Tag: Faith

IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD

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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  – John 1:1-5 (ESV).

John says, in the beginning, was the word. People know that Jesus lived on earth for 33 years in Israel. But John is reminding us that even before the beginning of what we know is time, Jesus, the Word was eternally God. This should make you stop for a moment because when we start to say that Jesus is the Son, some people think He was a created being, but John is saying no. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God. Think about that for a second. Jesus is fully God and fully man, not half and half.  Jesus was on a rescue mission to save us.

One of the most beautifully written passages about Jesus is found in Colossians 1:15-19: “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ.” 

Have you ever thought that God is this big, impersonal force out there, and we can’t know Him? As believers in Jesus, we know that’s not true. We know God is a knowable God, a personable God, and He chose to be known by the Word coming to the earth, taking on the form of a servant, and being hung on a cross. That is our God. If we want to know what God is like, we just look at Jesus in the Scriptures.

Jesus is the eternal Word of God who was with God and was God. The Word reveals God and is the power of God in His creative and redemptive mission and we are invited to put our faith in Him.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How does John 1:1 help us understand the divine nature of Jesus and the trinity? 
  2. What are some reasons that it is important for our faith that Jesus was not just some created being like a human teacher or an angel? 

HOW DO WE MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES

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“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” – Deuteronomy 30:19.

In the garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represented the possible choices people could make to do the right or the wrong thing. Adam and Eve’s choice to eat from that tree is a prologue to all the times God’s people would make sinful decisions in the future.

There is a sign at a high school that says the following. “You are not born a winner, You are not born a loser, You are born a chooser.” Like Adam and Eve, we will experience choices. Every day brings new challenges and decisions for you and everyone around you. Every day is a new day, and every day means we either choose to live for God, by the standards He lays down in scripture, or we live for ourselves by our own standards of right and wrong, as in the days when “. . . the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25).

When you make a choice against one thing, you make a choice for something else. When you make up your mind to abhor evil, you make the choice to cling to what is good. When you choose to ignore the prompting of the Lord in an area, you are making the choice to do something that opposes His best plan for your life. Choosing to do right isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it.

Following God is determined not only by the one big decision we must make at the time of our conversion but also by the many small decisions that we make throughout each day. Perhaps the most profound act of worship is not found in a worship service where we corporately praise God and offer our prayers, but in private when no one is watching, and we choose to obey God rather than fall into temptation.

What do we want to change in the next six months? What do we hope to change in the next year? Are you going to be healthier, stronger, and more mature? Are you going to be less in debt? Are you going to be more like God wants you to be? The change will only happen if you choose to change.

Change requires making choices. It’s not enough to dream of changing. It’s not enough to desire change. In order for you to change, you will need to make a decision. You must choose to change. You can only muster the faith to embrace and choose change by knowing His love, knowing His character, and trusting Him.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Have you ever seen someone’s life change so much that you couldn’t deny it was God changing them?
  2. What can you do this week to change an area of your life that needs changing?   

When In Doubt

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“Christ never failed to distinguish between doubt and unbelief. Doubt is can’t believe. Unbelief is won’t believe. Doubt is honesty. Unbelief is obstinacy. Doubt is looking for light. Unbelief is content with darkness.” – Henry Drummond.

Experiencing spiritual doubt can be a lonely experience, but according to a new study from Barna, it’s more common than you think. Most Christians have at some point experienced a time of spiritual doubt when they questioned what they believed about their religion or God. We desperately want answers to our questions, but we are afraid to ask. God actually wants us to come to Him with our doubts and questions.

Consider the people listed in Hebrews 11 specifically for their faith. We are told that by faith Noah built an ark, Abraham traveled to a distant land, Sarah had a son in old age, Moses left a life of royalty to lead God’s people to freedom, and Samson defeated the Philistines. Many of the people who are praised for their faith also had moments of doubt recorded in Scripture. Jesus wouldn’t have had a single disciple if doubt disqualified anyone from following Him. In fact, If we removed from the Bible every person who doubted God, it would be a very short book.

Jesus was no stranger to doubt. And even after His resurrection, Jesus had doubters amongst His followers. Matthew’s Gospel records how even after seeing Jesus resurrected from the dead, some of His first followers doubted while others worshipped: “When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted!” (Matthew 28:17). Then there was Thomas. Jesus appears and convinces the others He is alive. Does Thomas believe their story? No. He had his doubts.

We should not be embarrassed by our doubts. We should embrace it as a regular part of the faith life and journey. Timothy Keller said, “Honest doubts, then, are open to belief. If you are really asking for information and good arguments, you might get some.” Doubt is an invitation to journey into a deeper understanding as we “ask, seek, and knock.”

 The Bible shows us that not only is it okay to cry out to God with our questions but that God longs for us to do so. While we may want to seek other people and sources to answer the questions that plague us, God wants us to seek Him first. God knows that even in a place of doubt and disbelief if we bring our questions to Him, He can do for us what He did for many other heroes of the faith.

Whenever they come and whatever form they take, we must each deal honestly with our doubts. To ignore them is to court spiritual disaster. But facing them can lead ultimately to a deeper faith. A faith that’s challenged by adversity or tough questions . . . is often a stronger faith in the end.

Discussion questions:

  1. Why do you think it’s difficult for some to admit they have spiritual doubts? What prevents you from speaking out about your doubts? What makes you feel safe and unafraid to honestly open up with others about your spiritual questions?
  2. How would it change things if you saw your doubts as opportunities to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ, and not a reason for alarm? 

Depending On The Dependable God

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“But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned the flames will not set you ablaze.” – Isaiah 43:1-2.

Isaiah 43: 1-2 is a scripture that seems relevant for the first few weeks of 2023. In this passage, we read about a promise from God. This promise is there for each one of us as individuals.

God knows me so intimately because He created me.  He knew me before anyone else did and literally no one knows me better than anyone will know me. Then, He reminds me that He “redeemed” me. The one who knows me most intimately, knows my faults, my downfalls, my secret thoughts and fears, and all of the other stuff in my life, and still found me worth redeeming. He calls me by name and calls me His own.

During 2023 we most likely will face difficult situations in life. Regardless of what those circumstances are, God is dependable. You can trust Him with your life and know that it is absolutely safe and secure. You can follow God with your two eyes closed and know that you will not miss the way or fall into a ditch. Think of it in this way: Most of us have held a baby in our arms at one time or another. And we just have likely passed that baby to a child, a brother or sister, to hold for a photo. The baby doesn’t panic but continues to rest or sleep in the brother’s or sister’s arms. The baby trusts whoever was carrying him or she was dependable and up to the task.

It is such childlike faith that is required in depending on God. You should rest in His arms, knowing that He is dependable and up to the task of carrying you. When we depend on God, we get what God can do. Depending on God means we rely on Him and depend on His reliability. Depending on God means that God is bigger, greater, and better than me and you can depend on God to meet all your needs; He has all the resources of the earth. Psalm 24:1 tells us, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him.” When you know that God owns all things, you will not struggle to depend on Him for whatever you need. He said, For all the animals of the forest are mine, and I own the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird on the mountains, and all the animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for all the world is mine and everything in it.” (Psalm 50:10-12) You can depend on God because He holds and rules the entire world.

God is dependable because of His track record of faithfulness and success; God has no record of failure. There is nothing He has ever said that failed; that have either happened or are about to happen. He has all it takes to keep His promises, so you can trust and depend on Him for your today and tomorrow.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How have seen God’s dependability in 2022?
  2. How should God’s dependability impact our lives in 2023? 

The Attributes Of God – God Is Absolute Truth

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What are God’s attributes? Each Friday we will look at an attribute of God. This week, God is absolute truth.  Our God is absolute truth. It is impossible for Him to be otherwise. In fact, God is the source of all truth. Our God, who is present everywhere and knows all things, has total understanding of what is real, what is right and what is true.

“Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.” – John 18:37-38.

What is absolute truth?  That is a question that has been asked for thousands of years. Pontus Pilate asked a similar question (John 18:38) after Jesus prompted him by saying “I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” Earlier, the disciples had asked Him to show them the way, Jesus told him, ” he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)  And John 8:31-32 adds: “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Jesus meant that truth is not merely some abstract thing floating out in space that we have to mystically experience or something we have to force our will to follow, but it was a person, Himself. In Colossians 2 we read, “In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments…For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.” Paul was telling the Colossians not to be deceived by “fine-sounding” logical “arguments” but to find all truth in Christ.

That is the answer to Pilate’s question of what does absolute truth come from and who gives truth? Paul says every truthful thing in the universe is found in Christ as the word, wisdom, and knowledge belonging to God Himself. While many people claim to know the truth, only Jesus could honestly claim to be the truth.

In the book of Judges, it says, “…all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes..” This is still true today; we often believe that our personal truth is the absolute truth. But God’s word was and still is the only absolute truth we should build our lives on. “Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to Your truth!” (Psalm 86:11) John 17:17 says, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” John 16:13 reminds us that the Holy Spirit guides believers into all truth: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.”

What Is Absolute Truth?”  Jesus Christ.

Discussion Questions:

  1. It’s easy to get caught up in a sea of opinions and false truths about the Bible. What can you do to build up your confidence in the absolute truth of God’s word? How can you remain faithful in believing the truth, regardless of the dizzying opinions surrounding you every day?

What Are You Afraid Of?

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But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” – Exodus 14:13-14

We all have fears. Some people may be afraid of rollercoasters, sharks, spiders, or the dark. However, there are also fears that seem to follow us around on a daily basis. Whether they be fears of the future, financial trouble, health concerns, failure, or disappointment. On our own, we can find it difficult not to let anxious thoughts occupy our minds and ideas. However, when we rely not on our own strength but on God’s power, we can find that our anxieties and stresses do not overtake us.

In the Bible, and the Psalms especially, we can find many references to having faith over fear and trusting in God in difficult times. “The Lord is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Psalm 118:6)  Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid…?” God has a plan for our lives and did not create us to be fearful: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:7). When we have God on our side, we need not be afraid. With Christ in our lives, we know that there is hope for the future.

Look at the events that take place in Exodus 14. God has brought the Israelite people out of slavery in Egypt and is guiding them to the promised land. There’s just one small problem. They barely make it to the edge of the Red Sea before the pharaoh changes his mind and starts to chase them down. Naturally, the people are terrified. They begin to cry out against Moses, saying they should’ve never even left Egypt.  It was in this moment that Moses stands before God’s people and delivers perhaps the GOAT of motivational speeches: “…Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

Moses had faith in God and His promised deliverance. He was reminding the Israelites that when God begins something He will see it through to the end. No king or people or group is a match for God. In the midst of their terror, Moses encouraged the Israelites to have faith in the power of God.

What does that have to do with our fears today? Even when everything around us seems to be falling apart and we can’t imagine how anything good could come from our present circumstances, God still moves, still provides, and still makes a way for His name to be glorified.

While you probably won’t completely rid yourself of fear, not this side of heaven anyway, it doesn’t have to control your life. Your reasons to trust God are so much greater than your fears.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Max Lucado says, “The presence of fear does not mean you have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make your fear a visitor and not a resident.” How does one go about doing that?
  2. What can you do this week to diminish fear and increase your faith? 

I Can Trust God With My Grief

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“Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress, my eye is wasted from grief; my soul and body also. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing”– Psalm 31:9-10 (ESV).

In times of grief, it is hard to keep trusting in God — and in His plan for our life. There are things that happen that completely take the starch out of the present and seemingly our future. A heartbreaking loss seems like it will take years to truly recover and heal.   

You are not alone. Nobody escapes this life without battle scars. No matter how strong your faith or deep your love for Jesus is, you will experience pain. But if you choose to trust God, you’ll also experience deep joy, peace, freedom, and hope. Learning how to trust God’s plan for your life will get you through your loss, no matter how heartbreaking it is.

So, as we search for something to grab hold of in the midst of grief that will bring comfort, or as we search for words to say to someone else who is grieving, we want to make sure that what we’re grabbing hold of, or offering to someone else to hold onto, is profoundly, fully, and eternally true.

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end. If you look for comfort, you will not get either comfort or truth — only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”

It seems counterintuitive, but grief and grace co-mingle pretty well together. When we are grieving God does not throw up His hands and say, “I’m done with him or her. Where is their faith?”  God loves each one of us and His grace will never leave us.  Psalm 94:18-19 reminds us, ‘I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.’”

You can read God’s words for you in Hebrews: “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:15-16). God is reminding us that He isn’t far off. He wants to comfort you. He wants you to find His grace.

Trust God in hard times. Even when times are hard and grief seems to be a constant companion, trusting God is possible. In a time of loss, choose to trust that God is still with you and has a glorious plan for your life. As David said in Psalm 31:14, “But I am trusting you, O LORD, saying, “You are my God!”

Discussion Questions:

  1. How can you tell your grief is affecting you more than you thought it was? 
  2. Have other people suggested that you need “to get on with it” and move on? Is this good advice? What do you need to say to them when they tell you this? 
  3. What does it mean to lean into God in your grief? How do we effectively do that?  

True Happiness Can Only Be Found In God

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“Yes, joyful are those who live like this! Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD.” – Psalm 144:15.

Human history is the story of mankind’s search for true and lasting happiness. Some find it, some don’t. Even billionaires who appear to have it all and want for nothing can’t seem to find true contentment and joy.

We are probably not one of the approximately 3,311 billionaires looking for happiness. While we are in a different place financially, we still look for happiness: often in the wrong places. We focus on what is not important rather than what is. We all experience happiness at different times in our lives. But if our happiness is found outside of God, then it is temporary.  True happiness cannot be found in relationships, wealth, status, or accomplishments because all of these things can be undone or disappear rather quickly. When that happens, we are giving away our joy, nobody is stealing it.

Happiness is a choice.  Randy Alcorn says, “Those who sit around waiting to be happy shouldn’t hold their breath—it will likely be a long wait.” True happiness comes from having a relationship with God, our Creator, and Jesus His Son. That’s where true and lasting happiness comes from—not in stuff we build up here on earth. When we know, love, and serve God, His peace invades our hearts and we can see life in a different way.

God is eternal, His purpose is perfect, and we are forever His. He gives us all things and works all things for our good. What makes God’s gifts so special is not the thing given but the One who gives it. If we are going to be happy, truly happy, then we have to look behind the gifts we enjoy when days are easy to the God who gives them. And when days are dark we have to look beyond our painful circumstances to the God who loves us and strengthens us.

Being “joyful always” doesn’t mean we have to walk around with a fake smile on our face all the time, ignore reality or suppress every negative emotion. This verse simply implores us to intentionally let our faith, not our feelings, dictate our joy. The secret to real happiness isn’t really a secret at all.

To find true happiness you must look to the Lord Jesus, find beauty in His character, fall in love with His work, and stand in awe at what He has done for you and the future you have in Him. In Him, we have real joy. 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you believe joy is a feeling or a choice?
  2. Remind yourself of the importance of rejoicing by searching the Bible—both Old and New Testaments—for God’s instructions in this area. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 reminds us it’s God’s will that we “rejoice always” and “give thanks in all circumstances.”

The Attributes Of God – The Wisdom Of God

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What are God’s attributes? Each Friday we will look at an attribute of God. This week, the wisdom of God. On a human level, we learn wisdom through experience, usually by the wrong application of knowledge. We may act wisely from time to time, but we also act rashly or foolishly at other times. The wisdom of God, on the other hand, is perfection. God must act wisely in everything He does, not because He has wisdom, but because He is wisdom.

“Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!” – Romans 11:33

Like Solomon, Christians have prayed for wisdom. James 1:5 speaks to God’s promise to give wisdom any time we ask for it. This powerful assurance is comforting since we need wisdom. We may be sometimes wise, but God is always wise.

Trying to wrap our arms around the wisdom of God is impossible. Man cannot, through his own wisdom, knowledge, and learning, come to an understanding of the wisdom of God. His understanding is infinite, and so there is no earthly comparison. His knowledge is immutable, for He knows all, and is all in all. Mankind will never understand the solitary, unending, limitless, established wisdom of God. 

Indeed, when we see wisdom like this, we realize just how much our limited, finite wisdom compares with the limitless, infinite wisdom of God. The fact that God can never be wiser means He is always doing the wisest thing in our lives. In God’s perfect way and God’s perfect time, He continues with His perfect plan. No plan we could make for our lives could be better than the plan He has already crafted and is carrying out for us. We might not understand His ways today, but we can trust that because God is infinitely wise and is working all things out in the best possible way.

The fact that God is wisdom, that He knows all and knows how to use all, should make us trust Him more. Living out a life of wisdom was never designed to highlight our handling of things, but rather when we realize that we aren’t enough on our own. We realize that in Christ we have more than enough to equip us to live bigger, bolder, and fuller lives.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what area of your life have you asked God for wisdom recently?
  2. What is one way you could use the knowledge you’ve been given to impact the world around you?

Blessed To Bless Others

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” I will bless my people and their homes around my holy hill. And in the proper season I will send the showers they need. There will be showers of blessing. The orchards and fields of my people will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken their chains of slavery and rescued them from those who enslaved them, then they will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 34:26-27. 

There is an old hymn written by Daniel Webster Whittle in 1883 entitled, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessings.” Whittle wrote this hymn and many others. The words are based on Ezekiel 34:26-27.

God truly does shower us with blessings: deep compassion, amazing love, kindness and grace, His forgiveness, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and His multitude of promises to name a few. God doesn’t simply bless us just so we can say we are a blessed people. God blesses us because He loves us, and so we can be a blessing to others. He instructs us, so we can instruct others. He comforts us, so we can comfort others.

The Christian faith proves to be way bigger than just me and you. His blessings are not meant to be totally consumed by us. Blessings flow from God, but they should never stop with us. They come to us and then flow through us. Every blessing we have received from God, whether material or spiritual, is to be used for the benefit of others. Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created anew in Christ Jesus for a purpose to “…do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

God is all about blessing people. In fact, God gave His people a blessing that we still use today: “May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’” (Numbers 6:24-26). 

Psalm 20: 2,4,5 says, “May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem…May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed…May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers.”

God blesses others through the blessings we have received. In a way, we keep those blessings moving forward as we partner with God and share our blessings with others. We do it for the common good instead rather than for personal gain, worth, or recognition.

Look around you at your neighbors, the people you work with or go to school with, the person sitting next to you at church, or the person in your small group. Are there opportunities to share your blessings with them? You will never regret a moment of helping someone else. And, you might just find that you are blessed as much as those you set out to help. 

  

Discussion Questions:

  1. How has God blessed you?
  2. How are you passing on to others the blessing God has given you?