrifice, preserving His Word through all these centuries so that we may know Him, and through His Word providing us with instruction so we can do what is good and right in His sight - we will come to respect Him and feel awe toward Him and His ways! We will want to do all that we can to learn and obey, keeping to the narrow way, as we increase our understanding of His great love, His grace, and His mercy!

 

"But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God

is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him."

(1 John 2:5 NKJV)

 

    God's love teaches us perfect and complete love. Through obedience of His commands we learn how to love in this same way and the love of God will be completed in us; love will have come full circle, fully reciprocated! God first loved us, we now love God, and we learn from His instructions how to love our fellow man!

 

    To change your "I think" or "I feel" to a confident "I know" you must be willing to let go of your own ideas and notions and seek out God's holy instruction with a mindset that says, "God said it, I believe it, I will do it!" Only then can you be confident that you know God and abide in Him!

"He who says he abides in Him ought himself 

also to walk just as He walked."

(1 John 2:6 NKJV)

 

    When you love God, you will obey His commandments. In obeying His commandments you will begin to look like Him, because Jesus, Himself, modelled Gods ways to us. God does not ask anything of us that He has not already done! Jesus exemplified God's love and obeyed all His commands, yes, even baptism (Matthew 3:13-17)! Paul was confident in his humble obedience when he instructed the Corinthians to imitate him as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1), we can do the same!

 

    Build your confidence in knowing God by KNOWING His commands and establish your heart in obeying them! Give your faith opportunity to flourish as you see God's wisdom displayed in the things He asks of you - see that His commands are only ever for your good - the boundaries keep you from harmful haunts and habits and the freedoms grant you increase in the very best of every good things (consider Galatians 5:19-23)!

 

    It is worth every effort to KNOW - with confidence - that you truly love God, by doing what is right in His sight, by walking as He walked, and being an example of faith, hope, and love to others!

 

You can do it! So can I!!    

 

Building Faith and Confidence

    Welcome to August!! Our theme for this month will be “BUILDING FAITH AND CONFIDENCE.”

    “…do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise… …if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who draw back to destruction, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.” (Hebrews 10:35-36, 38-39 NKJV)

    Faith comes from hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) and it is impossible to please God without it! Confidence develops when we take Him at His word, obey His commands, and discover for ourselves that God truly DOES reward those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6)! 

    In a world where Christians are being called “narrow-minded”, build a faith and confidence that will allow you to declare that, “Yes, you can call me narrow-minded because I DO keep my mind wholly on the narrow way, I think about it ALL the time!! It is the ONLY place where truth, peace, and love exist!! Let me tell you about it!!”

    Are you ready to fortify your faith and have complete confidence in God?  Me too!!

    Join me through this month as we dig into God’s word and find the things we can be assured of!!