Give Your All For God

There are times in our life when we feel under extreme pressures. Do you ever feel so? Sometimes there are stressors, tasks, and responsibilities in life that we feel we can't get rid of, we are overburdened with them, and there is less or no time left to prepare for service to God.

One pastor, after a hectic week full of sermons and invitations, did not have sufficient time even to prepare notes for his sermons itself. On the next Sunday morning as he walked to his pulpit, he didn’t have enough notes in his hand. He felt guilty. He felt like the Lord asking him, “Is this the best you have done for me?” He replied honestly, “Yes Lord, this is what is my best”. He told a friend later that Jesus took that ill-prepared piece of work in His hands “it became a trumpet” to his congregation.

Same was St. Paul’s motivation to the Thessalonians: “give your all for God”-- 1 Thessalonians 5:14-22. They were to exhort, warn, comfort, rejoice, pray, and express their gratitude to God—among other things.

We too should always do our best in our life and service. But when pressure times come and we really don’t have the time we feel we need, we should do the best we can and then prayerfully trust God’s faithfulness. 1 Thessalonians 5: 24. We feel guilty, but God knows what exactly is in our heart.

Give of your best to the master;

Naught else is worthy His love;

He gave Himself for your ransom,

Gave up His glory above:

Laid down His life without murmur.

Faith - What Bible Says

Faith

To understand better for my previous post, the following is a thorough understanding of 'faith'.

Faith is in general the persuasion of the mind that a certain statement is true (Phillipians 1:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). Its primary idea is trust. A thing is true, and therefore worthy of trust. It admits of many degrees up to full assurance of faith, in accordance with the evidence on which it rests.

Faith is the result of teaching (Romans 10:14-17). Knowledge is an essential element in all faith, and is sometimes spoken of as an equivalent to faith (John 10:38; 1 John 2:3). Yet the two are distinguished in this respect, that faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will, in addition to the act of the understanding. Assent to the truth is of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.

Historical faith is the apprehension of, and assent to, certain statements which are regarded as mere facts of history.

Temporary faith is that state of mind which is awakened in men (e.g., Felix) by the exhibition of the truth and by the influence of religious sympathy, or by what is sometimes styled the common operation of the Holy Spirit.

Saving faith is so called because it has eternal life inseparably connected with it. It cannot be better defined than in the words of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism:

“Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.”

The object of saving faith is the whole revealed Word of God. Faith accepts and believes it as the very truth most sure. But the special act of faith which unites to Christ has as its object the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 7:38; Acts 16:31). This is the specific act of faith by which a sinner is justified before God (Rom. 3:22, 25; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9; John 3:16-36; Acts 10:43; 16:31). In this act of faith the believer appropriates and rests on Christ alone as mediator in all his offices.

Faith is necessary to our salvation (Mark 16:16), not because there is any merit in it, but simply because it is the sinner's taking the place assigned him by God, his falling in with what God is doing.

Further Reading:

John 14:19; Romans 6:4-10; Ephesians 4:15-16.

“peace with God” Romans 5:1

Sanctification Acts 26:18; Galatians. 5:6; Acts 15:9.

All who thus believe in Christ will certainly be saved John 6:37, 40; 10:27, 28; Rom. 8:1.

The faith=the gospel Acts 6:7; Romans 1:5; Galatians 1:23; 1 Timothy 3:9; Jude 1:3.

Extracted from http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/faith.html?zoom_highlight=faith

The Fruit of Faith

Perhaps, the next few sentences may change your concept of faith, so read with trust.

“Mountains of faith rise from the valley of failures”.

Why faith is so hard for people of these days? Why was it so emphasized in Matthew 17:20 going up to this extent: “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, 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”.

The Bible says keeping faith is not that simple.  People living ordinary life can do big or small things if they make their minds to do and even get success, but do we just think of these examples listed in Hebrews 11?  That was not possible without faith (remember, faith can move mountains..?)

By faith, Noah built a giant ship for the salvation of his family and as God had commanded him.

By faith, Moses conquered a huge empire and liberated his people of Israel.  It has been observed that the word faith is more elaborated in the Bible.  The reading of the scripture in Hebrew 11 gives its significance in the true sense that outweighs our understanding of faith.

Faith is the subject of Hebrew 11.  Well, what is faith? You may not get the answer through this post, but be sure that you may touch the tip of it if you really try to understand it.  The answer to this question is in the examples of the true lives, the lives that were lived, the lives that had faith, Abraham, Abel, Noah… We can not put the answer in such simple words, but we can get the answer once we live in faith and doing the impossible.

The dictionary says “strong belief esp. with logical proof”.  How would the rational word ‘keep faith’ (with logical proof) to the words of our Lord? That is why the Bible says it is not that simple.  Faith is the result of teaching Romans 10 : 14-17.

Well, you will say these things are not possible today. What I tell you, we can learn to trust. Learn to trust not to oneself fully but to the creator, and see what big things happen in our life. It is possible (remember the bible says), to move the mountains even today.

How do we learn to trust? Follow the simple steps:

1. Grasp the smallest opportunities where God asks you to have a little faith that may or may not be against our own nature to do. Read the Scripture: Philippians 2 : 12-13.

2. Do one small thing in a day that urges you to believe the Lord.  What? How? – Tell at least one person what you learnt today about keeping faith to the Lord. Tomorrow, ask the Lord in Prayer for what He wants you to do and see what happens. This is not pretty easy for a nonbeliever, but just for the sake of doing, do and see the results.

3. In times of disappointment and despair, learn to make a very small prayer and a very small faith, “Lord, relieve me from this stressor. Do this, Lord, because I trust You.” See the results.

Trust and Testify.