LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, March 21, 2019

In our current study of FAITH we are looking at the life of Moses. God was building the faith of Moses so he could overcome his fears and failures. Moses was at first not a very willing student in the school of faith. In fact, he made a lot of excuses to not do the required assignments. But with each excuse God answered graciously and provided continued opportunities for Moses to pass the class.

Yesterday we learned that the first excuse Moses gave was that he feared his previous failure had disqualified him. The second excuse Moses gives is found in today’s Scripture:

Exodus 3:13-14  Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

In other words, Moses was saying, “I can’t do it because I’m not a theologian and don’t have enough knowledge of who God is.”

Have you ever backed down from doing something God has asked you to do because you don’t feel theologically qualified? We don’t witness or teach or lead a Bible study because we are afraid we don’t have all the answers. Well, I have news for you – none of us will ever have all the answers and none of us will ever know all there is to know about any theological subject. We are all limited, so we have two options:

1. Give up and never try, or
2. Use what we have and let God give us more.

Unfortunately, far too many people choose option #1. They forget the promises of John 14:26 where Jesus says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. And in Luke 12:11-12 where Jesus again says, “When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”

You see, the Holy Spirit is responsible to give us the answers at the time that we need them. We have nothing to fear. Faith overcomes our insecurities.

God gave Moses the direct answer he was supposed to give if the people questioned him: tell them, “I AM” has sent you.” That answer qualifies all of us to the questions people will ask about what we believe. We believe in the Eternal, Almighty, Sovereign God.  That’s all the theology we need to go anywhere God sends us.

So if you’ve been using ignorance or insecurity as an excuse for not obeying God’s direction, confess it today and take a step of faith that says “YES!”

Just tell people what you know about Jesus.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

One of my favorite old hymns was entitled, “Faith Is the Victory”, and one of the lines states, “O, glorious victory, that overcomes the world.”

One aspect of the world that needs overcoming is fear. Let’s learn that faith lesson today from the story of Moses in Exodus 3:10-12. God is speaking to Moses from a burning but not burning up bush.

“So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Can you imagine the fear Moses must have felt when the burning bush spoke to him? It was strange enough that a bush would be on fire in the middle of the desert, and that the bush did not burn up. But then the bush spoke. When Moses recognized the voice of God, he became afraid. His fear was based on a righteous respect for the holiness of God and a responsible review of his own ungodliness. This is the same fear Isaiah had when in a vision he saw the throne of God and fell on his face and said, “Woe is me, I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips…and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” When we compare our simple and sinful existence to the Supreme and Sinless God, we are forced to our knees in fear.

As God spoke to Moses, He reassured him and gave him an explanation of His visit. God was responding to His chosen people’s cries for help. They were in bondage in Egypt, and Moses was to be the deliverer.

Moses responded to God’s plan in the way many of us do, by doubting that we have anything to offer to the success of the plan. Moses questioned the value of his life by asking, “Who am I?”  Moses’ fear has changed. He was no longer in fear of God’s presence, but rather feared his own involvement in God’s plan. The plan was a great plan, but it was too big for Moses’ mind to comprehend. The plan had merit, but Moses doubted his own merit. The plan could work, but Moses was afraid that he would not be able to accomplish it because of his past failures and present fears.

I think we have all felt many of those same things when God asks us to be involved in His plan. God graciously understands our fears, and gives us exactly what we need to overcome them. He responded to Moses with a promise and a sign that were sufficient to conquer all of his fears.  He only had to accept it. He didn’t.

The promise was that God would be with him. The sign was that when the task was completed, everyone would be united in their worship of God. Moses didn’t really take to heart what God had just said because he proceeded to ask a series of fear-based questions, the last of which made God angry with him for his lack of faith (see Exodus 4:13-14).

Moses should have understood what God was saying: faith in Who I am is all you need to begin, and faith in My outcome is all you need to continue. What a powerful statement that we should use to evaluate our faith.

We need not live in fear of failure when we have faith in the Father. We need not doubt our abilities when we have faith in God’s probabilities. We need not refuse to risk when we have faith in God’s right to reign. He is with us. He has determined a glorious outcome. He asks us to begin the adventure. Take the step of faith without fear. God has chosen you!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

For years I had a little card on my desk that was given to me by a dear woman of God who is now with Jesus in glory. The card simply said, “God is bigger than any problem I have.”

That statement is easier to believe when the problem is not of my own making. When others falsely accuse me of things, or when circumstances of life turn ugly, I know God is bigger than all of that and He will work it all out for His glory and my growth. But when I know I am responsible for the problem because of my own weakness or lack of wisdom and poor choices, then guilt and shame tend to dim my faith in the greatness of God.

Another biblical hero of the faith had the same problem.

Exodus 2:11-15 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian.

When I know I am to blame, my natural tendency is to run and hide in a place of pity and self-condemnation, just like Moses did. If I do run to that place, the guilt can devalue my life and convince me that nothing will ever be right again. My survival instinct takes over, and I take control of the situation and try to fix it so that I can gain back my value. What a mess it all becomes, simply because I did not believe that God is bigger than ANY problem I have.

When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, He called him to an incredible task that was based on God’s greatness not on Moses’ past. That’s comforting. However, it does not excuse unwise choices thinking there will be no consequences. There will be consequences for failure, but God is greater than any problem we have. No issue of our lives is so great that it can stop the purpose of God.

God told Moses that he would lead the people out of Egypt and they would worship Him at the very place of the burning bush. God gave Moses a staff to represent His power, and even though the world tried to duplicate its power, God’s power overcame it all. God met every one of Moses’ objections to being chosen as Israel’s deliverer. Moses was encouraged to place his faith in God’s greatness. Moses believed and was restored. He became the man that God spoke to face to face.

Did he still have weakness? Yes. Did he still fail? Yes. Did God’s greatness cease to overcome all of it? NO!

God is greater than any problem Moses created. He is greater than any problem we have created as well. Don’t run and hide. Turn to God in faith and trust His purpose and power. He will overcome, and He will restore you to intimate relationship and equip you for important responsibilities.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, March 18, 2019

There is one more significant lesson from the story of Abraham’s testing by God on Mount Moriah that touches me deep in my spirit. It comes from the name Abraham gives to the place of testing.

Genesis 22:13-14 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”

By faith Abraham declared that God would provide Himself a lamb for the sacrifice. He then named that place THE LORD WILL PROVIDE. Abraham’s faith allowed him to look beyond the possible loss of a son to the sacrifice of God’s Son. He knew that God would see to it. So complete was Abraham’s faith that he named the place Jehovah-Jireh, which means The LORD will provide.

The Hebrew word for “provide” in this passage is the word that primarily means “see”. We can translate the verse to mean “God will see to it that there is a lamb.”

God provided a lamb as a substitute for Isaac, and He has provided a Lamb as a substitute for all of us. Think of the wonder of our salvation: God has seen to it that there is a Lamb for the sacrifice for sin. John the Baptist said about Jesus Christ – “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” God has provided a Lamb. Not only that, but He provided Himself as the Lamb. God incarnate in human flesh became the sacrificial Lamb. He has provided for our salvation. He has done it!

On that very same mountain where Abraham made his declaration of faith, the Holy of Holies in the temple was exposed to all the people when the curtain was torn at the death of Jesus Christ our Savior. God has seen to it that we have a way out of the bondage and consequences of sin. God has seen to it that we have a way into the eternal covenant of life and blessing. God has seen to it that one Gate provides for both the way out and the way in, and that Gate is His Son Jesus.

I am overwhelmed with this. It may sound simple to many, but it is deeply profound. God has provided for our salvation. Can there be any greater truth? Can there be anything more beautiful? We may be emotionally moved in our spirit by the majesty of God’s creation when we view an incredible vista from a mountaintop, but is there any mountain more deeply moving than the one upon which God provided for our salvation? Is there any human experience that can compare with the splendor of the experience of God’s forgiveness? I say a loud and emphatic “NO!”

May the LORD’s provision for our salvation never become simple or unmoving. May our desire for more knowledge of God and His Word never compromise the thrill of God’s grace and mercy. May our desire to serve and work never diminish the joy of our salvation.

If you have time, read the following Psalm, and spend some time praising Jehovah-Jireh. He has provided for our redemption.

Psalm 111

Praise the LORD.

I will extol the LORD with all my heart

in the council of the upright and in the assembly.

Great are the works of the LORD;

they are pondered by all who delight in them.

Glorious and majestic are his deeds,

and his righteousness endures forever.

He has caused his wonders to be remembered;

the LORD is gracious and compassionate.

He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

He has shown his people the power of his works,

giving them the lands of other nations.

The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy.

They are steadfast for ever and ever,

done in faithfulness and uprightness.

He provided redemption for his people;

he ordained his covenant forever-

holy and awesome is his name.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;

all who follow his precepts have good understanding.

To him belongs eternal praise.

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, March 15, 2019

In our study of faith from the life of Abraham we come to a climactic event that tests his faith to the nth degree.

Genesis 22:1-3 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

Abraham is commanded by God to take the son that has already been declared the son of the covenant and sacrifice him to the Lord. When I read this story, I am overwhelmed with the emotions that I would feel, the questions that I would ask, and the rationale I would use to support my disobedience. But we read of no such emotions or questions or excuses from Abraham. His faith in God was so strong that he simply obeyed and left the outcome to God.

Follow me along a little journey for a moment. Abraham is told to go to the region of Moriah to make the sacrifice. Moriah is mentioned only one other time in Scripture, in 2 Chronicles 3:2, where we read that “Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.” The place where God instructed the people to build the temple for the worship of God was the place of Abraham’s sacrifice.

It seems that God is saying that true worship is a sacrifice of anything connected to self on the altar of surrender to the will of God. This is what Paul means in Romans 12:1 when he writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.”  Mature faith makes the supreme sacrifice of self as a response to God’s mercy.

So what was the real test of Abraham’s faith? I think the answer is simple but so very difficult to live. God wanted to know if Abraham’s faith was in God Himself or in the promises God have given him. This is a HUGE issue for all of us. Faith in God must not be confused with faith in what God can do.

Years ago, the music group The Imperials sang a song called Because of Who You Are. The lyrics state that our faith stands not in what God can do but in the very nature of God Himself. That message has been restated by the group Casting Crowns in their song lyrics “Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done; not because of what I’ve done, but because of Who You are.”

Paul does not state in Romans 12:1 that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices in view of God’s promises, or in view of God’s actions, but rather in view of God’s mercy, which is His nature.  Our faith is mature when we trust God’s nature and character. Not His promises, nor His actions, but His Being!

Let me illustrate. When you fly in an airplane, in what do you place your trust? My faith is not in the safety record of the airline, or the sobriety of the pilot, or the pleasantness of the flight attendant: my faith is in the airplane itself. I cannot choose which parts of the airplane to trust, I must trust the whole plane. In fact, I saw a cartoon recently that said, “Did you know that an airplane is made up of 150,00 parts that by themselves cannot fly?” I must trust the complete plane. That is a very simple example of what our faith in God must be like.

We all fight this kind of faith. We allow emotions, questions, and excuses to interfere with absolute dependence upon God. We have settled for an immature faith that trusts God’s promises or depends upon God’s actions, when God wants us to totally trust Him for Who He is. I hope you can see the distinction, and I trust that the Holy Spirit is creating a passion in your heart for that kind of relationship with the Father.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, March 14, 2019

In case anyone is wondering, today I am 2/3 as old as Abraham was when Sarah became pregnant…and NO!, that is not the faith lesson for me today. But I also don’t ever want to respond to the Lord’s voice the way Sarah did.

When the Lord had visited Abraham prior to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah He told him that he would have a son within a year. Sarah had overheard that conversation from the tent, and she had laughed in disbelief that something so absurd could really happen. Not only did she laugh, but when confronted with her disbelief she lied about it because she was afraid. Imagine what kind of faithless fear is necessary to lie to the face of the Lord. Instead of being humble and asking for the faith necessary to believe what she had been told, she lied because she was afraid of what would happen to her for her unbelief. Had she not considered that if there was punishment for unbelief there would also be punishment for lying? But in defense of Sarah, we probably would have responded the same way because the fear of self-loss blinds us to the consequences of future actions and we only see the need for self-protection.

Here we are several chapters later, and the time has come for Isaac to be born.

Genesis 21:1-5 Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

The story of Isaac’s birth begins with a most incredible statement about the character of God – Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. The original Hebrew says, The Lord visited Sarah…

I see in this statement the incredible nature of God’s grace. Sarah’s response to the news of a son was sinful. The Bible mentions nothing about a confession and apology from her. The LORD visited her and was gracious to her. He fulfilled His promise without her understanding or cooperation.

I wonder how many promises of God are being fulfilled in our lives simply because of the grace of God, without any cooperation on our part. In fact, I would go a giant step beyond that and suggest that all the promises of God are fulfilled because of His grace, and that nothing we receive from Him is earned or deserved. According to human standards of relationship, Sarah had certainly lost the right to have a promise fulfilled. But not according to God’s standards. God deals with us by grace, not by grudges: by mercy, not merit.

I want to burst out in praise as I consider all the times I have walked by sight for selfish reasons, and yet God continues to fulfill His promises. Every day I wake up is a gracious visit from God with life. Every event of every day is a gracious visit from God with direction, guidance, and wisdom. Every improvement in my life is a gracious visit from God who is finishing the work He started in me. Every blessing in my life is a gracious visit from God who has promised every spiritual blessing from on high. Every test and trial is a gracious visit from God to make my faith stronger. None of these things is earned: all these things are God’s gracious visits to me.

May we begin to see every day as a celebration of God’s grace for each one of us. He is visiting us, and He is fulfilling His promise. That is reason to rejoice!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

No matter how strong our faith has grown, there are areas in which we still walk by sight. This is the predicament of us all, and almost cost Abraham his life.

Genesis 20:11-13 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”’”

As I evaluate the motivations for choosing to walk by sight rather than by faith, I find there are primarily two: fear of others and fear of self-loss.

Abraham has been traveling around all the magnificent land that God has promised him, and he arrives in an area that is currently under the control of a king named Abimelech. Abraham, for the second time recorded in Scripture, tells a lie about his marital status with Sarah. Abimelech decides this new woman to the territory needs to be a part of his harem, so he brings Sarah to his tents to make her his wife.

Imagine the emotional response of Sarah to this.  She has just been told that within a year she will have a son with Abraham. Yet here she is in a stranger’s house with the expectation of marital relationships with the King. But God intervenes and speaks directly to Abimelech, telling him the truth of the situation. God gives him instructions to remedy the near tragedy. When Abimelech asks Abraham for an explanation, Abraham responds with an admission of walking by sight rather than by faith, and shows his human nature by trying to justify his actions.

Notice two very important lessons from Abraham’s confession:

1. Abraham’s faith faltered because he feared how others might react. Abraham was more concerned with what men thought about God than with what God thought about men. He allowed his fear of what men could do to him to overwhelm his faith in what God had promised him. There are areas in our lives where this is true about us as well. Maybe it’s at work, or in some relationships, or maybe even in our church, but somewhere in our lives there is an activity that is motivated by the fear of how people will respond to us rather than by faith in how God will reward us. Growing faith in God’s promises conquers groveling fear of people.
2. Abraham’s faith faltered because of the fear of self-loss. Let me share with you a very significant point that we need to consider in our walks of faith. Decisions motivated by fear rather than faith become almost unbreakable chains of bondage that can affect us for the rest of our lives.  Notice in today’s Scripture that Abraham admits to Abimelech that he made the decision to portray Sarah as his sister at the outset of his journey from his homeland. It was a condition of his walk of faith. When God told him to leave his family and comfort zone, Abraham agreed, on the condition that he would do what was necessary to protect his own life. That decision at the early stage of his faith held him in bondage for a long time.

I believe that we all need to seriously consider what conditions we have placed on our walk of faith. What areas of our lives have we decided are ours alone and that we are solely responsible for them? What decisions did we make at an early age that still hold us in emotional and spiritual bondage? How have we limited God’s power in our lives because of human restrictions we have placed on ourselves? These are serious questions and our responses will seriously affect us for a long time. Don’t be like Abraham and try to justify the decision that was made by saying that there was a small element of truth to it. We all know in our hearts what we have done from faith and what was done from fear. That which is of fear must be confessed and surrendered to God, so it can be replaced with His promises.

My friends, there is hope. No decision of the past that led to an emotional or physical addiction is permanent. That is the wonder of the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Abraham learned from this mistake. He conquered his fears, and passed every additional test of his faith from this point forward.

So can you! God can and will forgive you and restore you. He will replace your fear with faith. Simply confess your need, make a decision of your will that you were wrong, and surrender to God’s will. He will make you whole!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Today’s faith principles are found in this story of Abraham’s life that involves some very special guests at his house.

Genesis 18: 22-25 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing-to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself has just appeared to Abraham and Sarah to confirm that in one year they will have a son. The two angels that accompanied Jesus have left to go down and visit the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to see the terrible sinfulness of the people living there. Jesus stays behind with Abraham, and we can learn some lessons from their conversation.

1. Abraham’s faith relationship with God had grown to the point where he was able to ask God to explain His purpose. Abraham asked God to explain the relationship between choices, actions, and character. This is an important step in a growing faith in God – to humbly seek to know more about God’s character by asking questions about circumstances that don’t make sense. We want to know God intimately and deeply so we can begin to understand that what He does is always a product of His character. Abraham was not attempting to correct God, or manipulate Him into a self-centered outcome: he was genuinely seeking to understand the relationship between God’s justice and the treatment of the righteous and the wicked. It benefits us to seek the heart of God when we don’t understand His actions, so long as we do it with a humble and submissive heart.
2. By faith, Abraham was a man of intercession on behalf of others. He had already rescued Lot once, and now was pleading with God to save him again. I wonder how consistent we are being in pleading to the Lord on behalf of the lost around us? We are surrounded by people, even in our own families, who are trapped in sin. They are headed for the proverbial precipice of destruction and they need an intervention of God to turn them away from certain judgment. The angels are ready to be sent, and God’s compassion is ready to be extended. All that is lacking is the intercessory prayers of God’s people on their behalf. God is certain to respond. Let us remain consistent and persistent in our prayers for the unsaved and for the saved who have fallen away.
3. Faith understands that God’s mercy protects the righteous in judgment. The last statement we have from the Lord in this conversation is this – “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” Abraham was confident that there were ten righteous members of Lot’s family left, so the city would be spared from destruction. He was wrong. His sons-in-law rejected Lot’s request to leave the city. Would Lot now be destroyed in judgment with everyone else? No! In His mercy the Lord had the angels remove the righteous ones from the city before it was destroyed. God wants the righteous to live by their faith in Him, and not by any connection to the world, so He put Lot’s family to a test of their righteousness: don’t look back once you have left the city. Lot’s wife failed the test, and suffered the judgment of worldly attraction. Oh that we would be careful to live in the righteousness we claim, and to walk in the faith we profess.

May God use these thoughts to build us up in our faith, fill us with confidence in His saving power, and overwhelm us with compassion for the lost around us.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Monday, March 11, 2019

True faith involves obedience, even when it hurts. Let’s see how that lesson is taught to us in this story of Abram’s life. Here’s how the story ends.

Genesis 17:23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.

Here’s what has just happened. God has confirmed his covenant with Abram by giving him a new name – Abraham (which means father of many) – and promising him a son with his wife Sarai, whose name is also changed to Sarah. God asks Abraham for a step of obedience to become a participant in the covenant. It was to be a painful step that would require days of healing. It would put the entire household at risk of attack by enemies. It would mean that daily chores would not get done. Animals would be unprotected. Women would have extra responsibilities added to their already busy schedules. This would take some planning and preparation, right? Wrong! Abraham obeyed immediately. He did not ask for time to make sure everything would work out right and that all the administrative issues could be resolved. He simply immediately obeyed.

When I discovered that I would require hernia surgery years ago, I made plans to have it at a time that would least interfere with my church schedule and personal plans. I knew I would be laid up and in pain for a while, and that my activities would be limited. I chose a date for the surgery that best fit my perspective of life. Now granted, my hernia surgery was not a step of faith that God was asking me to take, but I wonder how many other times I have delayed immediate obedience because I needed obedience to be convenient for me.

Complete faith does not take partial ownership in the outcome. Read that statement again carefully. Complete faith does not take partial ownership in the outcome. Sometimes God may give us responsibilities in determining the outcome, but when He clearly commands an activity we must obey immediately as Abraham did.

That’s what the teaching of James affirms in his New Testament letter:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?  Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.

God has ownership of the outcome: we are obligated to obedience. Not to earn anything from God, but to joyfully participate in His covenant promises. We are obligated by love, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:14 – “Christ’s love compels us.”

By faith we are saved. By faith we continue to live. By faith we obey, and trust the next step to God.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotional

Friday, March 8, 2019

Sometimes our faith in God’s promises is tested by another person’s lack of faith. Abram has just been through some exciting faith-building experiences, including an upward look into the spiritual kingdom of God that would result from God’s covenant with him. However, his wife was not on the same page. Read about it in today’s story:

Genesis 16:1-6 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress. Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering. I put my servant in your arms, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the LORD judge between you and me.” “Your servant is in your hands,” Abram said. “Do with her whatever you think best.” Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

We can only speculate as to why Sarai didn’t have the faith of her husband Abram. Was she tired of the social stigma of being childless? Was she simply devising a plan to protect herself as her husband had done when they went to Egypt? Did she know more about Abram’s doubts than we are told because she lived with him every day? Did she think that God had given her special permission to break His covenant because the end would justify the means?

Whatever the reason for her small faith, Sarai’s plan was to help God out in the accomplishment of making Abram the father of a great nation. In presenting the plan to her husband, she justifies it by blaming God for her condition. She demonstrates no faith in the power of God to change her current condition. She only has faith in her ability to fix the condition according to human reason. Abram’s response shows us that his faith still had some growing up to do also. He accepts the plan and participates in it.

Just think of all of the emotional tension that must have existed between Sarai and Abram. Both want God’s promise to be fulfilled, but for different reasons. Sarai wants a family. She wants to be a respected part of society. She has given up hope that it will happen naturally for her, so she chooses to give another woman to her husband and share him with her. She is willing to suffer those emotional consequences for the emotional benefits she hopes will come later.

Abram also wants a family, not for the emotional benefit but rather for the spiritual. His motives may be purer, but his method is still wrong. In fact, we can call his motives sinful, because Romans 14:23 says that “everything that does not come from faith is sin.”  When, because our faith is weak, we set aside the power and provision of God and use our power and provision to accomplish His promise, we sin.

My friends, there are some important issues for us to consider in this story as they relate to our own walks of faith.

• How many of our choices are made based on human reason and understanding rather than faith in God’s purpose and plan?
• How many of our choices are based on emotional responses to circumstances rather than faith in God’s power to provide?
• How many of our choices are our attempts to hurry the process and bring to fulfillment the promises of God?
• How many of our choices are responses to our emotional need to fit in and be accepted by others?

Consider carefully your circumstances right now, and before you make your plans, seek God’s purpose and trust His promise. Your faith will grow, and God’s glory will be experienced.

Pastor John