We also see the testing of faith in the story of David vs. Goliath (1 Samuel 17). It has been said that a picture can be worth a thousand words, well check out the picture below because David had to have great faith in God to take on Goliath. Either that or he was completely crazy.

Friends, if God has helped so many people persevere for His glory since the beginning of time, like Noah, Abraham, Job and David He will do the same for us today. Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you”  (Matthew 17:20-21).

Today lets pray that God will continue to increase our faith in Him and that it will be unwavering no matter the circumstance or trial.

“Who (God) wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).

• all – Greek the word for “all” is “πᾶς” pronounced “pas,” which means each, every, any; any and every; all
• men - Greek word for “men” is “ἄνθρωπος,” pronounced “anthropos,” meaning a human being, whether they are male or female. Men means a person of either sex

The Good News is that God wants everyone regardless of his or her skin color, culture, race (e.g. – Jew or Gentile), and sex to be saved from eternal separation from Him. God does not take any pleasure in the death of the wicked or of anyone (Ezekiel 18:23; 32).

Like Dr. Martin Luther King helped break the color barrier in American Society, Jesus broke even a bigger barrier, which was our separation from God as a result of our sin (Romans 6:1-14).  Jesus’ death on the cross broke the barrier of sin and death for those who put their trust in Jesus Christ.

God wants are who are wearied and burdened to come to him and he promises they will find rest in him (Matt. 11:28-30).  For God tells us, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8).

Remember, God will not exclude anyone from spending eternity with Him because of his or her color.  Just as God does not discriminate, neither should we. Live a life above reproach and love your neighbor as Christ loved the church.

However, when something does go wrong I find myself getting easily sucked back into the complaining game with my other co-workers and in all honesty, I have failed in this area numerous times. When I first read Philippians 2:14 this past week I thought,  “Man that is tough!”  Paul says to do “everything” without complaining or arguing.  He doesn’t say do only your chores without complaining or do not argue with your boss at work only, or do not complain about bad traffic only.  Paul says we are to not complain or argue in everything we do.  Let me say that again, in “EVERYTHING” we do.

Additionally, the American culture screams out that it is our given right to complain or argue about anything.  What our culture says contradicts the Word of God and makes this concept of not arguing or complaining even harder to grasp because everyone else is saying it’s ok to do this. I thought to myself, “Could I really do this?”  And therein lies the problem, “I” cannot do this, but God can do this through me.  I realized that as soon as I began focusing on myself in difficult situations I succumbed to the flesh and I would find myself complaining or even arguing.

So I’m sure you are wondering, “Well how do I not focus on myself in these situations?”  Paul tells us earlier in Philippians 2 that we must put on the attitude of Christ, meaning we must humble ourselves, put others needs before our own needs, and consider others better than ourselves. Humility means giving up self, taking the place of perfect nothingness before God. We must accept every humiliation and look upon every person who tries or troubles us as a means of grace to humble ourselves. As we are obedient to let God develop this habit of humility through us the complaining and arguing will happen less and less in our lives.

There are two important things to note about Philippians 2 text above.  First, Paul is talking to believers within the church of Philippi.  This is important to know because Paul is stating that if the church cannot be united how is their testimony for Christ ever going to be effective in the community where they lived, the Philippians needed to set some things straight in their own assembly first. With that said, this concept of not complaining or arguing is as true in church, as it is out of the church community, but we must first get this right with our own brothers and sisters.

Second, if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ you will not be able to do “EVERYTHING” without complaining and arguing because you do not have the Holy Spirit living within you.  Please check out my testimony if you want to discover how to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Answer: Absolutely!  This concept of by faith alone in Jesus Christ for salvation is exactly what the Bible has always said, says today, and will always say in the future.  The meaning and the context of the Biblical text will never change if properly translated. Ephesians 2:8-9 states, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”  Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Also, Galatians 3:24 says, “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”  These are just a few of the verses that state salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.  There are many more verses that support this fact.

Do you remember the two criminals that were crucified with Jesus? In Luke 23:39-43 it says, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Here is a great example of criminal who did not accomplish any works, but received salvation as soon as he put his faith in Jesus Christ.

This concept of salvation by faith alone is the difference between Christianity and all other religions or ‘isms’.  Salvation is a gift from God and the problem with works is how do you know when you have done enough works to get to heaven? The answer is that you just simply don’t.

When we search for answers outside of the Bible we are relying on sinful humans to provide us answers. God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  God is infinitely wiser, smarter, and cleverer than any of us shall ever be. God shows us the way to salvation (John 3:16) and it is your choice whether you believe in God or someone who is far less smarter and wiser than you are.

Answer: No where in the Bible does it give clear indication that Satan can read our minds, but what we do know is that Satan is not omnipresent, meaning he cannot be in more than one place at a time. Nor is Satan omniscient, meaning he has the capacity to know everything infinitely. Only God is everywhere and knows everything (Psalm 139:1-12). Also, the Bible never tells us that angels are omniscient and Satan is nothing but a fallen angel (Ezekiel 28:14).

However, this doesn’t mean Satan cannot predict human behavior.  In fact, Satan is really good at predicting our behavior as he has seen much of it.

Question: Can Satan plant or embed thoughts into our head?

Answer: As a believer in Jesus Christ we are no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness (Romans 8). As a believer you have a choice to follow Satan or to follow Christ.  Christ gave us a perfect example of following a path of righteousness when Satan tempted him at the end of his forty days in the desert (Matt. 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Whatever power Satan may have, the Christian can be absolutely certain that he has been given the ability to overcome that power. A righteous life is invulnerable. Placing ourselves under God’s authority gives us the ability to stand against and oppose Satan. If you continue to read James 4 God tells us that following him makes our heart pure, sin is removed or washed away from our lives, and we will desire to serve God alone and not both Him and the world.

Additionally, as Christian’s we have the armor of God to which we put on to deal with Satan and spiritual realm that is unseen (Eph. 6).

So the answer is “No!”  When believers live a righteous life, Satan cannot embed thoughts into our head. Remember that resistance to Satan is accomplished by coming near to God.

For more on Satan, Demons and Angels I recommend checking out the sermon series ‘Angels & Demons‘ by Todd Phillips.

Over the past couple weeks I’ve been working on memorizing this verse and God has reminded me of several things I wanted to share with you:

• God’s Word will Prosper – We must speak and use Scripture whenever we can because it will not return void. God will use His Word in some way, shape or form that we may never see or understand. Remember every word of God has a prosperous course

• His Word Accomplishes His Will – God’s Word will accomplish what He wants and not what we want.  This can be clearly seen through the underlined words in the verse above. I do not know about you but this is very comforting to me because earlier in the same chapter God says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). God is infinitely smarter and wiser than us and additionally anyone who would sacrifice His only son so we could receive freedom from sin and death should be enough assurance for us all that what God wants to accomplish is much more important and greater than anything we would want to accomplish.  God has our best interest at heart

• In His Perfect Timing – That the promises of God shall all have their full accomplishment in due time.  God transcends time and stands outside of it so we must remember that His Word may not accomplish it’s purpose in our lifetime, but not one word of it will fail

What we need to do is be faithful and speak God’s Word, but to speak it we need to know it.  We need to study God’s Word and be in it daily.  From being in His Word it will naturally flow into our everyday conversations because it becomes a part of who we are as we learn it.  It essentially becomes part of our DNA, our being. Remember, God will use His Word to accomplish His will in our lives and the lives of others. So what are you waiting for, get in His Word now.

Answer: Christian meditation is not an attempt to empty your mind, but to fill it with God and His truth. It is to be attentive to God. It allows believers to create the spiritual and emotional space, which allows Christ to construct an inner sanctuary in a person’s heart. In the most simplistic terms Christian meditation is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his Word.

• “Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. The two are often disjointed when they should be united. We read the Bible, close it, and then try to shift gears into prayer. But many times it seems as if the gears between the two won’t mesh. In fact, after some forward progress in our time in the Word, shifting to prayer sometimes is like suddenly moving back into neutral or even reverse. Instead there should be a smooth, almost unnoticeable transition between Scripture input and prayer output so that we move even closer to God in those moments. This happens when there is the link of meditation in between” (Whitney 1991, 71).

• “To meditate on the Scriptures is to think about them, turning them over in our minds, and applying them to our life’s situations… The objective of our meditation is application – obedience to the Scriptures” (Bridges 1996, 99).

• “Some people like to read so many chapters every day. I would not dissuade them from the practice, but I would rather lay my soul asoak in half a dozen verses all day than rinse my hand in several chapters. Oh, to be bathed in a text of Scripture, and to let it be sucked up into your very soul, till it saturates your heart! Set your heart upon God’s Word! Let your whole nature be plunged into it as a cloth into a dye!” (C.H. Spurgeon)

• “Without doubt the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God” (A.W. Tozer).

So do you concur with the statements above?

• Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

• Psalm 104:34, “May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.”

• Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”

• Psalm 143:5, “I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”

But what does meditation mean to you?

As I pondered this thought I pulled out my Bible to start reading it and I realized over the last several years I have never seen another individual read the Bible on the train. I’ve seen people read work papers, books, magazines and even newspapers but never the Bible. I have however seen one person read the Koran. Granted some may have the Bible on their iPod or MP3 player and I hope that is case. And there was that word again, hope. It made me think about what do people put their hope in? Last week at Inauguration it was President Obama, but whom will it be if he fails. Or whom or what will it be in years from now? I looked down and my Bible was open to the following passage:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18)

To quickly highlight this verse it says we are all sinners. So if we are all sinners why would we want to put our hope in one another? Why would we put our hope in a person who is going to die? Or why would we put our hope into something material that we can’t take with us when we die? There is only one person who has ever risen from the dead. There is only one person who loves us enough to send His only son to die for us. There is only one person who offers us the free gift of eternal life. That person is Jesus Christ. So why would you want to put your hope in anyone or anything else? Stop and ask yourself whom do you put your hope in and let me know.