Category Archives: faith

The Romans Challenge: Written on Our Hearts

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“They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts…” 
‭‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today is Romans 2.

The Jews of Paul’s time thought that they had it together. They believed they had the inside connection to God because they obeyed a long list of rules and regulations — outward obedience. But even with all their efforts they still would end up breaking the smallest of laws (such as “thou shalt not lie”… ). Keeping a long list of rules in our own effort is exhausting and it is fruitless. Jesus came to give us the better way. Through Him we can be born again!

When we are born again, we are given a new spiritual heart. We desire to do the things that are pleasing to God. The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah describes it this way: 

““This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭31‬:‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God has given us everything we need to live close to Him. His desire is for us not to be living our lives “checking off the boxes” of our spiritual life — i.e. “working” for His approval. He loves us!

He desires us to have internal obedience — I desire to obey God because I know He loves me and His way is always best! His Law (His Word) is in my heart and my mind so I don’t sin against God. He will help me to obey because His Holy Spirit is living inside of me working to make me more like Jesus in each and every way — transforming my heart and mind.

May the way we live “show that the requirements of God’s law are written on {our} hearts.”

The Romans Challenge: The Darkened Heart

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“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Today we read Romans 1.

You and I were born with a heart defect! Before you object and try to tell me that your “ticker” is working just fine, let me clarify. This defect is within our spiritual hearts. This defect is serious, and many of us do not even know we have it, much less that our spiritual hearts exist.

However, we need to understand that not only do we have a spiritual heart, it is the MOST important thing about us. This heart is where we are able to experience the very thing we were created for, relationship with God or oneness with Him. It is comprised of our mind (the thinker), will (the doer), and emotions (the feeler).

The defect of this heart is that we are born with it being darkened. To be darkened is to be made black, obscure, or destitute of light. We come into this world with a spiritual heart that is inclined towards sin. Our thoughts are “futile” — sinful; acting without regard to the divine law and glory, or to one’s own eternal happiness. (Webster’s 1828) Our actions are motivated by “dishonorable passions.” (Verse 26 ESV) We believe our self centered actions are wise, but in truth it is foolishness. (Verse 22). This is because we worship ourselves (a me centered life) and the things we have created (our jobs, our homes, our hobbies, our phones, etc.) instead of worshiping God. We don’t accept His truth that we hear in His Word. Instead we would rather believe a more convenient lie (Verse 25) about the things we want when and how we want it.

God will not force Himself on us to correct this defect. BUT, He does offer us the cure! A NEW Heart! 

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
‭‭Ezekiel‬ ‭36‬:‭26‬-‭27‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We must choose…

Is what you are doing in your life not working? Has sin (knowing what is good to do, but not doing it) been a struggle? God offers us transformation from what we are to what He intended us to be all along – a reflection of Him full of His peace, joy, love, etc. We can walk in truth, live with purpose, be full of His wisdom, and experience His life. It all starts with asking God to give you a new spiritual heart. Ask Him to transform the way you think, and to align your feelings with His truth in His Word. Ask Him to help your actions to flow from a new pure heart inside of you.

We do not have to live with a darkened heart any more. We can have a new spiritual heart and experience relationship with God!

The Romans Challenge: Live by Faith – Connection to God

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“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.””
‭‭Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

(Today we read Romans 1)

Sin divides. It separates. It keeps us from what we were meant to be all along, closely connected to God in an intimate relationship with Him. The gospel – Good News – is we do not have to live separated any more. Jesus made the way for us by paying the penalty for our sins on the cross.

The restoration of our relationship with God through Jesus and His gift of salvation is only the beginning! We receive what Jesus has done for us as a gift by faith. It isn’t anything we have done. He cleanses us from sin. We are made right with God. Connection is restored! BUT we were meant for more! This relationship we have with God is a daily living “by faith.” As we live connected to Him, our relationship is meant to grow!

Faith is trusting in God. It is placing our confidence in Him. It is believing what He says. Living by faith is a day in day out relationship of hearing God speak to us through His Word, listening to it – paying attention to it, and doing what He says. All of this is for our good. Because God is good, all He does is good, and His plans for us are good. In fact He is a work in our lives working ALL things for our good! (Psalm 119:68, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:28)

A life of faith is a life living connected to God. It is like a baby in the womb. That baby is connected to her mom by the umbilical cord. Everything the baby needs is provided. The baby doesn’t have to second guess or worry about what will happen next. That baby is connected to her mom. We don’t have to worry or second guess. The power of the Gospel has connected us to God. The more we know Him and grow in our relationship with Him the more our faith will grow. We will rest in calm assurance that our God holds us closely to Him, and we can live our lives believing and trusting Him — We can live by faith!

James: Surrender – Total Dependence, Total Obedience, Total Submission

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“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Submit- “To surrender; to yield one’s person to the power of another; to give up resistance.” Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

It amazes me how resistant to God I have been throughout my life. Often I have wanted my way, when and how I wanted it. Submission to God by surrender and total obedience was rare…

My lack of surrender also meant that I was experiencing a lack of peace, joy, and love. Because nearness to God cannot be achieved without obedience to Him! You and I will only experience death, darkness, and destruction when we pursue our own ways…

James gives us the key to a victorious life — total dependence on God, total surrender to God, and total obedience! Dependence occurs when we come near to God. Dependence is when we admit we cannot do it on our own. Surrender is when we submit our will, our ways, and our desires to Him. Obedience is when we do what He says. When we do these things we are resisting the devil who wants us to do the exact opposite. When our life is “in Christ” — totally, entirely, and completely His, the devil has no choice but to “flee from” us. That is because our choice to draw near to God is followed by His response to draw near to us. Our close relationship to Him is a place of safety.

Humble submission to Him will result in God Himself lifting us up to dwell with Him in His victorious life He gives!

James: A Little Salty vrs. A Whole Lot Living

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(Today we read James 3)

I grew up in southern Missouri near the Current River. It is a crystal clear river that is spring fed and fresh.

Every once and awhile my husband and I will take a vacation near the ocean. The one thing that impresses me is if I happen to get a little taste of the water in my mouth. YUCK! So Salty.

Our tongues are like a spring. What is down inside of us flows from our tongues in what we say. James says we are either a spring of “fresh water” or “salt water.” We speak either good from the good inside of our hearts or bad from the bad. H says, our mouths should not produce both “praise and cursing.” 

“Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?…Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
‭‭James‬ ‭3‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. His life will flow through us. Jesus described it this way: 

“Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.”
‭‭John‬ ‭7‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Our tongue — what we speak — must be under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

“A little salty…” is a slang term here in America for being angry and aggravated. We aren’t meant to be “a little salty.” We are meant to be “a whole lot fresh!”

The Holy Spirit wants to produce in us His fresh life giving water flowing from within. That is what God desires to flow out of our tongues!

James: Is Your Faith Dead or Alive?

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(Today is James 2)

“As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”  James 2:26

Faith is the assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed. (Webster’s 1828) It is receiving and believing the truth. Faith requires action! If we believe something is true we will act upon it.

In verse 25 of chapter 2, James refers to the account in the Old Testament of Rahab. She had HEARD of the great miracles that God performed for Israel in delivering them from Egypt. When she heard the truth, she BELIEVED that God was, “God in Heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:11) She wanted to be on the right side when God gave the Israelites victory over Jericho. So she ACTED. She hid the Israelite spies. Her faith in what she had heard was alive! 

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God has given each of us a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3) We all have the ability to believe. The Word that is alive and active comes to us. The choice is ours. Do we receive the Word and act upon it with our obedience? If we do, we will experience life. But if we hear the truth in the Word and reject it by choosing to do our own thing, we will live in spiritual death.

If Rahab had heard the testimonies of what God was doing for the Israelites and continued doing what she always did, she would not have acted upon what she heard by hiding the Israelites spies. She and her family would have died with the rest of the people in Jericho who did not believe in God and act upon what they had heard about Him.

God’s word is inspired. Which means it is God-breathed. God’s breath of life is in His Word. When we receive His life being breathed into us through His Word, we will come alive and our actions will display the life of God within us.

Is your faith alive? Or is it dead? Do you hear the Word of God and obey it? 

“Faith without deeds is dead.”

James: “Screen Door on a Submarine”

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“You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

(Today is James 2)

Faith without works is useless!

God has given each of us “a measure of faith.” (Romans 12:3) This is the capacity to believe, but we must act on it! Our actions “complete” our faith.

We can say we “believe there is one God.” (verse 19) And James says that is “Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder.” The question is: “what are we doing with what we believe?”

If we truly believe that we have a loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ came and died then resurrected from the dead in order to set us free from sin, do we live like we believe it?

Abraham believed God and the Scripture says, “It was credited to him as righteousness.” (Verse 23) He was put into right standing with God and He was known as “God’s friend.” He had a personal relationship with God. This relationship was reflected by his willingness to obey God no matter what the cost of obedience may be.

If you and I have faith and believe what God says, then we will act accordingly. In short, we will do it!

Coming to God in faith is just the beginning of what God wants to do in our lives. He wants to consume us! He wants us to receive His Word — what He says. He wants us to believe it to be true. He wants us to act upon it in obedience.

There’s a classic song by Rich Mullins that I am going to attach. Listen to its words and consider. Do I act upon what I believe? Or do I have a “screen door” on my spiritual submarine?

James: Faith

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(Today is James 2)

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?”
‭‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Faith — the assent of the mind or understanding to the truth of what God has revealed.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17) When we hear the Word and take it into our hearts, it will do a work producing faith within us. When we receive what is said, we believe it!

What we really believe or our “faith” produces “deeds” or action within us. What is in our hearts will come out of us and be on display for everyone to see.

James tells us if our faith does not produce action it is dead. (Verse 17) A dead faith makes it impossible to please God.

God wants for us to believe what He says and to act on what He says because it is for our good! He loves us so much!!

James — Consider It Pure Joy

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(Join me in reading chapter 1 of James each day this week)

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Nothing is wasted in our lives. Trials and testing of our faith helps us to mature. In fact, it is what God uses to make us “complete, not lacking anything.”

Perseverance in the Greek is defined as “Endurance, steadfastness, patient waiting for, cheerful endurance, constancy.”

My youngest son has spent quite a bit of time at the gym working on body building. He has told me that building muscle actually requires tearing of muscle fibers that is rebuilt by our bodies in a stronger form. Our spiritual muscles are similar. Testing of our faith through trials can produce a cheerful endurance because we know the end result will be a closer relationship with Jesus.

If you are going through a trial, God is always at work in it! You and I are meant to “consider it pure joy!” In the end our relationship with God will be stronger! Trials build “spiritual muscle” that we all need in order to “not {be} lacking anything.”

Show Us The Father — Servant

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Today is Mark 10: 32-52.

“Love needs an object to whom it can give itself away, in whom it can lose itself, with whom it can make itself one.” — Andrew Murray

To be honest, thinking about Our Heavenly Father as a Servant has been uncomfortable to me. In my mind, I’ve had Jesus as “the good cop” in the trinity, and the Heavenly Father as “the bad cop.” Which is not true at all. There is no “bad” in God.

When I was reading this section of Scripture this morning and came upon this verse, I was in awe: 

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45 ESV

Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. When we see Him, we see our Heavenly Father. Jesus came as the Humble Servant. This means our Heavenly Father is the Humble Servant too!

The Greek word for serve that is used in this verse is “diakonēsai.” This is translated in other verses as “minister.” To minister is to afford supplies, to give things needful, to supply the means of relief; to relieve. Our Heavenly Father has done just that. He gives and gives and gives. He provides all that we need. He is always at work for our good in every situation. He serves!

When Jesus knelt on His knees and washed the feet of His disciples, He displayed the very love of our Heavenly Father, who serves us. Jesus, the King of Kings, took the nature of a servant and gave Himself away to provide the very thing His disciples needed, His love.

Our Heavenly Father sent His Son to meet our most pressing need, salvation from sin. “For God so loved the world, He gave…” He ministered… He served us out of His love.

Our Heavenly Father serves us as any good Dad would. He takes good care of us! He provides, sustains, is attentive to our cry, etc,

Jesus shows us the Father who serves. We were made to display that image to others, i.e. imitate God! May we give ourselves away in service that glorifies our Heavenly Father who gives Himself in service to us!