Work produced by faith – I

Part 1

Thessalonians 1: 3-10 – “³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴ For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you, ⁵ because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. ⁶ You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. ⁷ And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. ⁸ The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, ⁹ for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”

Today, during a time of worship, I realized how much I have grown. Usually I sing those victory songs and I envision handing my battles to the Lord and his promise of overcoming. Today, I am still surrounded by some big issues, yet I could not name a single one during worship – I was overwhelmed with love and the knowledge of God’s love for me. Those promised victories are NOT because God is a fighting God. No. God is a loving God who sometimes has to fight for me because he loves me. This is an important moment in my relationship with Christ! This should be remembered.

So, back to studying grace, which leads to faith, and leads to obedience, and leads to today’s passage: work produced by faith. I look at the whole passage and never an isolated verse to be sure I am not taking it out of context. I read my verses and passages first really thinking about them. I pray that God would speak to me through it, since it is his word. And today I had a handful of verses to review and here I am just reading and rereading this passage, not just the verse. There is so much in this – good things that should be thought on deeply. Let me read it again with some thoughts:

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith,” Dear God and Father, I pray, someday I too will be remembered for my faith, love and hope. Thank you for my faith producing the work of me digging in deeper into the word to learn faith. As I wrote all these things in my journal, thank you for the prompting to just type it here instead. Thank you Lord, for growing me!

“your labor prompted by love,” Prompted? I think back to the beginning – Heavenly Father, you first loved me (1 John 4:19) and it prompted me to come to you. Thank you for such love. Then when I arrived and did not see my loved ones beside me and it was love that prompted me to intercede on their behalf. And now I write my Bible studies and prayers out on a public forum because you told me to be obedient just in case someone you also love stumbles upon this is you want to use it to show your love and grace to another. All so prompted and rooted in love!

Your word says to “Do everything in love.” (1 Corinthians 16:14 NIV) I think it’s because love prompts us to labor and be obedient to the will of God that we can do everything in love!

“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” 1 John 4:16
I read and reread that verse. God’s love is a lot to wrap my head around – but I am trying.

Love is a work produced by faith (among many more).

Thank you for reading. I pray by grace through faith you and I both become Godly love:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8 NIV

Grace and Obedience to Faith

“It is through Him that we have received grace and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake” Romans 1:5 (AMP)

Its by grace I made it this far and by grace I will make it through – it is by faith and belief in the word of God that I am assured of the effectiveness of my prayers and help from the lord – I have found myself in impossible situations and in need of a mighty God to intervene, and as I wrote yesterday: faith is the power to get these impossible things done. However, as I read on faith I see it is much more than an active belief, as described yesterday.

James 2:14 -19 “¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶ If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? ¹⁷ In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. ¹⁹ You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”
James uses some pretty strong words here – but faith in action is what’s being described here; the action of living like Christ. Its not about works or good deed to get a reward – it is about when I believe in Christ Jesus, I should begin to act like him. Basically it means I can measure my faith by measuring my obedience. It means if I am not obedient to God’s will and ways then I have no faith, and if I have no faith how will I pray these big things happen in my life when we have already discussed that it takes faith!!

“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” Mark 9:23
All things!!! It is all things that I am asking in obedient faith – things I pull straight from the scriptures. Is God going to just hand me a million dollar? Probably not. But God’s word says he wants to bless me and meet my needs, so God can and will fix my finances. My issues at work? God can and will intercede. And the salvation of my loved ones (and the growth in their walks with the lord)? Yes! Yes! Because I am praying scriptures, which is the word of God, and God is not a man that he should lie, all these things are possible with obedient faith!!

“To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power” 2 Thessalonians 1:11 (NAS)
So faith without works is dead and faith with works is power!
“Faith with power” – now that’s what I am looking for. The power to say to the mountain be moved!! And the power to say to my situation at work be moved! And the power to say to my relationship issues be moved! And the chains of bondage on my friends be moved! And my financial issues, be moved!!
This is my calling: to pray and have these conversations with God. He may have other plans in the future, but right now, this is it. And to be worthy of my calling means active obedient faith.
He is faithful to me. The least I can do is be faithful in return – because yes, faith in action is faithfulness.

Titus 3:5-7 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
Just reminding myself it it not my good works that grants my salvation nor grants answers to prayers, but the obedience of my faith that does and my good works are just a byproduct produced by having measurable faith.

Interestingly enough, the book of Romans begins with faith described in relation to obedience and the book also ends with it:
“Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith” Romans 16:25 & 26

I too should end with it. Thanks you for reading. May God bless you with grace, peace and works of faith with power, by the obedience that comes from faith. ~amen

Grace through faith

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” – Ephesians 2:8
“through faith” – What is faith? Why faith? Where? When? I see this faith thing sprinkled throughout the grace thing. I need this faith thing too! So I ask my best friend about it since he wrote the book. The bible is his words, so if I want to hear God talk, then I read the word. I have learned that getting into the word of God while praying gives me the other side of my conversation with him. And there is a direct correlation between the word and faith:
Romans 10:17 NKJV “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

I suppose more faith is good, because in Matthew 17:20 faith makes all things possible. While grace is given to support and help me through, it is faith that will get things done!
“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20 NIV

So what is faith? And how do I get this mustard seed amount? Did you read my last few posts? I need some impossible things done in my life!

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 NIV
It is my confidence in the power of God, through Christ Jesus, to keep his word, to fulfill his promises, and hear (and answer) my prayers. In some deep reflection, do I really believe all this stuff? When push comes to shove (and it has in my life) Yes! Yes, I do really believe it. And how do I believe it? Because I am experiencing it. I hope you as a reader, begin to see my experience. I find it hard to really put the depth of it into words.

So, how did I develop this confidence?

I observed that the mighty God did certain things in the past and the Bible says he is the “same yesterday and today and forever”. So if he did it before he can do it again. I also found scripture verses that speak into my many problems and pray them. If God’s word says it, then my prayers will be answered with a great big – it is done!

There was a death in the family – Is there even a promise in the Bible that can fix this?  Jesus brought Lazareth back from the dead, but I knew he was not going to bring back my loved one.  Where is my promise? Where is my amen? And where is my faith in my God being good?
I looked up “Mourning” in the Bible and most frequently the word is used to be grieved by our sins and wrong doing – loss of a loved one is different.
In John 11 verse 35 – I can see exactly how Jesus handles death, grief, and morning: “Jesus wept.”
When I cry because of a loss, God (Jesus and the Holy Spirit being one) cry with me. Jesus cried even though he knew and already foretold that he was going to raise Lazareth from the dead! His compassion for my pain is just that great that he literally shares in it with tears.

My bad work situation, character assassination
“This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15
This isn’t mine to fight; I need to stay positive and keep my nose to the grindstone and do good work – God will take care of it.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 
God is working things out for my good – it may take some time, he is battling a spiritual war as well as arguing with people who exercise their free will to stand in his way.  But his plan will prevail – he will find a way to work it out for my good, because it says so.
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31
This verse is only great when my eyes of understanding were open and I understood His calling (or role in my life), His riches of the glory, and
“what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.” Ephesians 1:19
Thank you Lord for being a mighty God – I do not want to follow a weak god who isn’t able – I need a real God, a living God, A MIGHTY GOD!!!

Financial instability
“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phillippians 4:19
My employer does not provide for me (I have had multiple in my life and they are not stable), I don’t provide for me (I excel at doing good work and arriving at work daily – but I stink at negotiating my salary and raises and I am so terribly underpaid for my work), and being single there is no one else who provides for me, except God!  And I thank him for all of it.

My broken relationship
This is a tricky one to explain and probably needs a blog of its own.  God provided me with so many verses specific to my broken heart and my lost love. But let me tell you were I began:
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
And as for my ex, I pray Ephesians 3:18-19 –
“¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
And then, God will have to do the rest.

The rest of my trials
Psalm 34:4-8 NIV “⁴ I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. ⁵ Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. ⁶ This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷ The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. ⁸ Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

So my faith can grow with ease knowing the my mighty God and friend is working things in my life according to his word, which is written and shows these things have been done before and can be done again. He is faithful to me so I have faith in him. Some day I will make a post showing his providence and mercy – the blessings – the answers to these prayers so that you and I can rejoice together.

If you feel like praying for me please pray:
That God will continue to comfort me while I grieve the loss of a loved one.
That my reputation shall be a testimony of God’s grace.
That my work shall be a blessing and my finances be blessed so I can use it to bless others and further God’s works.
That God will move in and through my ex, that the chains of bondage to sins and the plans of the enemy of God shall be broken, and that he be drawn back to God and restored to a relationship with Christ.
At some point maybe I can figure out how to add a ticker-box to this and keep a going list of prayers and show the ones answered.

Thank you for reading, new friends. Go in faith, grace and peace.
Romans 1:7 “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ“

For it is by grace…

Acts 15:11 “…we believe it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as we are.”

I have a lot going on. Last year was horrible and I am still dealing with the fallout. I don’t even know where to begin:

• There was a death in the family
• My employer began threatening me and attacking me even though I have exemplary work performance and attendance, for no apparent reason and using blatant lies (both financial insecurity and my integrity and the essence of who I am professionally at risk)
• Through emergent car repairs, extra doctor visits and big health issues, and emergent home repairs, my finances found themselves spread too thin to make ends meet
• My romantic relationship, lover and partner of 3 years left
• My adult child fell on difficult times and needed to move home and needed help being supported
• Every side of me felt like it was crumbling around me – and much of it was

I know people who have gone through one or two of those things at a time, and lost their minds under the weight of it. All of it at once and non-stop for a year now, its a struggle.

I tried all the remedies the world had to offer. I exhausted myself more. Then grace – through grace – by grace – and if not for grace…

God reached into that tornado and freely gave me the grace to take a breath, the grace to rest, the grace to see a hope and a promise of remedy, the grace to understand God loves me and I wasn’t alone going through it. Just as I was, a sinner and a mess, God’s grace saved me from these on going issues (one battle at a time) and saved me from myself – and saved me from eternal damnation.

• Grace to take a breath:
  • Acts 17:25 “as if He needed anything. Rather, He himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”
    “He” in this verse is Christ Jesus, who gives EVERYONE (me and you – both of our loved ones who we pray for – literally EVERYONE) “life and breath”!
• Grace to rest:
  • Psalm 37:7 “Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.”
  • Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
• Grace to see hope and promise of remedy:
  • Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
• Grace to understand God’s love for me:
  • Ephesians 1:18 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints”
  • John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish”
• Grace – God is with me:
  • Psalm 23 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” – Ephesians 2:8
Not. Of. Myself. – – Yes, I tried to do it myself. I tried and was defeated, depleted, and almost destroyed. Grace is a gift of God given out of mercy and love. God loved me so much He gave me the grace. See why he is my best friend?

2 Peter 1:2 “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”

May God bless you with the knowledge of God and of Jesus my Lord, that you too may have grace and peace, abundantly ~amen

Thank you for reading – be blessed.

Introduction

Hi there. Thanks for reading. I have a story to tell. It is the story of me, and my relationship with my best friend, who is awesome. It includes my hopes for my loved ones, family and friends.

I have knowledge and lessons to share. I have Biblical wisdom and practical applications. I have learned many of life’s big lessons flat on my face and maybe I can help you avoid them.

God is: Elohim (Isa.40:1), El Shaddai (Prov. 3:27), Jehovah-Jireh (Gen. 22:14), my redeemer (Isa. 41:14), my way, my truth, my life (John 14:6), and my beginning and my end (Rev. 22:13). The bible says it, I believe it – its good enough for me.

If you read these posts and want to develop your own relationship with God through Christ Jesus, it is easy to do. He wants to have a relationship with you. At the end of this post is a prayer, you can pray.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10 NIV

Here is a prayer for you to pray:
Jesus,
I believe you are who you said you are: the way, the truth, the life, and the only way to the Father. I believe you are the son of God, you came to Earth and lived. That you died on the cross as a sacrifice for my sins, and rose again so that I may be saved from my sins and and be able to get to know you. I declare: Jesus, you are Lord!
Therefore, I confess that I am a sinner and I ask that you forgive me of my sins and come into my life. Help me to turn away from my sins and transform me into what you have lovingly created me to be.
Please walk with me, and talk with me – I accept a relationship with you and with our Father God, through you. Please reveal yourself and your ways to me and in my life.
In the name of Jesus I pray ~ Amen

I pray you find a good church near you and let them help you grow after you decide to follow Him. I hope you are blessed. Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day.