Faith Has Infinite Rewards

Psalm 23 is often referred to as the Shepherd's psalm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23:1
King James Version (KJV)

       There comes that certain point in life when we all need something--a helping hand, a meal, a kind encouraging word.  Even the strongest most confident among us can face those times when everything around us seems to be crumbling.  What do we do when it seems there is no one to whom to turn?   

         What about God?   He will give you what you need when you need it most.  What you truly need may not be what you think you need.   If you think you're being denied by God then perhaps it is you who is denying God.

         God is there waiting to act on your behalf, but he is waiting on you to come to Him.  You must believe and you must act.  These things require one simple thing--faith.  Faith as small as a mustard seed. Yes, that simple.   With simple faith you tap into the greatest power of the universe, the one who created the universe and the one who is the universe.  Through God all things can be done.

          Faith--it sounds simple enough because it is simple.  And yet so often we turn it into something so complex and difficult.   We struggle and agonize and ask how, why, and when.  It doesn't have to be that difficult.  

          Just believe, ask, and receive.  With faith everything becomes more clear and you will see possibility and hope all around you.  Faith.  Simple faith.


And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6
New International Version (NIV)

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Sing Out All Ye God's People!

A heavenly choir (Photo credit: jophan)

Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
    but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalm 20:7

New Living Translation (NLT)

       I'd like to believe that the United States is boasting in the name of God, but sadly our nation on the greater part rejects God and has a tendency to rely on the power of weaponry, technology, and the force of man.   Nations that stay on that track are destined for a future crash.  The fastest gun is eventually sought out by an upstart gunman looking to usurp power for his own gain.

       Individually we can put our faith in the Lord of Lords, the Mighty God of the Universe, and we can be saved from the torment of eternal suffering.  The world gives us the world in its sad temporality.   Now is not tomorrow.   No matter how hard we grasp and cling to the present, we can never keep it.   Memories may remain, but they are an insignificant replacement for a glory that can be ours in eternity.

       You have a choice in your own destiny, but is that choice the best one you can make.   A day of judgement is coming.  Will you be lifting your voice in a heavenly choir of praise to the Lord?   Or have you rejected God and given your trust to things of this weary world?   Do you even think about any of this?

        A precipice lies ahead on your darkened path as you journey through life.   Don't fall into that pit of despair and separation from your Creator.   Be lifted on the wings of love and be ready to sing for eternity.

And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your works,
    O Lord God, the Almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nations.
 Who will not fear you, Lord,
    and glorify your name?
    For you alone are holy.
All nations will come and worship before you,
    for your righteous deeds have been revealed.

Revelation 15:3-4

New Living Translation (NLT)

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Beginning

M82 and its Supernova (Photo credit: sjrankin)

In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like a garment.
Like clothing you will change them
    and they will be discarded.
27 But you remain the same,
    and your years will never end.

Psalm 102:25-27

New International Version (NIV)

          We humans tend to think of things in terms of having beginnings and endings.  In most cases we can point to something and say when, how, and where it began.   We have expectations that a thing will also have an ending.  We may even witness what we accept as an ending to that thing we have been observing.

          Scholars and science have declared statements concerning things such as the Law of Conservation of Mass which suggests that matter can neither be created or destroyed.  Of course they are working within the restraints of parameters defined by that which can be observed or measured.  Is there a realm beyond which the commonly held laws of our world no longer hold true?   Could there be an infinite omnipotent creator who works with laws that we cannot even begin to understand?

          "Foolishness" the scholars may scoff.  They accuse the believers of intelligent design by an Almighty God to have naive acceptance requiring blind faith.   And yet many scientists will aver as fact that the universe was created by a big bang--everything coming from some bit of nearly nothing.  That doesn't require a great deal of faith to believe?   To me it sounds like they are substituting God with some mysterious bit of condensed material from which all things came.  Sure they have measurements and calculations, but maybe they are merely trying to explain away the possibility that there was a beginning when God created all things.  

           I'll choose the concept of Intelligent Design--a God Creator who created order according to a plan.  The idea of a speck exploding into everything requires far too much unfounded faith for me.   Now if we want to say God created that particle then I'll come back on board with that theory.  
   
            Science wants some quantifiable absolute evidence of when things began.  Perhaps if they could reconcile their quest with "In the beginning God..." they might be able to have a better understanding of how we got here.  
      

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

King James Version (KJV)

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Waiting Again for an Answer

Christians praying in Goma, DR of Congo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalm 5:3

King James Version (KJV)

         I want something badly.  This thing that I want has been in my prayers a lot lately.  When I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep at night I pray for this one thing among the many other things for which I pray.  I hope God is not getting upset with me for bugging Him about this one thing so much.

         We are told throughout the Bible to pray for our heart's desires. But our prayers must be within the will of God.  We can't just pray for any old thing and expect to get it.  Not all things are good for us to have and sometimes the time is not right for our prayer to be answered.   

          Maybe I won't always get what I want, but I'll get what I need.  God will bless me with the things He wants me to have.  That's more important than what I want.  All prayers are answered according to God's will.

           Next time you think that God hasn't heard your prayer, just remember that "No" is an answer.   God knows better than you what's best.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12

New International Version (NIV)

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Faith

Atheism (Photo credit: atheism)

        Do you have faith in man?

        Perhaps it's better to call it assumptions.  People easily and frequently fail us, but often we must resort to a diluted version of faith just to get by on a daily basis.  We must have some element of something like faith before we step on a plane, eat food we buy at a store, or go into an operation room.  We assume that we can trust certain people into whose hands we place our lives and well-being.

        I always find it a bit odd when atheists, evolutionists, or others of similar type belief systems will scoff at the foolish unfounded faith of Christians.   What is so strong about the belief systems of those scoffers?  For me it's a matter of whose god is stronger.

        Does the atheist have the promise of eternal life?  For that matter, if God does not exist why is it so important to prove there is no God.  The religion of atheism is the absolute faith of fools.  To believe that something does not exist?   The faith of anti-faith?

       Or what about evolution?  I think it takes a very strong leap of faith to believe that people descended from lower animals and all living things descended from some atom that was brought to life in some mysterious way and then perpetuated itself and even  mutated into divergent life forms.  Whew!  Talk about a million monkeys with typewriters theories.   I personally find a difficult time buying the random something from nothing theory.

        If my faith is not important to you then let it be.  But in your moments of doubt I hope you will consider that faith.  God has laid the way for your salvation no matter what you believe now or have believed in your past.  Don't be angry with God and don't think you or some fallible hero that you may worship holds all the answers.   When you have been failed, hurt, or left alone, someone is waiting who believes in you.   He believes in you because He created you.  He wants you to come to Him.  Are you ever willing to admit that your faith has been misguided?   Will you accept the truth that there is something out there greater than man?

      Have faith.  With faith you can have inner peace, contentment, joy, and life eternal in the presence of the one who never fails.  Faith.  This is the way to God.

         Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

New International Version (NIV)

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