And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Read: Ezekiel 24:1-26:21, Hebrews 11:1-16, Psalm 110:1-7, Proverbs 27:14
Relate: This morning I ironed my shirt. I made myself a cup of coffee. I noticed that I was a bit late and that was because my alarm didn’t go off. My phone battery had died last night and so as I started my day, I started recharging it. I had some cereal to go with that coffee and that required some of the milk I am keeping cool in my fridge. I am thinking here, but I’m pretty sure that those are the only things I did this morning that required electricity.
Now I can look in the mirror and see a nice, wrinkle free shirt. I am so glad I have that power cord. Without it, my shirt would be practically unwearable. That cord also keeps my milk cool and my coffee hot. I am lucky to have such a strong cord. Lukewarm coffee and sour milk… that would have made for a rough morning. Of course, if I had that power cord last night I would not have been running nearly thirty minutes late this morning. Fortunately, I had no early morning responsibilities, and fortunately, that great cord allowed me to quickly once again have that phone which I need in so many ways for so many things.
React: Sounds foolish, doesn’t it? The power cord is not the reason I have a nice shirt this morning. It is merely a conduit that connects the source (God) with the tool (us). It is a necessary conduit, but no matter how powerful or effective it is, the cord is useless if it is not plugged into the right source. The way some people talk about faith is nothing short of idolatrous. Yes, faith is necessary to please God, but is our faith in God, or is our faith in our faith?
Lately, I have seen people turning the gospel into a similar type of idol. If faith is a power cord, the gospel is a book. It is a story, but without an Author (God) and a reader (us), that book is useless. I hear people saying “the gospel does this” or “the gospel is that”. Apparently, the gospel has taken over the role that the Holy Spirit once held. This is idolatry. Faith is only useful for what it connects us to. The gospel is only effective for what it reveals. Without God, our Author and our Source, they are useless. Without our responsive reading of that gospel and our proper application of that faith, they are useless. Let us not focus on these good and necessary tools but rather on the great and good God who uses them to connect us with Himself.
Respond:
Dear God,
I am so thankful that You have given me access through a tool like faith to be able to believe that You are and that You will reveal Yourself to those who seek You. I am thankful for a gospel story that teaches me what You have done for me and how I can best respond. Please don’t let me make idols out of those good and necessary tools. My faith is not in my faith. It is in You.
Amen
THE RIVER WALK 
Faith in faith, is,so much different
than faith in God. So well put, that we need to know that the conduits to the Lord, are only important for the connection to His majesty!, Our Lord!
Anything else is worthless ,as compared to knowing the Lord!
I appreciate your blog and am grateful that God speaks through you.
Good questions and observations! Personally, at an older age I am realizing how important it is for us to recognize and be close to God’s Holy Spirit….which many of our church families don’t talk about too much or so it seems.
Awesome to wake up to these powerful words.
Wonderfully written. The more I read Gods word the more deeply I fall in love with Him.
It’s a human temptation to try to bend back our trust in God or dependence on God to ourselves or something we do or think we have. It feels too helpless to just have nothing but God, no righteousness, no works, no effort of our own that we can rely on. Even our faith is only a gift we receive by God’s grace.
Thanks, Beejai! I’m always praying for your safety and appreciate God’s care of you.
Brilliant! Thank you so much. God’s Word is alive & has the power to change hearts and lives…but because it is plugged into God’s Holy Spirit. I had never thought of that before.
Thank you
Reblogged this on ChristianBlessings and commented:
Thank You Lord for reconciling us with You. Thank You Jesus for the price You paid on out behalf.
May His Grace be sufficient for us all. Amen! Thanks for this post
John 5:39 Jesus says,” You study the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but these testify about me,”
Amen and thank you.
I admire your fervor. I do have a question, though.
Aren’t any of our human cultural Gods the product of written claims by imperfect humans?
I admit, I do not question any of the cultural Gods because I first question the writers who claim their existence to be real. The books precede the deities they reveal…
Am I unreasonable? If so, why?
what exactly do you mean by human cultural gods? Are you saying this to somehow differentiate between the concepts of God found in organized religions and the reality of who God is beyond our ability to know and express? I can’t really answer your question without knowing the foundations of your premise.
I mean to differentiate between the idea of a godlike intelligence that may or may not be out there (I have no way of knowing for lack of evidence), and all the gods of our human culture, written by men in books that claim such divinities as being real (like the gods of the Bible, Quran, etc…)
Does that make sense?
Beautiful! This is an awesome reminder to put my trust in God only.
how i needed this today, God bless you
Very Impressive and nicely written..!
So true. There is only Faith in God or Faith in Nothing.
Good thoughts 👍
WELL DONE
Very true, the bible is of no use if we do not read and apply it. Even the scriptures tell us “faith without works are dead”, James 2:26. The bible also tells us , “if he will draw close to God, he will draw close to you” , James 4:8. Works and draw are action words. We can’t just talk about our faith we have to exercise our faith.
Thanks for your passion and commitment to the gospel. I appreciate your evangelical zeal. Keep spreading the Word for His kingdom and glory. Amen!
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it’s a gentle nudge to focus on what’s THE most important.
Such a great reminder that God is our source! Thanks for sharing!
Then we need to seek first his dearly kingdom first so as not to love anything greater than his.
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We sometimes may feel tempted to simply please God, by our earnest prayer, by praying again and again like trying to convince God to give us what we want, but the simple fact and truth remain, that we can not please God, without faith, even small faith like a mustard seed…
I think prayer is something private between the person and God.