My Father is The Vinedresser

John 15:1. Jesus says that His Father is the Vinedresser.

Let’s look at the second part of John 15:1

“… and My Father is the vinedresser” A vinedresser, or husbandman, is not merely a farmer. Grapes are more than an annual crop that is pulled up after harvest and forgotten. Here in New Hampshire, our growing time is not long. When my husband and I plant our garden, we know it will only be for a few short months. Come Fall, we harvest whatever has grown and we pull up the rest and put it in the burn pile. We do not have much of a chance to get to know our plants.

Not so, with grapevines.

The vinedresser’s grapevines remain with him for decades. He comes to know each one in a personal way, much like a shepherd with his sheep. In early Israel, the branches of cultivated grapes were either allowed to trail along the ground or were trained to grow over a pole. When the stems were trained along the ground the grape clusters were propped up to keep them from contacting the soil and rotting.  Vineyards were smaller and the vinedresser could know each vine. He knew how the vine was faring from year to year. He knew which ones were more productive and healthier than others. He would know what they responded to and what special care each one needed.

Much like us, each vine has its’ own personality ( so to speak) and the Vinedresser knows each one. He has been caring for each vine for years. He lovingly nurtures it, pruning off the dead areas in the correct amount and at just the right time. He fertilizes it, giving it the nutrients to grow strong and healthy. When the fruit or branch is dragging in the dirt or is low on the ground, He gently lifts the branches by propping them up and tying them. He is involved in the care and He takes measures to protect them from insects, disease

So, when Jesus calls His Father the Vinedresser, He is the only One. Again as Jesus uses the as a definite article to describe Himself in the first part of the verse in John 15:1. (See my previous blog post titles, “Jesus is The True Vine”). In sentences and speaking, we use the as a definite article when there is just one of something in that place.

As Jesus earlier described Himself as The True Vine, now Jesus is describing His Father, the Vinedresser, the Only Father, the only Vinedresser in charge of the branches. He is also describing Him to the disciples and to us in terms of His relationship to us, His attitude toward us, and His action in our life.

He cares for them (and us) personally and He is the only One wise enough to know us, to know our heart, to know our potential…to know exactly what to do to make them (and us) fruitful. God alone is responsible for the results. We cannot always see what the outcome will be. We must trust the vinedresser and His process.  

Rest assured, my fellow branches…with such a caring and intimately involved Vinedresser, as His branches, we can experience complete confidence and security.

What is Spiritual fruit?

Bearing spiritual fruit is evidence of a life-giving connection to Christ.

What is this fruit Jesus is talking about? How do we produce or bear it? Galatians 5:22 (NLT) tells us:

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…”

The works or practices that come out of us without Jesus is putrid & rotten. It is our sinful nature. It is of the flesh. Galatians 5:19-21 AMP describes the characteristics this way:

 ^“Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Notice in Galatians 5:22, it says fruit of the Spirit, not fruits. I think the fruit develops together, like a cluster of juicy, sweet grapes. They are attributes of Jesus growing within us. They are in direct contrast to the workings of our flesh, the practices of the sinful nature that still lives within our earthly bodies.

When a grapevine is ready for harvest, what are the signs that we look for??? …ripe grapes. Juicy, sweet, full of flavor

What about from a Christian truly abiding in Christ? What do we look for? We should see the temper, disposition, and lifestyle mimicking Jesus. We must love and honor God, love one another, and do good; this is bearing fruit.

When we are squeezed by day-to-day events, people, and situations…what comes out?? Sweet spiritual fruit or sour grapes reflecting our sinful flesh??

As I mentioned earlier, God wants Quality fruit, Lasting fruit, Kingdom fruit. It is only produced, like anything we plant…the seed only grows, matures, and bears fruit by meeting certain conditions.

What is needed to develop & bear fruit: what does a plant need?

• Good soil or good rootstock. God has already taken care of this part. We are attached to the Perfect and True vine …Jesus. We can bear fruit wherever we live & regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives… as long as we remain in Him.
  • Don’t break the branch. Stay connected by being wholly and fully committed to Jesus the true vine.
  • Water— John 7:37-38 “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”
  • Nourishment—John 6:48 “I am the bread of life”.
  • Light—John 8:12 “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
  • Air—The Holy Spirit flows through us and around us to aerate our lives with truth, guidance and direction. By allowing the Holy Spirit to be the breath of circulating air within us and around us. To give Him the freedom to change us, to produce Christ-like qualities within us that develop and show to the watching world, the fruit of the Spirit…and to keep it from dying or rotting on the branch.
• Pruning & supervision is Required.
• By allowing the Father, the vinedresser to lift us up or prune us as He sees fit, to understand and accept that He is in control. By knowing God that sees the whole picture and He knows & does what is best for each of His children. Weeding is required to remove unwanted foreign plants that could choke out the branch.
  • God may take someone, something, or some situation out of lives that is hindering our productivity and development of mature fruit.
  • God may allow storms and trials come into our lives to shape us. Where we get our nourishment will determine how we grow and what “fruit” we bear.
  • God has the right to adjust our position or place in life.
  • God may move us from a place of comfort and self-assurance to a place of uncertainty, so we develop a greater trust in Him.
  • God may move us away from people or things that we have developed an unhealthy reliance on.
  • God may move us next to other people to help us or help them share the load and journey.

As we sincerely abide in Jesus…as we stay connected…He offers us privileges that we would not naturally have any claim to. We have privileges that we can “Own” as part of our inheritance because of His sacrifice and His restoration of our relationship with God.

One of those privileges and a fruit that develops in us that I want to mention today so we can lay claim to is… His Peace. Jesus tells us Himself that He gives us His peace.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 NKJV

He knew we would be disheartened, persecuted, and fearful. Again, He encourages His disciples right before He goes to the cross and the promise flows to us…  that we may have peace in Him.

We will bear or produce much fruit. Grapes grow in a cluster. They may ripen at different times and speeds even though they are in the same cluster. Our fruit is developing through the Holy Spirit but it is up to us on the speed it develops and what is included in our cluster.

For example—Perhaps you have one or two characteristics that are ripe and ready to use. Maybe you have patience but your fruit is not mature in the area of kindness, love, and lack of self-control. When encountering a difficult situation or difficult person, you react from the flesh, speaking with hurtful words and unkind actions. Those are areas that the flesh still rules, areas you haven’t given over for the Holy Spirit to work with you on.

Patience is another fruit I would like to briefly mention. When we are patient, it puts us in control of ourselves. Being patient gives us time to choose how to respond to a given event or circumstance, rather than let rampant emotions take over. Often times impatience makes us react in damaging ways as we look for shortcuts and quick fixes.

The enemy of God’s children, Satan uses impatience & other practices of then flesh to derail us from achieving God’s purpose in our lives. We do not have to let him win. He does NOT have the power. WE DO! We have more POWER than he even dreams of WITHIN us! He is a defeated foe. That is why he hates us.

As we learn from Jesus and the Scriptures, and as we allow the Holy Spirit to develop Spiritual fruit, His fruit in us—we have the fruit available and we learn when to act and how to react.

What comes out when you are squeezed?

Majesty

Majesty. What do you think of when you hear that word? I think of purple mountains rising above a sea of smoky haze, the sunrise exploding with vibrant color to usher in a new day, the intricate transforming life cycle of a butterfly, and all the beauty and vastness of this universe we live in. Most of all though…my thoughts focus on our Creator God!

Genesis 1:3, says, Then God said, “Let there be light”, and there was light. God spoke the universe into existence! The Majesty of His voice, the Power in His Words created everything.

The voice of the LORD is powerful. The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. Psalm 29:4 NKJV

Wow! Doesn’t that make you sit up and take notice? We have His Majesty all around us. There are so many vibrant colors, textures, and signs of His creative genius that it makes my heart swell in awe and wonder!

I have had the spectacular privilege these past few years to witness up close the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly. It is truly majestic! They start from a tiny egg, barely the size of the head of a pin, carefully laid on the underside of a tender milkweed leaf. When disturbed milkweed oozes a sticky, milk-like substance that is toxic to most creatures. The caterpillar hatches and feeds exclusively on milkweed, initially on only the fine hairs under the leaf. Then it moves onto the actual leaf. Yet, the caterpillar instinctively knows through God’s excellent plan, how much to munch without breaking through into a vein. If it broke through, the milk would glue its’ tiny jaws shut and it would die.

The caterpillar goes through five instar stages, growing from about 1/10 of an inch to sometimes more than 2 inches as it reaches the end of this caterpillar stage. It is amazing to watch as the caterpillar hangs upside down in a “J” formation. Soon it wiggles and squirms to shed the skin one last time revealing a beautiful green chrysalis or exoskeleton.

Then all appears quiet for several days. As each day goes by, many wonderful changes are underway! We cannot see what is going on inside, but God knows and the metamorphosis continues. It may seem like all the newly forming creation can see is darkness. That may be right, but it trusts the process.
I think we can be like that. Sometimes we cannot make sense of life. It seems dark. We are truly in darkness until the Light of Jesus shines into our lives-then we too, burst forth as a new creation!

We can see the orange & black of the wings! Almost ready to burst forth!!

When black and orange are visible through the membrane of the chrysalis, a breakout is near. Upon emerging, the wings are tiny and wet.

Drying her wings

Much energy is needed to pump the wings up to full size. Like the butterfly emerging, our “wings” are small and need to be pumped. Pumped with the power and majesty of God running through our lives. As the Monarch stretches her wings, so we too must stretch our faith and trust, and as we do…we grow and fly.

This is only a tiny part of the glorious world that God has created for us! It is far from stagnant and boring. It is as Majestic as our God is!

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic and glorious and excellent is Your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1 Amp.

I hope you take a moment to witness His Majesty firsthand in the beauty and splendor all around you. It is truly breathtaking!

My new friend!

Privileges-His Peace

I am sitting on my front deck, amid an array of beautiful plants as we receive, here in NH a soft, late summer rain. I can hear the gentle tap, tap of the raindrops as they fall on my canvas umbrella. I look out at the birds flying to and from my feeders. They flutter and squawk as they all vie for a sunflower seed. Of course they scattered when I brought out my camera. But if you look closely, there is a chipmunk in the house feeder!

I am reminded of how peaceful the outdoors can be. I am at my most serene here in my garden.

That got me to thinking about being a child of the God Most High. It is not about religion. It is not about what church we belong to or go to. It is about the Creator of the universe sending His Son Jesus to take our place… to take my place and your place on that wooden cross. Jesus alone bore the burden of our sin and disobedience as He died in our place.

It is about a relationship. It is about saying, “Yes, Jesus I need You as my Savior. Yes, I believe You died for my sin. Forgive me. I repent. I believe You rose again and I will rise with You and I can rise above earthly circumstances because You are with me. You share all that is Yours with me. I have an abundant inheritance of privileges from You!

As a believer and follower of Jesus…He offers us privileges that we would not naturally have any claim to. We have privileges that we can “Own” because of His sacrifice and His restoration of our relationship with God.

One of those privileges that I want to mention today so we can lay claim to is… His Peace. Jesus tells us Himself that He gives us His peace.

“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 NKJV

He knew we would be disheartened, persecuted and fearful. Again, He encourages us that we may have peace in Him,

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV

There are many more verses that you can look up on peace when you have a few minutes. I want to close with one more.

Galatians 5:22 says that peace is a fruit of the Spirit. As we abide in Christ, we will not only have His peace to deal with tribulation but also have peace in Him as we acknowledge Him as Lord and develop a friendship with Him, but there is more…peace will be a fruit that is produced by the Holy Spirit through us.

May you find His peace today. Claim Jesus and claim His peace in your life!

Abounding

I have been mulling this word, abounding, over and over for the past month. I have scribbled a few thoughts here and there and have not gotten back to fully investigate it until today. I love that word, abounding…it is a word so full that it overflows in my mind and fills my heart with wonder.

Last year I was abounding in Monarch caterpillars! Thank You Jesus!

The dictionary says abounding means to have or possess in a great quantity; existing in or providing a great or plentiful quantity or supply, abundant. Teeming with, swarming, and thronging are some synonyms.

Abound appears 30 times in the Bible is various forms.

Few things in life are abounding until God becomes a real part of our lives. Then we begin to see that He lavishes on His children many wonderful things, starting with love and faithfulness.

Even things that seem so simple, yet are a joy. God has lavished on me many Monarch caterpillars through the years. Last year I was abounding in them, with over 120 healthy, hungry babies that grew, went through their metamorphosis and emerged as beautiful butterflies!!

Psalm 86:15 NIV says, “But You, LORD, are a compassionate and loving God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”

In an earlier blog post, I have talked about how much God loves you and I. I think He loves to make us smile! He is abounding in love and faithfulness. To abound in love is to have a great attachment to and great affection for. God is not stingy in His love for us. It abounds, it pours out onto us because God’s very nature is love.

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV

God is able. He is the One who makes His Grace abound to us. Abound so that we will have the ability in abundance to do every good work that He calls us to do. WOW!

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NKJV

Be encouraged! God is the one Who fills us—fills us to OVERFLOWING with all HIS BEST…all we have to do is say “YES! I Believe! Yes!

May you ABOUND in HOPE by the POWER of the HOLY SPIRIT.

Bear Fruit

Jesus tells us in John 15:1-2, “I am the vine and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

In verse 2, I had to take a pause. I have read that verse many times. “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit”, Jesus is saying, “the Father takes away.”

Wait! Wait a minute. If we are in Jesus, how can that happen?! My take on it is… some of those branches may “appear” to be connected to Jesus, the Vine… but are not—those branches are “dead” and will never produce fruit. Perhaps they are those who sit in a comfy pew and sing all the right “religious” songs and say all the right “churchy” things, but their hearts are far from God. (Matthew 15:8-9 and Isaiah 29:13) God, the vinedresser removes those branches, so that the “living” branches, those truly “abiding” in Jesus can accomplish their purpose.

Cucumber on the vine

Have you ever looked at a vine? Let’s look at one of my cucumbers on the vine…(Isn’t this baby cucumber so cute!) When the branches stay connected and get all their nutrients from the vine—they bear fruit, they bud, blossom into a flower, and through a maturing process—become a full sized cucumber—identical fruit to what that vine produces. They must stay connected. They cannot just show up on Sunday, grab a few sips of the Holy Spirit and expect to bear the fruit of the Spirit. It is an “all in” relationship. NOT a religion or merely an affiliation with a church.

In both the cucumber vine, and in our relationship with Jesus, we cannot just be “around” or “attached” to the concept of Jesus. That is not enough. I think it is possible for a person to claim the name of Jesus and miss Who He Is. The Great I Am!

I think it is possible for a person to go to church and associate with believers, even think they are doing all the right things, yet not have the life-giving benefits of being fully attached and fully abiding in the TRUE vine.

Many years ago, I had an ivy. I was watering it one day and as I moved it to soak the soil, one of the branches broke. Not all the way through, but almost. It was such a beautiful branch, healthy and green. I did not want to lose it. Thinking I was so smart, (bear with me) I got out my Scotch tape and taped it back together. You can probably guess what happened. For a few days, all seemed well. It was going to make it!

Nope, sad story. At the end of a week being only partially attached to the main vine, it shriveled up and died.

We can be like that. We can join a church, sit in a pew every Sunday, tithe, sing all the praise songs, shout out an amen when the message is good, and yet—be so far from Jesus. We can be attached to the church, or attached to the idea of God but not connected to the Source of life. Eventually, God the vinedresser, the One with ultimate knowledge and authority—will remove those false branches and discard them.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be discarded. How can we bear fruit?

Jesus says in John 15:6 (NKJV) “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing.”

We must “abide” in Him and He will abide in us. His life source flowing through us. Producing the fruit of the Spirit as we totally depend on the Vine for all things, all direction, all wisdom, all power to accomplish His will in our life.

Jesus was crystal clear in saying, We can do NOTHING without HIM. And in case we think “we” chose Him. He goes further in John 15:16 (NKJV). “You did not chose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

He has all the POWER, He gives us DIRECTION, He has CHOSEN us. He has APPOINTED us. The FRUIT comes from Him. Fruit that comes from Him REMAINS. It does not die on the vine but is His LIGHT to others. His LIFE BLOOD flowing through us produces FRUIT that RESEMBLES HIM! How cool is that!

We need to fully obey and abide in Him. Hold tight to the VINE. He does the rest! THANK YOU, JESUS!

You are CHOSEN, & APPOINTED to BEAR HIS FRUIT! You are EQUIPPED, now GO!

See you in the garden!

God Rejoices Over You

“The LORD, your God is in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)

The LORD is in our midst! Right in the middle of where you are, where I am. He is all around us, and He is in all things and Creator of all. If you call Him LORD (as I do and and I hope you do!) we, you and I are His children…AND He is in the middle of our lives. When we allow Him to have His rightful place as King of our lives, He is intimately involved, as a Father would be, in our lives. He is aware of everything and is carefully watching.

“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” Proverbs 15:3 (NKJV)

He first & foremost wants to save us. Salvation comes through God’s Son, Jesus Christ…His death on the cross for our sin (Romans 5:8) , AND even more important is His RESSURECTION on Easter morning! He arose from the dead and gave us the opportunity to share His inheritance and His Father in Heaven! Though we die a earthly death when our time has come, we have a forever home in Heaven! (John 14:1-6)

We are saved from God’s wrath. As His redeemed child, He looks at us with love, compassion and mercy. We are made righteous through Jesus! We are saved from eternal damnation and hell. Did you know that we are also saved from the power of sin to control us? It is true! Satan, the evil one has no power over us. We will still be attacked and tempted because we live in the world, but through the Power of the Holy Spirit living within us, we can resist, we CAN OVERCOME! (John 16:5-15)

Look at the verse again, there is so much more! God rejoices over you with gladness and singing. I can just picture Him…can you?! Gleefully rejoicing over me, rejoicing in all of the wonder of you…raising His voice and singing over you, His beloved child! Wow! I pray that you are letting that sink in. How special you are. How loved, how wanted you are!

One more thing I want you to notice in this verse…“He will quiet you with His love.”

Have you ever been so anxious or worried that your heart is racing—what is going to happen??;

So scared you can’t catch your breath—will I survive this??;

So sad or heartbroken that you can’t think straight and your mind is churning in a million directions like the swirl of a tornado—will this drown me??

Lift your head in hope my beautiful friend!

If you have children or grandchildren, think on this. Remember when they were little and they woke up scared, maybe they had a bad dream and they were unsettled, anxious. Did you go to them and just hold them close, smoothing back the hair across their forehead, whispering words of love and comfort. I bet you did! As they got older, maybe they were sick or were hurt? Older still, an issue at school, breakup, disappointment…a long list of hurts and noisy times in our lives. I am speaking as a Mom and Grammy, however I am sure this is felt by Dads and Grampa’s, as well as many other relationships & family dynamics. I had such love swell up within me for my children, my grandchildren. My pure, unselfish love for them, a love that quieted their anxious thoughts, chased away their fears and soothed their sorrows.

How much more does God do that for us! A love not like the world loves. Deeper than human love. A forever love. An all-encompassing love. A love for who you are, right where you are, especially in the middle of your mess, loved unconditionally. A wonderful, life changing love…a secure, warm, constant, sustaining, solid, eternal, comforting, able to quiet your anxious thoughts, able to give you His peace (His quiet) as you face whatever it is. That kind of love.

God quiets us with His love. when the world is tossing us, we need peace. His peace. The quietness within that let’s us know we will get through this.

JESUS tells us “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubles, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 (NKJV)

PLUS, you get God…you have Him in your midst. Oh, what a wonderful God and Savior!

To Wait Patiently

“I waited patiently for the LORD, and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth—Praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:1-3 (NKJV)

These verses make me wonder how patient am I? Have I waited patiently for the LORD? The verb wait is used in the past tense in this verse…waited patiently. Already done. Have I waited? How important is it to “have waited patiently?”

Let us explore what it means to be patient and to wait patiently.

Patience—the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset.

Wow! That is a challenge for many people on a regular basis, and for probably everyone… at least once in a while.

Patience is mentioned over 70 times in the Bible. The Bible encyclopedia describes it as, “A forbearance or endurance. It is a quality of self-restraint or of not giving way to anger, even in the face of provocation, it is attributed to both God and man and is closely related to mercy.”

Patience is the 4^th Fruit of the Spirit and is also referred to as longsuffering.

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control…” Galatians 5:22 (NLT)

As a believer in Jesus Christ as my Savior and as a follower of Him, through the Power of the Holy Spirit living within me, I can bear the trials of life. You can too.

How? It is the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit when He is alive and well within us. By allowing the Holy Spirit the freedom to produce this quality within us…by knowing that God is in control . This helps us see hope in every situation. By knowing God that sees the whole picture and He knows & does what is best for each of His children.

I like this caption that I read recently, “Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

Are you waiting for things to happen in your life? Have you been praying, and it seems that Heaven is silent? Are you waited patiently? What has been the attitude of your heart? Are you keeping a good attitude while you wait?

I must admit, at times…I have not.

When we are patient, it puts us in control of ourselves. Being patient gives us time to choose how to respond to a given event or circumstance, rather than let rampant emotions take over. Often times impatience makes us react in damaging ways as we look for shortcuts and quick fixes. The enemy of God’s children, Satan uses impatience to derail us from achieving God’s purpose in our lives.

It is beneficial to be disciplined to wait, to learn this behavior and make it part of who we are. We can be mindful of the things that make us impatient. When I feel myself getting impatient, I take a deep breath. I ponder how losing control will not help the situation and I picture how being patient will pay off.

There are many benefits of having patience. Some are that we enjoy better mental health. There is less stress on our body’s as we learn to wait. It makes us a better parent, friend and neighbor. It helps us achieve our goals and not harm others as we reach them.

Patience does not mean we are weak or passive. It is a strength and one that our Creator God tells us to practice. We remain active and continue doing what God has called us to do, while we wait.

I do not always wait patiently. I sometimes want to prod God along and make Him answer my desires in my way and in my time. This thought process has caused me nothing but sorrow. It makes me angry with God as my anxious and worrisome thoughts think He is not doing the job I think He should be doing.

As I learn from Jesus and the Scriptures, as I wait, and watch—I learn how to act and when to react. I become more compassionate. Through time in His Word and learning to patiently wait and worship Him through each trial, I have immense blessings. He inclines His head to me and hears my cry. He will hear yours too. Simple advice but so profound!

But Without Faith…

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

Many of us would agree that it takes faith to believe in God… To believe in a God we cannot physically see. We must by faith believe that HE IS.

Today I want to explore the word faith.

I counted in my NLT study Bible/concordance that faith (in) is mentioned 105 times, faithful is mentioned 45 times and faithfully/faithfulness 20 more times. Almost all of them are in the New Testament.

What is faith? What is the definition?

Some of the dictionary definitions I found on faith are: allegiance to a duty or person, sincerity of intentions, belief and trust in and loyalty to God, a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust, something that is believed, especially with strong conviction, a system of religious beliefs.

The Bible tells us that, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)

I like the NKJV of Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

“Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

So the dictionary definition, “a firm belief in something for which there is no proof” is similar to what Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Evidence of things not seen.”. We cannot see faith. But Hebrews 11:6 says I need faith to please God. To please him, I must know Him, know what pleases Him and know what He requires of me. I cannot physically see God. So how can I first believe that He Is. That God exists? Believing in Someone we cannot see takes faith. Where is my “proof?”

We have faith in God because of what the Bible says. We believe what God reveals about Himself in His Word; although we cannot see God in the flesh, there is proof…we can see His work in creation all around us, if we choose to look. Like that song says, “His fingerprints are everywhere.” His Word is proof.

Some define faith as meaning a form of spirituality. Maybe you have heard someone “spiritual” called a “person of faith.” Spiritual and faith are not necessarily the same.

Or perhaps others see faith as a guarantee that good things will happen to them, like a golden ticket to health & wealth. Example…”I have faith that God will give me ….”

Still others think it is a blind leap against known facts—to take the risk even though the outcome is unknown, they choose to do it anyway. Example, “My faith will make everything all right, no matter what I do.”

Biblical faith is not any of those. In doing research for this blog, I read a lot of different views. This is what I came up with:

Biblical faith is confident action in response to what God has made known to us in His Word and in Creation. We know that He made the universe, He told us. We do not know all the details and we were not present when it happened, but He said He created all. It is an act of faith to believe He did that.

To live by faith, I think is to obey and take confident action based on what God has said about His own character—to know He is real, that He exists, and He will accomplish His will & purposes!

Faith is woven into the fabric of our lives as believers. We know that someday all things will be made right. God again says it will happen, We may not see it on earth but in Heaven, it will be as He says. As believers we will be rewarded as we diligently seek Him. Some rewards we will see on earth, other we will have to wait until we get home. We have faith that we have trusted in the Right Person—GOD.

Diligently, (Earnestly, constantly, vigorously, committed, persistent) seek,(to search high & low for, to look for, examine, to taste, to hear). Seek Him as if your life depends on it, because it does.

Next time we will look at answering a couple questions. How do I get faith? Where does it come from?

Until next time, I encourage you to keep diligently seeking Him, He wants you to find Him!

Find me on YouTube Tami Bemis Cole

Hope

A very good friend of mine recently gave me a coffee mug with Hebrews 11:1 on the side. I love coffee mugs! I have several and almost every one has a story attached to it.

The word HOPE stands out for me. It is a favorite word of mine. A word that encourages me to hold on.

What is the definition of the word, hope?  I found this definition in an article written in 1952 called, “The Christian Hope.” “Hope is commonly used to mean a wish : its strength is the strength of the person’s desire.” 1

What do I hope for? What do you hope for? Perhaps…Calm in this chaos, healing of a marriage, healing from a disease, a reconciled relationship, for your prodigal to come home, for things to be better, to see the light at the end of the tunnel (And have it not be a freight train!)

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”                    Hebrews 11:1

Let us look a little closer at this verse. Hope is part of the picture, but faith is a bigger piece. How can you and I be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see? Faith in God and believing and accepting salvation through Jesus is our Hope. We cannot see faith. How can we be certain of what we cannot see with our human eyes?

We can read God’s Word and believe what He says. As we study His Word, the Holy Spirit opens our spiritual eyes to the truth. Truth that one day, things will be resolved. Not always on earth, but one day in Heaven.

Another thought I had on this verse was that you and I can have hope that God is with us through each tear and trial, each heartache and disappointment. Our faith in who He is gives us hope, gives us encouragement to go on. To be able to face another day, even though things aren’t all nice and tidy in our lives…we can go on. We can have the courage to not give up.

When I am nearing my limit to what I can bear, my faith reminds me that I have hope.

Let us look at another definition of hope.”In the Bible hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised and its strength is in His faithfulness.” 2                                              

I realized that I cannot have hope without faith. I am a person of hope, but really, I am a person of faith. The hope comes from knowing and having faith in Jesus as my Savior.

For me, and maybe you too, life continues to be messy, unpredictable and hard… however, it is also joyful, rewarding and oh so worth it! All because of our confident expectation of what God has promised and the proof is in His character of faithfulness.

He is who He says He is and and He will do what He says He will do.   He gives us faith and faith gives us hope. If your hope hinges on faith in God, you hope is not in vain.

Find me on YouTube.com Tami Bemis Cole

1 & 2 Reference: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ Christian Hope Chapter 1 October 1952