Faith Takes Saying No and Saying Yes
Many people do not understand faith very well. Some people think that faith is wishing for something to happen, and if they wish hard enough, it happens. Others believe that faith is believing that God will do something they want Him to do, and if they believe enough, He will do it. Neither of these two things are real faith. Faith is trusting what God tells us in His Word or as we pray. We only have faith if we do what He tells us to do. Faith without works is dead faith; it is not faith at all. Therefore, faith takes saying "no" to some things and "yes" to other things. Nehemiah and the people knew this when they made their covenant to follow the Lord. They made the commitment to say no to trading with neighbors on the Sabbath and other holy days. They also committed to saying yes to allowing the land to lie fallow and canceling all debts every seven years. (Nehemiah 10:31) I believe there is a powerful lesson in this for all believers.
Is your faith weak or strong? We all need to stop and reflect on how much we trust the Lord and where we have problems trusting Him. If we have trouble saying "No" to the things we should not do, we must analyze why. Often, we find that we want pleasure and immediate satisfaction more than we want to do God's will. If that is the case, we must confess that sin. (I John 1:9) We must tell God that our flesh has been leading us, but we are going to say "No" to the flesh. At the same time, we must say "Yes" to the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to fill us, giving us the power to reject the flesh and do God's will, instead. Without yielding to the Spirit, this is impossible. Then, as we read God's Word and hear from the Lord about things He wants us to do, we must say "Yes." We must decide to be intentional, whatever it takes. If it means making a list, setting an alarm, telling a friend who will hold us accountable, or doing anything else to remind us of our commitment to God. If we will stay filled with the Spirit and do both of these things every day, we will have strong faith, being able to say "no" and to say "yes" as God desires. God blesses that kind of faith, so that doing His will gets easier over time.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 12-13 and Esther 1-2.
Is your faith weak or strong? We all need to stop and reflect on how much we trust the Lord and where we have problems trusting Him. If we have trouble saying "No" to the things we should not do, we must analyze why. Often, we find that we want pleasure and immediate satisfaction more than we want to do God's will. If that is the case, we must confess that sin. (I John 1:9) We must tell God that our flesh has been leading us, but we are going to say "No" to the flesh. At the same time, we must say "Yes" to the Holy Spirit, and ask Him to fill us, giving us the power to reject the flesh and do God's will, instead. Without yielding to the Spirit, this is impossible. Then, as we read God's Word and hear from the Lord about things He wants us to do, we must say "Yes." We must decide to be intentional, whatever it takes. If it means making a list, setting an alarm, telling a friend who will hold us accountable, or doing anything else to remind us of our commitment to God. If we will stay filled with the Spirit and do both of these things every day, we will have strong faith, being able to say "no" and to say "yes" as God desires. God blesses that kind of faith, so that doing His will gets easier over time.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Nehemiah 12-13 and Esther 1-2.