Bible, and what we see when we read the Bible. Without love, we see hopelessness. We lose sight of the promises and respond withjudgment. In the absence of love, we often move in anger, calling it righteous indignation. Yes, judgments are found in the Bible, but love looks for answers and solutions from our loving Father, who is more committed to our well-being than we are. Those who are not in love see only the requirements God has given and not His willingness to unleash heaven’s power on earth, gracing us into victory. Such enablement is His gift to all who receive Him.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for giving us Your Word, the Holy Scriptures. You continually give me life from what I read. Thank You for that. Please help me to read everything through the life of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit as my guide. I never want my desire for correctness to be greater than my love for You and for people. In fact, let my passion for truth come only as an expression of my love for You. I know these things are possible only through Your grace. Thank You in advance for enabling me to put love first.
Confession
By the grace of God freely given to me, I will display my love for God and His Word by my practical love for people. Even in my pursuit of truth, I will illustrate the heart of Jesus for others by caring for those who differ from me. And all these things I will do that God may be glorified.
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Faith
You have authority over any storm you can sleep in.
J esus set the standard for how we face life-threatening storms effectively—in rest. The storm mentioned in Mark 4:36–41 brought great fear to the disciples. They probably thought they were going to die. What made the moment even more confusing was that Jesus did not seem to care; instead, He chose to sleep in the stern of the boat on a cushion. When they finally woke Him, they asked Him why He did not care that they were perishing. He got up and rebuked the wind, and released peace over the sea. He then asked them why they had no faith. This moment illustrates how the Kingdom works, how faith works: It works from rest.
I have seen countless times when believers were tormented by great fear in a horrible situation and rebuked the devil accordingly. It usually involved yelling, tears and threats. But I have honestly never seen the devil yield to such tactics. Not that raising our voices is wrong. There is just a great difference between the loud voice of faith and the loud voice of fear. And believe me, the devil knows the difference. The voice of faith repelshim, while the voice of fear attracts him. The words spoken make little difference.
This place of rest can also be called abiding in Christ. Jesus taught of this in His story about the vine and the branches. In the same way that a branch is connected to the vine, so we are to be connected to Christ. Abiding in Christ must become practical again. Abiding means basically that we live with a profound connection to the heart, mind and presence of God, with His promises. Living conscious of God’s heart for us keeps us in a place of peace. And peace is more than the absence of something like war, noise or conflict. Our peace is the presence of Someone. It is the actual atmosphere of heaven.
When we begin to live out of fear, we must return to wherever we left our peace. Losing our peace usually involves making a mental agreement with a lie until our emotions become captive to that lie. The fiery darts of the enemy get past our shields of faith and penetrate our souls. The agreements made in those moments work against God’s purposes for our lives. Repentance is in order. Repentance is the deep sorrow for sin that provokes a change in thinking. It is not complete until our thought lives are affected. It is not complete until we see that His promises and purposes are within reach.
The easiest approach to this challenge in life is to maintain peace in the first place. Cultivate a supreme value for the presence of God
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