Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him.
The Apostle Paul lived his life totally sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ. He listened attentively to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and acted accordingly. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul referred to himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. (Ephesians 3:1)
Paul was leaving for Jerusalem. This is where the Spirit of God was leading him. He knew he would encounter more trouble but he also knew that the preaching of the Gospel of Christ was worth anything he may encounter. Paul was totally Kingdom-minded and his faith was planted squarely in the Finished Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul trusted the Holy Spirit implicitly. He believed in the Power of the Holy Spirit to overcome and overpower anything Satan would attack him with. Paul knew God had set him apart to be an Apostle and to bring forth the Message of the Gospel of Christ to both the Jews and the Gentiles. He knew the Calling on his life and he embraced it wholeheartedly.
God has such a Calling on the life of every believer. Like Paul, we are each created with everything we need to fulfill God’s Plan and Purpose for our lives. The only thing we are lacking is faith. We have to bring faith into the equation ourselves.
While we are all created with a measure of faith, it takes much more faith on our part to live our lives sold out to the Kingdom of God. Our faith grows as God brings us through trials and tribulations. Problems in life are nothing more than tests of our faith. God allows things to happen to us to test our faith.
Just as God allowed Satan to test Job, He allows him to test us as well. If you have never read the Book of Job, I suggest you do so. Everything Job endured was a test of his faith and he passed all the tests. He never faltered in his faith. He lost everything but he remained faithful to God and in the end, God gave him twice as much as he had before. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days. (Job 42:12-17)
Our lives are all about faith. The Apostle Paul later wrote But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarded of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Faith in Christ will………..turn the tide……..in your life.
Diligently seeking Him, Doreen
www.bettsministries.org
