A Week of Growing in Faith

“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 rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  -Hebrews 11:6

What really caught me off guard in this verse is the word “and” in the part that says, “for he who comes to God must believe that He is, AND that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” It is important to know that God is but knowing who my God is, is equally as important. What do I believe about the God of the Bible? Do I believe that he is out to get me? Do I believe that he is waiting for me to mess up so he can kick me out of his presence for eternity? Or on the opposite end do I believe that he wants nothing to do in my life and I’m free to do whatever I want? What do I believe about my God?

I know how I act and I know that more often than not I act like God is out to get me. But what does this verse say? This verse says that my God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. He wants me to know that he is a holy and just God that loves me. HE is waiting for me to come into his presence so that way he can bless me.  That is who my God is! HE doesn't want me to believe just that he is but that he is a good God worthy of all praise and honor. 

That as John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” HE loved us! He reached down to us and we shall receive the reward of his payment. And the reward for those who believe in him is Eternal life.

And if I know that this is who my God is, than why am I not diligently seeking him? If I know that His plan for me are for my good, why do I not follow his direction? I need to seek him! Because I need him every hour and He is waiting for me to seek Him.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

One thing that has jumped out to me in reading this chapter in general is how much the law is mentioned. He is repeatedly reminding us on how we are no longer under the law. But then why do I look at the fruits of the Spirit as more regulations to add to my life. That is not the point of the fruit of the Spirit. It does not say that the the fruits of Haley, it says the fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit is the one that is doing these works in my life.

But does that mean that I have no part in the fruits of the Spirit. And I am not to be held responsible for not living them out? Of course not!

For greater insight I like to look at John 15:1-6, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.” That is what I must do! I must be abiding in Christ and as I abide in Christ, He will groom me and clean me with His words. And the natural reaction to abiding in Christ is bearing much fruit.

Sound simple? It has been said that the thing about Romans 12:1-2 is that a living sacrifice can get off of the alter. Same thing applies to these verses. Am I letting God have his perfect will in my life? Am I allowing him to prune me? Or am I choosing not to abide in His word because He is asking me to do painful things?

“who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Acts 8: 15-16

These verses seem to be out of place for an Inductive Bible Study. But the more I looked at these verses and the verses around them I began to see something quite profound. If you look at the previous verse you will see that the apostles, upon hearing about the conversions in Samaria, sent Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria to be with them. Now, going from Jerusalem to Samaria is no easy task it is well over 40 miles away from each other which would have been a long walk back then. But not only was it a very long walk but some of the walk would have gone through mountainous terrain. So this would have been a very long and hard walk to make.  But knowing that there were new believers that needed to be discipled was a worthy enough reason to send the leader of the early church and the apostle who Jesus loved on a long hard journey to see the Samaritans.

And after making this long hard journey one of the first things that they do is pray for the Holy Spirit to come upon the believers in Samaria. That is the thing that was most important to them. They didn’t teach them hermeneutics or eschatology, they prayed for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  Wow, how many times when we are discipling people do we start off with the Holy Spirit? Sometimes I think that I overlook the Holy Spirit for supposed more important issues. I personally know a whole lot more about different Bible topics than I do about the Holy Spirit. How could I overlook part of the Godhead?

Peter and John with their busy schedule decided that the issue of the Holy Spirit needed to be dealt with first and foremost after salvation. I need to respect the position of the Holy Spirit. And not skip over things about the Holy Spirit because I am not comfortable not with some of the gifts.

“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:30-34

These verses have always ministered into my life. Whether I was worried about my family’s bills being paid or worried about health problems in my family. I seem to always be in a state of worry and God is constantly having to bring me back to these simple truths.  God takes care of the grass of the field and the sparrows in the sky, will he not take care of me? Did he die on the cross to leave me as an orphan? No! In fact, he promised not to leave me as an orphan. He also has promised to never leave me nor to forsake me.

If I know this about my God, why do I worry?

Because I doubt. I sometimes feel like disciples when they were going across the water and the storm hit. They knew that Jesus has said that they would go to the other side. But they doubted His words. Even after they had seen him do miracles, things they had never seen anyone do. But Jesus came anyways and let Peter walk on water. Even when I doubt, my God is faithful and very gracious.