One Small Seed Newsletter edition #269 – September 2023
Greetings in the name of Jesus,
Without faith it is impossible to please Him (God)- Hebrews 11:6. I have found that faith is the primary motivation in my life. Even though I’m a little forgetful I still remember the day I committed my life to God’s gracious hands. It was real and from that day in April of 1957, in Lincoln County, WV I clothed myself in the fear of the Lord. I always had a fear of authority, at least until my fear turned into respect and honor, and because of this fear and respect, I tried to obey the law. But since my ignorance was my biggest enemy, I stumped my toe a few times, I had foot in mouth disease a few times, and I have apologized many times.
As I look back upon my life I can see the times that my life was changed by God. When decision time came and I made a decision that wasn’t good, he helped me through the situation. Even though it cost me time, money and a guilty feeling, I learned from the experience. Jesus said, “If you love me keep my commandments” and by this he meant that obedience to his commands leads to blessings; but to disobey leads to chastisement. I learned that God is good and cannot be blamed for any wrong. I learned that what Jesus said, “In the world ye shall have tribulations”, and I learned from that, that he was absolutely right. But I also learned that tribulation is a teaching tool, and exercise equipment and a means to grade myself on how much faith I have. True faith means there is no doubt present. As the Apostle Paul said, speaking of Abraham his forefather in Romans 4:20, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform”.
One thing I have learned is, God responds in his time and according to what his will is. When Jesus said, “Ask and ye shall receive”, there is an answer that must be given, but it isn’t according to my want, but according to my need. When he said “Knock and it will be opened unto you”, it was only according to truth and his name. His name is the full amount of his essence, which incorporates God’s Word and His Holy Spirit. When he said “seek and ye will find”, he was laying upon us a responsibility of working within the gifts he has given to us and the whole Body of Christ, expressing the Fruit of the Spirit which is gladness in our heart and whatever we do, do all in the name, the attributes of the name, the purpose of the name and the glory of the name.
Remember the three basic obligations of a Christian are faith, hope, and charity. 1 Corinthians 13:13 and the greatest of these is charity. The word charity here leaves a wrong impression that lures people to be overly jealous about giving.
The proper definition means from the Greek, “the Love of God”. This is why Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your soul, spirit, and mind and with that same love; love your neighbor as yourself. The love of God is uncompromising, immutable, and Holy; and as he told the Israelites, “Be ye holy for I am holy”, because he wants us to conform to the image of his son, who is also holy.
Since our soul seeks to exalt faith and our desire is to be faithful, we use the statement, “Without faith it is impossible to please him as a motivator. The ingredients are grown inside of us through experiences; Bible experiences recorded for our benefit and the testimonies of other witnesses. By learning we can build a greater love. But the love has to be a reciprocal relationship to be perfect. Because of our slow learning and many mistakes, God gave us “grace” to help us along the way. His grace is also holy and not be taken advantage of, so the mistakes that we make over and over will reap a greater chastisement.
When we ask, seek, and knock, we should make sure it is at Faith’s front door. Whenever we walk up to that door we should make sure we use wisdom in a response to whatever comes to the door. Always be positive and thankful. One thing to remember is that God loves us, but he doesn’t love sin. Remember, “whatsoever that’s not of Faith is sin”.
Your friend in Christ,
Rodney Roberts