Living by Faith

New Guest: Most posts are devotional; those related to CAR BIZ can be found by searching for that label.

Thursday and Friday, January 1 & 2, 2009

Ps 33, 34, 103, 148; Gen 12:1-7, 17:1-12a; Col 2:6-16; Heb 11:1-12 Jn 6:35-51; 16:23b-30

Praise befits the upright! Let us praise YHWH with all our energy and skill, for God is faithful and righteous; the universe is full of His steadfast love. He is Creator of all that exists, and He sustains all the worlds. Blessed are all whose God is YHWH. Our souls wait on Him, our Help and Shield. When I have sought God, He has answered me; His angels stay near and shelter me from harm. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing! Keep your tongues from evil; speak no deceit; pursue peace. We have many afflictions, but God delivers us from all of them. Let all that is in me bless His name; He is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. His anger passes quickly; His favor lasts forever! He removes my sins from me as far as East is from West. He Who Is eternal loves us mortals; let all that has life praise the Lord: angels, stars and planets and moons, lands and oceans, ocean creatures and animals of earth and air, all the earth and sky, every mortal being. Hallellu Jah!

YHWH called Abram in Haran of Mespotamia, and told him to go to a new land God would show him. ‘And I will make of you a great nation, and make you great; you’ll be a blessing to all the families of earth. And those who bless you, I will bless, while those who curse you, I will curse. Abram was 75 when he left Haran, with his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all their possessions. They came to Canaan, and paused at Schechem, where Abram built an altar, and YWHW told him, ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’

When Abram was 99 years old, YHWH appeared to him and spoke God’s name El Shaddai, and told him: ‘Walk before Me and be blameless. I will covenant with you and make you the ancestor of many nations. Your name will be Abraham, [Father of a multitude]. I will make you very fruitful, and my covenant with you and your descendants will be everlasting. Canaan will be your heritage forever, and I will be your God. You will evidence My covenant by male circumcision on the eighth day of life—my covenant will be cut into your flesh, and the uncircumcised, as covenant-breakers, will be separated from My people.’

Paul: ‘You received the Messiah Jesus as Lord; so now live in Him: rooted, growing, and established in faith, abounding in thanksgiving. Let no empty philosophy or lie prey on you—human traditions, elemental spirits, anything not in line with the Messiah. In Him dwells the whole fullness of Deity! And you have come to fullness of life in Him, the Head of all rule and authority. In Him you have been circumcised—not physically, but spiritually! In baptism, you have joined in Christ’s death and resurrection, raised by faith in God’s working. You were dead in trespass and sin, and God has taken away your sins and your death; He has acquitted you of all charges and penalties, nailing them to Jesus’ cross. God disarmed the principalities and powers and made public mockery of them, triumphing over them through the work of Jesus.

Faith is assurance of things hoped, conviction of things not yet seen. This is the way to fellowship with God—the human pioneers of our faith evidenced it, as scriptures attest: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and those who seek Him in faith, He rewards with His presence and blessing—with God’s Self!

Jesus told His hearers: ‘I Am the Bread of life; whoever comes to Me in faith will never hunger or thirst. These are sent by my Father; I have come from heaven to do God’s will: that I should preserve everyone He gives Me and raise them to eternal life at the last day. Every one who sees the Son and believes in Him has this unbreakable heritage! Everyone who learns from God comes to Me. Your Hebrew ancestors ate manna in the wilderness—but each of them eventually died. I Am the Bread of heaven, that one may eat of Me and live forever; the bread I give is My own flesh….If you ask God anything in My name, He will give it, and your joy will be full. I came from God, I Am doing what He sent Me to do, and I will return to Him. In this world, you have trouble; but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world!’