“But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6 AMP)
REFLECTION
On this first day of 2024, I invite you to join me in asking God to increase our faith (see Luke 17:5). The sacred scriptures state that we can only be pleasing to God if we have faith (Hebrews 11:6), so best we seek to fuel and fortify our faith. The Greek word for faith is pistis, which according to Friberg’s Analytical Greek Lexicon means “confidence, faith, trust, reliance on.” If I find my faith flailing it’s really revealing that I’m not trusting God, that I don’t deeply believe that He is trustworthy … that my trust was actually in the very things that were shifting or being removed from my everyday life. In our human interactions, we know people who are dependable and people of their word. We get to know people before we find out if we can really trust them. Human trust can be fragile (which is why forgiveness and restoration are key themes in the Bible), but while we are all fundamentally flawed (while in these earthen vessels), God is perfect and fully trustworthy. The more we know God’s character, the more we can deeply believe, receive and live this truth and experience the profound peace that it ushers in. How does one get to know God’s character? We can ask God to help us more deeply know and trust Him, and stay open to His guidance. We can pay attention to His handiwork: “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” (Romans 1:20 NLT) And we can search the sacred scriptures and meditate on God’s long love letter to humanity. There are so many different ways to do this. As we enter into the New Year, here are a few free scriptural resources to fuel our faith:
>A video series on the character of God: https://bibleproject.com/learn/character-of-god-series/
> A scriptural meditation app: https://abide.co/gp/mme32s
> A free study on faith: https://link.messengerx.com/ab22GfDRMSkEr9e47
PRAYER POEM: Blessed Breakthrough
Lord, I want to want to please You in everything I think, say and do. Search and sanctify every part of my heart and let not unrepentant sin tear us apart. Increase my faith and strengthen my resolve to know and trust You as I press on, with You, to blessed breakthrough.
