Today's 'DAY 1' entry was rightly called 'A Woman of Faith' and the verse was found in Matthew 21:21 -- "Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done."
Earlier in the book of Matthew in 17:20, Jesus also uses the mountain analogy, "He replied, 'Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.'" The last sentence in this verse is what should be a resounding truth in our hearts and minds, but we somehow cannot let this truth really manifest itself in our lives. That little thing called 'doubt' and one called 'fear' get in the way of us truly believing that 'nothing will be impossible for you'. We try to pray and live with FAITH... and then a little pinch of doubt creeps in, and throws us for a loop. Somehow the promise of 'nothing will be impossible for you' just doesn't hit home with us. Why we can let ourselves get so worked up over sometimes little things, and not truly believe that God can and will do what He promises makes God sad I'm sure. Sometimes we even try to make it work on our own, and try to do things our way, since God is obviously not listening to our prayers and our hearts cries and desires. (Truly He is listening, but we try to make ourselves feel better thinking we can do it for Him.)
Sometimes God promises us something, but we have to wait for it, but we don't desire to wait any longer and patience and endurance are not gifts that we want to utilize. Like Abram and Sarai, when God told them He would make Abram (Abraham) the Father of many nations. How was he supposed to be a father of many nations, when he didn't have any children to call his own. He was getting older, and so was Sarai, and so they took their 'promise fulfillment' into their own hands and allowed Abram to sleep with Hagar, and she bore a son, Ishmael. Later Sarah and Abraham did conceive the 'promised' son, yet Ishmael was there as 'thorn in his side'. Isaac was conceived in 'due time'... every promise in the Bible belonged to those in the Bible, and also to each of us. We just need to read, meditate and claim the promises... However, in most cases it says "God will..." and that's what we as readers of the Bible dwell on. Different people (not just Christians) can quote different promises of God from the Bible. They then question why God isn't granting them that promise. If you look closer at the Scriptures, there are two little words usually in front of the promise (or just after)... "If you..." We have to do our part too. I can't just walk through life expecting God to bless each and every thing I do, I need to do my part too. For example, one of the well-known Scriptures in the church is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
What does it take to be a 'woman of faith' (or a man of Faith)... technically it's easy for me and other members of my church, as our church is called Faith Tabernacle. So being of that church makes me a woman of Faith... LOL! However, it takes much more than that! Believing and not doubting... not letting fear or guilt get in the way of receiving the full blessings of God. We need to LIVE out our FAITH. The Bible also says that Faith without works is dead... (James 2:17)
This day is a NEW BEGINNING... a FRESH start at living a life of FAITH. Come join the journey with me...
I've heard it said that FAITH can be described as...
Forsaking
All
I
Trust in
Him
So trust Him today, and lean not on your OWN understanding (stop trying to do things your own way), and He will direct your paths (He will bring you to where you are to be!)
BE BLESSED, and BE A BLESSING!
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