Hebrews 11:5, ‘And 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 seek Him.’
Dear friends, we can beat our bodies until we are blue; we can exact discipline of ourselves until we attain perfection in obedience, however, if we don’t believe with all our hearts that God is a rewarder of those who seek Him, we are just beating the air.
Our kind Father has not destined us to wrath, but to His eternal glory, giving us an inheritance with the saints in and through Jesus. We are His workmanship; we are the brothers and sisters of Jesus; we are children of God. I believe we would do well to bear these things in mind on a daily basis. Doing so would help us in our daily struggles and trials. To bear in mind that He loves and rewards those who seek Him, and that we are more than conquerers through Him who loves us, would lighten our load and give us confidence to stop worrying, and courage to cast our burdens upon Him. Walking in this knowledge would give the devil a blow he would feel throughout eternity.
Just to know that however depressed or confused we may feel at times the Lord will reward us for hanging on and seeking Him with all our hearts; He will send relief before it is too late; He will not tarry. I’ve found it so. We serve a mighty and powerful God. Oh, if we could just get a glimpse into His omnipresence, His omniscience, and the fact that He exists before time and now and forever. Before there was anything, there was God. Everything began and exists from Him and through and to Him; He is all in all. We are mere specs of dirt He has chosen to love. And when all is said and done there will be nothing but God and His kingdom, of which we are a part.
We are so fortunate to have been chosen and called by Him into His kingdom. We must keep these things in mind and be thankful, giving Him glory and honor and reverent worship at all times. He alone is worthy, and He is so very worthy.
May the Holy Spirit help us to know Him whom we serve, and may we always walk in that knowledge, which is found in Jesus, the image of the one true God.
In John 34:39-40 Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life.” Dear ones, don’t search the Scriptures to find out how many blessings or how much authority you may have; search them to learn about Jesus, for they truly do testify of Him. All blessings and all authority are in Him and come from the Father of lights. Make Jesus your first priority and you will find yourself enveloped in every good thing and in every perfect gift heaven holds for you. I’ve found it so. God is my witness, I’ve found it so.
Dear friends, we are not called to become proficient in theology, the Holy Spirit will bring things to our remembrance. We are called to follow Jesus by humbling ourselves and becoming as little children, trusting Him for guidance in and for all things pertaining to life and godliness. We are called to cling to our first love.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
P.S. Too often Christians become overly concerned with a certain belief, or something that’s dear to them, and concentrate on promoting, or defending, what they think is right. And, in so doing, they find themselves walking in a realm of thoughts and words pertaining to their passion. They get caught up in working to become proficient in their knowledge of what they feel passionate about. They believe in Jesus, they use His name, but they no longer walk before Him as a little child. They have left their first love. They didn’t mean to, it just happened because they got caught up using the Scriptures to prove their points, rather than allowing the Scriptures to lead them to the feet of Jesus.
jondavidbanks.com 