Bible League: Living His Word And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.Hebrews 11 is all about faith and it lists a number of examples from the Old Testament of people who accomplished great things by faith. It begins in verse 1 by defining faith as "assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." Faith, one might say, is knowledge of things that are not readily available to the five senses. That's why it takes faith to believe there is a God. Although God reveals Himself to us in many ways, He's not available to our senses the way creaturely things are available. Indeed, for God to successfully reveal Himself to us He must do so indirectly, through creaturely things we can perceive. Thus, for example, God's authoritative word comes to us indirectly through the medium of the Bible. It takes faith to believe that the words of the Bible we can see and hear are actually God's words. Our verse for today tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith. It pleases God when someone turns in faith toward His revelation. . . when someone earnestly seeks His presence. It pleases God when someone turns away from feeble attempts to solve the cares and concerns of life and comes to Him seeking His will and purpose. If it's time for you to turn toward God and earnestly seek Him out, then you can be assured there are rewards for making the effort. Coming to God is not done in vain. God may be found by the earnest seeker who can look beyond the cloak of creaturely existence with the eyes of faith and see the God who has the power to bestow the appropriate reward. What kind of reward is that? From the examples given in Hebrews 11, we can see that it can be virtually anything – even stopping the mouths of lions and the conquering of kingdoms. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingGenesis 6, 7, 8 Genesis 6 -- God's Mercy on Noah in the midst of Man's Wickedness NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Genesis 7 -- The Great Flood NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Genesis 8 -- The Flood Subsides and the Ark Rests on Mount Ararat NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Matthew 3 Matthew 3 -- John Preaches Repentance and Baptizes Jesus in the Jordan NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”Insight To “reign over” something is to have absolute authority and control over it. God has ultimate rule over the earth, and he exercises his authority with loving care. When God delegated some of his authority to the human race, he expected us to take responsibility for the environment and the other creatures that share our planet. Challenge We must not be careless and wasteful as we fulfill his charge. God was careful in how he made this earth. We must not be careless in how we take care of it. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Luke 3:4 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.The voice crying in the wilderness demanded a way for the Lord, a way prepared, and a way prepared in the wilderness. I would be attentive to the Master's proclamation, and give him a road into my heart, cast up by gracious operations, through the desert of my nature. The four directions in the text must have my serious attention. Every valley must be exalted. Low and grovelling thoughts of God must be given up; doubting and despairing must be removed; and self-seeking and carnal delights must be forsaken. Across these deep valleys a glorious causeway of grace must be raised. Every mountain and hill shall be laid low. Proud creature-sufficiency, and boastful self-righteousness, must be levelled, to make a highway for the King of kings. Divine fellowship is never vouchsafed to haughty, highminded sinners. The Lord hath respect unto the lowly, and visits the contrite in heart, but the lofty are an abomination unto him. My soul, beseech the Holy Spirit to set thee right in this respect. The crooked shall be made straight. The wavering heart must have a straight path of decision for God and holiness marked out for it. Double-minded men are strangers to the God of truth. My soul, take heed that thou be in all things honest and true, as in the sight of the heart-searching God. The rough places shall be made smooth. Stumbling-blocks of sin must be removed, and thorns and briers of rebellion must be uprooted. So great a visitor must not find miry ways and stony places when he comes to honor his favored ones with his company. Oh that this evening the Lord may find in my heart a highway made ready by his grace, that he may make a triumphal progress through the utmost bounds of my soul, from the beginning of this year even to the end of it. Daily Light on the Daily Path Luke 18:41 "What do you want Me to do for you?" And he said, "Lord, I want to regain my sight!"Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. Luke 24:45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:17-19 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. • I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, • and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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