Daily Huddle - Mon Jul 20, 2020 Faith Works

Love you all, praying for you,
 
I just love God’s Word – it is absolute truth, so pure, completely right, and so simple.  So why can it be difficult sometimes?  Because the devil always twists the simple to make it hard.  "It couldn’t be that easy…" So he has you 1) Question what God says, 2) He makes you doubt God’s goodness, and 3) He twists what God says into something else, either different, or added to, or subtracted from.  One of the greatest paradigm shifts from lie to truth in human history - righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ – that’s it.  No other way.  For generations people thought, and rightfully so, that if you fulfilled the law – you would be righteous.  But Paul let us know that in God’s plan – the natural revealed the spiritual.  No one can fulfill the law, because we are sinners by nature.  When Adam sinned, we were born with it - cause we come from Adam.  You don’t need to teach a baby how to disobey their Mommy, those fits comes naturally.  So God said – Abraham was justified by faith, not works.  Just like in Christ we are justified, made righteous,  by what Jesus did, not what we did.  Why? Because we could never do enough.  One sin makes you a sinner, a stain you can’t erase.  The blood of Jesus cleanses it – washes it away, as if it never happened.  Because he had no sin, He could pay the penalty required for ours - death.   So you are made righteous by faith in Christ, not works.  What you believe, (actually who you put your belief in…) not what you do to earn it.  So where do works come in?   Faith works.  It’s not that you believe and don’t do anything… it’s that you believe, so you are made righteous (in right standing) with God, through your belief that Jesus died in your place, and then the works that you do, aren’t to justify you, that’s already done…  But to demonstrate the faith you have.  Faith works, because if you believe what God said, you will do what He says.   James made this clear – faith without works is dead, you can’t show me faith without works.  He said Abraham’s faith made him righteous before God, but it was proven by His obedience to what God told him.  You don’t work to get faith, but if you have faith you work.  Faith works.  No, not complex, simple.  Faith and obedience go together, you can’t have faith without obedience.  Obedience is different from works.  Works is doing what you think God expects – in order to earn his love, or forgiveness or favor.  But Obedience in Christ is just doing what the Holy Spirit leads you to do – for your good, and the blessing of others.  That’s where the joy comes from, and that’s the obedience that proves the faith.  So when works was the goal – that was a long list.   But when obedience is the goal – it’s the short-list.  God said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Walk in the Spirit – and you won’t do the things the flesh wants to do.  It starts with your time.  Just PiVAT today – get His plan and just do the first thing He leads you to do, and go from there.  Spend time in PRISM – in His Word – get your mind right.  Give an Account of His money – today, know where it is, so you can do what He tells you to do with it, and overcome with your testimony!  Your Daily Call is important!  It’s how you overcome! - God said, Hebrews 3:13, and Ecclesiastes 4:12  These simple things – are the work of faith.  Not the work to get faith, but the work that comes from it.  Every time you obey, your faith grows, because you’re not obeying for nothing.  It honors God, it positions you for the next good, and it’s the only way to please God - faith – that works.  He said without faith it's impossible to please God - those who believe God must believe that He exists, and rewards those who diligently seek Him - so they can obey what He says!   Praying that your faith is growing stronger today - because your obedience is growing stronger today. 
 
Love you all,
dad