Good morning all! Father, we pray that no matter what we face in life, we will stand strong in our faith. A faith that will not be moved by problems or hurt, faith that will not be moved by the need to justify our place in your kingdom, faith that will not be moved by the desire for something less than You. Let us stand with You in peace, let us stand secure in Your love and let us stand firm in Your faith, Amen. That act of standing or to forbear actually requires great strength, and it’s often not easy to do for long. What does God have to say regarding the matter, will you stand?
Romans 5
Rom 5:1 KJV – Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
The only thing in this life that will justify us with God is faith, and therefore we are at peace with God because of Jesus Christ…the savior of the world.
Rom 5:2 KJV – By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Christ alone gives us access into God’s grace that so we can STAND by faith, and shout in hope of the beautiful work of God.
Rom 5:3 KJV – And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
And not only when we think things are good, but we should shout just the same shout when we go through difficult circumstances, we’re not ignorant we know trials teach us to be patient;
Rom 5:4 KJV – And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
And patience, develops character in us; and our character will place our hope in God:
Rom 5:5 KJV – And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
And this hope will not disappoint; because it leads to a changed heart that truly knows the love of God by the spirit that God has given us in our heart.
Bottom Line
The act of standing in the life of a Christian isn’t passive nor does it mean we stand by idle doing nothing for God.
Pro 19:15 KJV – Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger. You know why laziness will you cast you in a deep sleep and doing nothing but leave you hungry…translation lost and un-satisfied?
Amo 5:4 KJV – For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: Can you be lazy and find God? According to scripture…NO…SEEK Him and live, the opposite is lazy and idle which equals death. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, if you STAND for nothing you fall for everything. This is such a powerful message to the church here, it starts with letting us know our relationship with God is just and right because of faith and nothing more. If you ain’t right with God you won’t be right with anyone around you, it’s ALWAYS God first or nothing will ever be in the proper order, right? He says it right after that, you and God are at peace…NO conflict…NO controversy…NO separation…translation…You and God have a perfect relationship. That’s an important truth to hold onto today, without it we become idle and hungry. Once we find our relationship with God we can stand firm in faith, it means nothing moves or motivates my life except faith and the word of God. And when tribulation comes…difficult times in life, will we stand in faith or will we move from that position? Again, according to scripture you will know my relationship with God has priority based on my stand in good or bad times, I mean when life is good you know I’m a Christian but how about when tough stuff comes along? Do you stand on faith?
Phl 1:27 KJV -… I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; I can’t think of anything worse than believing we’re separated from God, you? So, it would make total sense then that God would expect US To be ONE spirit…I mean there’s only ONE spirit of Christ with ONE mind…we all believe this and STRIVE to be together for faith. Do we strive to be TOGETHER? Or are we quick to let go of one another or God forbid reject one another? When you and I stand in faith, we strive to stay together, especially through the tough times. You want to know the secret to be able to strive together? It’s called forgiveness…you may have to strive to forgive, you want to know how you can tell if you were successful in your attempt? You’re still TOGETHER…standing firm in faith and not taking the bait and getting caught in the trap.
Amo 3:5 NIV – Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? The bird that swoops DOWN is a thought life not based on faith, His word and we go down and not up, you know what happens when you go down? FRAZIER goes down…you just got knocked out by letting your thoughts get the best of you and you’re stuck in this trap called pride. You know it’s true, what keeps us from forgiving one another? Having faith or having pride? You do you know you can’t have both, right? You can only stand on one! You know where faith stands?
Heb 4:14 NIV – Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. What do you know? It’s in heaven, you don’t honestly think you’re gonna get caught in a trap up there? And look, confirmation of His word again…hold FIRMLY to the faith that you say you have. You got faith? Then you’ll know where I stand based on my relationship with God and man, I will stand firm in faith and strive to do all I can to keep them TOGETHER, Amen.
Point to Ponder
Do we know there are NO traps in heaven? Rev 19:17 KJV – And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; Hmm…so if the idle end up hungry and birds flying down to earth get caught in traps, makes sense that birds in heaven actually get to eat at the supper of the GREAT God…He did say you have to COME, and what else? TOGETHER!!!
Let’s all stand TOGTHER in faith, In Him Phil
Faith – Family – Friends
