What Do You Put Your Faith In? Part 2

That is a very important question. It is a question that you should answer while you are in the right state of mind. I make this suggestion: Never put your faith in something or someone that does not have the power of life and death. Never make your foundation for life that which is made by man. Remember, you are a spiritual being, having an earthly experience. In essence, you are a spirit living in a body made of dirt (earth), with a soul (mind, will and emotion). There are things in life we cannot control. There are some people who are obsessed with control. They have to micromanage every aspect of life, not only for themselves, but also for everyone around them. They feel no one can do it just like them, and they are correct. Someone may do it better! We all have known someone like that at some point in our lives. Most of us have witnessed or experienced the devastating effect that a domineering personality can have on the lives of others. Ultimately, none of us can control what anyone else does. Not even the Lord God. Why? God gave mankind free will. The Children of Israel were so rebellious and disobedient that the lord God didn't allow any of the original who left Egypt to cross over to the land of promise.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Out of all that God showed and did for them, they still failed to have His Word to be the foundation of their lives. So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
The ambassador Paul stated it this way: Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, 'they shall not enter My rest.’”
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Paul made it very clear that is was their unbelief (lack of faith in God's Word).
We can teach them our values, make known our wishes and thoughts, and even "lay down the law", but in the end, they make their own choices (free will) and bear the responsibility for those choices. Maybe your spouse has decided to leave you. You beg, bargain, cry, cajole, and even pray all night and day; but if he or she is determined to leave, there is nothing you can do. Perhaps a sibling or son or daughter is abusing drugs. You can rant, rave, preach and pester, but you really have little control over those choices that they make. The bottom line is this: Place your trust in the unseen; that which has everlasting and eternal power. So, put your faith where it belongs, in the Word of the Creator and our Source.
Remember what Jesus stated: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Psalm 95:7-11 Numbers 14:1-4 Hebrews 3:7-19 Matthew 5:17-20
~~W.R. Luchie
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, when your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, and said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, and they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Out of all that God showed and did for them, they still failed to have His Word to be the foundation of their lives. So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.”
The ambassador Paul stated it this way: Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, 'they shall not enter My rest.’”
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Paul made it very clear that is was their unbelief (lack of faith in God's Word).
We can teach them our values, make known our wishes and thoughts, and even "lay down the law", but in the end, they make their own choices (free will) and bear the responsibility for those choices. Maybe your spouse has decided to leave you. You beg, bargain, cry, cajole, and even pray all night and day; but if he or she is determined to leave, there is nothing you can do. Perhaps a sibling or son or daughter is abusing drugs. You can rant, rave, preach and pester, but you really have little control over those choices that they make. The bottom line is this: Place your trust in the unseen; that which has everlasting and eternal power. So, put your faith where it belongs, in the Word of the Creator and our Source.
Remember what Jesus stated: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Psalm 95:7-11 Numbers 14:1-4 Hebrews 3:7-19 Matthew 5:17-20
~~W.R. Luchie