Day 334: We Are Because He Is

Revelation 22:13

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End."

John 3:16

For God so loved that world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Have you ever thought about what life would be like without God? It’s crazy to think about and even crazier to type. But when I think about things like that I am enlightened it is brought to my attention just how much god does for us and how much He loves us. Life would be so much different for everyone without God, life would suck actually. He was there at the very beginning and He will be there when it all ends. God exists outside of time. He wakes us up every morning, He is constantly fighting our battles and working things out on our behalf that we don’t even know about. God loves us so much that we can never wrap our minds around it completely. God is the reason we have life, he is the reason we exist. We are because He is. Many people can say they do not need God as they live on the breath that He has given us, as we live on a earth that He has created for us. Without God we literally have nothing, there is no way that we can live without Him.

As crazy as it may be to ask such a question it is important to come back to it every now and then because we sometimes tend to overlook the little things. We tend to forget just how good He is. Not because He gave us the job we wanted or the grades we prayed for but because He is the creator of all things. Because out of everything He created we are His most wonderful creation. Because He created the entire universe before creating man so that we can have something to live on. We forget about the “little things”. God holds the earth in place while keeping all the planets aligned. He gave us trees that would provide oxygen, plants and  herbs that would provide food and healing. He gave us animals and land, and gave us dominion over it all.

How much different would our lives be if God never sent His son to die for our sins? We would never have had a second chance at life. We would never have the opportunity to have a relationship with God and freely serve Him. If Jesus did not die for our sins we would die in our sin, never having the opportunity to spend eternity with God. In our imperfections and our flawed nature God sent someone who is perfect in everyway and unflawed without blemish to make sure that we will have a relationship with Him. God sent His son to complete us. He saw a people that could not survive outside of Him and made a way for us to be in constant communion with Him. That’s the god we serve. We serve a God that is in constant pursuit of our hearts and wants nothing but the best for us. God wants us to live the best possible life we can live and He made it possible for us. I don’t know anyone else who would go to such extreme lengths to save my life and more than that have a relationship with me.

As important as it is to continuously grow and move forward, it is just as important to stop sometimes and remember just who God is. It is important to remember that everything we are, everything we have become is because of God. the life we have is because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We must remember where we come from, we come from God, our identity, our life, our very existence is a result of a loving heavenly father. We are because He is.

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God about what we discussed today.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 335!

Day 299: It Takes Faith

One of the most important aspects of being a Christian is faith, if we do not have faith how can we serve God. How can we believe in a God we have never seen without faith. Faith is a key ingredient to having a relationship with God. We must believe in Him.

Romans 10:9-10 says, If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

When many people refer to Christianity, they refer to it as ‘the Christian faith’ or we even talk about it as our faith. I do not believe that that is without reason. Following God take faith, it takes us believing first in God, and His word, and standing on His promises. Faith is choosing to believe in the things that are not seen. But if we want to get technical let’s get a dictionary definition.

Faith: confidence or trust in a person or thing.

Belief that is not based on proof

The trust in God and His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

As Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. That being said our faith is our proof of the living God, and God’s faithfulness to us is proof that we are not crazy people out here believing in a spirit that we don’t know is real. No we believe in a living God, the same God who created the heavens and the earth, the same God who spoke to Moses on a mountain top, we believe in the God who made it rain manna, the God split the red sea, the God who sent His son to die for our sins so that we can have a relationship with Him. That’s the God that we believe in, because we choose to believe. Out faith is not based on proof it is based on the goodness of God. The proof is all around, one thing that blows my mind is that God created the earth the way it is on purpose. According to science (which God created as well), Earth is the only known planet equipped with an atmosphere of the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life. If Earth was smaller an atmosphere would be impossible, like Mercury. If earth we larger it’s atmosphere would contain free hydrogen like Jupiter, making it impossible to live on in both cases. Also if earth were further away from the sun we would freeze to death, if it we closer to the sun we would burn up. God placed us exactly where He wanted us to be and made us the right size. Aside from the scientific facts, our most powerful tool in our relationship with God is faith. Faith enables us to pray, it enables us to trust in His word, faith allows us to have that relationship with God.

Our faith is based on the signs and wonders, the miracles that we have seen in our lives. The moments where there was no other answer but, “there is a God”. This is what we know to be true, and if we want to take it further, science proves His existence. What I’m saying is, as Christians we live a life that is based on faith. #FaithBasedLiving We put our trust and confidence in God because time and time again He has shown us His faithfulness. I know we have all had moments in our lives where things didn’t go as planned they actually went better. We’ve all had those jaw-dropping moments that left us speechless, and eluding to the fact that God did it. What I’m saying here is if  we are going to serve God we must have faith. Without faith we can do nothing. If we do not believe in a true and living God how are we going to expect Him to do something in our lives. Better yet how can we expect to have a relationship with God if we do not have faith in Him. We talk about faith a lot, but we’ve never talked about it in this context. The basics of Christianity is faith. We start a relationship with God by declaring that we believe. Faith is what bridges the gap between man and God.

Often times I am asked, “What do I have to do to become a Christian?” The simple answer is have faith. Have faith that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that He was resurrected three days later. Not just saying these things but believing them in our hearts. We must have a heart full of faith in God, it’s what allows us to draw closer to Him, it allows us to have a relationship with Him. Faith allows us to persevere.  It is everything we need in order to serve God.

All this to say, faith is the answer. It is the foundation of our lives as Christians, it all starts because we choose to believe in the living God and we make that decision daily.  

Response/Prayer Time

Take the time to respond in whatever way you feel led. Have a conversation with God about faith, and thank Him that He is so faithful and wonderful.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 300!!!