In the end it comes down to faith!

Hebrews 10:38(NKJV)

    Now the just  shall live by faith;     But if anyone draws back,      My soul has no pleasure in him.” 

I have spent a lot of time over the years studying Scripture.  It seems that many times as I get questions answered, new questions pop up.  What that has helped me realize is the truth of the highlighted sentence above. 

It comes down to faith.  You either have faith and believe or you don't.  I choose to have faith.  How about you?

It takes faith and courage to follow God.

It takes courage to follow God.  I don't mean it takes courage to go to church each week and to read the Bible. 

What I am talking about is really following God.  Here is a great example from Genesis.

Genesis 12:1-3(NKJV)

Now the Lord had said to Abram:      “Get out of your country,     From your family     And from your father’s house,     To a land that I will show you.

    I will make you a great nation;     I will bless you     And make your name great;     And you shall be a blessing.

    I will bless those who bless you,     And I will curse him who curses you;      And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Think about that.  Could you do that?  If God told you to take everything that you have and move away from everyone you know, could you do that?  Especially if God doesn't even tell you where you are going at first?

That takes a lot of two things.  Faith and courage!  Faith to fully believe that it truly is God talking to you and courage to go do what God is telling you to do. 

Don't worry if you don't think you have the faith and courage to start.  It can be developed.  Faith and courage are like muscles.  The more you use them the stronger they get.  So if you have to, start small. 

Have a little faith and a little courage.  If you do that, I guarantee that both your faith and your courage will grow. 

Do your eyes glaze over? :)

Here is one of the things I think to myself, "Why is this even in the Bible"?  What could I possibly learn from this?  When I hit chapters like this that simply list genealogies; I have to admit that my eyes do tend to glaze over.  :)

Genesis 10:1-7(NKJV)

Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. 

The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. 

The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. 

From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. 

The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

Be fruitful and multiply!

I find it interesting that one of the first commands God gave to Noah and his family after the flood was the following verse. 

Genesis 9:7(NKJV)

    And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;     Bring forth abundantly in the earth      And multiply in it.”

Now was God just talking about more people or was there more to this command?  I think it is much broader than that. 

I think the command "be fruitful" could be restated "be productive" and still be true to its meaning.  God gives each of us 24 hours in a day.  Being productive with those hours allows us to "bring forth abundantly" many things from our efforts. 

The one thing I don't see is any sort of qualifier like be fruitful and multiply until we reach a certain point such as a certain population.  I think God wants us to make this a basis for conducting our whole lives for as long as we live. 

Wednesday, December 04, 2019

7:43 AM

I find it interesting that one of the first commands God gave to Noah and his family after the flood was the following verse. 

Genesis 9:7(NKJV)

    And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;     Bring forth abundantly in the earth      And multiply in it.”

Now was God just talking about more people or was there more to this command?  I think it is much broader than that. 

I think the command "be fruitful" could be restated "be productive" and still be true to its meaning.  God gives each of us 24 hours in a day.  Being productive with those hours allows us to "bring forth abundantly" many things from our efforts. 

The one thing I don't see is any sort of qualifier like be fruitful and multiply until we reach a certain point such as a certain population.  I think God wants us to make this a basis for conducting our whole lives for as long as we live. 

Why does God allow suffering?

It’s a question that people have been asking for centuries.  I ran across this answer today.

Hebrews 5:8(NKJV)

though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 

This passage is about Jesus.  I've said many times in the past that there are just certain life lessons that you can only learn through adversity, suffering.  Here we have Jesus Himself bearing witness to that belief. 

Don't you think that if there was any other way that God could have taught Jesus this lesson without Jesus suffering, God would have done so? 

I also find this interesting.  God could have just said that suffering helps us learn life lessons and keep it generic.  But God didn't do that.  He was very specific.  He said that Jesus learned obedience through suffering. 

Hmm.  Something to ponder!

How should we approach the Throne of Grace?

Boldly! 

Hebrews 4:16(NKJV)

Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We are heirs with Christ.  We don't need to be timid.  We are told to come BOLDLY to the throne!