TODAY’S DEVOTION (WEDNESDAY 12TH JULY 2023)**
“ By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.
[Prompted, actuated] by faith Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, because of which it was testified of him that he was righteous [that he was upright and in right standing with God], and God bore witness by accepting and acknowledging his gifts. And though he died, yet [through the incident] he is still speaking.
Because of faith Enoch was caught up and transferred to heaven, so that he did not have a glimpse of death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony [still on record] that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God.
But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].” Hebrews 11:3-6 AMPC
WELCOME TO THE 193RD DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.
It is a great day from our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. He has given us another day to live, fear Him, and do His commandments. We are grateful!
We have been looking at the things that we need to fulfill our divine destinies in Christ, and we have seen quite a lot. Yesterday the word “without” came as a rhema word to us, which we decided to sit with. As we sat with it, we discovered that it is one of the most important words in the Bible, because it opened us to Bible truths about our eternal destiny.
The first “without” that quickly came to our hearts was in the verse of the Bible that says “Without holiness, no eye shall see the LORD.” Some of us were enlightened by the LORD as we sat with that word. We remain grateful to Him for all His marvelous deeds.
We left yesterday’s devotional with a promise of checking out the next rhema truth around the word “without” today. So, the next “without” I want us to look at, says “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrew 11:6).
It takes faith, produced from hearing the true Word of God, to be fashioned, put in order, and prepared or empowered for God’s intended purpose for your life. Our devotional text says, by such faith, even the world was fashioned, put in order, and empowered to fulfill God’s intended purpose for it. That was after the devil had destroyed the perfect earth God created and made it without form and void.
That tells us how important faith is to dealing with the works of the devil, which includes a life of sin, iniquity, trespass, sicknesses, poverty, spiritual slavery, keeping people in ignorance, death, destruction, and all that men go through on a fallen earth. That is why faith is very essential to us; none of us can live a life that pleases God without it.
Yesterday we spoke about Holiness! We discovered that without Holiness no eye shall see the LORD. But our devotional text is saying today that “without” faith, no one can be fashioned, put in order, and empowered to fulfill any intended purposes of God, which includes living a holy life.
In simple terms, without faith, no one can be holy, Godly, morally excellent, pure, or upright in God’s sight. Faith is a catalyst of holy living. It is an energizer of Godly and right living, a promoter of purity, and a transformer of sinners into saints.
THOSE WHO ARE TRULY LIVING BY FAITH, LIVE HOLY AND PURE LIVES.
If you see anyone living by faith and also living in sin, iniquity, or trespass, you have found someone who is not adjudged as just by the LORD; someone living by another faith – which is a faith other than the faith of the Bible.
The Bible says;
“ For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith [disclosed through the way of faith that arouses to more faith]. As it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live and shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17 AMPC
Look at that line, “the man who through faith is just and upright.” What do you see there? It tells us how faith enables us to live upright and morally pure lives before God.
The scripture also made it clear that such a faith is born in us when we hear a gospel that reveals the righteousness that God ascribes to us, while we were yet sinners. It is not a greed and money-induced gospel, where everything is sold and bought. It is not the gospel of recovery of lost stars, or redemption of firstborn, or raising of altars and breaking them down, or giving of sacrifices for our deliverance, and all that.
People have heard those things and developed faith but not the faith of the son of God, but the faith of making the preacher rich. The faith of the son of God is the faith that produces a life that pleases God. It comes when we hear the right gospel. It is therefore important that we understand the difference. If you say you have faith, it does not mean the faith you are referring to is the faith of the son of God. It all depends on what gave you that faith.
Faith is like a pregnancy, it could be from Christ or from other things. Just as the pregnancy of a woman could be from her husband or any other man. It all depends on her faithfulness, so faith is.
So, when the Bible says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God,” it is referring to the faith that comes from Christ Himself. Not the faith that is being produced by the spirit of the antichrist in the Church today. It is the faith that comes from Christ Himself that produces a life that pleases God, a life of holiness, purity, and right living. Sadly, the fathers of that kind of faith are nearly nonexistent today!
The faith of the antichrist produces psychological salvation. It is the very faith in the hearts of so many preachers and their Church members today. That kind of faith has so many fathers. Most of the fathers of faith we have today are fathers of that kind of faith.
WHEN YOU EXPOSE IT, THEY SAY YOU ARE NOT RESPECTING THEM. THEY ATTEMPT TO MOVE PEOPLE FROM THE WORDS OF TRUTH AND REASON YOU SPEAK TO SENTIMENTS.
Clearly, such are fathers of a faith that does not get Christ established in people’s hearts. That is why you find masturbators, corrupt politicians, thieves, husband snatchers, drug dealers, harlots, gays, lesbians, adulterers, fornicators, liars, etc. occupying positions in their churches – positions of responsibility that God designed that the consecrated alone occupy.
You find some serving the holy communion with filthy hearts, teaching in Sunday school, and doing other things that God reserved only for the consecrated.
Some of them are a father of a faith that gives miracles to false doctrines and extrabiblical practices to authenticate them as God’s moves. Friend, if you do not break free from this kind of dangerous faith, one day you will sleep in death and wake up in hell. That kind of faith will never take anyone to Heaven, because it calls Jesus “LORD, LORD” but does not do what He says! It is a dangerous faith, sadly, with many fathers today!
I want us to understand that, in the realm of faith, there are two kinds of faith; natural faith and supernatural faith. Natural faith is what convinces you to lie on your bed believing it will not collapse or have you on the floor. God gave natural faith to everyone.
It could also be positive or negative, just as supernatural faith, it all depends on the source. It is natural faith that makes you work for an organization, believing it will pay you at the end of the month. It is natural faith that makes us believe in each other. It is the fuel of relationships. It is outsourced from natural facts and feelings.
Natural faith is what we call trust sometimes. It is also a tool for serving God! However, natural faith takes care of natural things alone. When it comes to supernatural things like receiving healing, divine prosperity, divine revelation, answering a call of God upon your life, etc. in the immediate present, you need to go beyond the plane of natural faith.
YOU CANNOT RELATE WITH GOD IN THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT USING NATURAL FAITH.
You will need supernatural faith, sourced from the Spirit and revelation of Jesus Christ. It usually comes by hearing or seeing from Him. The Holy Spirit is what makes that happen. When He plugs our spirits into Christ’s, we begin to connect all the treasures of His Kingdom, power, and glory, resulting in His faith in our lives. The Bible says by it, our Bible fathers, called the elders, obtained a good report. (Hebrew 11:2).
Good report means good character or moral excellence.*** They obtained good character, moral excellence, and purity walking in that kind of faith. ***They did not operate the negative supernatural faith that comes from the antichrist spirit. A faith that tells you, you are not perfect and cannot be.
It tells you, “We are all sinners” and so forth. It only tells you how to believe God for miracles, signs, and wonder, but not how to walk in holiness, purity of heart, and spirit. It is a faith that exalts giving money as the highest form of worship, instead of laying down your life as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
The faith that is from Christ will take your eyes off your earthly needs and worries and propel you to submit yourself to God, for a fresh breath of His Spirit every day. It gets you planted by the waters of His presence so that you can bring fruits in your season. That is the faith James said if we have will produce fruits of repentance and righteousness as evidence.
Child of God, I believe enough to meditate on has been shared for the day.
I want you to understand that as we move closer and closer to the consummation of all things, contention for the faith that was once delivered to us, will be the greatest focus of what the Genuine Holy Spirit will be propelling you to do. And that will be embraced by those who want to keep their lamps burning and their oil sufficient for the return of the LORD.
If you are not living a Christian life controlled by the faith that was once and for all delivered to us, the faith that has moral excellence, holiness, purity, God’s kingdom power, and a righteous desire for Godly living, you will be sorry on the final day.
If we are not moving from one dimension of the faith of the son of God to another dimension – from faith to faith, purity to purity, right living to right living, Holy Ghost fire to Holy Ghost fire, and from one transformational glory to another; we will lead a Christian life that will not end us in Heaven.
In fact, we will move from being children of God to becoming sons of hell. There will be no middle ground. The central truth remains, without faith, it is impossible to please God. When we return tomorrow, we will be looking at the number three “without.”
It is my prayer that God will use these words to add to the building blocks of our walk and talk with Him, in Jesus’ precious name. Amen!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR US TODAY!
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and brother of James, [writes this letter] to those who are called (chosen), dearly loved by God the Father and separated (set apart) and kept for Jesus Christ:
May mercy, [soul] peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God].
For certain men have crept in stealthily [gaining entrance secretly by a side door]. Their doom was predicted long ago, ungodly (impious, profane) persons who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality, and disown and deny our sole Master and Lord, Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” Jude 1:1-4 AMPC