Thoughts in Worship

Message Magazine's Online Devotional for Sunday, July 14, 2019

Audio Link: http://bit.ly/ThoughtsinWorship

Today’s Scripture Focus: Hebrews 11:1-10

We are focusing on sin recovery principle number two of 12: “We believe that only God’s power can restore us to sanity. His power is infinitely greater than our own.”

I must admit that this life is no cakewalk. There are so many obstacles that litter our paths everyday. We encounter unreasonable people, difficult assignments at work, bill collectors, flat tires, road rage, etc. We have internal struggles with low self-esteem, overwhelming guilt feelings, feeling unappreciated by loved ones, and just trying to get through yet another grueling day. And to top it all off, we have to deal with our sin problems. We have addictions to food, questionable entertainment, questionable relationships, pride, and other dysfunctions. If left to our own devices, our lives would be a mess.

God has lofty expectations of us. He said that we should be holy because He is holy. He said we should have the mind of Christ. He said we should esteem others higher than ourselves. He said we should never lean on our own understanding. He said we are to seek Him first and all things needful will be added to our lives.

How? How in the world can we have such odds stacked against us from the moment we begin developing in our mother’s womb, and God have these desires for us? Faith. The answer is faith. I admit this may sound like a likely answer. It may seem vacant like it’s missing something. Yet, it is the truth. If the Bible says that it is impossible to please God without faith, it stands to reason that with faith, we can overcome all our human inadequacies and please our heavenly Father.

What is faith? Hopefully you have already read the Bible’s definition in our theme text so I will not repeat it. I would like to say it this way: Faith is the conduit through which God’s power to live according to His will comes into our lives. That which was impossible in our own strength, God makes possible through faith. Those whose faith lays hold of God’s power can overcome all evil tendencies, doubts, weaknesses, and poor thinking patterns.

So my encouragement to you today is to ask God to increase your faith. Ask Him to reward your tiny faith with limitless power from heaven. Ask Him to originate, nurture, and blossom the kind of faith in your life that pleases Him and can remove any mountain that stands between you and God’s ideal for your life.—L. David Harris (http://bit.ly/BQuotable)

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