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 Isaiah 49:8 I will give thee for a covenant of the people.Jesus Christ is Himself the sum and substance of the covenant, and as one of its gifts. He is the property of every believer. Believer, canst thou estimate what thou hast gotten in Christ? "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Consider that word "God" and its infinity, and then meditate upon "perfect man" and all His beauty; for all that Christ, as God and man, ever had, or can have, is thine--out of pure free favor, passed over to thee to be thine entailed property forever. Our blessed Jesus, as God, is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent. Will it not console you to know that all these great and glorious attributes are altogether yours? Has He power? That power is yours to support and strengthen you, to overcome your enemies, and to preserve you even to the end. Has He love? Well, there is not a drop of love in His heart which is not yours; you may dive into the immense ocean of His love, and you may say of it all, "It is mine." Hath He justice? It may seem a stern attribute, but even that is yours, for He will by His justice see to it that all which is promised to you in the covenant of grace shall be most certainly secured to you. And all that He has as perfect man is yours. As a perfect man the Father's delight was upon Him. He stood accepted by the Most High. O believer, God's acceptance of Christ is thine acceptance; for knowest thou not that the love which the Father set on a perfect Christ, He sets on thee now? For all that Christ did is thine. That perfect righteousness which Jesus wrought out, when through His stainless life He kept the law and made it honorable, is thine, and is imputed to thee. Christ is in the covenant. "My God, I am thine--what a comfort divine! What a blessing to know that the Saviour is mine! In the heavenly Lamb thrice happy I am, And my heart it doth dance at the sound of His name." Daily Light on the Daily Path Psalm 107:7 He led them also by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city.Deuteronomy 32:10-12 "He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. • "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. • "The LORD alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. Psalm 23:3,4 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. • Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Isaiah 58:11 "And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Psalm 48:14 For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death. Job 36:22 "Behold, God is exalted in His power; Who is a teacher like Him? 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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