Faith and Obedience

One day a Roman army officer came to Jesus and said, “I have a servant who’s very ill. In fact, he’s paralyzed and he’s suffering in bed.’ Jesus said, ‘I'll go to your house and heal him.’ And the Roman centurion said, ‘O Lord, You don’t need to do that. I understand authority and I’m not worthy for You to come to my house. I’m a captain in the army. I give commands to my soldiers and they obey immediately. I make commands to my servants and they obey me immediately. They do whatever I tell them to do. So I understand authority and obedience. You don’t need to come to my house, Jesus. If You just say the word from right here I’m sure he’ll be healed instantly.’ Jesus looked at that man and said, ‘This is the greatest faith I’ve ever seen in Israel.’” (Matt 8)
The greatest faith. Why? Because faith and obedience are interlocked. When you trust someone, you do what they say. If you don’t do what someone tells you to do it is an indication that you don’t trust them. God has linked faith and obedience together so that all of the promises of God are conditioned upon you following the directions that He gives you. Notice Deuteronomy 5:33 “Follow all the directions the Lord has given you. Then life will go well for you.”

Running away

Psalm 139:7 Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run to get away from you?

One day the LORD told Jonah, the son of Amittai, to go to the great city of Nineveh and say to the people, "The LORD has seen your terrible sins. You are doomed!" Instead, Jonah ran from the LORD. He went to the seaport of Joppa and bought a ticket on a ship that was going to Spain. Then he got on the ship and sailed away to escape.
[Jonah 1:1-3 CEV]

Last week the nation was captivated by a missing woman - the "runaway bride." It was a 32-year-old Georgia woman who went out to run one evening and never returned home. After searching the area where she was running and not locating her, her fiance contacted the police and it soon became a national story. Adding to the story was the fact this couple was supposed to get married last Saturday in a large wedding with over 600 guests and several dozen in the wedding party. Several days went by with no trace of the woman until almost miraculously in the early morning hours of Saturday, her wedding day, she called her fiance from New Mexico claiming that she was abducted, taken across country, and let go. It was only hours later the truth began to emerge that the woman had not been kidnapped, but had simply run away.The aftermath of this story is being debated on television every day. Should she be charged with a crime? Should she be made to pay restitution for the resources expended in trying to find her when she staged her own disappearance? Should her fiance go through with the marriage? Does she need psychological help? The larger story is that she was doing what many of us do so often in our lives, running from our problems. The reality of living this life on earth is that we will always have problems. There will always be things going on in our lives that are not right and need to be fixed. Every day problems arise. How we respond to those problems is critical. Do we tackle them head on and work them out, or do we simply run from them hoping they will go away? Running from your problems accomplishes NOTHING. You can run, run, run, but eventually you have to stop running. When you do, you soon realize that the problems you were running from are still there, and in many cases have gotten worse. Your problems still exist and in most cases you have now compounded them in having to deal with the consequences from whatever form of escape you chose. There is only one way to handle life's problems and that is head on. Sit down, pray and ask God for wisdom and guidance, put together a plan to get victory over your problems, and then work hard each day until your problems are solved. That is the ONLY way to handle life's problems. Running away doesn't solve them--it only makes them worse! And if running away from your problems seems futile, try running from God! Many have tried, none have succeeded. Remember Jonah.

--KB

How do I have Extreme Faith, when I barely have any faith at all?

Sorry I haven't gotten one of these out in a few days. I haven't been at the computer much. If you have a question or idea or verse for a devotion about "Faith", send it along and I may use something in it for a devotion in the future!
How do I have Extreme Faith, when I barely have any faith at all?"Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done." Col 2:7
How do we have anything at all? How would you become the greatest runner in the world? The greatest basketball player? The greatest race car driver? The greatest singer/musician? Do you just snap your fingers, or think about it real hard and it happens? No. Do you practice once and become great? You know it takes hard work and a real effort, persistance, dedication, etc. Right? Well, if we want to be a great man or woman of faith, we can apply some similar thinking. Start small. Look at Col. 2:7, telling us to let our roots grow down and get nourishment. But I want the flower/fruit NOW! You can't grow anything without a good root system. Do you want to please God? Sure. We must have faith! How does our faith grow? Nourishment= God's Word, the Bible. Know the Truth, and be thankful for all He has done! ALL? Yes, all. Be thankful for all of His blessings, tests, trials, etc. He knows best!

How do I react when things go bad?

I've heard this said: "I know God won't give me anything more than I can handle, I wish He just didn't trust me so much!"

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
We've all heard this verse...but we interpret it incorrectly, or don't understand what it really means.
We read this verse, and we think, "Yeah, right." There's no way I can, say, move a boulder, or kick a bad habit,...or whatever task we deem impossible. But here's a better translation of what it really means:
Philippians 4:13 (GN) "I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me."

There's times in our lives when things go wrong. There will be times when so MUCH goes wrong that we think we're going to collapse under the weight. During times like these, the key is this: Don't blame God. Don't hate God. Trust God. It is during those times when we think we won't make it when we have to realize that NO, we WON'T make it, we CAN'T make it, apart from God's grace. And when we realize that, the peace will come, because we'll realize that NOT ONLY can we make it, we don't have to do it alone!!

Read the Bible, pray, and always trust God...and God's love, care, and promises will sustain you. Here's 2:

James 5:11(Msg) "What a gift life is to those who stay the course! You've heard, of course, of Job's staying power, and you know how God brought it all together for him at the end. That's because God cares, cares right down to the last detail."

Romans 8:28 (Msg) "That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."

--KB