HEART OF THE MATTER

Tag: believe

  • WHERE ARE YOU?

    WHERE ARE YOU?

                   When God created the world, everything was good. Adam was given dominion over the land. He was to rule over the animals, birds of the air, and fish of the sea. God created a helper for him, and Eve was born. But they sinned by disobeying God by eating from the tree of good and evil, which they had been forbidden to eat from. Sin entered into the earth by Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience, and separation from God was created. God walked among them before sin entered. God was looking for Adam one day and asked, “Where are you?’ Physically, he could see him, and God knew that he was hiding, but spiritually, he had wandered from God because of the sinful nature that he wore. His eyes opened to his nakedness, and he sewed fig leaves together to cover his bareness, but it wasn’t enough to clothe his sin. God, having love and compassion for them, provided much better clothing for Adam and Eve. But still, he punished them for their disobedience. They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and Adam had to toil the ground to produce food, Eve had to bear painful childbirth, and the snake had to crawl on his belly for his part in the deception.

    Jesus Christ paid for our sins to bring us back into a relationship with God. He was sacrificed for our sins. We can now go before God because Christ, who was without sin (disobedience) on the cross, paid for our sins. (Colossians 2 :13-14). There is no more separation when you accept the gift of salvation for your damnation. You can walk in the freedom that Christ provides and approach the throne of God through his mercy and grace. Yayy!!!

    Many of us have wandered from God because of our sins. We have found ourselves covering up with makeup and other beliefs that don’t offer relief, but somehow, we believe it does. Many of us have sat in our hiding places while God is calling us each by name_____, “Where are you? But because we have traveled so far from him, it is harder to hear his calls. And just like Adam, physically, he knows where we are, but spiritually, we are distanced. So, we sit in our pride until we decide to come out of hiding and head home. Sin will always cause separation between us and a holy God. And because he was Holy, we can also be holy. (1st Peter 15-17). The deception is real back then, and it still is because the enemy will always make us think that we are missing something or that God is keeping something from us. And where we lack trust in God, we eat dust just like the snake (Satan) who we choose to follow. Jesus said, “I came that you may have life and life more abundantly, and the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10).

     “Adam, where are you is a call that God rings out every day to his creation, that he loves so much that he gave his only son. (John 3:16).  His heart longs for the return of the lost souls wandering in the earth. His love for people is something that I can’t fathom. I asked God, why are you mindful of man and he said because I made them in my image. To be made in someone’s image is to connect to them in a way that the human eyes cannot see. ‘How long will you wait while God is calling out to you before you respond and say, “Lord, here I am.

  • Overcoming Doubt with Faith in God’s Word

    Overcoming Doubt with Faith in God’s Word

    Believing the word of God, whether written or spoken is instrumental to our walk of faith. God’s word is what moves us forward in times of difficulty and darkness. It challenges us to become what he says and not what we see. It compels us forward in faith so that we can believe without a shadow of doubt that God’s word and his will shall prevail in all circumstances. It is the promises of God that keeps us contending to fight the good fight of faith.

    The other night, I awakened early in the morning to pray and pour my heart out to God. I asked God about my heart condition and the heart condition of others. I asked the Lord, why had I become so frustrated in the matters of my life and the Lord spoke to me, “seeds of doubt.” Seeds of doubt causes frustration, anger, discouragement, anxiety, and panic. Of course, I cried and repented for not believing what God had spoken. God is who he says he is even when we cannot trace him, we are still required to trust him. Because what we seen him do, he still can do. Doubt will take you out when the Word of the Lord is not sealed in your heart. Psalm 119:11 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I may not sin against you.” Knowing what God has spoken and keeping his word in your heart will cause what he said to manifest. Because where doubt is faith cannot operate and “faith is what pleases God”. (Hebrews 11:6).

    The enemy is after the faith of the children of God. In the Garden of Eden, Eve believed God when he said we shall not eat from the tree of good and evil. And the enemy came and presented it in a way, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” The enemy came and sowed seeds of doubt. (Genesis 3:1-4.) And because Eve believed more of what she saw instead of what God said seeds of doubt were planted. (Matthew 13:18) “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.  But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.  The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” The seed is the Word. God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers3:19) No scene changes anything that God has spoken. We must hold on to the Word of God like our life depends on it, because our life depends on it.

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