Are You Choosing To Stay In Faith No Matter How Things Appear To Be?

Faith is ... 

What is faith to you?   What does it mean for YOU to walk in faith?  Do you walk in faith momentarily or do you take a stand and choose to stay in faith no matter how your situation appears to be?   

Do you believe God and what He has said?  Do you trust Him?    Are your words words of faith?   Are they in alignment with what God has said concerning your situation and life or are they words of doubt and fear?   Faith requires that you speak with faith filled words that confirm what God has said about your situation.    

Understand, fear and faith cannot abide together.   Either you are going to walk in fear or you are going to allow your faith to override your fear.   If you are walking in doubt, understand, you not walking in faith.    Faith requires that you cast down all fear and all doubt and trust God to honor His Word and works in your life.   

Remember, faith is trusting God NO MATTER WHAT people are saying and NO MATTER HOW your situation is looking.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Philippians 1:27

King James Version (KJV)

27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

  

Will You Choose To Trust and Wait On God For Everything You Need In Life?

What’s your choice today?   God’s way or the world’s way?   Will you choose to trust God and to wait on God or will you choose to revert back to your old way of doing things.   God has a plan and His plan works a specific way in your life.   His plan and His promises are activated based on your obedience.   God will allow you to do things your way and He will step back and wait on you to decide that you are no longer going to walk in a circle of confusion where you do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result.   He will allow you to stay there until you choose to trust and to follow Him.    

If you want the blessings of God, at some point and at some time, you have to choose to make God your priority.    You have to choose to put Him first and you have to choose to trust Him completely.   You have to know that God is the giver of life and He is well equipped to give you everything you need in life.   

The children of Israel experienced God’s goodness, grace, love, and mercy.   They saw Him to them  and they experienced Him giving them provision and food supernaturally but yet they still chose to walk in disobedience.   They chose to walk in the same circle of confusion for 40 years.   They refused to give up their way of doing things even when they saw the mighty hand of God move in their lives.   They murmured, they complained, and they continued to do things their way.   

God is God all by Himself.   He doesn’t need our help to do things in our lives, He only needs our obedience, so that He can do things in our lives.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Psalm 9:10

King James Version (KJV)

10 And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

Are You Trusting God To The Point You Push Out All Doubt?

What is it that you need for God to do for you?   Do you need Him to heal you?   Do you need Him to provide for you?   Do you need Him to give you peace?   Do you need Him to restore your joy?   Whatever it is, God can do it.   Question is, do you trust Him to do it?

Do you trust God enough to push out doubt?   Doubt will come and doubt will talk to you.   Doubt will come in the form of questioning whether you deserve God’s blessings in your life.   Doubt will come to the point where you begin to question whether God is who He says He is.   YOU HAVE TO cast down doubt and constantly remind yourself who God is and know that He is well able to do for you and to deliver you.   

Take time to lift up your hands today and to give God praise.   Thank Him for what He has done and speak life to your situation.   Speak the Word that says that God knows EVERYTHING you have need of and He is faithful and just to supply your every need. 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION   

Isaiah 41:10

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” 

Are You Staying In Faith Even When Situations Arise That Combat Your Faith? In Other Words, Are You Fighting The Good Fight Of Faith?

Why look back?  What is it behind you that can even compare to what God has prepared for you?  Just in case you didn’t know ... nothing compares to the things that God has ordained and prepared for you.   Sometimes we have thoughts in our mind that tell us it was better in the past.   It’s like the children of Israel when they were in the “process” of their deliverance, they murmured and they complained and they even said it would have been better for them to stay in bondage.    That’s not God.   God has not called for us to be in bondage to sin or slavery.    

So often in life we want to look back and remember how things were instead of standing and staying in faith for the things we need God to do.   Staying in faith is not easy because there is always something combatting our faith.  There’s always situations coming up with the intent  to cause us not to trust and believe what God has promised and we have to continuously cast down thoughts, imaginations, and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and what He has promised to do in and through our lives.

What we have to understand is the fact that God wants us to look forward with expectation.   He wants us to trust in Him and have faith in His promises.   We have to know that there are things that will occur in life but God’s power overrides them all.   There is nothing too hard for God! 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Philippians 3:12-14

King James Version (KJV)

12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Are You Submitting Yourself To God So That You Are Under The Authority Of His Word and Not Your Fleshly Desire?

What is it that you need for God to do for you?   Do you need Him to heal your body?  Do you need Him to meet a need?   Do you need Him to show you the way to go?   Do you need Him to give you peace and to restore your joy?  Whatever it is that you need, you have to know that God will do it.    

The Word of God says that He is the Lord God that heals you.   So whatever it is that is going on in your body, believe God is the Healer and believe that He will heal you.    You have to submit yourself to God  so that Your body is under the authority of His Word and not your desire.   As you submit to Him, trust Him to cause everything in your body to submit to the authority of His Word and to function the way He created it to function.    

The Word of God says that He is Jehovah Jireh, our Provider, and because He provides, we know that He will meet our needs.  Everything in life doesn’t always work out the way “we” plan.   We set goals and sometimes things happen where we can’t meet those goals but we have to understand, God has a plan.   He said in His Word that He knows the plans He has for us and we have to trust Him to bring that plan to pass.   We have to believe that meeting our needs is a part of the Father’s plan.    

Understand, not only will God heal us and meet our needs, He will also lead us, guide us, give us peace, and restore our joy.   We just have to trust Him, believe Him, and have faith in Him.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

James 4:7

King James Version (KJV)

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Is Your Total Reliance On God Knowing That He Loves You and He Has Already Made A Way For You?

What do you do when God makes a way for you?   Do you continue on the same path or do you do your best to make a mid-course correction?    God will make a way but how often do we say thank you and go about “business as usual”.   We have to start being about our Father’s business.   We have to begin to do our best to make the necessary mid-course corrections in our lives.  When we do our best to walk in obedience to God’s Word, it not only tells God we are grateful, it shows Him that we are thankful.    

We have to understand that our total reliance is on God.   He is the very air we breathe.   It is only by His power and grace that we live, breathe, and have our being.   We have to realize that without Him we would be nothing and we would have nothing.    We have to begin to look at Him and to Him and understand that He is not just a resource, He is our source.    

God loves you and there is nothing He won’t do for you.   He is watching over you and keeping you.   Trust Him to do everything else that needs to be done in your life.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Deuteronomy 28:1

Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

Are You Seeking Clarity In The Word Of God or Are You Following The Confusion of the World?

Who and what are you following?   Are you following the confusion of the world or are you seeking and following the clarity of the Word.   You have to learn how to take God at His Word and you have to trust that His Word is real.   You have to let the Word of God be the standard that you live by.   Understand, a standard is a level of quality by which you live or attain something.   

It all comes down to you trusting and believing God and His Word.  Either the Word of God is real to you or it’s not.   Either you are going to trust God or you are not.   There is no in-between!   YOU HAVE TO FIND CLARITY IN THE WORD because there is no clarity in the world.   

The world is full of confusion.   People are confused about who they are and whose they are.   They are confused about whether they should do what God said for them to do or whether they should follow the crowd.   They are confused about their identity and they are confused about what steps to take next in life.  THE WORLD IS FULL OF CONFUSION and we all have to decide that we are not going to follow the confusion and make up in our minds that we are going to allow the Word of God to be our guide.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Acts 26:18

King James Version (KJV)

18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Are You Trusting God Completely or Are You Trusting Him In Partiality?

Didn’t you know?   Didn’t you know that God is good and that He is faithful?  Didn’t you know that He has promised to take care of you?   Didn’t you know that He promised to never leave you nor forsake you?   If you knew, why are you still trying to work it out on your own?

The answer to knowing is it’s human nature.   It is a part of human nature to try to figure it all out and then to try to work it all out.   Instead of trusting God “completely”, we trust Him in partiality.   We trust Him to the extent that we see Him.   If we can’t see God moving, we tend to want to make things move ourselves but that is not faith. 

God has required us to walk by faith.   He wants us to see our situation through eyes of faith.   He wants us to believe that He is working everything in our lives together for our good based on faith.    Remember, faith is believing and trusting in what you cannot see.   You cannot see God moving but you have to believe He is and you have to trust Him to do whatever needs to be done in your life.    It’s time to be still and to know that God is God.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

2 Corinthians 5:7

King James Version (KJV)

7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Understanding Faith Is A Step By Step Process ... Are You Fulfilling The Assignment God Has Given You To Do So That You Can Grow In Faith For The Next Assignment?

Fulfill the assignment.  In school when you are given an assignment, you are not assigned to read the whole book all at once or to complete every exercise in the course overnight.   There are steps and progressions to your learning process.   The teacher builds upon what you have learned in order for you to eventually understand everything about the course you are taking.   Why do you think God would require you to know everything that He is teaching you overnight.    Understand, your walk of faith is a day by day, step by step process.   

In order for us to truly walk in faith, we must first believe.   Once we believe that God is real, we must then trust what He has said and is saying is true.   You can’t “grow” to the next level of your faith if you don’t believe God is real and if you don’t trust what He has told you to do.    

It’s time to solidify your faith walk.   It’s time to take God at His Word and trust that He will bring His promises to pass in your life.     It’s time to do what He has said in order for you to receive what He has promised.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Hebrews 10:36

King James Version

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Do You Realize That God Loves You and He Has Already Made A Way For You?

Which way are you going?   Who and what are you following in life?   Are you following God by adhering to His Word or are you trying to pave your own path?   

Understand, God loves you.   Because He loves you, He has already made a way for you.   You just have to trust Him.   When you are traveling down a long road, you can only see so far but in most cases, you know the road doesn’t end.   You know that the road will lead you to a certain destination if you just stay on it.   That’s how you have to be with God.   As you are traveling this road called life, you have to know that the road of faith that you are traveling, will lead you to the promises of God.   

Not only do you have to know that the road of faith leads you to God’s promises, you also have to know that you are not traveling alone.   God has already said that He will never leave you nor forsake you.   He has said that He is with you no matter where you go.   

So know where you are going when you are traveling in faith.   Know that you are going in the right direction and the road of obedience will lead you into the place where God’s blessings will be made manifest in your life.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

  

Isaigh 45:2-3

King James Version (KJV)

2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

What Are You Choosing To Believe? Are You Choosing To Believe That God Will Work Everything Together For Your Good?

Do you believe God knows what you need?   Do you believe that He will provide it?   Do you believe that He is all-powerful and all-knowing?   Do you believe that He is working everything in your life I together for your good?     What is it that you believe? 

We choose what we want to believe.   We can choose to believe that God knows our need or we can choose to believe the thoughts that come up saying He has forgotten about us.    We can choose to believe that God will provide or we can choose to believe that lack and insufficiency is our portion.    We can choose to believe that God is working everything together for our good or we can choose to believe that nothing will ever go right in our lives.   The choice is ours. 

Today is a new day in and with God.   He is our source and He is our resource.   We need to choose to trust Him.  We need to choose to believe Him.   W need to make the choice to wait on Him.   He is faithful and He loves us.   Let your love for Him usher you into a deeper relationship of trusting, believing, and waiting on Him.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Romans 8:28

King James Version (KJV)

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Are You Allowing Life To Push You Off Track or Are You Still Moving Forward With God?

Are your running and feeling faint?   Are you becoming weary in your well doing?   If so, it’s time stop and refuel.   It’s time to get into the presence of God and to receive from Him.

Now is not the time to give up.   It’s not the time to stop, quit, or grow faint.   Yes, it’s hard.   Yes, things sometimes seem to be going in the wrong direction even when you have been faithful.   No, it’s not what you expected but UNDERSTAND, God is still in control.   You have to continue to trust and believe that He will take care of you despite what you are experiencing in life at this given point.   

When you are experiencing hard times, what are you looking at?   What are you putting your trust in?   Are you trusting in what you can do or are you remaining in faith for what God said He would do?   Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked.   Don’t allow life to push you off track.   Sometimes you may feel as though you are going slower on this road called life than you think you should be but understand when we travel great distances, we sometimes go at a high speed but there are times during our travel that we have to slow down because of what is going on around us.  We may run into road construction as we are traveling and at those points there are signs that tell us to slow down.   That’s how life can be.   We may run into situations that cause us to slow down momentarily for our own safety.    

Slowing down momentarily does not mean for us to stop moving forward.   It doesn’t mean that we are to quit or to give up on where we are going.   It just means we may need to move more cautiously and follow the signs set before us.   Just like when you are driving and run into construction, you continue to move forward with caution.   Don’t allow your reconstruction process stop you from moving forward with God.   Take the time to learn the lessons for the season that you are in so that you can again move full speed ahead at the right time.   Keep in mind, sometimes the slowing down process gives you the opportunity to help build someone else up so that they can move forward with you.    Make sure you are taking time out to share your testimony so that others can know what God has done for you, He will do for them too.  

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Isaiah 40:31 (KJV)

  But they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. 

Where Is Your Hope? Is It In What Was or What God Said Will Be?

Where is your hope?   Is it in what was or is it in what God said will be?   So often in life, we focus in on what was.  It is easy to focus in on what was because its based on experience but we have to begin to live our lives in faith.  Faith is based on what God said and not necessarily what has happened in our lives.   However, there are occasions where we can allow some of our “good” past experiences to fuel our faith.   

Are you doing that?  Are you allowing your remembrance of what God has done to remind you of what God can and will do if you trust Him or are you allowing the pain of your past to push you into believing that you have no hope?    We have to make sure that we are casting down the thoughts and the imaginations that are exalting themselves against who God is and what God has said He will do.   We have to hold on to the Word that says God is faithful and He knows what we have need of in life.   We have to believe and trust Him when He says that He will work everything together for our good. 

Understand, hope strengthens you.   When you have hope, you have something to look forward to.   You are focused on what you believe can be instead of dwelling on what was.    When you have no hope, you become weak and you allow the situations of life to overwhelm you and to overtake you.   Stay focused on God and let your hope always remain in what He can do and not what you can do in and by yourself.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Peter 1:21

King James Version (KJV)

Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

Are You Thinking Through Your Choices or Are You Living Your Life On A Whim and Riding On The Mercy and Grace Of God Instead Of Walking In Obedience?

What is it that you want more?   What is your greatest desire?  Is it to please God or is it to appease your flesh?  A lot of people don’t want to deal with this question.   They don’t want to face the fact that we are in a battle between the flesh and our Spirit.   They don’t want to have to choose between the two but we have to choose.   We have to subdue our flesh and walk in the Spirit.   We have to learn how to lay down fleshly desires in order for God to become our ultimate desire.   We have to love God more.   

The Bible says to choose this day who we will serve.   Life is full of choices.   We choose what we say.   We choose what we do.   We choose what we eat and what we wear.   Who and what will you choose to serve today? What appetite will you choose to feed?   What choice will you make when presented with the opportunity to serve God or to serve your flesh today?   It’s all about making right and righteous choices. 

One of the things we must begin to do is to think our choices through.   We have to start thinking about the ramifications of our choice before we make it.   Ramification is defined as a consequence for an action.  So we need to start thinking about what consequences come with the choices we make before we make the choice.   It’s like a kid spending his lunch money on candy.   He needs to think about the fact that if he spends his lunch money on candy, the consequence is he won’t have money for lunch.   Instead of making the right and best choices, we tend to live our lives on a whim or should I say on the mercy of God.   Eventually we have to desire to do what is right.   When we desire to do what is right, we stop living our lives just on God’s mercy and grace, we then begin to walk in obedience to His Word, His will, and His way.  What would you want your child to do?  Would you want them to obey what you told them to do or would you want them always acting out and living in disobedience just because they know that you love them and they know you will be compassionate to them?  You should want them to walk in obedience.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

2 John 6

King James Version (KJV)

6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

What Are You Planning On Doing With This New Day God Has Given You?

What about today?   What will you do today?  God has given you this new day and the question is, what will you do in it and with it?   Will you represent God well today?   Will you trust Him?   Will you wait on Him?   Will you worship Him?   Will you tell others of His goodness, grace, love, and mercy?   How will you live out this new day that God has given you today? 

Every new day is a divine opportunity that God has given each of us.   He has filled each new day with His love, grace, and mercy and yet there are times when fail to even acknowledge His presence.   We have to get it right.   We have to understand that we are not here by chance.   We have to understand that there are many people who did not make it into this new day that we are now living.  We have to realize that God has chosen us to live out each new day in Him and for Him.   We have to strive to represent Him well. 

So make sure you are taking time out of each new day to acknowledge God, worship Him, and to thank Him for allowing you to be His representative in the earth and then make sure you represent Him well with the words that come out of your mouth and with your actions and deeds.   Let others see and feel the love of God pouring forth from your life.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

2 Corinthians 5:20

King James Version (KJV)

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

Are You Trusting God or Are You Continuously Taking Your Situation Back Out Of The Hands Of God?

Where is your trust?   Is your trust in people?   Is it in places where you feel you have to be in the right place at the right time?   Or is it in God?   Understand, God is not limited to who He can use.   He is not limited to where He can bless you and He is definitely not limited by time.  

Are you trusting God to do what He said He would do or are you trusting Him to a certain point?   At what point are you taking your situation back out of the hands of God to try to work things out on your own?   Why do you think that God can start a good work in and for you and then fail to trust Him to complete it?   We have to learn how to trust God through the “entire” process.   

Understand, God is ready to do a new thing in, for, and through you but He needs you to trust Him in your situation.   He needs you to trust Him for what it is you say you need.  He also needs you to trust Him through the entire process.  

Remember, God is not a man and He cannot lie.    What God has said, He will do if we trust Him.    

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

2 Samuel 22:31

As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

What Appetite Are You Choosing To Satisfy?

What is it that you are choosing?   Are you choosing to live for God or are you choosing to live against God?   When you choose to live for God, you choose to put Him first.   You choose to let Him be your guide and you are not being led by the appetite of your flesh.   Your hunger and your thirst are for the things of God and you feed your appetite on the Word of God and not the worlds way.   It’s time to choose right.  It’s time to choose righteously.   

Choosing right is not the easy thing to do.   We have to get to a place where we press pass what the world wants us to do into what God has told us to do.   In the world today we are surrounded by wickedness.   We are surrounded by people, places, and things that stir up the appetite of our flesh.   We are being drawn by sin to commit sin but we still have to choose sin.   Understand, sin is a choice.

What will you do when you are drawn by the people, places, and things of the world?  Will you feed the appetite of your flesh or will you choose God?   Understand the importance of guarding your heart.   Understand the importance of monitoring what you allow to go into your eye gates and your ear gates.   Understand the world wants you to sever your relationship with God and God’s desire is for you to love Him, trust Him, and to be dependent on Him and not the world.    Choose God! 

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Deuteronomy 30:19

King James Version (KJV)

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Are You Taking A Timeout From God or For God?

Are you taking a timeout?   If so, what are you taking "time out" for?   Are you taking a timeout on God to indulge in the things of the world or are you taking a timeout from the things in this world to indulge in the presence of God.?    

The thing about timeouts that you need to understand is that they are only temporary.   They temporarily give you a break from the norm.   When it comes to the things of God we need to be "all in".   We need to be following Him, trusting Him, believing Him, and resting in Him at all times.    We should never take a timeout on God.  In other words, we should never stop following, trusting, believing, and resting in Him.    

Understand, God loves YOU.   He doesn't stop loving you at any point in your life.   His love is everlasting and unending.   Because God loves you, He will never give up on you.   He will never leave you and He will never forsake you.   So don't give up on Him. Don't quit in the middle of your race called life.   Don't take timeouts on God.   Give God your all.   After all, He gave His all for you.   

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

1 Corinthians 15:58

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 

Who and What Are Controlling Your Actions and Reactions In Life?

What is taking over?   Who and what are you allowing to be in control in your life?   What has priority?  Is your priority God first, your family, and then your friends?  How are you aligning your life?   Is it a life that is in line with God's Word or is it lining up with the works of your flesh?   

Don't be deceived!   What you believe and how you live matters.   Don't be the person who thinks that everything is okay because no one else can see what you are doing that is outside of God's Word and His will.   It's not what others see, it's what God sees that matters.   We have to understand the fact that God is omnipresent.   He is everywhere present at the same time.    There is nothing that is hidden from Him and therefore, there are no hidden areas in our lives.   

When you think about this life that we are living, you have to remember that life is choice driven.   Every day we have an opportunity to choose and follow God or we can choose to follow the desires of our flesh.   What we choose will show what is taking over in our lives.   It will show who or what we are being controlled by.   It will reveal what is truly our priority.  

We have to begin to walk out each day in our lives understanding that our choices matter.    Not only the choices that can be seen by the people around us but the choices that are only seen and known by God.

SCRIPTURE MEDITATION 

Galatians 5:16-26

16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,[a]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[b] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.