What is faith?

Pledge of Faith- by Beth Moore

• God is Who He says He is.
• God can do what He says He can do.
• I am who God says I am.
• I can do all things through Christ.
• God's Word is alive and active in me.

God has used Beth's studies in my walk with Him in so many great ways. Her series on Believing God was so powerful at just the right time to build up my faith. We were encouraged to memorize this Pledge of Faith and have it sink in to build up our faith.

Is your faith a bit weak today? Do you really believe God is Who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Heb 11:1 (NIV)

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor 5:7 (NIV)

A life of faith involves trust and belief. When you put a seed in the ground and you are told it's a tomato plant, that's what you expect to grow. Not a bell pepper. You are trusting and believing that the person who labeled the package or gave the seed to you knows for sure that what they are giving you is what you are expecting to come out of the ground.

When we put our faith in God we must have that same trust and belief. Where do we find the labels of what to expect to see grow in our lives, the Word of God. Where do we learn about Who the person is that is planting the seed in our heart, the Word of God. Where do we find out what will develop in us and grow from us, the Word of God.

When you have doubts, when you have questions, when you need your faith built up, go to the Word of God. Let Jesus speak to you through His spoken Words written on paper. Let His Love letters warm your aching heart. Let His Holy Spirit remind you through out the day of His great love for you. He has it all under control and He has a plan for your life.

Jesus does not say that we won't go through trials but that He will be with us when we do.

6 Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you." Deut 31:6

I find great comfort in reading His Word and believing He can do and will do what He says He will do. I believe that there is a higher purpose in all situations that I encounter. A scripture that always helps to build me up when my faith starts waver is Romans 8:28

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (NIV)

Is your faith being challenged today? Trust and believe that He is Who He says He is, The Great Physician and Healer, The Great Provider, The Great Creator, Our Comforter, Our Peace, Our Hope for Eternal Life!

29 Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed (spoken to Thomas); blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (US)." John 20:29 (NIV)

Put your faith where it will produce life within you. Put your faith in Jesus today. Let Him water that seed within you and receive His Peace. Surrender all of your cares to Him, trust and believe that there is a plan for your life today. He will give you all you need to make it through the day, one day at a time, moment by moment.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, please help us to put our trust in You. We don't understand all the things we are going through today. Help us to believe that You have a purpose in every situation. Help us to hear Your Words of comfort and wisdom as we step out in faith, one step at time. Be our strength Lord in our times of weakness. We surrender all to You and say Come Lord Jesus, have Your way in our lives today, in Jesus Name, Amen!

How much do you care?

The early days of my walk, were established on a strong moral compass that my dear friends were able to hold me accountable to- the Whole Word of God. These friends loved me enough to be willing to risk my friendship to direct me to Christ.

I was totally unaware of the Truth but once it was presented to me, in love, as much as I wanted to run away from it I couldn’t. I was a new believer, married and separated from one man while living in sin with another. I was directed to the Word of Truth. It was written there in black and while and as much as I tried to justify my actions I couldn't. The Holy Spirit hounded me until I consciously chose to do things His way! 


I had to make a stand and declare to that man that we would not be together unless it was done God's way. We moved apart, got our divorce's, went through marriage counseling at our church, submitted our desire to be married to the leadership of the church and finally got married. Our marriage lasted 18 years. He left but with God's strength I have been able to stand strong and move on. He has blessed me 100 fold! Praise God I made that choice so many years ago to live God's way.

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (MSG)

9 I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn't make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. 10 I didn't mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with crooks, whether blue- or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You'd have to leave the world entirely to do that! 11 But I am saying that you shouldn't act as if everything is just fine when one of your Christian companions is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can't just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. 12 I'm not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don't we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? 13 God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.

My prayer:

Thank You Lord for putting people in my path who knew Your Word and were willing to speak Your truth to me. It was hard to hear and harder still to act on but with Your help I did and I believe that that act of obedience and faith in You helped to start a lasting relationship with You  of love and trust. Forgive me Lord for those times I have spoken in anger to Your children for poor choices they have made. Help me Lord to speak Your truth in love, not out of my flesh. More of You and less of me I pray. In Jesus Name.

Spring has sprung, here come the weeds!

Looking out my back window I see new life rising up. Flowers are blooming, leaves are unfolding, fruit from our plum tree is soon to follow and weeds are starting to raise up their ugly heads. Even with the beauty of spring bursting forth, a bit of the unwanted still comes. I think this is a wonderful example of our lives. Pardon the mixture of metaphors but I think you'll get the point.

You are now a follower of Christ, Hallelujah! You have received Him in your life and asked Him to make you new. He has begun to shine through your life with glorious fruits of His Spirit, yea!

It all starts with Him:

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

The definition of the Fruit of the Spirit is:

22 .. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control.. Gal 5:22-23

So where did that bit of resentment just come from? How about that anger? How about that impatience?

Just as with a garden it’s not until the weeds of our flesh or the bad fruit comes out that we are able to see what needs to be removed by the Master Gardener.

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1


If you want to be one of His branches that bears fruit you must allow the pruning process to occur. If you want to have more flowers bloom in your life and have His fragrance permeate your being, all that is taking away from it's growth must be removed.

So often we want to run away, stuff or ignore the ugly parts of our character. Instead of beating yourself up for another fit of rage that came out, why not stop and ask God to show you the root of that anger. He wants to help remove that part of your character. He wants to bloom throughout your whole being so others will look and see His glorious work that is alive in your life.

We need to learn to be thankful when we see the weeds in our lives because God is allowing us to see areas that need a bit more attention. Maybe even a pick ax is needed to get down to that very stubborn root in your life. 

The great thing about God as our Master Gardener is that He knows where to work, how far to dig and He does it in a way that doesn't reveal too much for us to handle at a time. He even knows how to dig out the unwanted while keeping the flourishing parts of our character that He has started to develop.


Sometimes the reason why we act a certain way stems from years of abuse or certain bad things that may have happened as a child. In some cases we have buried the offense so far down that we didn't even know it was there. But our actions reveal that there is something deep within that needs to be pulled up. 


For example, God has shown me how defensive and hurt to most criticism I would become. It was evident by how I would quickly lash back with my justification as to why I was right without even considering another persons opinion. 


This year I invited the Gardener in more than ever to do His Work and He has been able to show me deep roots of pride that needed to be pulled out. He has worked over the years to remove pebbles and rocks along with bad soil to get to the root. This was the year to pull it out. Thank You Jesus! Now I can finally hear and learn more so that more good fruit can come out! He was able to replace that weed in my life with His Love and Acceptance for me just as I am and not because of my performance. All because I am His daughter. 

He lovingly continues to show me new areas that need to be worked on, it’s a life long process. I have learned however not to run away from the revelation of my weeds as they lift their ugly heads, but to run to Jesus with thanksgiving so He can show me what needs to be rooted out. This will allow Him to plant more of His beauty in my life. More of Him and less of me, that is my hearts cry!

29 God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in Him. 
Romans 8:29

Let’s truly rejoice in all that God has in store for us. Welcome the Master Gardener in your life today!


24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Dear Lord, please help me to embrace all that You have for me today. Help me to open my eyes to see those rocks and weeds in my character that need to be extracted so more of Your beauty can spring forth. I choose  to walk through this life with thanksgiving knowing that You are working everything out in my life to make me more like Jesus. Have Your way my Lord. Pour out Your Living Water on and in me as Your Son shines in my life bringing out more of Your glorious Fragrance from Your Spirit within as You bloom in me today.

In Jesus Name, Amen.