Faith!

Don’t lose faith in that God will give you what you prayed for!

Matthew 21:21

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, 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.

Many of us are waiting for prayers to manifest, whether it’s for a husband or wife, a financial pipeline to be opened up, healing for your body or for relationships to be reconciled. Although it is easy to pray for something it is harder to maintain that same amount of faith you had when you prayed all the way to the manifestation.

I know that it’s hard to keep faith when you see the circumstances around you haven’t changed and money gets low, family acts as if everything is okay, even though you can feel that something is amiss. That’s pretty much been my experience growing up on and off, so I understand. I even remember cleaning a church member’s house on a regular basis in high school.

Matthew 15:28

Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

There will always be times when you have to experience some highs and lows, it is just how you handle each high and every low. I have learned that with each obstacle I learned how to handle the next hurdle before it even happens; for example if it finances, I learned how to save, budget and spend so that I am never without and having to scramble to find an income because of a need.

If it is something else nonfinancial that you are waiting on learn from this circumstance any way you can, whether it’s how to select friends, or treat your body and even how to communicate with family members.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

John 19:7-11

John 19:7-11

New International Version (NIV)

⁷ The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

This is a perfect example at how the world (leaders) can be against you and your belief but yet you aren’t at their mercy. We are at the mercy of God, not man; man can do ALL he wants but even they have to answer to the Lord our God.

There will always be people who will try to get you to deny Him, to deny your faith in Christ. Of course they may not be as blatant as the Jewish leaders back during the time Christ walked the earth, but they will do it in a round-about way by getting you to agree with them…

Friend: “I thought I was going to die just now, someone lost control of their car and nearly hit dead-on.”

You: “Wow!, I’m glad you’re okay, God protected you!”

Friend: “I was just lucky I guess.”

You: “Yeah, you were lucky.”

*In just a few short sentences, your friend removed God from the situation and you ended up both agreeing to “luck” being the reason that a life was spared in a near fatal accident. It was that easy to be talked out of a moment of ‘faith’ with an unbeliever.

No matter who has man given authority, you can always overcome!

Price Paid

John 19:1-6

New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

Tonight my women’s bible study group watched “The Passion of The Christ”, this was the first time that I was able to watch it from beginning to end because when the movie first came out in the theaters my mom and I went to go see it and ended up leaving a few minutes into the wiping scene because it was ‘too graphic’ at the time.

Now after seeing the film in its entirety and without any problem with watching every part of it, I realized that it was the enemy that prevented me and my mom from watching it the first time. Satan knew that if I especially, had watched it I would have given my life to Christ right after and push the darkness out of my life! It finally makes sense, I had been feeling like I had been missing a small piece of my faith and this movie filled it.

The Lord knows I am a visual person and therefore tend to rely on what I see and not what I’m told. Seeing the most realistic depiction of the last 12 hours of Jesus’ life, all the way through the crucifixion has given me the ability to really understand what the blood of Jesus represents and how he bore ALL of our sins so that we could be cleansed.