Faith and Obedience

Today, I’m just going to dive right in…

Those who remember His commandments to do them, shall be blessed. God compensates faithful works, when that work is done on His behalf. This doesn’t mean being a slave to all and sundry. We must have balance and we must know where to use our time, so as to be utmost effective.

We can't earn righteousness and we can't earn favour, so although God blesses our works, it isn't our works which causes God to love us. He loves us anyway. However, there are certain things we aught to be doing, to enjoy a greater and deeper fellowship with God.

We should read our bible daily. It isn’t sufficient just to go to church on Sunday. We need to draw close to God each and every morning. We read His Word and act on what that Word tells us to do. It’s not just about reading your bible, but obedience. Being obedient to what the bible tells us to do, takes effort. Apethy in God’s work, doesn’t cut it. (And yes, often that means getting up at 4 in the morning, to fit it in.)

James 1: 23-25; for if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James 2: 23-26; And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

If you want to see blessings in your life, you have to show good works. What are those good works? You will find them in the bible, but here’s a few to get you started: compassion, prayer, tithing, helping, loving, caring, sharing, the 10 commandments - in other words, be Jesus to everyone, show everyone what Jesus looks like, teach Jesus. There are many more and you’ll start to look for them and see them, now that I’ve pointed out a few.

There are some who say it’s not about works, but faith. Yes, we need faith, but one compliments the other. You can speak faith all you like, but without action nothing happens. Proponents in positive thinking, will explain that you make statements of what you want to see in your life and it will attract that very thing to you. This works to some degree. However, you can tell yourself as much as you like; “there’s no weeds in my garden, there’s no weeds in my garden,” but unless you weed your garden, the weeds will grow.

Matthew 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. We often forget about the righteousness part of this message. We seek God, pray and hope for the best. But what is righteousness? The Oxford dictionary says righteousness is: the quality of being morally right or justifiable.

So to be righteous, we also need to be moral. The Oxford dictionary states moral as: 1) concerned with the principles of right and wrong behaviour. 2) holding on manifesting high principles for proper conduct.

(It would also pay to remember, righteousness can offend some people, as some do not want to be accountable.)

Seek His kingdom, seek His righteousness, do the works God’s set before you and all shall be added to you. High principles, faith, works, are all doing words (yes, even principle, when used as taking a stand). We can’t have a healthy prayer life, if we’re not ‘doing’.

If you’re not seeing results in your prayer life, if your prayers aren’t showing any fruit, it’s because you haven’t taken your place in the seat of authority. You must know God’s promises are true for you and you command what you desire. And you can only command from authority.

You see, intellectually, you know God’s Word is true, but your faith hasn't caught up. Your head knows, but it hasn't yet sunk into the depths of your heart.

Remember Jesus gave you all authority. We have the same power as Jesus, because Jesus gave it to us; Luke 10:19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Without authority, nothing happens. Or at best, prayers are hit and miss. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

A healthy prayer life too, isn’t about hope, it’s about faith. We can’t pray and hope for the best. We must pray and believe in the desired outcome. Is God’s Word truth, or is it not? This is a question you must answer for yourself, because you can know in your head God’s promises are true, but until it gets into your heart, you may not believe it.

If you’re thinking it works for them but not for me, you haven’t gone from the head to the heart yet. If God cannot lie (and His Word tells you so in Titus 1:2 In the hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began), then all His promises to you are true.

It’s not enough to hear the Word. It’s not enough to go to church on Sunday, have a lovely time and then forget the message, as soon as the busyness of life kicks in on Monday. You need to take what you hear and apply it to your life, then you will see changes take place in the areas of your greatest discomfort.

If you have a particularly difficult area, read all you can about that area. It might be finances, health, relationships, whatever the problem you face, search it out in the Scriptures and learn what to do to overcome the issue, then act on what you learn.

If you keep going and don’t quit, you will succeed. Yes, you might have a failure along the way, but stick with it and success will come in time. 

Does that mean it’ll be easy? No. The devil roams about seeking whom he shall devour. Once you start, the devil will try to stop you. Satan is a psychopath. He has zero empathy. He does not want to see you succeed. He doesn’t care about you at all. He will use deception, he will taunt, he will even use the Word (twisted, so it sounds good) to try to undermine God’s authority in the matter.

Keep going. God’s Word is truth and you will succeed, if you follow the plan God has laid out.

 

*Biblical quotes and references taken from NJKV.

 

Alexandra Grose - A photojournalist and author for over twenty years. Writing is her passion and her dream and helping others achieve their dreams, through her written work, is Alexandra's greatest aspiration.

 

 

 

#Integrity; truthfulness, honesty and reliability, in all things.

I believe one should....be truthful in everything you say and do. Keep all relationships open and honest. Be reliable, punctual and organised and if you say you'll do it - do it.

If you want to soar like an eagle, make an effort, not an excuse.

 

alexandragrose@amazon.com

 

Jesus Never Taught Healing.

Jesus never taught healing. He taught faith and authority, but not healing. Why didn’t He teach healing? Because there is no formula. If there was, all those well learned doctors would have that formula by now. Every time Jesus healed someone, He healed them in a different way, because there is no formula, just faith.

First was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. When you declare the Word, you declare the substance. That substance is Jesus, for Jesus is the Word that was and is, with God.

10-11 years ago, my husband had cancer in his lower abdomen. By the time it was noticeable, it was the size of a football. He was operated on and the mass was removed. My family and I had prayed and thankfully he needed no further treatment. John was just told to come back for a check-up every 6 months, to make sure it didn’t regrow.

2 years later, after his 4^th check-up, John called to tell me, the doctors had found nodules on his lungs. Having worked with asbestos in his former years and having once been a heavy smoker, this was not a surprising outcome to him.

In beating cancer previously, I refused to go down this path again and declared…No, this has already been dealt with and healed. I’m not accepting it and I decree that these nodules shrink and dissipate. Whenever John brought up the issue, I reminded him, we’re praying that the nodules dissolve.

6 months later, his next check-up and the nodules hadn’t grown any greater. 6 months after that and the nodules had shrunk, disappearing from whence they came. John mentioned to the doctor: my wife’s a Christian and she said this would happen. He didn’t realise, he was being a witness at this time. John’s check-ups are now 2 years apart and he’s still cancer free.

Shortly after, John had a knee replacement. When the x-rays were initially taken, the radiologist stated he didn’t know how John was still walking. When the surgeon saw the x-ray, he exclaimed “Oh John, your knee is shot.”

A week after the operation, John needed to go back, to have clean bandages applied. The second week, John’s bandages didn’t need to go back on and by week 4 he was walking like a young man again, something he hadn’t done in 25 years. His doctor sent the surgeon a letter stating this was the fastest healing on a knee replacement she’d ever had walk through her door.

Jesus was only ever amazed twice in the bible and both times it was because of “great faith,” as in the roman soldier (Matt 8:5-13), who said Jesus only need to command it, as he too is under authority and the woman who claimed even dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table, in Matt 15:27. Jesus healed on both occasions, because of their great faith.

John is an unbeliever, an atheist (don’t ask).  However, if Jesus will heal an unbeliever, what do you think He will do for you, His bride! For all who ask, receive and although John is an unbeliever, I and my family had asked and John has been healed.

When we take of the bread and the wine, we take in faith all the promises of God, written in His word. Jesus gave us all power and authority and He asked that we remember Him often, by the taking of the body and the blood and so we do that today, in remembrance of Him, in thankful appreciation of all that He did and in faith of all that He will do, that we may live and live life abundantly.