Faith!!!

Friday, January 2, 2015
Devotions: Ps 33, 34; Gen 12:1-7; Heb 11:1-12; Jn 6:35-51

Let the righteous rejoice in YHWH; praising Him befits the righteous--for He Is upright, faithful in all He Is and does.  Our God loves righteousness and justice; creation is full of His steadfast love.  He made all that is by His word: He spoke and it all sprang into being.  His counsel stands forever; blessed the nation whose God Is YHWH, blessed the people He has chosen as His own.  His eye is on those who fear Him aright, who hope in His steadfast love and trust His faithfulness.  So I will bless YHWH at all times; magnify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together!  God has answered me every time I called upon Him. Taste!  See that the Lord Is good.  Happy are all who take refuge in Him; those who seek YHWH lack no good thing.  Shun evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it!  YHWH is near the righteous and the brokenhearted; He delivers His own from our many afflictions.  None who take refuge in YHWH will be condemned.  Hallelu Jah!

YHWH told Abram: Go from your country, your kindred and your father's house to a land I will show you.  There, I will make a great nation of you; I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  Those who bless you, I will bless; and I will curse any who curse you.  By you all families of the earth shall bless themselves.  So Abram obeyed, as YHWH told him.  Lot his nephew and Sarai his wife went with him; at that time, Abram was 75 years old.  He took all he had, and set forth toward Canaan.  There, Abram proceeded to Shechem, to the oak of Moreh.  Canaanites lived in that place then.  YHWH appeared to Abram, saying 'To your descendants I will give this land!'  So Abram built there an altar to YHWH.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  By it men of old received God's approval.  By faith we comprehend that God created the world by His word, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.  By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, and Abel was approved as righteous when God accepted his gift; Abel died but through his faith, he speaks still!  By faith Enoch was taken up; he did not see death, because God took him.  Before he was taken, Enoch was attested as having pleased God.  And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.  By faith Noah, warned by God about things not yet visible, took heed and constructed the ark to save his household; and by this Noah condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith.  Abraham relocated by faith when called to go to an uknown location; by faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs with Abraham of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose builder and maker is God!  By faith, Sarah received power to conceive, despite her advanced age, since she considered Him Who promised to be faithful.  Therefore, from one man, old enough to be dead, were born descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven, innumerable as the grains of sand at the seashore!

Jesus told His hearers:  I AM the bread of life; those who come to Me will not hunger nor thirst.  All whom the Father gives Me will come to Me; and I will not cast them out.  I came down from heaven to do His will, not My own.  And His will is that I should lose none of those He has given Me; all I have from Him I will raise up at the last day.  My Father's will is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise all of those up at the last day.  The Jews murmured at Jesus, hearing this:  'Isn't this Jesus, Joseph's son?  We know his father and mother.  How can he say he comes down from heaven?'  But Jesus admonished them: 'Do not murmur against Me; no one can come to me unless the Father draws him; and all those I will raise up at the last day.  The prophets wrote that the holy ones would be taught by God.  Those taught by God come to Me.  And only I have seen the Father.  I tell you most solemnly: those who believe in Me have eternal life.  Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, and they all died.  I Am the living bread from heaven; whoever eats this bread, My flesh, will live forever.'