1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
We’ve said it before – our one purpose in being here is to bring glory to God – in all ways – in everything that we do… Everything.
How many things do we do each day that we’d rather not talk to God about? How many places do we go that we’d rather Jesus didn’t catch us there? Why do we have the misimpression that if we don’t tell Him about it, He won’t notice?
Some years ago when I was a baby Christian, I asked a woman I knew how she dealt with this situation – doing everything to the glory of God. She told me she tried always to keep a mental image of Jesus standing right next to her, watching and listening to everything she did. She was already aware that He was there, and keeping this image helped to remind her. If she did something she knew pleased Him, she would think about Him with a smile on His face. If she did something she knew hurt Him, she would think about Him crying. And it worked! She found herself restraining her tongue more. She found herself refraining from doing or saying anything that would offend Jesus. Soon, there was a transformation – she began to automatically do things that would make Him smile. But better yet, she began to want to do these things because they glorified Him.
Why? She came to realize that the things she did that made Jesus smile were things that also glorified Him in her life. Her actions and her words were a witness to the world of who Jesus was to her. By doing and saying only those things that would make Him smile, she was glorifying His name.
Take the tenth step in learning to live by faith, and begin doing only those things that will glorify God – whatever you say or do or eat or drink or think, let it be to the glory of our Lord.
Matthew 6:33 NIV
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Having trouble finding a good job? Seek Jesus first.
Having trouble getting rid of a destructive habit like alcohol or drugs or promiscuous sex? Seek Jesus first.
Having trouble keeping up with the cost of living? Seek Jesus first.
Having problems in your marriage? Seek Jesus first.
Having trouble with your kids? Seek Jesus first.
If you’re single, let’s look at the finding someone special issue. What was Adam doing when he met Eve? Doing what God commanded him to do. What was Ruth doing when she met Boaz? Gathering food to take care of her mother-in-law, just as God would have her do. What was Abigail doing when she met David? Defending her home in a non-violent manner, just as God would have her do. None of these people were running around, desperately seeking a mate. They were doing what God had commanded them to do in their lives. They were seeking God first.
Let’s look at other issues. Hannah was barren and wanted a son more than anything. She made a commitment to God and fulfilled it, so God blessed her with Samuel. Rahab sought first to protect the Israelite spies, so God saved her and her family when Jericho was destroyed. A Gentile widow sought first to serve God by feeding Elijah throughout the famine, so God blessed her by bringing her son back to life. David sought God’s will first and foremost in almost everything he did (we’ll talk about Bathsheba another time!), so God blessed him and made him King of Israel.
You and I are no different from these people. If we seek first to serve God… if we seek first Jesus’ kingdom and His righteousness… ALL other things will be added unto us… whatever they are…. whatever our needs… ALL things.
Take this ninth step in learning to live by faith. Begin to seek Him first in your life, and leave the rest to Him.
Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 NIV
James 4:2-3 NIV
You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
You’re unemployed and you are praying for a job… why do you want a job?
You’re sick and you’re praying to be healed… why do you want to be healed?
You’re praying for success in your career… why do you want success?
You’re praying for your church to grow… why do you want it to grow?
You’re praying for someone to marry… why do you want to get married?
You’re praying for your marriage to be healed… why do you want it to be healed?
What are your motives? Why do you pray for the various things in your life? So that you can be rich? So that you’ll feel better? So that things will start to be easier for you?
Actually, if you answered any of the questions above with anything other than “so that God may be glorified”, your motivation is not in line with God’s Word.
Each and every thing that Jesus did, He did so that the Father would be glorified. As with all things, He was giving us a living illustration of how we are to live. Through His every action and word, He showed us what our entire purpose and our entire motivation must be here on earth if we are truly to live by faith. That motivation is… to glorify the Father.
When we shift our motives, He shifts into high gear. Not only does He answer our prayers as He always does, but He will send us answers that are much better than what we thought we wanted.
Take the eighth step in learning to live by faith, and make your motive for everything in your life become a burning desire to glorify God.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV
Romans 12:2 NIV
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
It’s so very easy to get confused… to lose faith… to have trouble seeing what the will of God is in your life. We get distracted. We deal constantly with the pressures of our work and the difficult personalities we must contend with each day. We worry about staying within our budgets. We try to keep our houses clean and our lawns mowed and our clothes presentable. We try to raise our children in the midst of a world that is filled with violence, immorality, and Godlessness. We try to find time to relax in between all the insanity that we call our lives. And, before we know it… unlike what scripture tells us… we become conformed to this world.
But we don’t have to be. The massive confusion of our lives does not have to rule us. Instead, we can do what the Word says – be transformed. How? By the renewing of our minds. How? By spending time in the Word of God every day… by praying continually… by seeking His Spirit every moment of our lives.
Now you may say that this is impossible. How can a person pray continually? Prayer does not have to always be a "formal" time of bowing your head and closing your eyes. Prayer is continual contact verbally, mentally and spiritually with the Lord – all day long… short questions, asking Him how to handle a situation… short sentences, speaking your gratitude for the hundreds of small miracles that occur in your life every day. How can a person possibly have time to read the Bible every day? Do you have time to watch television? Do you have time to get on the internet? Do you have time to talk to your family?
We can and we must seek His Spirit every moment of our lives if we are to reap the blessings that God has for us. If you commit yourself to a time period each day for Bible study and prayer… an amazing thing happens… your life begins to flow more smoothly. Your problems don’t disappear, of course… but your life will seem smoother because you will be dealing with it in God’s way… you will be transformed into someone who is walking in the Spirit, who is beginning to understand God’s will for your life… who is reaping the peaceful benefits of Jesus Christ living in you daily.
Take the seventh step in learning to live by faith, and be transformed!
1 John 5:14-15 NIV
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him.
The sixth step to living by faith, not by sight – to having complete faith in Jesus - is knowing that He hears everything we say to Him – everything. That’s much better than we do with our friends, our families, our business associates, or even ourselves. Because when God hears, He really hears.
We hear very little of what is said to us. How many times has one of your children had to re-tell you something because you weren’t really listening in the first place? Or one of your friends? Or your spouse? Or a business associate? How do you feel when you have something really important to share with a friend, but he’s so busy telling you about something in his life that he isn’t really listening? And you’re so frustrated at not being able to get him to listen that you don’t hear what he’s saying to you. How frustrated do you become when you have told your son three times to take out the trash, but he doesn’t hear you?
This “hearing impairment” – or maybe “selective hearing” might be a better term – is a common thing in human beings. We’re used to it. It’s what we expect, even though it can anger and frustrate us to no end. Whether we admit it or not, we all tend to think of God in human terms, which makes it very difficult to believe that He really hears us when we speak.
So the sixth step in learning to live by faith is to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God is always tuned in, that you always have His undivided attention, that for Him, every moment of every day, you are the most important person of all!
Pray that this knowledge will become a part of you – that He hears everything you say to Him. Engrave this knowledge on your heart, so you can truly take this sixth step in learning to live by faith, not by sight.
1 John 3:21-24 NIV
Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
When you take this fifth step toward living by faith, you begin to know – beyond a shadow of a doubt - that Jesus is living in you. He sent His Spirit the moment you accepted Him, to indwell you, to be there with you constantly – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. But for some of us, it takes a while to realize that the Spirit is really there, living in us. That’s because our awareness of His Spirit really depends on us. If we fight Him or ignore Him, we won’t notice what He’s doing in us and for us. But if we are open, if we place our faith in Him, we’ll feel it and see it and know it.
If you accept Jesus as your Savior, but stop there…. if you say to yourself, "Well, great… my sins are forgiven. That means I can do what I want, and then ask for forgiveness later, and it’ll be all right!" then you’ve missed the message of the cross entirely! If you acknowledge Jesus as your Savior but not as your Lord, you will miss so many of His blessings… so much that He has for you. If you stubbornly refuse to turn over your thoughts, your actions, and your attitudes to His control, you not only miss all the blessings of living in Him, but you’ll set yourself up for a pretty miserable way of living. You won’t grow in your walk with the Lord. Except for having your sins forgiven, your life won’t be much different from what it was before you accepted His free gift.
It’s true, you will have to give up a LOT when you open yourself up to the ministry of the Holy Spirit… sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, (Galatians 5:19-21) fear, anxiety, stress, depression, and eternity in hell, to name just a few. Instead, you’ll have to put up with things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) Which sounds better to you?
It you truly want to take this fifth step in learning to live by faith, then pray for openness to the Holy Spirit’s living in you so that you may learn and grow in the Lord daily.
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Matthew 4:3-4 NIV
The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
One of the most interesting things about the encounter between Jesus and the devil is the use of scripture… by both of them.
Oh, yes… Satan knows the scriptures. He has them memorized… and he’ll do everything he can to use them to his advantage… but he refuses to obey them. To Satan, the Word of God is merely a tool he can attempt to use to block God’s eternal plan. He knows, but he doesn’t obey.
Have you ever thought about the number of Bibles that are gathering dust? Especially in countries all over the world where there is no restriction on owning one. When you go to church, look around at the congregation. How many have brought their own Bibles, and how many have left their Bibles (if they even own them) at home? Then look at the Bibles themselves… Do they look like they’ve been used? Or do they look like they just came from the shelf at the store? When the person turns the pages, are they still stuck together a bit on the edges… a clear indication that the book has been rarely opened, or possibly never opened at all before?
For many, many years, in China , when someone managed to smuggle a Bible into the country, do you know what the Christians there did? They tore the Bibles up! But they were not being destructive. They were making sure that many, many people had an opportunity to know God’s word. So they tore them up, then passed out the pages, one to each person. Then, each one memorized the page he was given – front and back. Once the person had committed that entire page to memory, he passed it on to someone else, and obtained another page to memorize. The Christians in China who could be imprisoned for possessing a Bible, were “possessing” the Bible in a way that could not be taken away from them – by memorizing it, ALL of it. If they lived long enough, each of those underground Christians would have committed every word of the Bible to memory!!
I recently learned that this ban was lifted by the Chinese government – with some restrictions. I haven’t obtained all of the details yet, but it now appears that Christians in China can have Bibles of their own, with no fear of imprisonment. Praise God for that blessing! I pray that easy access to God’s Word does not make the Chinese as complacent as Christians in other countries have been where God’s Word is gathering dust!
Let’s think about memorizing scripture for a moment. It’s not just those in countries where Bibles are not allowed who need to memorize God’s Word. As a matter of fact, memorizing scripture could be called one of the essentials for living a Godly life. If we don’t know in our hearts and minds what God’s Word is, how can we know what we are supposed to obey? Do you have time to stop and look up scripture to help you make spur-of-the-moment decisions? If you’re like most people, the answer is no! But if you have large portions of God’s word memorized, it’s easy to call something to mind that He’s said that will direct you in that last-minute decision you have to make.
The trick Satan used in the desert is one he continually uses today. How many times do you hear people misquote scripture… or quote God’s Word out of context, thereby twisting the meaning? How many people sit in church buildings, listening to what the preacher says, but never looking in their Bibles to see whether the preacher is telling the truth or not? That is a very dangerous thing to do – or not do… because it is possible to prove almost anything one might want to prove using scripture that is taken out of context, or by creating a statement that sounds like scripture, but is to be found nowhere in the Bible. That’s how sayings like “God helps those who help themselves” become popular, and how millions of people come to believe that they are in the Bible, when they’re not. That’s how cults are formed. That’s how millions of people are led down the path to perdition.
So what can we do to protect ourselves? Get to know God’s Word. Memorize as much as you can. It is a mighty sword to use - just as Jesus did - in spiritual combat (Ephesians 6:17). Then be a Berean (Acts 17:11). When you hear someone preaching a message, take note of what they say, and then compare it to the Bible. If it conforms with Biblical teaching, then accept it, but if it contradicts the Bible, reject it as the lie that it is. And don’t stop there. Once you know the Word… live it. From beginning to end, the Bible says one thing over and over again - "I love you". It is God’s love letter to you. It is His Sword of the Spirit, to be used in fighting off the attacks of Satan. And it is His “owner’s instruction manual” for life.
Take this fourth vital step in learning to live by faith… make God’s Word a living part of your mind, body and spirit. Know it and live it for Him.