Tag: Faith

²⁴ And He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵ For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” ~ Mark 4:24-25

Jesus told us to pay attention to what we hear, but why? Shouldn’t we hear all arguments and points of view before we come to our decision? Here’s what Jesus is saying. Pay attention to what you hear because the measure you use it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. It’s not about the general hearing but the hearing and believing that Jesus is talking about.

It’s hard to put everything into a word that you are not sure you can trust. In other words, not every word is for you. Maybe it’s not you that the LORD is prompting to sow that $1,000 seed. Maybe it’s your neighbor sitting next to you or in the opposite row from you. But if it’s you that God is speaking to, you had better obey. It is better to obey than to sacrifice.

Again, we can connect this to the servant with the five talents who turned it into ten talents. It is the fourth hearer who received a hundredfold. The flip side is this. If you receive a Rhema Word, and do not mix it with [(ho) Pistis], The Faith! And if you do not act on it, it will be taken away from you and given to him, who already has.

How long before that happens? I don’t know. Because God is a merciful and patient God, but nevertheless, from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Whether it is in the here and now or in the Judgment, it will come to pass. For to the one who uses [(ho) Pistis], The Faith, with the measure that he is given, it will be measured back to him, and still, more will be added.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Hear.

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¹⁴ And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.” ¹⁸ Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice. ²⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe His prophets, and you will succeed.” ~ 2 Chronicles 20:14-20

Please understand that a great multitude of Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites were coming up to do battle against Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was terrified. So, he set his face to seek the LORD by proclaiming a fast throughout Judah. And the whole of Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD. Then Jahaziel received a Rhema word from the LORD. He said, “This is what the LORD says,” and he proceeded to say what he had just heard from the LORD.

The Rhema Word that they heard was immediately received and acted upon. They did not debate it. They did not form a committee to determine the accuracy of the Rhema. They heard it. They recognized who it came from. Because it resonated with them. They accepted it. They immediately put it into action. They began to worship. They began to praise. They began to give thanks for His deliverance.

But I want to point something out to you. Jahaziel was not a Johnny-come-lately. He was not a wishy-washy man. He was not a stranger among friends. They knew him and his daddy and daddy’s daddy and his daddy. They knew him to be a creditable man.

Therefore, the Rhema Word was received, accepted, and mixed with [(ho) Pistis], The Faith! And they celebrated it. Why? Because Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice.” If Jahaziel was in the habit of saying, “Thus sayeth the LORD…” When the LORD had not spoken, do you think the congregation would trust his words now, in such a dire time as this? Probably not.

How did they react to the Rhema Word? Did they let the word lie dormant after receiving it? Or did they immediately put it into action? They immediately put it into action. King Jehoshaphat and all of Judah recognized what they had heard. They recognized that it came from the LORD. So, they mixed their Rhema Word with faith and put that faith into action.

Far too often, people are led astray by their own desires because they confuse them with a word from God. We have to learn to hear the Spirit of the LORD and the voice of our Good Shepherd, Jesus. When we’ve done this, we then have to believe the Rhema Word given to us and put it into action faith. Believing a Word from God is for us isn’t enough; we have to then put that faith into action, lest we make it void.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Put Your Rhema Word Into Action.

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¹⁹ Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. ²⁰ As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” ²¹ Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! ²² My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” ²³ Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. ~ Daniel 6:1-5

What had happened was Daniel, a Jewish exile, was promoted to be the chief of the king of Babylon’s wise men, or chief of the magicians, according to Daniel 4:6, 9. Not that Daniel was a magician in any sense, only that he was an interpreter of dreams. A very wise man. At the end of Babylon’s reign of power, Daniel was the only one able to interpret the writing. Now, the king, Belshazzar, was so pleased, or thankful, that he made Daniel the 3^rd highest ruler in the land. Which was short-lived because he was killed that very night and his kingdom was overtaken by the Medes and the Persians, and king Darius, the Mede, was made king (Daniel 5:31).

Daniel could have been discouraged. He could have been angry at God for taking away another king that he had earned great trust and favor with. Instead, Daniel remained faithful to God. He didn’t waiver in his faith, not even once. In fact, Daniel was so consistent in his faith that those who wanted to have him removed could only think to make his faith illegal. And even then, Daniel remained faithful to God. He knew the punishment. He understood the risk, but his faithfulness to God was more important than his life. Because of this, God was with him in the lions’ den.

This is the same kind of faithfulness God desires us to have. A faithfulness that no matter what may come our way, God will be there for us. That God will be with us on the mountain and in the valley. During seasons of tribulation and during seasons of prosperity. The LORD will remain faithful to those who remain faithful to Him. He is our great provider, but He is also our great deliverer.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remain Faithful To The Faithful God.

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²⁰ that He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, ²¹ far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. ²² And He put all things under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. ~ Ephesians 1:20–23

When Jesus was raised from the dead, He was seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of God the Father. The right hand of power. He was given a name above all names and is exalted above all rule and authority and all power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only then, not only now, but throughout all eternity. Nothing in all of creation will ever overcome His rule. All things are forever put under His feet. All things are subject to Him. And the good news is, the Father has given Him, Jesus, His beloved Son, to the Church, which is us, His body. The Body of Christ.

Therefore, if Jesus is given to us, and we are His body, and not just His body, but the fullness of Him who fills all in all. In other words, there is no one greater, so then whom shall we fear? There is none who is more powerful. And there is none who loves us more. Everything He has, we have access to. When Jesus came as a man, putting aside His Godhood, and refused to use any of His own divine powers, He relied on the Holy Spirit. Why? To leave us an example that if He could do it as a man, we could do it as well.

Think about it. We are His very representatives here on earth now that He is gone. Is it His will that we look weak and pathetic? No! He has empowered us to do even greater miracles than He did, by His own words. Why do we not see them? Because we do not believe the way the early Church did. They had a real relationship with Jesus as both God and close friend. See, when Jesus was taken up into heaven, they did not preach a Gospel that said miracles and signs and wonders all ceased when Jesus was taken up. No! They carried on where He left off with healing the sick. Even their shadows healed, something that Jesus did not do.

They did not say, “Be healed if it is Jesus’ will.” No! They said, “Silver and gold I do not have but what I do have, give I unto you, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk.” And many other miracles like these they did because they believed they were His representatives here on the earth.

Father, please help us to believe and understand that we are Your representative here on the earth and that You have given us authority to use Your great and mighty name. Help us to serve You wholeheartedly and without doubt or fear of what people say or how they ridicule us. But that we will be obedient only to You that we might bring you glory and honor. In Jesus’ Name, we pray, amen.

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¹ When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint Him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. ~ Mark 16:1-4

The women were worrying about who would roll away the stone because it was a very large stone. Sometimes our problems can seem so large, but they’re a small matter for Jesus. But even so, the women did not let that stop or hinder them. They had a plan, and they worked the plan. They did not let circumstances beyond their control, things that they could not fix, stop all forward progress. But instead, they continued on, and wouldn’t you know it, a miracle took place for them.

The very large stone, which they had no idea how to move or who would move it, was already moved. The hard work was already done. That is how Jesus is. He will not let us fail when we are on a mission for Him. He will make a way where there is no way.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow God’s Plan.

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¹ Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ~ Matthew 21:1-3

Jesus didn’t tell the disciples exactly where the donkey was or whose donkey it belonged to. Jesus just said, when you go in, you’ll see the donkey and her colt. In fact, Jesus goes even further, saying that if anyone tries to stop you, just tell them that the LORD needs them. The disciples had to be led by faith and the Spirit alone. They had to believe and put their full confidence in Jesus that He would make a way for them to untie the donkey and her colt without the owner calling them thieves, causing them to fall into big problems.

Many of us today are called by God to do something. Sometimes, it takes great faith that we feel we lack because of the possible consequences. But just as Jesus gave the disciples favor with the owner of the donkey and her colt, if they had the faith to do as He commanded, so will we have the favor to complete what we’ve been called to do if we do it in faith and obedience.

LORD, please strike fear from my heart so that I might abound and be transformed in Your perfect love, and my faith in You might grow and flourish. Help me to fully and heartedly believe that You are good and that Your plan for my life is good. Please remove all doubt from my mind and heart so that I can follow You without reservation or hesitation. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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³⁷ As He was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of His disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, ³⁸ saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” ³⁹ And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” ⁴⁰ He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” ~ Luke 19:37-40

Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem. He hadn’t made it down the Mount of Olives yet; nevertheless, the Pharisees were there. They remained quiet until the disciples began to rejoice and proclaim who Jesus is. The enemy is fine with us believing Jesus existed. He’s even fine with us believing that He died on the cross and rose again. But the moment we start speaking about who Jesus is, the enemy can’t remain silent. The enemy has to speak. He has to try to silence the Truth. Why?

Unless we understand and proclaim who Jesus is, we make His name powerless. Unless we proclaim that Jesus is King of kings and LORD of lords and believe that He is God incarnate, we cannot be saved. The enemy will try to intimidate you. He’ll try to condemn you. He’ll even try to twist Scripture to confuse you so that you’ll miss out on Jesus. You’ll miss out on His salvation. You’ll miss out on His peace, grace, joy, healing, and so much more. If the enemy can silence you, then the enemy can snuff out the Light that is within you.

Dear LORD, please help me to never allow Your Light in me to be dimmed. Protect my faith. Don’t allow any fear, doubt, intimidation, or twisting of Scripture to uproot my faith in You. Strengthen my faith so that I might overcome every fiery dart the enemy sends my way. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹² But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’ ~ Amos 2:12

Many of us live our lives in a box, and because we live in the box, we drag God into the same box as well. God is all-powerful, but His power is restrained or limited by our faith. Jesus, God in the flesh, marveled at the unbelief of Nazareth, His hometown (Mark 6:1-6) because He could only do a few miracles and heal a few sick. If we refuse to believe God is more than Salvation and try to convince others of the same thing, then it’s not the beliefs we’re trying to stop; it’s God.

God wants to do more than save us from our sin. He wants to give us life more abundantly, but we have to believe it’s possible. We have to leave the box in order to see all that God has in store for us. We have to remove our biases and truly seek the Truth of God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Leave The Box.

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