Category Simple Reminders

Hope is the blueprint for faith. Hope is the wood frame that the concrete of faith is poured into. It’s the sketch of the builders’ building prior to the build. Hope is the goal that faith reaches out to obtain. Hope is the forerunner to faith. A hopeful mindset is great to have, however hope on it’s own has no substance. It has no power in and of itself to bring itself to pass. For example, I hope to be healed of cancer. That’s my starting point. Living cancer free is my goal…my desire.

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Ye shall know them by their fruits…Matthew 7:16-20. How do we know who anyone is in the workplace? Enter any business, particularly any retail business and you’ll find employees wearing name tags. These name tags readily identify to the consumer who the employees of the businesses are. As Christians, what is our identifier to the world. Surely they’re looking for help. How will they be able to identify us? The bible says that our identifiers are the fruits that we bear as members of the Body of Christ. It’s not carrying our bibles. It’s not our cross necklaces. It’s not our bumper stickers. It’s the fruit, born out of a Christ-like, Christ-centered heart which should identify us. So when we leave the house each morning, are we wearing our ID badges?

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Bitterness over wrongs suffered effect us in two ways. First, they cause the wrongs suffered to fester, thwarting the healing process. Second, they con the injured person into thinking that they have a right to hold on to the bitterness because of the degree of injury they’ve sustained. Don’t fall for either. A festering, open wound to your heart is ripe for infection. Put your feelings behind you and run to God, our great physician. Allow Him to aid in the healing of your heart, then run to your offender and make sure they know that you hold no ill will towards them. Do this for you, not the offender. Talk about living by faith and not by feelings….geezz, this is it!

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Without Him we can do nothing. That seems like a pretty obvious statement, yet I think that sometimes in our quest to achieve, we forget that without God we can do nothing (John 15:5). The grace of God surrounds us. He leads, guides, protects, and prospers us by His grace. Let’s be determined throughout the course of our days as we experience the blessing of God manifesting in our lives to remember how big He is and how small we are in the grand scheme of things.

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We are a peculiar people according to scripture (1 Peter 2:9). We’re different than those who don’t know Christ. We think differently. We act differently. We are Children of the Most High God. Look at the world….their views, values, and principles. In 99% of cases, we should be walking in exactly the opposite direction than they are walking in. When the world says “seeing is believing”, our response should be, “No, believing is seeing”. This principle is foundational to the life of faith we’re called to live. We don’t need to physically see anything to know what’s real and what’s not real. Our faith is the evidence of the things we don’t see (Hebrews 11:1)

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We walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). This is one of those super-spiritual sounding verses whose meaning is actually quite simple. It simply means that we walk by what the Word of God says about us, not by the information that our senses are giving us. Do you lease a car? Do you have a mortgage? Do you have a spouse? If you replied yes to any of the above, it’s not necessary that you feel like you have any of these things. There are legal documents that declare that you’re leasing a car, have a mortgage, and that you are married. Your feelings on these matters are a mute point.

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What do you believe? Why do you believe what you believe? Can what you believe be validated by scripture? These are 3 questions that must be run through the Christian fact checker all day everyday. Belief doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There is a reason for every belief we have. The “whys” of our positions on the issues of life must be examined for each belief that we have. And if our beliefs can’t be supported by scripture, why do we hold them so dear?

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The Word of God is life (John 6:63). It is living and active (Hebrews 4:12) and, when revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, has dynamic power to impart spiritual life to us. If you’ve been a student of God’s Word for any length of time you can attest to how it speaks to your heart. The Word of God is life to those who find it and health to all their flesh (Proverbs 4:22). It ministers to your spirit. It reveals itself to you differently each time you pick it up. It has the abilities to solve all the issues facing mankind. It is the Book of Wisdom and Life. Meditation in it will teach you how to deal wisely in the affairs of life.

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The source of anxiety is stepping from a solid platform onto an unstable, unknown or untrusted platform. For the Christian, our solid platform is God’s Word. Nothing in the Universe is as sound, reliable or dependable as the Word of God. So again, for the Christian, why would there ever be a temptation to leave that which is substantial and migrate over to that which isn’t? If you want to eliminate anxiety, fear and instability in your life, step back over onto God’s Word. Is there really another viable option? 

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Life and peace are rare commodities in this day and age. Yet, the bible tells us how to obtain these precious virtues. Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”. Anxiety is the current “hot topic” in the world. And rightly so, considering where we currently are as a society. But God beat us to the punch. He gave us an answer for anxiety and the cares of this world before they ever came on the scene.

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The father of lies lies. That’s what he does. That’s his “claim to fame”. So when his children lie and utter untrue words aimed toward you, know that they are being true to their nature. Don’t give credibility to their lies by becoming angry. Allowing yourself to become aroused when a liar does what’s in his or her DNA goes against our nature as children of God. We stand for the truth and a lie will never be able to stand in the light of the truth.

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Living by faith takes the pressure off. Living by faith brings peace. It fosters calm. It tells me what’s there even though I sometimes can’t see through the haze of life’s problems. To be able to live this way is a huge blessing. It gives me the advantage in every area of my life. I cannot be thrown off course because I already know where I’m going and I trust my Father to take me there. Walking by faith is true life and peace. And most importantly, living by faith is my greatest expression of my love of God.

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God’s Word is life. It’s the source of all life. There is no life outside of God’s Word. He spoke His Word in the beginning and the lives that we now live have been perpetuated down through the years. A Spirit being created a body out of the dust of the earth. Then He breathed life into that dust body and man became a living being. He is the reason we woke up this morning, not our alarm clocks. Try this. Take your alarm clock down to the County Morgue. Set it to go off then tell me how many of those corpses wake up?

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Trust in the Lord with all thy heart and lean not unto your own understanding…(Proverbs 3:5). There is no greater expression of faith than trust. Particularly trust when you don’t understand the circumstances. Think of a literal child. Young children are vulnerable. They must trust their parents for everything. They don’t sit up at night worrying about food, clothing, or housing. The ideal situation should have been a shifting of that same childlike trust over from parental trust to trusting our heavenly Father.

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Casting your cares on the Lord is how you get rid of them once and for all. When a fisherman casts a line, he throws it far away from himself into the depths of an ocean, lake or river. You do likewise. Cast your cares into a sea of forgetfulness AND LEAVE THEM THERE. Live a care-free life, knowing that the cares of this world choke the Word and only serve to hinder your walk with God.

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One willing vessel in the hand of God can literally change the world. I believe to be willing trumps talent, status, clout, strength and might. When talent, status, clout, strength and might are used to do a job, the possessor of said abilities gets the glory. However, when someone shows up who has nothing to offer accept his or her willingness to be used by God, great things can happen.

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Godly living entails many things. Godly living can be equated to striving to live a Christ-like lifestyle. But what does that mean exactly? A large part of living the Christ-like lifestyle has to do with who and what you choose to identify with. Ask yourself, Who and/or what am I tethering my life to? What sustains me? What would I find difficult to live without? What am I attached to to such a degree that I would find life difficult to live without?

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Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing. However in order to hear from God, we must surrender to what His Word has to say about any given situation we find ourselves in. Surrendering to the Will of God stimulates faith. Submitting and aligning my will with His is faith in action. When I became a Christian, I surrendered my life to the Lord and the process of surrendering my will to His Will is an ongoing process. That’s what living by faith is.

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Seeking Jesus and becoming more like Him is a never-ending, life long pursuit. The things of God aren’t just plopped down in our laps. If we want to be “disciples indeed“, the truths revealed in God’s Word must be pursued. Countess times in scripture we see verses that talk about the benefits of seeking after God. Victorious Christian living is not the default result of being born again. If we want to see the hand of God move mightily in our lives, the ways of God and the blessing He has stored up for us must be mined daily.

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Good stewards display their gratitude simply by being good stewards. By managing the blessings of God well, you show that you cherish that which God has given you. And when you manage well that which God has given you, will He not give you more of the same? In the parables told in Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27, Jesus illustrates for us that we are to use what God has given us to bring Him glory and honor. In both parables Jesus was please with those who were good stewards and increased what they were initially given.

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